James Reston Jr. calls his diary of Nixon's impeachment "a template" for what we'll see in next six weeks

James Reston Jr. speaks at National Press Club Headliners Book Event Nov. 6. Photo: Marshall H. Cohen

 

After FBI director James Comey was fired by President Trump in May 2017, James Reston Jr. asked himself, "Didn't I write something about the last six weeks of the Nixon administration?" He began rooting through his papers "and out dropped this diary."

That diary has now been published as "The Impeachment Diary: Eyewitness to the Removal of a President," and was the subject of a National Press Club Headliners book event Nov. 6.

Reston, a prolific author of both fiction and nonfiction and a playwright, explained that as the events leading to the end of Richard Nixon's presidency approached their climax, he came to Washington "to witness the great drama of the only impeachment I thought I would ever witness in my lifetime."

In reading his observations from 45 years ago, Reston said "I was astonished at the relevance of it." He described the book as "a model, a blueprint, a template, if you will, for what we're going to witness in the six weeks or three months or so."

Chief among the lessons Reston said are relevant for today is that an impeachment should represent a "grand inquest of the nation." (The phrase is from the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase in 1805.)

The process, he said, should explore the "denigration of American democracy" and "coarseness of language" of the past several years that are "abhorrent" and, while not illegal, underlie the specific alleged allegations made by the impeachment managers.

As a consequence, Reston recommended that the articles of impeachment include not only specific technical charges but also a comprehensive narrative of what Reston described as President Trump's "criminality." If the president is acquitted in the Senate, that narrative, he said, "may be the only thing we'll ever get."

The event was moderated by Jim Kuhnhenn, Press Freedom Fellow at the National Press Club Journalism Institute.