"Bob." "I've logged a lot of miles" "I've followed the sales textbook by the letter." "I've applied myself diligently." "I try and I try and I just cannot get in the door." "what am I doin' wrong?" " Earl." "Sit down." "you've got a great product but you have to remember what you're really selling:" "Yourself." "So it's not necessarily what I say as how I say it?" "Earl." "A good salesman can sell anything." "And I remember when you were a good salesman at the beginning." "But something seems to have changed." "but is everything all right at home?" "right?" "gentlemen?" " Leave it." "sir." "Thank you." " Thanks." " I watched you walking back and forth in front of my desk in an agitated manner smoking a cigarette without having asked if you could smoke in my presence" "Mark." "listen up." "Fire team discipline in there at all times." "Keep your radios on at all times during the entire penetration." "Check yourselves." "False I.D.s?" "no keys?" "room 214." "When?" "At 0300 hours." "mein "fartenführer"!" "I'm gonna make you a new asshole." " Let's get the fuck out of here." " Years of clean living are over." "just sit tight You'll hear from me or Howard." "if anything goes wrong" "I'll be calling the president of the United States." "I'm not gonna be just a good salesman." " I'm gonna be a great salesman." " That's the spirit." "Thanks." "Earl:" "Always look 'em in the eye." "Nothing sells like sincerity." "business suits and carrying camera and electronic surveillance equipment were arrested early today in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington." "They were unarmed." "Nobody knows yet why they were there or what they were looking for." "General Haig." "sir." "Judge John Sirica today sentenced the Watergate burglars to terms ranging up to 40 years." "The White House continues to deny any in volvement." "Presidential counsel John Dean testified before the Senate Watergate committee that the scandal reaches to the highest levels." "Presidential aides Haldeman and Ehrlichman were ordered to resign today." "White House aide Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of a secret taping system." "Vice President Agnew resigned today after pleading no contest to a charge of income tax evasion." "The president has fired" "Archibald Cox provoking the greatest constitutional crisis in American history." "On Capitol Hill today eight resolutions calling for the impeachment of the president were referred to the judiciary committee by the House of Representatives." "It was disclosed to judge Sirica that there is an 18-and-a-half minute gap" "1972 taped conversation between the president and Bob Haldeman." "Reactions of shock and anger are coming from all sectors of the nation." "Judge John Sirica has ordered the president to turn over his tapes to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski." "The tapes contain conversations between the president and his aides and are believed to include discussions of the Watergate scandal." "The White House has not yet responded to judge Sirica's order and it is not yet known whether the president will comply." "Yeah?" "Mr. President." "Okay." "Cocksucker!" "AI." "sir." "sir?" " Sorry." " Okay." "Go on." "AI if Hoover were alive these tapes would never have gotten out." "I want the little shit back." "sir." " Yeah." "Not like the others." "McCord... the rest." "AI." "People have forgotten." "Such violence." "the riots burning the draft cards the Black Panthers." "and they hate me for it." "Because it's Nixon." "They always hated Nixon." "sir." "Mr. President." "AI." "AI" "Men in your profession give 'em a pistol and then leave the room." "Al." "Goddamn it." "Pause"." "Start"." "[Nixon On Tape] They did what?" "[Haldeman] Evidently to install bugs and photograph documents." "It was just a fishing expedition." "It was their fourth attempt at the D.N.C." "[Nixon] O'Brien doesn't even use that office." "[Haldeman] It's possible they were looking for evidence of an illegal Howard Hughes donation to the Democrats." "The Democrats could make an issue of your Hughes money." "It was a contribution." "It was a legal contribution!" "It's not clear the burglars even knew what they were looking for." "They were headed for McGovern's office later that same night." "Did Mitchell know about this?" " I don't know." "Mitchell's out of his mind right now." "Martha put her head through a window." "Jesus!" "Through a window?" "they're taking her to Bellevue." "Maybe she'll stay this time." "Martha's an idiot." "She'll do anything to get Mitchell's attention." "If Mitchell had been minding the store instead of that nut Martha we wouldn't have this