The Legacy of Watergate and the Nixon Presidency

“Like Genovese, I’m old enough to remember the Nixon presidency, but most in our country are not. This matters because Richard Nixon was the starting point of a profound, and profoundly dark, trend line in the evolution of the presidency. In this elegant and highly readable book, Genovese draws that line for us. It is no coincidence that in 1987, Richard Nixon penned a letter to Donald Trump saying that if he ever ran for office, he would be ‘a winner!’”

— Robert J. Spitzer, Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, Emeritus SUNY Cortland, Author, The Gun Dilemma (2023) and The Politics of Gun Control (2024)

“Carefully researched and elegantly written, this book analyzes how the Nixon presidency and Watergate scandal continue to inform American politics. It is essential reading for understanding challenges to democratic governance in the twenty-first century.”

— Meena Bose, Kalikow School Executive Dean and Kalikow Center Director of Presidential Studies, Hofstra University, United States


This book examines the Nixon presidency, reviews the events surrounding Watergate and the President’ resignation, and unpacks the effects of Watergate on our politics and public attitudes about the political process. Genovese, a prolific scholar of the American presidency who has published three previous books on Nixon and Watergate, argues that the roots of modern political dysfunction and slash-and-burn politics can be traced to the impact of the Vietnam War, the Watergate Crisis, the policies and activities of the Nixon presidency, and the hyper-partisanship they spawned. Now, 50 years on from the scandal, it is time for a reappraisal of Nixon’s impact and a review of the impact he has had on our political system and political culture.


Michael Genovese is President of the Global Policy institute, Director of the Institute for Leadership Studies, and Loyola Chair of Leadership at Loyola Marymount University, USA. He is co-series editor of The Evolving American Presidency.