Without Honor: Crimes of Camelot and the Impeachment of Richard Nixon [Hardcover]

J. M. Zeifman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1996

A stunning behind-the-scenes look at the House Judiciary Committee's investigation into and presidential impeachment proceedings against Richard Nixon offers profiles of the key players and exposes the intrigues and conspiracies of the era. 25,000 first printing. IP.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The House Judiciary Committee's recommendation in 1974 that Nixon be impeached, which led to his resignation, was nearly thwarted by a sham congressional inquiry, according to this blistering expose. Zeifman, now a lawyer in private practice, was chief counsel to the committee during the impeachment inquiry, and excerpts from the diary he kept during the proceedings are interpolated with his pointed analysis. He charges that John Doar, special counsel to the inquiry (and formerly a key figure in Robert Kennedy's Justice Department), intentionally orchestrated a charade because he feared that a thorough investigation of the Nixon administration's government-sponsored crimes would let out of the bag Kennedy-era wiretaps, burglaries and sanctioned murders carried out in the name of national security. Zeifman further contends that Doar and committee chairman Peter Rodino (D.-N.J.) attempted to keep Nixon in office until the end of his term to improve the odds of electing Ted Kennedy president in 1976. Finally, Zeifman maintains that Doar aide Hillary Rodham (now the First Lady) and her fellow staffer Bernard Nussbaum (who recently resigned as Clinton's chief White House counsel) helped Doar and Marshall gain control over the investigation through unethical tricks and faulty legal opinions. Zeifman has written a complex yet cogent blockbuster that traces a legacy of deceit to Whitewater.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This book by the chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment proceedings goes a long way toward debunking the notion that the legal process of impeachment is above politics. It seems to be based mainly on an 800-page diary Zeifman kept at the time. His descriptions of personalities and conversations outside the hearing room adds an almost novelistic quality to the work and makes it accessible to wide audiences. Especially interesting today is his references to such staffers as Bernard Nussbaum and Hillary Rodham Clinton and his argument that Democrats on the committee did not dig as deeply into the CIA role in Watergate as they might have for fear of dredging up damaging information about the Kennedy administration's ties to CIA assassination plots involving Castro, South Vietnam's President Diem, and other heads of state. Enjoyable and insightful reading for a wide audience.?Frank Kessler, Missouri Western State Coll., St. Joseph
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 262 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr; 1st edition (March 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156025128X
• ISBN-13: 978-1560251286
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,339,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Watergate investigation shown deeply flawed, intentionally., June 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Without Honor: Crimes of Camelot and the Impeachment of Richard Nixon (Hardcover)

The haplessness of the House's investigation of
the Nixon White House over the Watergate cover-up
is revealed being intentional. The author, who
was majority counsel to the House Committee on the
Judiciary during the Watergate investigation, shows
that it was the result of obstruction by the very
Democrats supposedly driving the investigation,
done to prevent revelation of abuses of power
during the Kennedy Administration that subsequently
came out in the Church Hearings.
Probably the best, and most poignant, aspect of
the book is the tone of the diary excerpts,
which reveal the author as a lawyer who believes
in the Constitution deeply, and is increasingly
dissillusioned by the machinations he observes.
The book is both a good read and essential source
material for serious students of Watergate and
the resulting erosion of public confidence in
elected government.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A little known book about a very misunderstood time, April 2, 2008

By 

J. Adams "History buff" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Without Honor: Crimes of Camelot and the Impeachment of Richard Nixon (Hardcover)

Zeifman was the majority counsel to the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings. This book is an interesting peek into the political considerations that overrode any attempt at justice in the hanging of Richard Nixon. Zeifman is a long-time liberal Democrat who kept a detailed diary of events leading up to Nixon's resignation, and of course what he discovered in that job should have been made public at the time. Now that most liberals have adopted the theory of what Nixon did in the Watergate fiasco was worthy of his removal from office, it should come as no surprise that those same people still view JFK as a paragon of virtue when in fact the crimes he committed while in office were far worse than anything that Nixon did.

Zeifman goes into great detail about how the Democrats were terrified of having to put Watergate figures on the stand as they would have had to testify how JFK and the CIA were guilty not only of illegal wiretapping of their political enemies, but also of the CIA's involvement in JFK instigated assassination attempts on Castro, and the Kennedy's involvement in ordering the death of South Vietnamese leaders.

Much of this was recently published in Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA and was the reason I bought this book. Another little insight into Hillary comes from this book where Zeifman actually fired her for repeatedly lying and stealing records that were essential to a fair trial of Nixon because the documents implicated Democrats in illegal actions during the Camelot years.

A really interesting book, but I can see why it went nowhere since it showed that Nixon was a petty crook compared to JFK for doing far worse things than ever occurred during the Watergate fiasco.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nixon almost got away with Watergate, with help from Hillary, June 21, 1998

By 

Along Red River of the North "JMS" (Moorhead, MN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Without Honor: Crimes of Camelot and the Impeachment of Richard Nixon (Hardcover)

Zeifman's inside-the-Judiciary Committeee look at the infamous Watergate scandals provides compelling first-hand knowledge that both Democrats (loyal to the Kennedys) and Republicans "stonewalled" both the investigation and the move towards the impeachment of President Nixon. The author also paints a picture of "the system" which demonstrates that it barely "worked", and dispels the triumphalist version of events presented by the mainstream media. And, for Clinton scandal-mongers (and no, I'm not someone who relies on Rush Limbaugh for information on HRC), Hillary Rodham (not yet Clinton), makes a few cameo appearances as a special sub-committe underling. Her unlawerly actions reveals that if she is not a liar, at least she has no interest in justice. Highly recommended, and should be reissued by the publisher to counter the smug self-congratualtory satisfaction of the post-Watergate era. Current history is rarely what it seems.