kid MacGruder running some third-rate burglary." "We feel the bigger concern is Gordon Liddy." "sir." "He is a nut." "turns up running this Watergate caper." "Remember his plan to firebomb Brookings using Cubans as firemen?" " What's Liddy got?" " He was using some campaign cash that was laundered for us through Mexico; the F.B.I.'s onto it." "We could have a problem with that." "But that's just a campaign finance violation." "if Liddy takes the rap for Watergate we can take care of him and that lets us off the hook." "Bob." "Keep it out of the White House." "I gotta see Kissinger." "threatening to quit." "Again." "What else?" "sir one of the people implicated is still on the White House payroll." "Who?" "Not another goddamn Cuban." "sir." "A guy named Hunt." "sir." "Hunt?" "Howard Hunt?" "Dumb bastard left his White House phone number in his hotel room." "He works for Colson." "He used him on the Pentagon papers." "This guy dumped his wiretapping stuff into his White House safe." "We're trying to figure out when he stopped being a White House consultant." "Howard Hunt is working for the White House?" "Jesus Christ." "This is goddamn Disneyland!" "Since when?" "Since Chappaquiddick." "He wanted dirt on Kennedy." "sir?" "on the list of horribles." "I know what he is and I know what he tracks back to." "definitely." "Colson had him break into Bremer's apartment after Bremer shot Wallace to plant McGovern's campaign literature." "I had nothing to do with that." "sir." "I did?" "It was right after the Pentagon papers broke." "They went in to get his psychiatric records." "When we were working on China." "Fuck." "Out!" "What the fuck?" "!" "You're not supposed to take pictures of me!" "Take pictures of the files!" "Give me that fucking film!" "Howard Hunt." "Jesus Christ." "you'll uncover a lot of pus." "What do you mean?" " Where's Hunt now?" " He's in hiding." "He sent Liddy in to talk to Dean." " And?" " He wants money." "Then pay him." "I told him to get out of the country." "It's crazy to start a relationship... screwing with the C.I.A?" "I don't care how much he wants." "Just pay him." "sir?" "Silence." "you're covered." "It's only this Ellsberg thing it's national security." "and that's all there is to it." "it's more than that." "I want Hunt paid." "sir." "How do we do it?" "We should set up a Cuban defense fund on this and take care of all of'em." "keep Trini out of this." "keep Colson out." "Mr. Dean." "That means John can never talk about it." "Attorney-client privilege." "So get to it." "sir." "Good." "Okay." "Did I approve the Ellsberg thing?" "but" "I never approved the break-in at the Ellsbergs'." "Maybe I approved it after the fact." "Someday we've got to start transcribing these tapes." "You approved that before the fact because I went over it with you." "But I..." " But no one's gonna see these tapes." " That's right." "And it's really more of a problem for Ehrlichman." "He's the one who fixed Hunt up with the phony C.I.A. IDs." "But what else does Hunt have on us?" "Bob." "You go to the C.I.A. and tell Helms that Hunt is blackmailing the president." "Tell him Hunt and his Cuban friends know too damn much if Hunt goes public it will be a fiasco for the C.I.A." " He'll know what I'm talking about." " All right." "Play it tough." "That's the way they play it and the way we're gonna play it." "Don't lie to Helms and say there's no involvement." "without getting into it." "And say the president believes it's gonna open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again." "call Pat Gray for the sake of the country don't go any further into this... hanky-panky." "Period." "Bay of Pigs?" "That was Kennedy's screw-up." "Why would that threaten us?" "Bob." "sir it does get us into obstruction of justice." "Bob." "It's national security." "How is this national security?" "The president says it is." "Bob." "My job is to protect this country from its enemies and its enemies are inside the walls." "We gotta keep our enemies at bay or our whole program goes down the tubes." "the Soviet Union." "Bob" " damn." " We end up doing good in this world." "third-rate burglary." "What should I tell Ziegler to tell the press?" "Tell'em what we always tell'em." "Anything but the goddamn truth." "Fuck!" "Say the president believes it's gonna open up the whole Bay of Pigs again." " Put me in this position..." " Bay of Pigs?" " Expose me like this." " Why would that threaten us?" "Why don't they just fucking shoot me?" "In the election of 1860" "Abraham Lincoln said the question was whether this nation could exist half-slave or half-free." "In the election of 1960 and with the world around us