The Last of the President's Men
by Bob Woodward
View on GoodreadsBob Woodward's 2015 reconstruction of the Nixon White House through Alexander Butterfield — Nixon's deputy assistant who revealed the existence of the taping system to the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973 — built on Butterfield's never-before-released personal files.
Core ideas
- Butterfield's personal records are the book's primary-source revelation — memos, photos, and notes from inside the inner circle that hadn't entered the historical record before Butterfield turned them over to Woodward.
- The Nixon portrait that emerges is more controlled and more paranoid than the public-history version — the taping system, the enemies list, the surveillance of staff are presented as continuous with a managerial style that predated Watergate.
- The book is shorter and tighter than Woodward's contemporary-presidential books; it reads as historical reconstruction rather than reporting-of-the-moment, and the lower urgency produces unusual clarity.
Published2015
Pages304
ISBN9781501116445
ReadDec 2025
