Anything Watergate immediately draws me in. I enjoyed this take on the event, and was interested to see how the father/son author duo would reveal Bud’s side of the story. This has since become a tv show on HBO, but it is always fun to read the book first and see how the adaptation comes to life.

I briefly learned more about this in my AP History class in high school. This happened before I was born. Supposedly the authors were involved in the scandal with Richard Nixon. It was a boring read for me. There are far better accounts of Watergate and other events/people in US History than this memoir.

Cannot recommend.

Thanks to Egil and Matthew Krough, NetGalley and St Martins Press Griffin for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Already available.

Received a digital ARC of this book via NetGalley.

I was born way after the Water Gate Scandal. What I knew came from history classes in high school. I still don’t know too much about it and I guess when I originally saw this title, I thought this was about the actual plumbers in the WH. I felt this was kinda dry reading. But gives an interesting point of view.

Central figures in the Watergate scandal, 'The Plumbers' is a fascinating story of the unfolding events written by someone who there. It's a must read for all who have followed the scandal.

A huge fan of All the President's Men, this was a must read for me. Excellently written for a society still caught up in the Nixon scandal, this book comes at a time when talking about President's and their misdeeds is relevant again. An exciting read for history buffs and political aficionados, I highly recommend. I'm excited to see the TV show too!

I really enjoyed this book! Watergate is something I had always heard about in passing, but I lacked any deep knowledge on it. While you do need some context for the Pentagon Papers to understand the book, I found it was much more a memoir of the author's frame of mind and rebuilding his life post scandal than it is details about what actually happened and the trial. It was very interesting to see how the author's perspectives change over the course of him recounting his experiences. I think a lot of fathers and policy wonks would enjoy this book! I am neither but I still found it compelling - I'll be watching the HBO show!

Egil “Bud” Krogh was one of the men known as the “White House Plumbers,” which was a small group of operatives that dressed as tradesmen in order to illegally break into and ransack private offices for the purpose of digging up dirt on political opponents. Krogh’s job, together with E. Howard Hunt, was to lead a small team of men to burglarize the office of Dr. Fielding, the psychiatrist that treated journalist Daniel Ellsberg, in search of a way to discredit Ellsberg, whom President Richard Nixon regarded as an opponent.

My thanks go to Net Galley, St. Martin’s Press, and Macmillan Audio for the review copy and audio book. This book is for sale now.

Few people shy of the Boomer generation will have personal recollection of the Watergate scandal that brought down a sitting U.S. president for the first time, and the burglary of Fielding’s office was the first illegal event that set it all in motion. Nixon was furious that the Pentagon Papers had been released and that the U.S. Supreme Court had come down on the side of the First Amendment and the free press. Consequently, the president decided that the executive branch must go it alone, and sought a way to discredit the journalists behind it. That was how all of this came about. He howled about national security, and may or may not have believed it; or, he may have sought to cover up lies he had told to the American people about the war in Indochina, and since he couldn’t force the publication out of circulation, the next best thing would be to persuade the public that its authors—or annotators, at any rate—were crazy and not to be believed. This background information comes from me, not from the book.

At any rate, this political memoir comes to us courtesy of Bud Krogh, and also his son Matthew, who completed it after Bud’s death. For the purpose of this review, I will use the name Krogh to refer to Bud, unless otherwise noted.

Krogh was brought into this mess by John Ehrlichman, one of the two advisors that were nearly as close as a second skin to Nixon during his time in office. Other accounts refer to both as cold-blooded thugs, and my earlier reading leads me to agree with them, but to Bud, Ehrlichman was a noble soul dedicated to his country and his president, a fine, devout individual that was like a second father to him growing up. It didn’t occur to him, initially at least, that anything he was being asked to do was corrupt or scandalous; here, I find myself shifting in my seat. Surely he must have wondered why this secret little group of men, not even government employees, were being tasked with this job, rather than the agencies that ordinarily do the cloak-and-dagger jobs? He claims that Nixon couldn’t trust FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who was a slimy character, and that makes at least a little sense to anyone familiar with him. Yikes.