the question is whether the world will exist half-slave or half-free." "in the final analysis it depends upon what we do here in the United States." "It's time America started moving again." "Mr. Nixon?" "When it comes to experience through the years I have sat on the National Security Council" "I have been in the cabinet;" "I have met with the legislative leaders relax." "9 prime ministers two emperors and the Shah of Iran." "Jesus Christ!" "Has he told them how many push-ups he can do yet?" "Let's take hydroelectric power." "Murray thanks to you." "When we consider the lineup of the world we find there are 590 million people on our side" "800 million people on the Communist side it's not a beauty contest." " We'd better hope not." " And 600 million people are neutral." "Murray?" "Look at him." "He's not well." " He doesn't have to debate Kennedy." " The odds are 5-3 against us." " When it comes to politics..." " He can win without doing this." "you have one minute for a rebuttal." "Castro is only the beginning of our difficulties throughout Latin America." "he's gonna do it." "Here it comes." "We have seen Cuba go to the Communists." "Eight jet minutes from the coast of Florida." "We must attempt to strengthen the democratic anti-Castro forces in exile." "These fighters have had virtually no support from our government." " Son of a bitch!" " What?" "What?" "Kennedy was briefed last week by the C.I.A." "He's using it against us." "He knows we can't respond." "He welshed on the deal." "we might never have had Castro." "Why didn't we?" "Mr. Nixon?" "come on." "Dick." "Come on!" "Attack the bastard." "so help me God." "Mr. Nixon?" "Yeah..." "I think" "I think that's the sort of very dangerous and irresponsible suggestion" " It's over." "More coffee?" "Helping the Cuban exiles who oppose Castro would not only be a violation of international law it would be an open invitation for Mr. Khrushchev" "It's still very close." "Senator Kennedy's lead 000." "Think maybe that SOB Daley stuffied the ballot boxes himself?" "they had the goddamn cattle voting!" "and he stole it!" "Son of a bitch." "He outspent us and he still cheated." "A guy who's got everything." "I can't believe it." "We came to Congress together." "for Christ's sake." " It all figures." "It's an obvious fraud." " We ask for a recount." "Don't be ridiculous." "Nobody has ever contested a presidential election before." "Illinois." "000 votes in two states." "a year?" "Herb?" "I'd have won." " That's what I say." "Made me look soft." ""I feel very sorry for Nixon because he does not know who he is." "he has to decide which Nixon he's going to be at the moment which must be very exhausting."" " Jack Kennedy." " It's a disgrace." " "Nixon is a shifty-eyed goddamn liar." "he'd have very little to say." "then you oughta go to hell. "" " Harry S. Truman." "Dick." "Not Cuba." "It's the personality problem." "You gonna let the Democrats get away with this?" "Goes to Harvard." "His father hands him everything on a silver platter." "All my life they've been sticking it to me." "Not the right clothes; not the right schools; not the right family." "And then he steals from me." "and they love him for it." "You're only 47." "you'll be finished." "You gotta swallow this one." "They stole it fair and square." "Dick." "We'll get'em next time." "Murray?" "Because if he's not this Nixon he's nobody." "sir." " Hi." "Hi." "Hi." "We lost." "I know." "I hate to lose." "It makes us human." "Buddy." "I can take the insults." "I can take the name-calling." "But I can't take the losing." "I hate it." "Dick." "We worked for it." "We earned it." "It's ours." "It is." "We know that." "And it's enough that we know." "Just think of the girls." "They're still young." "We never see them." "I lost my parents when I was young." "I don't want them to lose theirs." "Maybe I should get out of the game." "Buddy?" "And go back to being a lawyer." "some money at the end of the line." "You know" "I keep thinking of my old man tonight." "He was a failure too." "Dick." "You know how much money he had in the bank when he died?" "Nothing." "He was so damned honest." "But I miss him." "I miss him a hell of a lot." " Dad!" "Dad!" " I got the beets for him." " Dad." " Is she in there?" "give me a chance." " I don't have time for you right now." "I got work to do." "thank you." "What'd he say?" "there's no free ride." "I need a suit." "no." "Harold." "He doesn't respond well to humor." "Maybe Mother can help straighten it out." "I'd rather get a whippin' than listen to another of her talks." "Dick." "finish thy sweeping then pick out the bad apples." "Mother." "I'm working." "would