31 Days

February 20, 2006
Two heavy hitters in the current administration—Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney—played roles of minor importance in the vital 31 days separating Richard Nixon's resignation and Gerald Ford's decision to pardon the disgraced leader. Rumsfeld served as ambassador to NATO and worked on the transition; Cheney was his deputy. Both were already well positioned for stellar careers, so it's hard to buy the argument proposed by Werth, author of the acclaimed The Scarlet Professor
, that Ford's first month in office was the tumultuous staging area for power for these two power players. This quibble aside, Werth provides a balanced fly-on-the-wall account of the byzantine intrigues that defined the first weeks of Ford's accidental presidency. Such Nixon partisans as Al Haig, Ron Ziegler and Henry Kissinger engage in petty turf battles with Ford press secretary Jerry terHorst, Nelson Rockefeller and other Ford loyalists. Meanwhile, Bush Sr.—then chair of the National Republican Committee—shuttles in and out of the picture, somewhat confused as to which side of the fight he should join. Werth has talked to many of the players to build a well-crafted book. It's a story that has been told more than once—but rarely so well or in such depth as it is here.