Introduction: “Too Many Nice Guys”—What Brought About Resistance in the Nixon Administration

“I think the trouble is that we’ve got too many nice guys around who just want to do the right thing,” said an exasperated Richard Nixon on August 3, 1972. Sitting in the Oval Office with his two closest advisers, Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman and Assistant for Domestic Affairs John Ehrlichman, the president vented about his cabinet’s lack of toughness. He was especially enraged over the unwillingness of certain administration officials to bend the rules to go after his political enemies. Earlier in the conversation, Nixon exclaimed, “We have all of this power and we’re not using it!” He asked, “Who is doing this full time? Who is running the IRS? Who is running over to the Justice Department? . . . With all of the agencies of government, what in the name of god are we doing about the McGovern contributors?” Haldeman responded, “The short answer to your question is nothing.” Nixon retorted, “Part of the problem is the bureaucracy, part of the problem is our own goddamned fault. There must be something we can do.” Although he griped about several different individuals in his administration during the discussion, the president specifically blamed his recently appointed secretary of the treasury George P. Shultz. During that summer, Shultz and the then commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Johnnie Walters had resisted the White House’s efforts to use the agency to harass and punish their opponents. “He’s not being political enough,” said Nixon. “I don’t care how nice of a guy he is. I don’t care how good of an economist he is. We can’t have this bullshit!”