The Nixon Group1

Abstract

A sociometric analysis and an examination in terms of group process offer some clues toward the understanding of the actions and decisions by former President Nixon's advisory group, the young team. Review of the transcripts of the White House tapes and the hearings of the Senate Select Committee and the House Judiciary Committee suggests that, in contrast to the Kennedy group, the Nixon group was not a closely knit team with high esprit de corps and mutual respect. Rather, there were two strongly competing factions: Haldeman/Ehrlichman/Colson and Mitchell/Dean. The group was held together by a common dependence upon the president who set the basic tone and ideal for the group—to succeed one had to be driving, hard‐hitting against all “enemies,” willing to be pragmatic in accomplishing team goals. The existence of competing factions contributed to acceleration of riskiness and extreme measures and to a reduction of moral restraints. In that sense, the groupthink phenomenon described by Janis was evident in the Nixon group.