Memoirs of Maximum John

To Set the Record Straight: The Break-In, the Tapes, the Conspirators, the Pardon By John J. Sirica Norton, 349 pp., $15 Judge Sirica identifies himself as “obscure” prior to Watergate: “Opportunity knocks once at every man’s door.” How fully, how thoroughly, how gloriously Judge Sirica answered when opportunity in the form of Watergate knocked at his door. As Chief Judge of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia in 1972, a post which he had achieved in 1971 by seniority, he had the right to assign a case to a particular judge. He regularly assigned all the Watergate cases to himself until, on reaching the age of seventy in March 1974, he lost the right of assignment. He continued, as was his right, in the cases he had already assigned to himself. His central and activist role in Watergate lifted him from obscurity to a greater and presumably more enduring fame than that of any other American judge who has not risen above the trial-court level. Not only fame, but also fortune: Parade reports that for this book Judge Sirica received an advance of $500,000 from his publisher.

Though it is mostly about Watergate, the book has a prologue describing Sirica’s life from the time of his birth (in 1904) until he became a judge in 1957 by appointment of President Eisenhower. His origins were humble. He worked hard, both in the law and in Republican Party politics. He had a knack for trying cases and became a partner in the respected Washington firm of Hogan and Hartson. He was a boxer in his spare time and thus met Jack Dempsey, who became, and remains to this day, his best friend. There is little said about his service as a judge prior to Watergate. Reputedly he was law-enforcement-minded, and indeed he does say that he acquired the nickname of “Maximum John” by reason of his severity in criminal cases.

CW

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C. Dickerman Williams

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To Set the Record Straight: The Break-In, the Tapes, the Conspirators, the Pardon By John J. Sirica Norton, 349 pp., $15 Judge Sirica identifies himself as “obscure” prior to Watergate: “Opportunity knocks once at every man’s door.” How fully, how thoroughly, how gloriously Judge Sirica answered when opportunity in the form of Watergate knocked at his door. As Chief Judge of the United States District Court of the District of Columbia in 1972, a post which he had achieved in 1971 by seniority, he had the right to assign a case to a particular judge. He regularly assigned all the Watergate cases to himself until, on reaching the age of seventy in March 1974, he lost the right of assignment. He continued, as was his right, in the cases he had already assigned to himself. His central and activist role in Watergate lifted him from obscurity to a greater and presumably more enduring fame than that of any other American judge who has not risen above the trial-court level. Not only fame, but also fortune: Parade reports that for this book Judge Sirica received an advance of $500,000 from his publisher.

Though it is mostly about Watergate, the book has a prologue describing Sirica’s life from the time of his birth (in 1904) until he became a judge in 1957 by appointment of President Eisenhower. His origins were humble. He worked hard, both in the law and in Republican Party politics. He had a knack for trying cases and became a partner in the respected Washington firm of Hogan and Hartson. He was a boxer in his spare time and thus met Jack Dempsey, who became, and remains to this day, his best friend. There is little said about his service as a judge prior to Watergate. Reputedly he was law-enforcement-minded, and indeed he does say that he acquired the nickname of “Maximum John” by reason of his severity in criminal cases.