Book Review: The Company by John Ehrlichman
President Donald Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and his alleged obstruction of justice have engendered comparisons between the current president and Richard Nixon. Various commentators have compared the Trump White House with Nixon's, and the current case with the Watergate scandal. John Ehrlichman was a close friend and political ally of Nixon, working on his gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. Once Nixon became President, Ehrlichman worked as White House Counsel and later as Chief Domestic Political advisor. With his friend and colleague H. R. Haldeman he formed the so-called 'Berlin Wall' protecting the president. On the 1st of January 1975, Ehrlichman was convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and other charges for his role in the Watergate cover-up. As part of the Watergate cover-up, Nixon asked the CIA to stop the FBI investigation in to Watergate. A continuation of the investigation, Nixon threatened, would have exposed US secrets surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion and would have tarnished the reputation of former President John Kennedy. This episode represents the cornerstone of Ehrlichman's novel.
The 1976 novel The Company is really two books in one. At a superficial level, it is a fairly well written novel involving a CIA Director's efforts to protect his reputation and about the rise of a hard-hitting, anti-establishment and mildly paranoid president. At a deeper level, however, the novel is a 'roman a clef,' a 'novel with a key,' a novel portraying real-life events altered by a slim facade of fiction.
At this level, we can see how the protagonist, CIA Director William Martin is really Richard Helms. The book starts with Martin's shock at the untimely death of young president Bill Curry in a plane accident. Curry is succeeded by Vice President Asker Scott Anderson (Johnson). Anderson, like Johnson, decides not to run for re-election due to health problems (Vietnam in real life). This opens up the Presidential race. On the Republican side Richard Monckton (Nixon) is considered the front-runner in spite of the competition from Governor Thomas Froville (Nelson Rockefeller) of the Froville Foundation, who can also rely on the knowledge and expertise of academic turned policy advisor Carl Tessler (Henry Kissinger). On the Democratic side, the (hopeless) front-runner is Vice President Ed Gilley (Hubert Humphrey).
It is in this context, that the interests of President Anderson and Director Martin align. Anderson has an interest in seeing Gilley elected. Martin has an interest in keeping Monckton out of the White House. This, for two main reason: Martin's political loyalty to former president Curry and the possibility that Monckton in his anti-Curry crusade might reveal one of the CIA's deepest secrets. The secret in question can be found in the 'Primula Report' a report assessing the responsibilities for the failed 'Rio de Muerte' (Bay of Pigs) invasion to overthrow the government of the Dominican Republic (Cuba). The report identifies Curry's decision to kill a leading figure in the invading force as the main reason for the failure and Martin as the person responsible for giving the assassination order.
As Monckton campaign picks up pace, Martin enlists Tessler to provide information on the candidate and later to convince the candidate to keep him at the helm of the CIA. Once Monckton is elected, Tessler is named National Security Advisor (in spite of his aspiration to become Secretary of State) and Martin remain as CIA Director. Monckton eventually decides to get rid of Martin and requests several classified CIA documents including the 'Primula Report.' Monckton's position, however, is an untenable one. The President and advisors in the White House have organised a widespread campaign aimed at stopping leaks to journalists and have tapped the communications of political enemies and investigative journalists. To do this, they have enlisted former CIA operatives behind Director's Martin's back. Martin, however, is able to get photographic evidence of both the operatives tapping a journalist phone and the President meeting with these operatives. As Monckton is ready to fire Martin, Martin blackmails the President ordering him to drop his interest in the 'Primula Report,' to stop the FBI harassment of the CIA, to facilitate the path of the CIA's budget in Congress, and to give him an ambassadorship abroad. The book concludes with Martin enjoying his ambassadorship in Jamaica (Helms was sent to Iran) and reading the news regarding the tapping of the Democratic Presidential candidate. As he sips his cocktail on a Jamaican beach, Ambassador Martin worries: 'I have a feeling someone has lit a very long fuse that leads right to me.'
The book makes for a good read. Beyond the fictional facade, it provides an accurate portrayal of US politics in the 1970s, of the rivalries between intelligence agencies and of how intelligence agencies operate. No political actor seems to escape with a positive reputation. Tessler is more interested in having access to power than in following political ideals. Monckton comes across as a crass politician, at the same time jealous and contemptuous of the Washington establishment. The CIA emerges as an Machiavellian agency able to blackmail a president to preserve the reputation of its Director. Ironically (due to Ehrlichman's role in the White House), political operatives surrounding Monckton emerge as, at best, sycophantic. The book is a timely read at a moment when comparisons with Watergate abound. The Watergate scandal developed in the second term of the Nixon presidency and devoured the political careers and reputations of everyone involved (with the possible exception of Kissinger). In less than 130 days, President Trump has fired the Director of the FBI, revealed classified information to the Russians and admitted that the firing was connected to the investigation surrounding the Trump team and Russia. How long is the fuse in this case? And where will it lead?
