Sirica AUTOGRAPH WATERGATE LETTERS President Nixon Start Price USD 650.00 Current Price USD 650.00 Time Left 14 days 17 hours 40 minutes Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, September 20, 2008 End Time Friday, December 19, 2008 Location Maryland See more about 'Sirica AUTOGRAPH WATERGATE LETTERS President Nixon ' Description WITH SIX PAGES OF JUDGE SIRICA'S HANDWRITTEN NOTES! "TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT" (Formerly Owned By Art Buchwald With His (?) Annotations) FIRST EDITION. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1979. This book came from a now defunct Washington DC area used book shop; the front blank page has two separate notations: "Art Buchwalds copy" [penciled at the top]; "Pub Date (April, 1979) From Art April 27. 1979 (John Stacks, writer)" [penned at the bottom]. There is a fair amount of annotations throughout, possibly (presumably?) in Buchwald's hand, though possibly in part - or entirely - in Stack's hand as well (see below for both blank page notes and sample annotations). Laid inside the book are six pages of notes in what appears to be Judge Sirica's hand: two sheets on his District Court letterhead, two sheets on unruled buff paper, two on ruled yellow paper (with an additional unused ruled yellow sheet). The packet of notes is contained within a folded blank sheet which also has Judge Sirica's letterhead. The notes contain several references to Watergate figures including President Nixon, Robert Halderman, Father McLaughlin, McCord, Leon Jaworski, etc. Also mentioned is (John?) Stacks. An interesting Watergate item as well as a curious association copy of this important book.  Shipping at $3.95 anywhere USA. Expedited and insured shipping available, international bidders welcome. John Joseph Sirica (March 19, 1904 – August 14, 1992) was the Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he became famous for his role as the chief judge presiding over the Watergate scandal. He rose to national prominence during the Watergate scandal when he demanded that President Richard Nixon turn over his recordings of White House conversations. Sirica's involvement in the case began when he presided over the trial of the Watergate burglars. He did not believe the claim that they had acted alone, and persuaded or coerced them to implicate the men who had arranged the break-in. For his role in Watergate the judge was named TIME magazine's Man of the Year in 1973. John Sirica was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Ferdinand and Rose Zinno Sirica, both of whom were Italian immigrants. He moved to D.C. in 1918, where he attended Emerson Preparatory School and eventually transferred to Columbia Preparatory School.[1] Sirica received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center after doing undergraduate work at Duke University. He was a Republican and was appointed to the Court in 1957 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sirica had a largely undistinguished career before Watergate. Author Joseph Goulden wrote a book about federal judges called The Benchwarmers and mentioned that many lawyers appearing in Sirica's courtroom thought little of him or his abilities as a judge. Many complained about his short temper and careless legal errors. He was nicknamed "Maximum John" for giving defendants the maximum sentence guidelines allowed. He retired in 1986 and died in 1992, aged 88. Sirica published his account of the Watergate affair in 1979 under the title To Set the Record Straight. Arthur Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007) was an American humorist best known for his long-running column that he wrote in The Washington Post, which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982 and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. John Stacks is a distinguished journalist who spent three decades as a reporter and editor for Time Magazine and is the author of Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism, about James "Scotty" Reston, the late New York Times columnist. Pay me securely through PayPal! Place a Bid!