While Richard Nixon's culpability for Watergate has long been established, it is remarkable that — after almost 40 years — conventional accounts of the scandal still don't address Nixon's motive. Why was he willing to jeopardise his presidency by ordering the wide range of criminal operations that resulted in Watergate? What was he so desperate to get at the Watergate, and how does it explain the deeper context surrounding his crimes?

Lamar Waldron has undertaken groundbreaking research, revealed in this book for the first time, that provides documented answers to these questions. They add crucial missing pieces to the Watergate story — information that Nixon wanted, but couldn't get, and that wasn't available to the Senate Watergate Committee, or to Woodward and Bernstein.

Watergate: the hidden history builds on and re-examines the historical record, drawing on a wealth of new material: thousands of recently declassified CIA and FBI files; newly released Nixon tapes; and exclusive interviews with those involved, ranging from former Nixon officials to key aides for John and Robert Kennedy. Comprehensive and compelling, this is a monumental work of investigative research.