The Guide To Princing, or Fuck the Doomed by Jason Corley The real "Princes Primer" was published first in 1974, under the title "The Presidential Transcripts". This voluminous book consists of transcripts of the famous Watergate recordings released by the Nixon White House in its last days for reasons historians have been unable to fathom. While it is true that the transcripts contain no evidence to directly implicate Nixon in the coverup, they provided a shocking look at the way Nixon ran his administration, which finished him politically long before his resignation. Remember, as you read these insights from the transcripts, that Nixon was brought down by what Frank Mankiewicz called a 'legal process', not a political one. Until these transcripts were released, Nixon had a powerful political hold over Congress and might have been able to beat an impeachment rap. Therefore, these are strictly political observations for the budding Prince, not indicators that a Prince that does all these things will succeed. _________________________________________________________________ 1. GRIN AND BEAR IT. Meeting: The President, Haldemann and Dean, Oval Office, September 15, 1972, 5:27-6:17 PM NIXON: How did MacGregor handle himself? DEAN: I think very well, he had a good statement which said that the Grand Jury had met and that it was now time to realize that some apologies may be due. HALDEMANN: Fat chance. DEAN: Get the damn (inaudible) HALDEMANN: We can't do that. NIXON: Just remember, all the trouble we're taking, we'll have a chance to get back one day. Commentary: If the Prince is in trouble, either for internal reasons (a nascent coup, for example), or for external ones (a Justicar poking their nose where it ought not go), remember that all things are transitory, that this too shall pass in time. Be patient. You live forever, and the time for revenge will come. 2. KNOW WHO KNOWS WHAT ibid. DEAN: I understand that only the former Director had that information. HALDEMANN: No, that is not true. DEAN: There was evidence of it? HALDEMANN: There are others who have that information. Commentary: The Prince should be aware of the power of his knowledge, something not always immediately obvious. The power of others' knowledge should of course be known whenever possible. Do not hesitate to use either: to press a third party to release information damaging to an adversary is supremely useful in many situations. In case there is a public backlash, you will be isolated by yet another layer of plausible deniability. 3. PRIORITIZE. ibid. NIXON [on phone]: Well I tell you just don't let this keep you or your colleagues from concentrating on the big game. This thing is just one of those side issues and a month later everybody looks back and wonders what all the shooting was about. Commentary: The Prince should always know what issues are truly important and which to only give minor attention to. There are only so many hours in the night, and some must still be devoted to keeping himself sane. The Prince should not be merely an extension of his title. This is the path to obsession and poor performance in both social and political fields. _________________________________________________________________ 4. KNOW YOUR ENEMIES. ibid. NIXON: We are all in it together. This is a war. We will take a few shots and it will be over. We will give them a few shots and it will be over. Don't worry. I wouldn't want to be on the other side right now. Would you? DEAN: Along that line, one of the things I've tried to do, I have begun to keep notes on a lot of people who are emerging as less than our friends because this will be over some day and we shouldn't forget the way some of them have treated us. NIXON: I want the most comprehensive notes on all those who tried to do us in. They didn't have to do it. If we had had a very close election and they were playing the other side, I would understand this. No -- they were doing this quite deliberately and they were asking for it and they are going to get it. We have not used the power in this first four years as you know. We have never used it. We have not used the Bureau and we have not used the Justice Department but things are going to change now. And they are either going to do it right or go. DEAN: What an exciting proposition. NIXON: Thanks. It has to be done. Commentary: You dont have to keep a physical 'enemies list', as Nixon did. In fact, if you can tally it mentally, you won't need a physical list. Know your enemies as you know yourself: find their secrets, their strengths, their weaknesses: even know the things about them that seem trivial. If you know them, you can beat them. If you do not, you cannot. It is that simple. 