Born Again: What Really Happened to the White House Hatchet Man – With New Introduction and Epilogue by Charles W. Colson (1976, 2008)

This is just one of those books. I’ve seen it all my life in thrift stores and on church library shelves. It was quintessential living-room-shelf décor for most Protestant families in the 1980s. And yet, up until this past month, I’d never read it!

In fact, I had to travel to Laos to find it in a coffee-shop give-away pile to finally give it a shot, and I gotta say: it was worth the wait. I loved this book.

It’s a courtroom drama better than any of the piddle John Grisham‘s been coming up with these past few decades—a drama filled with back-room politics and stories of prison life, yet all from a Christian perspective. This book was shockingly right up my alley.

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Quick Summary of Born Again

All along before reading this, I had thought that Born Again was a preachy, Christian-living book meant for Bible study groups—or that it was instead just one super-long Gospel tract written for unbelievers. Though it has very mild elements of both, it’s definitely neither. Instead, it’s the memoirs of Richard Nixon’s Special Counsel and hatchet-man, a lawyer of dirty tricks and enormous pride, Chuck Colson.

Throughout the book, Colson recounts the years of 1972-1974 and his participation (and non-participation) in the Watergate scandal that destroyed Nixon’s presidency and threw all of Washington into political disarray. He takes us from the Oval Office and his friendship with Nixon to the drama that unfolded through grand juries and courts, and which ultimately led Colson to plead guilty to one count that sent him to prison for longer than he’d ever expected.

Through it all, however, he also relates with great candor his own spiritual journey, from the emptiness of power and the guilt of pride to the love of a Savior, the joy of Christian fellowship, and the freedom found in submission. For the remainder of the review, I’ll touch on these main themes: Colson’s work, his spiritual life, and his time in prison.

Chuck Colson, the Fixer

Although I wasn’t yet born during the Watergate years—or the terrible Vietnam era of a decade prior—I find this time period one of the most fascinating to study. Backdropped by the Cold War, the mess in China, and all the hippy/protester movements in the States, the 1960s-70s were a period of serious upheaval in geopolitics and American culture. It’s a wonder anyone survived it. As one of my professors told me in college: “If you remember the ’60s, you weren’t there.”

From within all this mess rose Richard Nixon and his slightly-more-than-one-term presidency. His close friend and fixer was Special Counsel Colson, always willing to bend the rules and shame competitors to make sure Nixon ruled the day. I loved the humorous anecdote in Chapter 4 showing how Colson managed to meet one of Nixons strange and sudden demands. A good example of his powers.

As the chapters progress, we witness the Nixon presidency unravel. First comes rumors of corruption, then crime. Although Colson himself became an immediate target due to his many unorthodox and often unethical acts, he had convinced himself from the beginning that he was innocent of the charges thrown against him. As the pressure grew and more secrets were revealed, however, Colson felt the compounding weight of personal guilt—because throughout this public process in court, Colson was experiencing great spiritual changes as well.

Chuck Colson, Born Again

Colson opens his chapters with references to his sense of emptiness and personal guilt, to his lying, and to his pride—of which he had long been so proud. He kept these feelings from his Catholic wife—in fact, he kept all discussions of God from her for many years! (136)—and only mentioned it a few key men, one of who had a bounce in his step and a joy in his life that Chuck craved.

Cuck was finally convinced through the logic of C.S. Lewis‘ Mere Christianity that Jesus was real, truly God, and the only answer to his life’s emptiness and guilt. Eventually, he prayed:

“Lord Jesus, I believe you. I accept you. Please come into my life. I commit it to you.” (142)

I loved reading this heart-cry, a prayer no one had ever taught Colson to pray, but which poured from his needy heart as his true conversion by grace through faith. This conversion brought along with it a great deal of repentance as he grew as a new creation in Christ (152)—through trials and with the growing pains that come with spiritual maturity:

The old was dying all right, but not without pain, not without resistance, not without tears and sorrow. Though my eyes were being opened slowly to a whole bright world I’d not known before, I was still struggling to save what I should have known must be left behind. (159)

I don’t recall if he ever actually uses the words “born again” in the book—though the phrase became almost a byword in the years following publication for those who were just a little too religious, kind of like “Jesus Freak.” But as the weeks and month progressed, Chuck was certainly a changed man. The Scourge of Washington D.C. became a humble, repentant, and praying man thirsty to know more about the Lord he served.