The writing as well as the accountability are uneven throughout this book. The prologue sounds sketchy to me. Those of us that have spent any time at all watching criminal trials take place is familiar with the vaguely nebulous language I see and hear at the beginning of this thing. Instead of saying that he has done something very wrong and is sorry, he says he has made bad choices, and he is sorry about “what happened.” This is the language that guilty people use when their attorney has told them to show remorse. Someone not listening carefully might think that the speaker has apologized, but they’ve actually distanced themselves from wrongdoing. During this portion of the memoir, I glanced at the text and also the device playing the audio, half expecting to see a little slime leaching from its margins.

And yet, at the end, the prose is more eloquent, and the accountability rock solid. Krogh goes to the psychiatrist in order to apologize in person, once he is out of prison. He visits Nixon to apologize to him (which baffles me, but okay.) He claims to have declined a presidential pardon. He never loses an opportunity to put on a hair shirt prior to his many speaking engagements. And so it goes.

One could surmise that the early portion was written by Krogh, and the end written by his son, but even if that is true, those speaking engagements were taken by Bud, not by Matthew, and likewise the specific apologies rendered. So who knows?

The narrator for the audiobook is Peter Krogh, who does a fine job.

If you are interested in studying the Watergate scandal and haven’t read any other books about it, this is not the one. Krogh’s involvement ended with the break-in to Fielding’s office, and he helped cover it up, lying under oath as he was told to do, but he had nothing to do with the Watergate Hotel burglary of the Democratic National Committee’s offices. In short, though famous enough to be remembered for his actions, he was not a central player. For those interested in reading just one book about this scandal, I’d go with All the President’s Men, by Woodward and Bernstein; The Nixon Defense, by John Dean; or Nixon: The Life, by John A Farrell. These are all fairly lengthy; if you are looking for something less lengthy, try One Man Against the World, by Tim Weiner.

As a general read for the uninitiated, I’d give this book 2.5 stars. For Nixon and Watergate buffs, I rate it 3.5 stars.

Given the right circumstances, can good people do bad things?

I went into this book not knowing much about the watergate scandal or events leading up to it (I was born in the 90s). I wanted to learn more about this time in history and ended up learning more about integrity.

I will say I was expecting the events in the book to unfold in a more captivating way but it was rather…. tame. I did find the story interesting nonetheless more so because I became drawn to the authors temperament and character. It’s always captivating to read about someone that has been involved in something substantial and get to learn what they were thinking and feeling at the time and what kind of person they are. I found Mr Krogh to be a virtuous individual that was caught up in his duties, and unquestionably loyal, which led to his wrongdoing.

To answer the above question, good people can sometimes do bad things and this novel is a testament to this.

I enjoyed reading The White House Plumbers and thank Netgalley and St Martins Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not quite what I was expecting. I expected a lot more inside information and news the general public didn't necessarily know regarding the break-in at Dr. Fielding's office and the subsequent Watergate scandal. However, most of what was shared in the book was not a surprise though I was not aware of how deep Nixon's paranoia ran when it came to being watched, and making sure his secrets were kept. It was more focused on the author, Krogh, and his personal struggles following his decision to maintain his blind loyalty to the president, all the while orchestrating and approving acts he knew were illegal. I would have like a little more behind-the-scenes revelations, and a little less personal introspection about integrity, but overall, it was a quick informative read for those who are interested in learning the basics of the events that led to the infamous Watergate.

In June of 1973, a young newlywed couple drove back to the MidWest from the New England home of the bride listening to public radio to John Dean and Alexander Butterfield exposing to the world what the newly married couple had always believed; that Richard Nixon, the president, was not fit for office. This book, by one of the criminal actors in Nixon's various conspiracies offers some daylight on one of them.