5. KNOW WHO YOU CAN BEAT AND GET THEM OUT OF THE WAY QUICKLY. DEAN: I learned today, incidentally, and have not confirmed it, that the GAO auditor who is down here is here at the Speaker of the House's request. NIXON: That surprises me. HALDEMANN: Well, (expletive deleted) the Speaker of the House. Maybe we better put a little heat on him. NIXON: I think so too. HALDEMANN: Because he has a lot worse problems than he is going to find down here. DEAN: That's right. HALDEMANN: That is the kind of thing that, you know, we really ought to do is call the Speaker and say "I regret to say your calling the GAO down here because of what it is going to cause us to do to you." NIXON: Why don't you see if Harlow will tell him that. HALDEMANN: Because he wouldn't do it. He would be pleasant and call him Mr. Speaker. Commentary: Crush the weak who dare to oppose you, to concentrate your energies on the strongest of your enemies. If you suffer the weak opposition to survive, they may join forces with one another, or with the strong, and create a force to be reckoned with. However, be warned: if the low-priority opposition turns out to be more tenacious than you estimated, do not under any circumstances neglect the higher priorities. If they are perceptive, they will use the time when you are preoccupied to strike. 6. KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING Meeting: The President and Dean, Oval Office, February 28, 1973 9:12-10:23 AM NIXON: (expletive deleted) Of course, I am not dumb and I will never forget when I heard about this (adjective deleted) forced entry and bugging. I thought what in the hell is this? What is the matter with these people? Are they crazy? I thought they were nuts! A prank! But it wasn't! It wsn't very funny. Commentary: The vast majority of the Princes time while Princing should be occupied with maintaining current information. The usual objection is that it is impossible to know everything that is happening in even a small city, Kindred and Kine. The next best thing is to know as much as possible, and to present the impression that you know the rest as well. 7. KNOW WHEN TO GO PUBLIC AND WHAT TO GO PUBLIC WITH. ibid. DEAN: He said the way they could have those hearings and do a masterful job on it, would be to hold one hearing a week on Thursdays, Thursday mornings, they cover it live. That way you get live coverage that day; you get the networks that night; the national magazines that week; get the weekend wrap-ups. You can stretch this thing out by, really. NIXON: Our members of the Committee at least should say, lets get it over with, and go through the five day sessions, etc. DEAN: Well, you see, I don't think they are that perceptive. They just think they are. Commentary: The word of the Prince has added weight. This does not necessarily mean that everything you say will be believed. On the contrary, if you are in a touchy situation, everything you say might be disbelieved. However, the Prince has the advantage and the responsibility that everything he says will be heard. The Prince has no trouble getting his message out, regardless of whether it's a message people want to hear. _________________________________________________________________ 8. DENY EVERYTHING. Meeting: The President, Dean, Haldemann and Erlichman, EOB Office, March 21, 1973 5:20-6:01 PM NIXON: Right, right. However, in terms of this, what about a solution? We are damned by the courts before Ervin even gets started. ERLICHMANN: The only thing we can say is that we have investigated it backwards and forwards in the White House, and have been satisfied on the basis of the report we had that nobody in the White House has been involved in a burglary, nobody had notice of it, knowledge of it, participated in the planning, or aided and abetted it in any way. And it happens to be true as for that transaction. NIXON: John, you don't think that is enough? DEAN: No, Mr. President. Commentary: When you are in doubt as to whether not a plan of yours is going to work, dissociate yourself from it publically as much as possible. Rely on absolutely watertight plans to garner you Status: if a plan might fail, assume it will, and make sure that one of your allies, or contacts, or enemies, if possible, takes the fall if it does. 9. CONSTRUCT FACTS ibid. DEAN: I am not talking about documents you see. I am talking about something we can spread as facts. You see you could even write a novel with the facts. NIXON: (Inaudible.) DEAN: (Inaudible.) NIXON: (Inaudible.) Commentary: In many instances, what the Prince says becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the Prince declares that there is an anarch problem, often times an anarch problem will arise just so the Prince can stamp it out. By generating facts in this way, the Prince can build his city into any sort of city he pleases. _________________________________________________________________ I highly recommend "The Presidential Transcripts" for any Storyteller who wants to run a politically knowledgable Prince, or for any LARPer who has to play one.