In 31 Days, Barry Werth takes readers inside the White House during the tumultuous days following Nixonâs resignation and the swearing-in of Americaâs âaccidental president,â Gerald Ford. The congressional hearings, Nixonâs increasing paranoia, and, finally, the devastating revelations of the White House tapes had torn the country apart. Within the White House and the Republican Party, Nixonâs resignation produced new fissures and battle linesâand new opportunities for political advancement.
Ford had to reassure the nation and the world that he would attend to the pressing issues of the day, from resolving the legal questions surrounding Nixonâs role in Watergate, to dealing with the wind down of the Vietnam War, the precarious state of dÊtente with the Soviet Union, and the ongoing attempts to stabilize the Middle East. Within hours of Nixonâs departure from Washington, Ford began the all-important task of forming an inner circle of trusted advisers.
In richly detailed scenes, Werth describes the often vicious sparring among two mutually distrustful staffsâNixonâs and Fordâs vice presidential holdoversâand a transition team that included Donald Rumsfeld (then Nixonâs ambassador to NATO) and Rumsfeldâs former deputy, the thirty-three-year-old coolly efficient Richard Cheney. The first detailed account of the ruthless maneuvering and day-to-day politicking behind everything from the pardon of Nixon to why George H. W. Bush was passed over for the vice presidency, to the rise of a new cadre of Republican movers and shakers, 31 Days offers a compelling perspective on a fascinating but relatively unexamined period in American history and its impact on the present.