thee?" "Wh-Why me?" "Because Harold hast thy father's will is no reason to admire him." "not an example." "Mother." "Harold may have lost touch with his Bible but thee must never lapse." "give it to me." "Richard." "The corn silk cigarette Harold gave thee behind the store this morning." "I..." "I promise I didn't smoke." "I see." "do we?" "Please!" "Please." "I'm sorry." "It was..." "It was just one time." "I'm sorry." "So am I." "Thy father will have to know of thy lying." "don't..." "don't... don't tell him." "I'll never do it again." "I promise." "Please." "I expected more from thee." "Mama." "I shall never let thee down again." "Then this shall be our little secret." "I see into thy soul." "Thee may fool the world even thy father" "Richard." "Never me." "Mother think of me always as thy faithful dog." " Thank you." " We'll be in the next room." "Richard." "Is it my turn?" "we humbly thank you..." "I'll do it." "There's a couple of things I wanna say." "Frank?" "Hannah." "I'm not ashamed of how I earn my money." "Heavenly Father after that business with the snake that man would have to earn his way by the sweat of his face." "Father" "California." "So we ask you now to remind certain of our young people the only way to get a new suit to go to the promenade with Margaret O'Herlihy by the way is to work for it." " Amen." " Amen." " Amen." " Amen." "Daddy?" " Don't be silly." "You think this is funny?" "Maybe a trip to the woodshed'll straighten you out." "Pretty soon you boys are gonna have to get out there and scratch." "'Cause you're not gonna get anywhere on your good looks.. just ask those fellas." "Charity's only gonna get you so far even with saints like your mother around." "struggle." "they've beaten you." "And then you end up in the street with your hand out." "My mother was a saint but my old man struggled his whole life." "a poor man but they never beat him." "I always tried to remember that when things didn't go my way." "Nixon!" " 28!" "44!" "get in there!" " What's Nixon doing here?" " He thinks he can make it." "Four years of being a tackling dummy." "Poor guy." "Nixon!" " Hike!" " Worst athlete I've ever seen." "But..." "he's got guts." "let's go!" "Let's do it!" "In California's gubernatorial race" "Richard Nixon has returned to the political arena in what is shaping up to be a long and acrimonious bid against popular incumbent Edmund G. Brown." "Brown's campaign has benefited greatly from the support of President Kennedy while Nixon has had trouble convincing voters this is not another run for the presidency." "With only a few precincts left unreported all indications are of another defeat for Nixon who lost the presidency just two years ago by a paper-thin margin." "It seems his brief political comeback..." "You making a statement?" "Fidel Castro." " You're not going to blame Castro." " I sure am!" "Goddamn missile crisis united the whole country behind Kennedy." "that's why." "I suppose Castro staged the whole thing just to beat you." "remember" "People vote not out of love but fear." "They don't teach that at Sunday school or the Whittier Community Playhouse." "I'll go check with our people." "Dick because life is tough and it is unfair and sometimes you forget that in your self-pity." "Dick before California." "Cocksucker!" "Don't you want to listen to Gov. Brown's victory speech?" "Nope." "Not going to listen to any more speeches ever again." "Amen to that." "Dick." " I'll concede in the morning." "Not that." "Buddy?" "I have always stood by you." "I campaigned for you when I was pregnant." "I told you to fight." "Dick." "You've changed." "like you're at war with the world." "You weren't that way before." "Dick." "How many millions of miles have I traveled?" "How many millions of peoples' hands have I shaked that I just don't like?" "How many thank-you notes have I written?" "just went to sleep a long time ag and missed the years between." "I've had enough." "What are you saying?" "What are you talking about?" "I want a divorce." "My God." "Divorce?" "What about the girls?" "The girls'll grow up." "They only know you from television anyway." "our family." "you'll take us down with you." "Dick." "This is our life." "I'm political; you're political too." "I'm not." "I'm finished." "Buddy." "Don't you see?" "to beat us." "We can't let them do it." "Buddy." "We belong together." "That's what you said the first time we met." "You didn't even know me." "I did." "didn't I?" "On our first date." "I said it because I knew" "I knew you were the one." "So solid." "So strong." " So beautiful." " I'm Pat Ryan." " Richard Nixon." " Pleasure to meet you." " Pleasure to meet