While I doubt I’d feel comfortable in the kind of church Chuck attended (seemed moderately charismatic, from his descriptions), I can’t doubt the man’s salvation, growth, and calling thereafter. Much of that growth came through the trials of prison.

Chuck Colson, the Prisoner

When the hammer finally fell, Chuck Colson was sent to prison for 3 years, not for his involvement in Watergate but for a minor crime his prosecutors hadn’t even known about. With both sides in agreement, Colson was shipped off to serve his time with a group of men that eventually taught more than he wanted to know.

Some of those lesson were merely how to survive prison life, like the following:

Don’t get involved. Don’t complain. Attend to your own affairs, and you’ll be fine. (291)

He also learned that accept favors and kindnesses from the Warden and guards would put a bigger target on his back than he had simply by entering as a politician. Again, Colson humbled himself, accepted the worst job, rejected preferential treatment, and eventually gained the respect—and ears—of his fellow inmates.

From the beginning of his time served, however, Chuck was committed to make the most of it. He said at one point:

I have committed my life to Jesus Christ, and I can work for Him in prison as well as out. (272)

Through this commitment, he eventually started a Bible study and saw many inmates come to Christ or recommit their lives to Him. There were mini-revivals going on inside those walls, but there were also inklings of reform. From all the stories he heard and the things he saw from his years inside the walls, Chuck Colson was able to get a solid understanding of the true state of affairs in prisons, the problems in sentencing and the failures of parole boards. Armed with this knowledge, Colson eventually left prison to commit himself to a ministry (Prison Fellowship and InnerChange Freedom Initiative, 373) focused on prison reform and spiritual rehabilitation for those incarcerated.

One other portion of this section of Colson’s life that I really appreciated was his contrast of prison life to military service—something I’ve long figured must be cousins-experiences. He corrected my thinking by writing:

Prison life is often compared to the military. There are certain similarities—the close barracks living, the group standards, the feeling of oppression by authority. But there are sharper differences. In prison the man you befriend may steal your clean socks. Inmates seldom relax their guard even with those they know well.

The sole aim of prison is to survive, make time pass, avoid trouble and get out. Getting out is the most treasured goal of all and that is very much an individual proposition. Fellow inmates can interfere with a man’s chances to win his freedom by involving him in their misconduct, but there is little they can do to help him get out. Men in the armed services, by contrast, are trained to work closely together. In battle they must rely on one another. Staying alive depends upon your buddy. (301)

A Few Other Poignant Quotes

Colson’s a gifted writer, and with his political background, he shared many key insights. Here I share just three.

The True Power of the American President

What holds our society together is not force or even laws but moral suasion. Presidents rule not by fiat, but by the sufferance of free men. Without the collective goodwill of 200 million Americans, glibly called “public confidence,” government is impotent, anarchy—or worse—inescapable. (46)

Individuals or the State?

Everyone who spends time in government becomes to some degree a “statist,” dedicated to preserving the institutions of the state, often at all costs. Thus the paramount place of the individual in the scheme of things is gradually, unknowingly subordinated. (141)

Biblical Quip

It’s better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail….Matthew 6:33.” (Bible inscribed to Chuck from his friend, Doug, 147)

Conclusion

Politics and Christianity rarely mix, and when they do, they don’t mix well. I love someone like today’s Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who’s been able to maintain his faith through many years in office. Unlike Huckabee and Colson, most politicians who claim to be Christian (at least these days) show by their language and actions what’s really going on in the heart. It’s nice to read another book about this odd mixture of Christianity and American politics from a man who knew both very well.

Chuck Colson also reminded me a bit of Lee Strobel, a lawyer who sought to confirm the validity of Christianity through legal proofs. Colson does the same but from a different angle—honestly recounting how he moved from being a known deceiver and jerk to realizing that his life was empty and he needed Jesus.

While some might argue that his conversion prayer on p.142 “wasn’t enough,” I disagree. It was faith. It was trust. It was later proved through the fruits of confession and repentance, which came in time. It was the moment of Colson’s salvation, when the Holy Spirit finally broke down his walls of pride so that he could say: “I believe!”

So do I, and I hope you do too.

©2026 E.T.

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