31 days : the crisis that gave us the government we have today

Author Werth takes readers inside the White House during the tumultuous days following Nixon's resignation and the swearing-in of Gerald Ford. Watergate had torn the country apart. Within the White House and the Republican Party, Nixon's resignation produced new fissures and battle lines--and 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, and within hours of Nixon's departure, Ford began the all-important task of forming an inner circle of trusted advisers. Werth describes the often vicious sparring among two mutually distrustful staffs--Nixon's and Ford's vice presidential holdovers--and a transition team that included Donald Rumsfeld (then Nixon's ambassador to NATO) and Rumsfeld's former deputy, the 33-year-old coolly efficient Richard Cheney. The first detailed account of the maneuvering behind everything from the pardon of Nixon to the rise of a new cadre of Republican movers and shakers.--From publisher description.