you." "yes." "Don't tell me you've been cutting my part." "you know I would never deceive you." "Don't you?" "You were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen." "I don't want to lose you." "Ever." "don't." "You really want me to quit?" "We can be happy." "We really can." "Dick." "And if I stop there'll be..." "no more talk of divorce?" "I'll do it." "No more." "Are you serious?" "Yeah." "I'm out." "Is that the truth?" "I'll never run again." "I promise." "Yeah." "Buddy." "I love you." "I love you." "Where are they?" "you don't have to make a statement." "Herb covered 'em for you." "No!" "Mr. Nixon is a man who is graceful in defeat and if he was here with us... please?" "Give the..." "just a second!" "please?" "Quiet!" "Thank you!" "Mr. Nixon!" "I believe Governor Brown has a heart" "Even though he believes I do not." "I believe he's a good American even though he feels I am not." "I'm proud of the fact that I defended my opponent's patriotism." "but I'm proud that I did that." "if you would just print what I say." "For 16 years you've had a lot of fun." "A lot of fun." "But recognize you have a responsibility to give him the shaft." "at least put one lonely reporter on the campaign who will report what the candidate says now and then." "I think" "I've given as good as I've taken." "I want you to know" "Just think what you're gonna be missing." "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore." "this is my last press conference." " Thank you and good day." " Mr. Nixon!" "Is this the end of politics for you?" "Here in California we can officially write the political obituary of Richard Milhouse Nixon." "Nixon became a representative at 33 and a senator at 35 as part of the postwar Republican sweep of the congressional elections that attacked F.D.R.'s big-government new deal." "Running as a South Pacific veteran victories over congressman Jerry Voorhis and senator Helen Gahagan Douglas politics was war." "he had enemies." "right down to her underwear!" "Nixon became one of the leading lights on the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee" "Hollywood celebrities." "they'd all be sent back to Russia." "But it was the Alger Hiss case that made Nixon a household name." "One of the architects ofthe United Nations intimate of F.D.R. And Oliver Wendell Holmes" "Alger Hiss was a State Department diplomat accused by freelance journalist Whittaker Chambers of passing secret documents to the Soviet Union." " "Hiss is lying."" " Hiss claimed he was being set up by Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover to discredit the New Deal's policies." "a member of the Communist party." "The case came down to an Underwood typewriter and a roll of film hidden in a pumpkin patch." "I asked Hiss if he'd known Chambers." "I knew he was lying;" "I knew I had him." "Hiss was convicted not of spying but of perjury." "Nixon was a hero and a patriot." "he was a shameless self-promoter." "Eleanor Roosevelt angrily condemned him." "Acheson and the Democratic party for losing mainland China in 1949 and blamed the Korean War on a weak foreign policy." ""I promise to expose and to continue to expose the people that have sold this country down the river!" "if more subtle than those of his Republican ally Joe McCarthy were just as aggressive." ""The direct result of Truman's decision is that China has gone Communist!" ""Mao is a monster!" "Why?" ""Who in the State Department is watching over American interests?" ""Who has given the Russians the atomic bomb?" ""The Soviet Union is an example of a slave state in the ultimate development" "Driven by demons that seemed more personal than political" "Nixon became Eisenhower's vice presidential candidate in 1952." "Then came the Checkers crisis." "Nixon was accused of hiding a secret slush fund." "About to be kicked off the ticket by Ike he went live on national television in an unprecedented appearance." ""I'm going to give to this television audience a complete financial history." " The list included their house" "Pat's cloth coat." " "Everything I own." "in what was to become history a sentimental gift from a Texas businessman." ""You know what it was?" "It was a little cocker spaniel dog spotted." "named it Checkers." "they love the dog. we're gonna keep him." "It was a huge success. serving two terms as vice president under Eisenhower." "Against Khrushchev at the Kitchen Debate in Moscow and stoned by Latin mobs in Venezuela" "Nixon once again became a national hero." "But it all came to a crashing end against Kennedy in 1960 and Pat Brown in California in '62." "And thus ends a great American political story." "we