The Nation: The Case of the Doctored Transcripts

"I don't give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else if it'll save it—save the plan. That's the whole point . . . We're going to protect our people, if we can."

Thus spoke Richard Nixon to some of his top aides on March 22, 1973, as he urged them not to cooperate with the many investigations of the Watergate scandal that were getting hotter. His words were tape-recorded, of course, like most conversations in the Oval Office. But...