The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment that Redefined the Supreme Court
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In the fall of 1971, when William Rehnquist was nominated to fill an Associate Justice seat on the Supreme Court, the Senate raised no major objections, and a little-known Assistant Attorney General found himself at the pinnacle of the judiciary.It seemed a straightforward choice of a relatively young, academically outstanding and politically seasoned lawyer who shared Richard Nixon's philosophy of "strict constructionism." As Nixon's White House Counsel John Dean reveals for the first time that the choice was anything but straightforward. The truth is that Nixon's nomination was the result of a dramatic, Nixonian rollercoaster. Rehnquist was a last-minute longshot who had once been dismissed by Nixon as a "clown." Only John Dean -- Rehnquist's champion at the time -- knows the full, improbable story.Dean's gripping tale is loaded with revelations such as Nixon's plan to pack the court by forcing resignations, before his inauguration.Using newly released White... Library Journal One of the central figures of President Nixon's Watergate scandal sets out to describe how William Hubbs Rehnquist, at the time an obscure Justice Department attorney, came to be appointed to the Supreme Court, later to become Chief Justice. White House counsel Dean takes regretful credit for having suggested Rehnquist because the latter was a strict constructionist (and very conservative), exceedingly talented, a writer of great lucidity, and blessed with a distinguished background that included being first in his class at Stanford Law School and clerking for Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson. Dean was there, of course, and also has access to verbatim transcripts of the time. And so we hear Nixon and company's banal and repetitive discussions interweaving political considerations-regional balance, gender, and race concerns, for example-with rants about political philosophy and enemies. This is the sort of audiobook that does not benefit from histrionics, and reader Michael Rafkin does a good job, though this reviewer regretted his attempts at Nixon impersonation. Still, the book has been widely praised, and this audio version belongs in collections of modern political history.-Don Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, ME
Cast of CharactersxiiiA Note to the Readerxv1.Introduction: The Backstory1Part 12.The Games Begin (September 17, 1971)313.Priority One: A Southerner (September 18)444.The Push for Poff (September 20)605.Priority Two: Two Conservatives (September 23-28)806.Poff Goes Poof (September 29-October 2)101Part 27.Testing How Byrd Might Fly (October 2-11, 1971)1258.Going with Friday and Lillie (October 12-14)1509.The Chief Justice and Other Problems (October 14-18)173Part 310.Powell and Baker (October 19, 1971)19911.While Howard Baker Dithered (October 20)22112.The Rehnquist Choice (October 21)24113.Afterword265A Note on Sources287Chronology288Notes290Bibliography319Index323