never knew who Richard Nixon really was and now that he is gone we never will." "her daddy couldn't even get a damn job in this city when he got out of Duke." "Every white-shoe lawyerfirm turned me down." "Didn't have the right look." " I couldn't even get into the F.B.I." " Hi!" "How are ya?" "Dick?" "yeah." "You were looking straight ahead like you just farted or something. "Who remembers Dick Nixon?" "Unbelievable." "I was screaming." "Martha." "They were looking in the other direction waiting for the light to change." "they wouldn't correct it." "We oughta catch Rocky before he leaves." "Mr. Nixon." "can't he?" " I don't know." " I've read some nice things about you." " Maybe where you come from." "Dick Nixon is as misunderstood as a fox in a henhouse." "And do you know why?" "they all think that your smile and your face are never in the same place at the same time." "sweetie." "Someone freshen Martha's drink." "She's down a quart." "zip-a-dee-doo-dah!" " I think he is frightened by my charm." " I know I am." " Pat can't stand her." " It's a thing she does." "She talks at night." "John?" "I'm in love with her." "And she's great in bed." "If a Rockefeller can't become president of the United States then what is the point of democracy?" "The point of democracy is that even the son of a grocer can become president." "John." "New York treating you all right?" "I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you." "Dick Nixon." " You remember him." " Nice to see you again." "Dick!" "Marvelous!" " What are you predicting?" "Your boy Goldwater gonna split the party?" "Rocky." " Let me tell you something." "we lose the election." " You oughta know better than anybody." " Yeah." "This guy Goldwater is as stupid as McCarthy." "did he?" "That's right." "I hate these cocktail parties." "I'm in hell." "I'll be mentally dead in two years and physically dead in four." "Dick." "Prove yourself to the Wall Street crowd." "Let Goldwater and Rockefeller take the fall against Kennedy." "I don't know." "I miss making love to the people." "I miss entering a room." "John." "I've got to get back in the arena." "it's showtime!" "ladies and gentlemen." "it's for me." "It's Studebaker for 1963." "Amen." "Bless you for being here." " There's a man that loves Studebakers." " Mr. Nixon!" "Can I get your autograph?" "please run again!" "Richard M. Nixon!" "Jack." "The party ain't even started yet." "I've asked these gals outto the ranch for a little private thing." "I guarantee ya." "And there's some fellas I'd really like you to meet." "Trini and I got an early plane." "We're hoping to be back in New York for..." "These guys are real interesting." "And quiet too." "The girls are too." "It's not often us Texans get an opportunity to entertain the future president of the United States." "I'm just a New York lawyer." "are you gonna run again?" " I don't know about that." " He will!" "I guarantee it!" "Buy me a convertible?" "I'll buy you a diamond ring." "wait." "This is Julie there." "yeah." "Sandy." " She really is wholesome." "what about you?" "What do you like?" "I like music." " I like jazz." "yeah." "Guy Lombardo." "he's good." "Yeah." "Decent guy." "I guess for me it also depends on" "Dick." "Yeah." "what's it like bein' so famous and all?" "A vice president!" "Sandy." "the reason I got into politics in the first place was to do something for the people." "how are you two doing?" "there's more privacy in the back of the... we're fine here." "Okay." "Kennedy just pissed Cuba away to the Russians." "Just pissed it away!" "And he doesn't know what the hell he's doin' in Vietnam." "especially for business." " Agreed." " We know what you tried to do for Cuba." "Castro would be dead now." "I tried." "I told Kennedy to go into Cuba." "He heard me and he made his decision." "I appreciate your sentiments." "I've heard them from many fine Cuban patriots." "But it's nothing I can do anything about." "and Trini and I have a plane to catch tomorrow." "these boys want you to run." " Absolutely." " That's right." "they're serious." "They can deliver the South and put Texas in your column." "Only if Kennedy dumps Johnson." "That'll never happen." "I don't think you know how much people hate Kennedy down here." "and they will run his ass outta town on a rail!" " Damn right." " That we will." "We are willing to give you a shit pot full of money to get rid of him." "More than you ever dreamed of." "Nobody's gonna beat Kennedy in '64 with all the money in the world." "Suppose Kennedy don't run in '64." "Not a chance." "Yeah." "I promised my wife I'm out of politics." "Mr. Nixon?" "I came down here to close a deal for