An American Life: One Man's Road to Watergate

An American Life: One Man's Road to Watergate
by Jeb Stuart Magruder

An American Life: One Man's Road to Watergate
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jeb Stuart Magruder
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Published: 1974
ISBN: 0689106033
Number of pages: 338
Publisher: Atheneum

Book Reviews of An American Life: One Man's Road to Watergate

Book Review: My Favorite Book From the 1970s
Summary: 5 Stars

"An American Life" was my favorite book from the 1970s (and I finally get to review it decades later). The proof of this is that I remember whole passages almost verbatim over a period of some thirty years (see "quotes" below).

The origins of Magruder's involvement in Watergate are clearly laid out in Chapter 1, "Starting Out." His parents were wealthy heirs, until the Great Depression wiped out their families financially, and "my mother felt that life was harder for her than it should have been." As a result, the parents pushed Jeb and his brother to achieve the success that they had missed. "F. Scott Fitzgerald's stories of poor men who wanted to be rich struck very close to the reality of my own life."

What happened next followed logically. After leaving school, Magruder became a dedicated, if job hopping, careerist. He made several deft corporate "political" moves but quit his job (in Chicago) when he felt that the next step up the ladder was blocked by someone about his age. The result was that he ended up in California, where he met Nixon's people.

A meeting with H.R. "Bob" Haldeman led him to the White House where "finally, I had a job I loved, one that could be a springboard to unlimited success." As a result, he was willing to do just about anything, including playing "dirty tricks" such as inundating a radio station with complaints about a speaker critical of Nixon "staged" from various points in the country.

After taking part in Watergate and being incarcerated, Magruder realized the error of his ways, and sought redemption by putting his life on a firmer footing. "It can be a good life, for me and my family."

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