THE WHITE HOUSE: A Case of Pneumonia and Confrontation

As Richard Nixon emerged from the South Front of the White House, he seemed forlorn, his shoulders sagging. None of his family were with him. He climbed into his long Lincoln limousine with his new chief of staff, General Alexander Haig. The eight-car motorcade, led by a car full of Secret Service agents, slid off into the cool, clear Washington night. Thirty-eight minutes later, again looking preoccupied and rather alone, Nixon checked into the third-floor presidential suite at Bethesda Naval Hospital. The President, said his personal physician, Dr. Walter R. Tkach, had...