Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth (Studies in Legal History) [Hardcover]

Raoul Berger (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Raoul Berger was Charles Warren Senior Fellow in American Legal History at the Harvard Law School. Among his books is Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (January 1, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674274253
• ISBN-13: 978-0674274259
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,105,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, June 6, 2008

By 

J. Friedland (Financial District, New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Executive Privilege: A Constitutional Myth (Studies in Legal History) (Hardcover)

I well remember reading this book 35 years ago. Berger attacks the idea of "Executive Privilege" and never lets up. He goes through the history of it, discovering there never was any discussions in the Congress or constitutional convention backing up the concept of Executive Privilege. It's basically all from memo's written up by subordinates to Eisenhower to provide him justification, after the fact, for some actions that Eisenhower may have taken. Most of the memos relied upon conjecture and argumentation -- not constitutional law discussion to arrive at conclusions that backed up Eisenhower. Those memos were familiar to Nixon who used what he recalled from them to justify the actions of Nixon's administration.