Studebaker." "Dick?" "Trini." "that's an eternity." "Dick." "Your country needs you." "Unfortunately the country's not available right now." "President Kennedy's due in from Fort Worth in about an hour." "I know." "Come on!" " Let's go through here." "Excuse us." " Excuse me." "Coming through." " Excuse us." " Thank you." " Please step away from the gate there." " Sorry." "Go find the pilot." "Let's get out of here." "Edgar these guys were really strange." "extremists." " What do you mean by "strange"?" " Right-wing stuff." "yeah." "Dick." "Oswald's got a Cuba connection?" "To Castro?" "that makes sense." "Edgar." "arriving early this morning" "Eunice." "Hoover says this Oswald checks out as a a real bum." "you should call Bobby." "He doesn't want me at the funeral." " You don't have to go." " DeGaulle's gonna be there." "McMillan." "Adenauer." "Nixon can't not be there." "Then call him." "I'm sure it was an oversight." "Yeah." "Jesus." "It's awful." "It's an awful thing for this country." "Dick?" "it's his way" "He hates me." "He and Teddy." "They always hated me." "Dick." "These are perhaps the last images of him alive with his family." "Please make it stop!" "Hold him tighter." "Hold him tighter." "Hold him tighter." "please!" "Make it stop!" "Hold him tighter." "The infection's spread to his spine." "Come on!" "Stop it!" "Get off!" "You're it!" "don't!" "they never would've killed me." "shown here being sworn in are you gonna call?" "Bobby." "has taken the reins of power in a smooth transition." "I'll go through Johnson." "We'll be invited." "This is a sad time for all people." "I ask for your help." "...and are going to see Vietnam through to an honorable peace" "to defend an honored cause whatever the burden whatever the sacrifice that duty may require." "Accordingly" "I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president." "and God bless all of you." "Johnson's withdrawal resurrects Richard Nixon as a strong Republican candidate with a secret plan to end the war." "just before her death last year commented on her son's chances." "do you think your son will ever return to politics?" "I don't think he has a choice." "He has always been a leader." "Mrs. Nixon?" "yes." "You must be very proud of your son." "I have always been proud of all of my children." "no one can see into the future." "We didn't know this day would come." " Where'd he go?" " In the side door." " Is that Mitchell?" " Shit!" "I thought that guy was gonna kiss your hand." "thanks." "Dick!" "I've never seen anything like it." "Even the goddamn Times is saying you've got it." "Chief." " We got the press this time." " We got the "big mo." We're back." "So you've decided." "Were you planning to tell me?" "but" "Pat." "John?" "six million votes." "Yeah." "Don't worry." "I'll use the old Nixon charm." "In there." "Okay?" "Who could resist that?" "Buddy?" "aren't they?" "Buddy." "I need you." "I don't want them to love me." "But I need you out there." "It won't be like the last time." "The war's crippled the Democrats." "I can win." "We deserve it." "at last." "Nobody knows that better than you." "Frank Nixon's boy." "Do you remember what Mom said?" ""We're not like other people." "We don't choose our way." "Buddy." "We got a chance to get it right." "We can change America." "always." "above all." "you know I will." "Yes!" "I will." "Yeah." "Then I'll be there for you." "And we are gonna win this time." "I can feel it." "Yeah!" "Buddy." " Can I just ask for one thing?" " Anything." " Would you kiss me?" " Yeah!" "I'm a new person." "Hey!" "and let's win there." "Thank you very much." "I would never question Senator Kennedy's patriotism." "promising peace at any price" "Is exactly what the North Vietnamese want to hear." "Cue the crowd." "isn't he?" "unlike Senator Kennedy have a plan to end the war immediately." "But not for peace at any price but peace with honor." "Edgar?" "A nuclear attack?" "Clyde." "Always has." "That's why Nixon's always been useful." "señor." "Hold still." "who's next?" " The Negro." "we gotta have a Negro." "This guy right here." "front row." "sir." " Yeah." "We-we all know that you have built your career on smearing people as Communists." "And now you are building your campaign on the divisions in this country stirring up hatred and turning people against each other." "What the fuck's he doing?" "He's making a speech!" " Cut him off." " I can't." "This isn't Russia." "He sounds like a negro." "He's saying all these negro things!" " What's he doing?" " He sounded white when we screened him." "He doesn't sound white now." "He sounds like Angela Davis." "When are you going to tell us what you