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Outlook

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/OUTLOOK. SECTION B EZ BD

How to calculate the risk

of taking off your mask. B3

INSIDE BOOK WORLD

He fought Hitler’s regime

from Princeton. B7

Getting at the “how” of

changing the world. B8

JESS SUTTNER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

INSIDE OUTLOOK

The power of a long-

hidden Lincoln portrait. B2

T

here’s a joke circulating on Chinese

American social media that goes

something like: “You told us to go

back to China, and Eileen Gu finally did.”

This claps back at the blatantly racist

rhetoric directed at Gu by the American

conservative media, which accuses her of

being ungrateful and brands her a traitor

for rejecting the honor of being a mem-

ber of Team USA. It certainly doesn’t help

the pundits’ collective blood pressure

that the three medals Gu nabbed at the

games will go to China, where Gu is the

toast of the nation.

It’s all too tempting for Chinese Ameri-

cans to feel roused by Eileen Gu’s exam-

ple. In the United States, we’re often

treated as perpetual outsiders who must

constantly prove our loyalty. The free-

style skier has flouted expectations that

she act like a grateful little model minori-

ty who expresses constant thanks for the

honor of representing the United States.

Instead, she has charted her own path to

glory, finding enthusiastic support from

the people of our shared sourceland. But

if you dig even a little deeper, that

support turns out to be rigidly condition-

al. Gu’s triumph can’t support the hopes

for our own acceptance that we want to

pile on to her.

I immigrated to the United States

when I was 9 years old, and, like many of

my Chinese American peers, I speak

fluent Chinglish and have a passing

familiarity with the finer points of Chi-

nese etiquette and prevailing public

opinions. When visiting China, I would

mess up by failing to use the proper

euphemisms to refer to someone’s di-

vorce, or openly supporting same-sex

marriage, or rudely serving myself before

SEE GU ON B4

Eileen Gu

o≠ers Chinese

Americans a

hard lesson

Acceptance can’t be won

through pure achievement,

says Frankie Huang

By Leonard Downie Jr.

N

early half a century has passed

since five men with burglary and

eavesdropping equipment were ar-

rested on June 17, 1972, inside the offices

of the Democratic National Committee

on the sixth floor of the Watergate office

building. During that time, scores of

books, totaling untold thousands of pag-

es, have been published about the scan-

dal, which resulted in the resignation of

President Richard Nixon. Do we need still

another Watergate book?

The answer turns out to be yes — this

one: Garrett M. Graff’s “Watergate: A

New History.” It is a remarkably rich

narrative with compelling characters,

who range from criminal and flawed to

tragic and heroic. As someone who

played a small role in the drama while I

was editing many of The Washington

Post’s Watergate stories, I found that

Graff convincingly populates and re-cre-

ates an extraordinary time in the history

of the country and this city.

To do so, Graff, a prolific journalist,

historian and author, waded through

scores of previous books, plus countless

pages of oral histories, news stories and

Nixon’s Oval Office tape transcripts, as

well as FBI, court and congressional

records, among other documentation in

various archives. “My goal was not to

re-investigate,” Graff writes, explaining

that he “purposefully chose not to con-

duct fresh interviews.” Instead, he decid-

ed “to tell the story based on the docu-

mentary archival record,” which has been

steadily expanding over the decades.

His story encompasses not just the

Watergate burglary and coverup, but “a

dozen other distinct but related scan-

dals” during the Nixon administration,

including illegal wiretaps, campaign

“dirty tricks,” possible treason, attempted

misuse of the FBI and CIA, and the

bribery conviction of Vice President

SEE WATERGATE ON B5

Writing a

‘more human’

history of

Watergate

W

hen President Richard Nixon re-

signed in disgrace, the odds of

his standing trial for obstruc-

tion of justice seemed high: His

actions undermining the Water-

gate investigation had been tape-recorded, and

his part in the coverup led to pressure on the

legal system to hold him accountable. In Sep-

tember 1974, however, one month after Nixon

left office, his successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned

him. Ford later told a congressional subcom-

mittee that the pardon was designed to “shift

our attentions from the pursuit of a fallen

President to the pursuit of the urgent needs of a

rising nation.”

It didn’t — not in the immediate aftermath

and, in some ways, not ever. Although views

later softened, many Americans at the time saw

the pardon as a mistake. Some were livid. One

powerful man had essentially condoned the

criminality of another. The get-out-of-jail-free

card exacerbated public cynicism and deep-

ened the nation’s social fractures. The White

House switchboard lit up with calls that ran 8

to 1 against Ford’s action. The New York Times

captured some of the liberal rage when it

described the pardon as an affront to “the

American system of justice.” A president who

thought he was doing the right thing had taken

justice into his own hands, casting doubt on a

bedrock idea: Justice is blind; no one is above

the law.

Nearly five decades later, Joe Biden is presi-

dent, and a pardon for Donald Trump isn’t

happening. But whether Trump will eventually

be prosecuted for his conduct in the White

House is more of a conundrum: If the country

crosses this inviolate threshold, all hell will

break loose. If we don’t cross it, all hell will

break loose. There will be no “shifting our

attentions” by advocates of either course. And

whichever path the nation follows will have

lasting repercussions. One thing is increasing-

ly clear — fear will play a greater role than facts

in determining it.

If Trump were indicted, he would become

the first former president to stand criminal

trial. Prosecutorial threats are multiplying:

Bank and tax fraud charges are under consid-

eration in Manhattan. In Fulton County, Ga., a

special grand jury is investigating Trump’s

interference in the 2020 election. In a Wash-

ington courtroom, U.S. District Judge Amit P.

SEE CHARGES ON B4

Prosecuting

Trump is risky.

Not prosecuting

h im is worse.

The idea that no one is above the law is a bedrock principle in America.

Political historian Matthew Dallek wonders if we’re afraid to test it.