Egil Krogh was a young lawyer who pleads his case in this short book. He makes no excuses, thank goodness, but admits what his secret, illegal group was and how they broke the law at the behest of the paranoia of Richard Nixon.

I don't have it within me to be objective or dispassionate about this book and its author. When I read it I just got mad all over again, for all that this was fifty years ago. Short of the Civil War, the Nixon presidency was the worst thing to happen to this nation until the two most recent Republican presidencies. I am giving this book five stars because I don't want to be unfair and my judgment is affected. I only know that it is worth reading and I'm glad I did.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC

When I was in 11th grade, I took a class called "International/National Affairs" with one of my most favorite teachers ever. In this class we looked at and discussed many topics, both current and in the past, all relevant still. One of the topics was Watergate and we both read "All the President's Men" and watched the excellent movie [I have the movie about Mark Felt on my TBW list and it got bumped up because he is mentioned in this book and reminded me I want to know more about that man. At the time of me being in HS, "Deep Throat" was an unknown and there was always a lot of speculation]. Of all that we learned in that class, this is the one section that really stuck with me; perhaps its my love of History and Presidents, or the fact that a President did something awful and unethical and was unrepentant to the end about it, I am not sure, but Watergate has always stayed with me and I have been intrigued by anything written about it.

This book is a very good read and a good look into the beginnings of what became the downfall of President Nixon. Bud Krogh is one of the few that were convicted that was repentant from almost the beginning and his redemption story is inspiring. The fact that he wrote this with his son [Matthew] and then that same son finished it when his dad died and then the second son narrates it, just shows how he worked to repair all that was broken and how he spent his life making things right.

IF you are fascinated by the whole Watergate scandal, this is a great book to read about the beginnings of that time. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read it. It was really interesting to read about the man who turned himself in and was repentant from the beginning and worked from the start to make amends. I am not sure that really is the case with all of them. All that he was able to achieve afterwards is, I believe, simply because he was truly repentant and made amends with the people he hurt AND because he was willing to serve the sentence he was given. That goes a long way in my book of someone who made a mistake, realized it and worked to correct it for the rest of his life, long after it was not needed. Well done.

I was also able to get an audiobook ARC for this book and I am so glad I did. Mr. Krogh's son Peter narrates this, and I love how his sons worked to finish this after their father died. While not the best narrator I have ever heard, I am not sure anyone else would have done the whole story any kind of justice like his son reading it would. Even though he was young when the original act happened, I am sure there was much discussion about the White House years through out his and his brother's life [and why good people sometimes do bad things and how to make that right] and he was, in my opinion, the perfect fit to read his father's story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Egil "Bud" Krogh, Matthew Krogh, Peter Krogh - Narrator, St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Griffin and Macmillian Audio for providing both the book ARC and the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was SO interesting. I have read a lot of books and listened to a lot of podcasts on the Nixson presidency and this was such a unique story and point of view that i did not know much about. Krogh and his son recount Krogh's work as one Nixon's "plumbers", where he was tasked with protecting the leak of the Pentagon Papers. As Krogh searched for evidence of the security leak, Krogh was driven by a devotion to his country and president and blindly followed their instructions. This was such an honest and frank story and I really enjoyed learning just a little bit more about this corrupt, paranoid presidency. I am really looking forward to the HBO documentary based on this book! Thank you so much to St. Martins Press for this advanced copy. "The White House Plumbers" is out on 12/29!

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of this history/ memoir dealing with the Nixon administration, Watergate, and the consequences of one's actions in blind obedience.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, but for a lot of people, corruption sets in just in being close to power, absolute or not. How do so many otherwise rational people, supposedly moral, supposedly religious, supposedly from strong military backgrounds toss all these thoughts aside when a president goes, who will rid me of meddlesome leaker. Or a person who says not nice things about the person in power on Twitter. And why do they do it so happily, jumping right in and saying yes I am your lap dog, so much more loyal than all the other lap dogs praising you, I will do these otherwise illegal actions that all my training, teaching and conscience are telling me is wrong, unethical, downright illegal, and frankly stupid. Egil "Bud" Krogh was a lawyer, military man and someone who thought they were a good person. Until he was brought into the inner sanction of the Nixon Administration. The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency written with his son Matthew Krogh are an attempt to write and understand what led him down from promising up-and-comer to prison in a very short period of time.

