In Nixons Web, L. Patrick Gray III
In Nixons Web, L. Patrick Gray III
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In Nixon's Web
A Year in the Crosshairs of Watergate

Author: L. Patrick Gray III, Ed Gray

Narrator: Michael Prichard

Unabridged: 11 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 04/15/2008


Synopsis

L. Patrick Gray III was the man caught in the middle of the Watergate scandal. He was a lifelong Republican, but Richard Nixon considered him a threat. Closing in on the conspiracy, Gray became the target of one of Watergate's most shocking acts—Nixon's "smoking gun" attempt to have the CIA stop the FBI investigation. And when the U.S. Senate focused its attention on Gray in April 1973, the White House threw him to the wolves; John Ehrlichman famously advised that he be left to "twist slowly, slowly in the wind."

This book is Gray's firsthand account of what really happened during his crucial year as acting director of the FBI, based on a never-before-published first-person account and previously secret documents. He reveals the witches' brew of intrigue and perfidy that permeated Washington, and he tells the unknown story of his complex relationship with his top deputy, Mark Felt, raising disturbing questions about the methods and motives of the man purported to be Deep Throat.

Gray's book was completed and expanded by his son, journalist Ed Gray, who has supplemented the text with revelatory excerpts from documents, tape transcripts, and third-party accounts. Every other major figure has told his story, and now Patrick Gray's unique inside account will change the way we think about the crisis that destroyed the Nixon presidency.

L. Patrick Gray III did not speak publicly about his role in Watergate for thirty-two years, breaking his silence only for one brief interview before his death in 2005. This book contains details and revelations about Watergate that have never been published before.

About L. Patrick Gray III

L. Patrick Gray III (1916-2005) was an American lawyer and government official who served as interim director of the FBI after the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972. He attended Rice Institute and later won a scholarship to the U.S. Naval Academy, eventually serving on five submarine combat patrols in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, the Navy sent him to George Washington University Law School in Washington, where he first met Richard Nixon, then a freshman congressman from California. During the Korean War, Gray served as a submarine skipper, and he worked in various Navy commands throughout the 1950s, retiring in 1960 to work as a staff member for Nixon, then the vice president and the Republican nominee for president. After Nixon's defeat that fall, Gray began practicing law in New London, Connecticut. Upon Nixon's election to the presidency in 1968, Gray became executive assistant to the secretary of health, education, and welfare. Nixon later made him assistant attorney general in charge of the civil division and nominated him to be deputy attorney general, before appointing him to the FBI job in May


Reviews

Goodreads review by MisterFweem on December 15, 2016

If nobody has done this yet, it should be done: A cross-reference of books written by and about Richard Milhous Nixon, also tied in with official records, transcripts, notes on the bathroom wall, etc., indicating which claims in the various sources are true, false, in dispute, or otherwise occupied.......more

Goodreads review by Bob on June 21, 2012

In Nixon’s Web, by the late L. Patrick Gray III, with Ed Gray (his son), is another memoir by a Watergate Era figure. I hesitate to call Gray (all uses of that name will refer to the elder) a “participant,” as he was never convicted of any wrongdoing. Of course, neither was Nixon.. Many of the major......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on July 15, 2012

Yes, I have a weakness when it comes to books written by those who were involved with President Nixon generally and Watergate specifically. I find it fascinating to see how they justify their behaviour and what they think of Nixon afterward. Patrick Gray was acting director of the FBI for less than......more

Goodreads review by Samantha on July 25, 2017

Pretty good book. It was told by the acting FBI director at the time. Very interesting.......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on January 11, 2022

A little dry. But he did what he had to do. He knew who was leaking.......more