Scorpions' Dance: The President, the Spymaster, and Watergate

Written by Jefferson Morley

Narrated by John Pruden

For the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in: The untold story of President Richard Nixon, CIA Director Richard Helms, and their volatile shared secrets that ended a presidency.

Scorpions' Dance by intelligence expert and investigative journalist Jefferson Morley reveals the Watergate scandal in a completely new light: as the culmination of a concealed, deadly power struggle between President Richard Nixon and CIA Director Richard Helms.

Nixon and Helms went back decades; both were 1950s Cold Warriors, and both knew secrets about the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as well as off-the-books American government and CIA plots to remove Fidel Castro and other leaders in Latin America. Both had enough information on each other to ruin their careers.

After the Watergate burglary on June 17, 1972, Nixon was desperate to shut down the FBI's investigation. He sought Helms' support and asked that the CIA intervene—knowing that most of the Watergate burglars were retired CIA agents, contractors, or long-term assets with deep knowledge of the Agency's most sensitive secrets. The two now circled each other like scorpions, defending themselves with the threat of lethal attack. The loser would resign his office in disgrace; the winner, however, would face consequences for the secrets he had kept.

Rigorously researched and dramatically told, Scorpions' Dance uses long-neglected evidence to reveal a new perspective on one of America's most notorious presidential scandals.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781250855879

Jefferson Morley

JEFFERSON MORLEY is a journalist and editor who has worked in Washington journalism for over thirty years, fifteen of which were spent as an editor and reporter at The Washington Post. The author of Our Man in Mexico, a biography of the CIA’s Mexico City station chief Winston Scott, Morley has written about intelligence, military, and political subjects for Salon, The Atlantic, and The Intercept, among others. He is the editor of JFK Facts, a blog. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews for Scorpions' Dance

[Monica Cantile · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this before I would go to bed so everything that i did hear i loved it

[Lesley Donovan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding presentation of a complicated, bedeviling series of events in the second half of the 20th century. Primarily directors of the CIA and political leaders (especially presidents) did the “scorpions’ dance’ in attempts to deal with dangers to the US and
their own need to attain and retain personal power. The author tells a gripping story that at times brought tears to my eyes as I listened to tragic results of corrupt choices. I found myself wondering if it’s possible to maintain the values we say we cherish while keeping our country safe. I wonder if I’m naive and in denial of how the world works, and wondering how we should deal with fellow countrymen and women as well as
foreign nations who wish us great harm. All I know is that this book is a masterpiece of objectivity that presents evidence and leaves
conclusions to the readers. The reader mispronounces a number of words and names but keeps the narrative moving. It’s a long book that I couldn’t stop listening to.