History Buff's Guide to the Presidents by Thomas R. Flagel

Gordon Liddy and former CIA employee (and Bay of Pigs operative) E. Howard Hunt. 91
    Rather than prevent information from seeping out, the group began to bring large amounts of intelligence in. Colluding with others, including the dubious Committee to Reelect the President (a.k.a., CREEP), the Plumbers engaged in wiretapping, examining tax returns of political opponents, pilfering CIA records, and scheming to illegally photograph classified information in the National Archives. The cell even created an enemies list to better target the suspected opposition, which included individuals in Congress and the private sector. Most of these activities were unknown to the president, yet he was generally aware that much of what they were doing was not legal. 92
    To what extent any of their covert activities helped Nixon remain in power is difficult to determine. Still popular among moderates and conservatives at the end of his first term, the incumbent Nixon probably would have won reelection by a wide margin regardless of the Plumbers. But their existence reflected the extent of hubris that had permeated the secretive Nixon White House, and their botched breakin of the Democratic national headquarters at the W ATERGATE led to the destruction of the very institution they were breaking the law to protect.
Founder of the Plumbers, John Ehrlichman, and Nixon’s chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, were both Eagle Scouts.
    7 . GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WMD PRESENTATION TO THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL (2003)
    Closer to his mother than his father, who was often away on business, George W. Bush assumed the role of family protector at an early age. In many respects, he acted like a morale officer rather than a leader, a persona he maintained throughout his life. At Phillips Academy and Yale, he enjoyed the social aspects of school, including cheerleading, but he developed a deep suspicion of intellectuals. Though inherently friendly and outgoing, he was not terribly open or conscientious. Like his father, he learned to fly fighter planes and entered the oil business. Unlike his father, he trusted his emotions more than his intellect. 93
    As an adult, G. W. Bush displayed a curious tendency to smile in awkward situations. The habit became most prominent during his presidency, especially when responding to questions about war, terrorism, or natural disasters. Largely involuntary, the trait is a defensive response to the stimulus of pain or discomfort. His father did not have this inclination, but Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson did, both of whom frequently smiled broadly after talking about emotionally difficult subjects. A wince more than a grin, it is a telltale sign that a person is not being straightforward. 94
    Bush and his administration never actually tried to emphasize honesty as their overriding quality. Instead, the operative words were “leadership,” “strength,” and “commitment.” Bush was also personally fond of the word freedom , using the word twenty-seven times in his second inaugural. It was under the premise of making the world “free from terror” that he initiated a preemptive strike on Iraq in 2003.
    Evidence to justify such an operation was not available, so the Bush administration did the next best thing: they guessed. Vice President Dick Cheney and the assistant secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz, engineered a sales pitch based on allegations that Iraq was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and was directly connected to terrorist organizations. To deliver this war message, they chose the most trusted member of the administration, Secretary of State Colin Powell. Hopefully the ensuing Second Gulf War would go as well as the First, and if it did, the ends would justify the means.
    In hindsight, they were trying to pull an Adlai Stevenson. At the height of the C UBAN M ISSILE C RISIS , Kennedy’s UN ambassador presented photographic proof to the Security Council that the Soviet Union was assembling tactical and