RICHARD NIXON Watergate 1974 (Part 11) The Sinister Force Strikes Chuck Colson

Send a text

"Charles W. Colson, the Republican political operative who boasted that he would “walk over my own grandmother” to ensure the reelection of President Richard M. Nixon and went on to found a worldwide prison fellowship ministry after his conversion to evangelical Christianity, .......

Mr. Colson’s reputation as a “dirty tricks artist” overshadowed his achievements as a darkly brilliant political strategist. He helped lay the groundwork for the Nixon landslide of November 1972 by appealing to disgruntled Democrats and blue-collar minority voters.

A self-described “hatchet man” for Nixon, Mr. Colson compiled the notorious “enemies list” of politicians, journalists and activists perceived as threats to the White House. And most fatefully, he helped orchestrate illegal activities to discredit former Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who was suspected of leaking a top-secret history of the Vietnam War to the New York Times and The Washington Post. "   ------ Washington Post Obituary written by Michael Dobbs 

This is what most everyone thinks they know about Chuck Colson. What has been the most stunning thing I have learned about the Watergate Scandal has been how little the Prosecutor's actually had to make a case on Chuck Colson. The case was weak and they all knew it. But Leon Jaworski, while simultaneously working to protect William Bittman from an overwhelming case of guilt, was determined to see Chuck Colson imprisoned. 

In this episode we will let you listen in on how the case was maneuvered, and how Chuck Colson was scared into a plea deal. We will also introduce you to Chuck Colson, what his role was in the Nixon White House, and finally you will hear his own opinion on what happened to him at the hands of the Sinister Force of Watergate. A Sinister Force who literally stole a portion of this man's life and destroyed his reputation too.