Bud Krogh was a proud member of the presidential transition team, making sure that future cabinet officials and department heads were clear of any possible ethics violations in relation to the jobs they were offered. There are some funny stories about that time, as Krogh and his friends really didn't know much about politics or governance, but heard the stories of campaign veterans and wanted to not only know more, but be more in politics. Krogh got his chance as John Ehrlichman, counsel to President Nixon was a family friend, and father figure to Krogh, bringing Krough to the White House, where he was given a very important mission. The president was concerned about the amount of leaks the administration was dealing with. The New York Times and Washington Post were printing material that made it hard for Nixon to govern and deal with among other things peace in Vietnam. Krogh was given orders, find the leaks and stop them. Krogh gathered a real interesting gang of plumbers to help with these, and from there everything started to go wrong.

The book is small and really does not go into depth into why or what Krogh was thinking or why what started small escalated into robbery, or some of the other insane, and frankly stupid ideas that otherwise smart men thought to do. At one point Krogh mentions that Ehrlichman was a father figure so maybe that was a factor. Also at the time the President was still someone that people respected, and expected to know best. If the President said jump and break into this building I am sure most people would ask how high, and should we blow the safe. So don't go into the book for insight or deep moral questions. There is a lot about the other Plumbers, and working for the administration, and Krogh's life after which is interesting. However an understanding of Nixon and his people and the problems that were going on will help, as the book does not explain much outside of Krogh's circle and their relations to the president and events.

Recommended for readers of Watergate and Nixon books, both of which I am guilty of. This one is a little more personal, not revelatory but is still of interest. What does become clear is that draw that power has on people, a song of both greed and status and maybe a pat on the head that I will never understand, or if offered might think better of.

Interesting. If you're old enough to remember Watergate, this will zing memories. If you aren't it's a good place to start. SO much has changed as a result of Watergate and yet many things about the political world (and elections) remain the same. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I was a baby during the Watergate incident. I know very little of the circumstances surrounding the event. Hearing a first-hand account helped me to understand why the people involved believed what they were tasked with doing was appropriate and good for the country. I don't agree with the reasoning for this crime, especially the president believing he was above the law and held no responsibility for the actions he required others to execute.

No one is above the law, even a president, but based on the actions of President Ford, there is a belief in Nixon's complicity in the Watergate break-in.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh, Matthew Krogh, MacMillan Audio, and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

As an avid history buff, I was eager to get my hands on this book about the White House Plumbers. While I have read a great deal about Watergate, never have I taken the time to explore anything written by those men who were involved in the break-ins that would one day bring down a sitting US president. Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh and his son, Matthew, tell a great story in a handful of chapters, explaining how Nixon became paranoid about national security, which snowballed into worry about the Democratic Party leading up to the 1972 general election.

It was the summer of 1971 when Egil ‘Bud’ Krogh found himself sitting in a top-secret meeting within the White House. While Krogh expected to be talking about some part of the Vietnam War, things soon took a turn. President Nixon was highly worried about the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, a covert history of the war in Vietnam. Krogh was handed a file and tasked with heading up the Special Investigations Union—SIU—nicknamed ‘The Plumbers’. Their job would be to find the leak and plug it once and for all. This began a series of events that Bug Krogh would never forget.

Fuelled by a dedication to his country and president, Krogh blindly followed the direction of those above him as he sought to find proof of the security leak. The primary goal was to sully the name of Daniel Ellsberg, presumed to be the core of the leak and a potential Soviet spy. Working to do whatever was asked of him, even when it was highly illegal, Krogh began by organising a break in at the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, in hopes of finding damning evidence. These steps would one day bring down Nixon’s presidency and leave an indelible mark on the country for decades.

