Bob Woodward Discusses ‘The Last of the President’s Men’

Bob Woodward, a Washington Post editor and Georgetown resident, was interviewed at Carol Joynt’s Dec. 11 Q&A luncheon at the George Town Club.

Woodward said he thought he had finished writing books on Nixon until he ran into Alexander Butterfield, who revealed the White House taping which led to the president’s resignation. He called the Watergate hearings a cultural event, which brought to light Nixon’s paranoia in feeling the need for “sanitization” of White House staff offices displaying a photograph of President Kennedy. Nixon was “rude and condescending” toward Butterfield, “borderline abusive” in his relationship with first lady Patricia Nixon and played “ego games with Kissinger.”

Woodward lauded the “mind on, hands off” approach of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham during his and Carl Bernstein’s investigation and her determination to have the truth come out.