The Nixon crisis of 1973-1974 threatened the nation in ways we did not immediately understand. Stripped of drama and confusion, however, the problem was that our President had placed himself above the law. The nation had to decide whether that could be allowed. This story starts with the last days of Richard Nixon in the White House -- as those closest recognized that he had deceived them and that they must force him out. The thread of manipulation is traced back to its origin 20 years earlier and shows how the Nixon team came to see politics as war in which no quarter was given, in which the White House was a command post where ordinary rules did not apply, where power could be used without restraint