After committing this crime, Krogh left the SIU and chose to work within the Administration, lying when called upon to testify during the Watergate hearings. When the truth about his involvement surfaced, Krogh pled guilty to his actions shedding some unique light on what happened during those late night meetings and just who gave the orders, as well as who knew what was happening at any one time. His frankness and eagerness to tell all is both intriguing and resonates just how corrupt the Nixon inner circle turned out to be.

Exploring his attempts to put his life back together after time in prison, Bud Krogh explains his meetings with Nixon in 1974-75, as well as trying to regain his ability to practice law. While it was a superficial exploration, the reader can take something away they likely did not know.

Having now died, Bud Krogh’s story went with him to the grave, but this written account helps shed some light on the actors long deemed guilty, even if they deflected any responsibility at the time. While short and somewhat crafted as a primer, it was a refreshing look at Watergate, the role of paranoia in the early 1970s, and how Richard Nixon’s intoxication with power proved to be his downfall.

While this was not a stunning publication, full of revelations and finger-pointing towards new and mysterious actions in the Waterhouse debacle, it was still worth my time. Bud Krogh provides some blunt admissions and interesting insider views from 1971 and 1972, particularly related to illegal break-ins that Nixon could use for his own power games. Using short chapters and a clear narrative, Krogh presents eye-opening tales of events, naming names and eagerly explaining just what happened. His views, while surely tainted from years passing between the events and this publication, prove forthright and well worth the reader’s time. Surely a way to ‘ease one’s conscience’ before death, Bud Krogh was able to leave this world with a clean slate and likely allowed Matthew to see what happened when the younger Krogh was just a child. Short and to the point, the read was swift and a decent piece of writing, but lacked the depth and intensity I had hoped I would find with a piece of this nature.

Kudos, Messrs. Krogh, for this piece. While little was shocking, the entertainment value that emerged while reading and piecing things together proved well worth my time.

I enjoyed this behind-the-scenes story of Watergate. I'll recommend it to readers looking for American history.

The White House Plumbers is the memoir of “Bud” Krough who had an inside view during Richard Nixon’s Presidency.

I wasn't old enough nor was I raised in a politically involved family. So, most of what I read in this book was totally new to me. "The White House Plumbers" occurred prior to the Watergate but the actions of them led to the event most known to me.

I have read a lot about the paranoia of Richard Nixon, but this memoir was more personal because the information came from “Bud” Krough. The actions taken by "Bud" can be understood regarding his awareness and eventual guilty plea, but so can his actions prior to and leading up the break-in of Dr. Fielding's office. Believing what you are being told by someone as important as the President, it must have been difficult to be so caught up in the moment, that you follow thru on orders instead of questioning them.

While he took “full responsibility’, he did not take “exclusive responsibility.” He also made it clear that he did not want, nor would he accept a pardon. He served his time as well as testified truthfully when called to do so. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I love reading about topics such as this that I knew very little about. I feel as if I learned something new and highly recommend this book.

Watergate as told from the perspective of a plumber. Bud Krogh was fiercely loyal until refusing to authorizing a wiretap and it landed him in jail (after organizing the bizarrely famous meeting between Elvis and Nixon). There's been much written about the events from people outside of the events, along with recapping by those refusing to accept they did anything wrong, but a POV from someone who was involved and admits it was wrong is a rare thing. Especially today after the past four years.

I found myself pleasantly surprised by this book and how much it captivated me. I really enjoyed learning about this aspect of the Watergate scandal, not new information, but a different perspective, a personal touch to the story. Krogh helps shine a light on how one man got himself into the situation, how he justified it to himself. This became incredibly clear when at the end of the book Krogh goes to apologize/make amends to Nixon. It felt odd but helped explain why he did what he did.