Cialdini raamat
cratic National Committee that led to the ruin of Richard Nixon's presidency. One
of the participants in that decision, Jeb Stuart Magruder, upon hearing that the Wa-
tergate burglars had been caught, responded with appropriate bewilderment, "How
could we have been so stupid?" Indeed, how?
To understand how enormously ill-conceived an idea it was for the Nixon ad-
ministration to undertake the break-in, let's review a few facts:
• The idea was that of G. Gordon Liddy, who was in charge of intelligence-
gathering operations for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP).
Liddy had gained a reputation among administration higher-ups as "flaky,"
and there were questions about his stability and judgment.
• Liddy's proposal was extremely costly, requiring a budget of $250,000 in un-
traceable cash.
• In late March, when the proposal was approved in a meeting of the CREEP di-
annaabi.ee 
