"A CANCER GROWING ON THE PRESIDENCY": FIRST EDITION OF THE 31-VOLUME REPORT OF THE WATERGATE HEARINGS, A MILESTONE IN AMERICAN HISTORY, IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS

(WATERGATE) (NIXON, Richard M.) UNITED STATES CONGRESS. Hearings before the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities of the United States Senate. Ninety-Third Congress, First Session. Watergate and Related Activities… Second Session… Indexes… Appendix… Election Reform: Basic References… Final Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973-74. Thirty-one volumes. Octavo, original green paper wrappers. $4200.

First edition of the landmark 31-volume report of the Watergate hearings, with nine volumes covering hearings on the "Watergate Investigation," four volumes on "Campaign Practices" and "Financing," four on the "Milk Fund Investigation," two on the "Use of Incumbency—Responsiveness Program," six on the 'Hughes-Rebozo Investigation," the volume of "Supplemental Material on Campaign Practices and Finances," the volume on "Election Reform: Basic References," the two-volume Appendix of "Legal Documents," the one-volume of Indices, and the 1974 "Final Report," rare complete in original wrappers, a fine set.

On February 7, 1973, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution to impanel the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities to investigate a turning point in 20th-century American history, triggered by the discovery of a minor burglary on the night of June 17, 1972 and leading to the first and only resignation of a U.S. President. What became known as the Watergate hearings convened publicly on May 17, 1973 and culminated in a final report issued by the Committee, submitted to the Senate on June 27, 1974, only weeks before the President's resignation. Over the course of the Watergate hearings, the world was held spellbound by the story behind what former White House counsel John Dean described on June 25, 1973 as "a cancer on the Presidency… growing more deadly every day." The testimony of Dean, Haldeman, Erlichman and other key administration figures, along with a trail of evidence and the recorded exploits of the White House "plumbers," revealed a system of fund-raising and campaign practices that would compel the Committee to insist on immediate safeguards needed to safeguard the electoral process and protect U.S. citizens from further unauthorized surveillance measures undertaken by the Executive Branch. First edition of 31 volumes of testimony, with first 26 volumes continuously paginated, the one-volume Indexes to the Public Hearings, the two-volume Appendix to the Hearings… Legal Documents, the one-volume Election Reform: Basic References, and the one-volume Final Report. Containing numerous illustrations including facsimiles and reproductions of memos, letters, journals, bank checks, mailing lists, notes and other materials entered as evidence. Volume 18 as issued with "Book 18" printed only on front cover. Small owner signatures to front wrappers of two volumes.

Interiors fine, only small closed tear to spine head of one volume. An especially fine set in original wrappers.