really stand for?" " Put on a commercial." " There are no commercials." "baby." "When are you going to take off that mask and show us who you really are?" " Shut up and sit down!" " Okay." "Okay." "okay." " Park it." " There are divisions in this country." " That's because you created them." " I did not create them." "The Democrats did." "If it's dialogue you want you're more likely to get it from me than from people burning down cities." "please." "who a great hero is?" "Abraham Lincoln." " Abraham Lincoln." " Lincoln." "Is he beautiful?" "He believed in common ground." "He brought this country together." "I love that man." "I love him." "I want the son of a bitch who got that agitator to be fired!" " I have another question." " There's a little girl sitting here." " A little girl sitting with a sign." " Bag the spook." " Can you see the little girl?" " Okay." "There are three simple words." ""Bring us together"." "That is what I want and that is what the great silent majority of Americans want." "And that is why I want to be president." "To bring us together." "you all know me." "I'm one of you." "a stone's throw from here on a little lemon ranch in Yorba Linda." "I can tell you that." "I can assure you of that." "My dad sold it before they found oil on it." "My dad sold it before they found oil on it." " But it was all we had." " But it was all we had." " My dad built the farm." " You're new here." "Mr. Hoover." "My father sacrificed everything he had so that his sons could go to college." "Christ." "Clyde." "It's giving me a headache." "Joaquín." "Clyde." "he works in the kitchen." "you idiot." "Nixon." "You hear what he said in Oregon about me having too much power?" "It's between Nixon and a Kennedy again." "Who do you want?" "Kennedy?" "Never." "He'll fry in hell for what he did to me." "But Nixon don't know that." "Which is why I'm gonna have to remind him that he needs us a hell of a lot more than we need him." "And they're off!" "Your boy's on the way up." "I met this guy years ago in Havana." "You know that." "Come on!" "Johnny." "now." "You just wait a second now." "Olly's boy on the inside!" "And a tragedy!" "isn't it?" "the crowd loves this shit." "there's Randolph Scott overthere." "Look at that." "Johnny?" "Edgar." "You got thousands coming on this." "Johnny." "And don't swear around me." "Come on." "Hello." "Edgar." " Wonderful to see you." "Clyde." " Mr. Nixon." "Richard." "Okay." "Winning?" "I've just had a bit of luck." "Are you gonna win?" "You should ask Bobby." "Bobby Kennedy." "Yeah." "Would you walk with me down to the paddock?" "I'd like to look at the horses for the 8th." "Can we talk here?" "I got the police chiefs in San Diego." "I'm trying to spare you an embarrassment." "That was Johnny Roselli you just passed." "He's on his way back." "Roselli?" "Johnny Roselli?" "Richard?" "No?" "From Cuba?" "Johnny Roselli." "How're you doin'?" " Dick." " How are you?" "I never met the man." "I know you've been very careful not to." "That's why I'm so concerned." "Okay." "And they're off!" "You'll win the nomination." "Edgar." "Dick!" "And Bobby's got the magic like a goddamn rock star." "They climb all over each other just to touch his clothes." "He'll ride his brother's corpse right into the White House." "If things remain as they are." "He's got the anti-war vote." "like his brother." "Edgar." "He had the I.R.S. audit my mother when she was dying in the nursing home." " I know." " We should shoot the son of a bitch." "Edgar." "His women." "Use his women." "Any information you have." "The son of a bitch is not going to steal from me again." "Can you back me up on this?" "Can I count on your support?" "I look at it from the point of view that the system can only take so much abuse." " It adjusts itself eventually." " Yeah." "But there are times there are savage outbursts." "for example." "Amoral hypocrite." "Screwing women like a degenerate tomcat preaching against our system." "Sometimes the system comes very close to cracking." "We've already had one radical in the White House." "I don't believe it would survive another." "like I said Edgar... if you can count on my support?" "As long as I can count on yours." "the old queen did it on purpose." "he wasn't protecting me." "He was just putting me on notice." " That he knew Roselli?" " No." "Hoover knew a lot of gangsters." "Johnny Roselli wasn't just any gangster." "Johnny Roselli was one of the gangsters who set up Track 2 in Cuba." "I know his name." "It was Bob Engel." "yeah." "I don't understand that." "Track 2 is Chile." "Cuba." "Wherever there was need for an executive action capability there's Track 2." "the Bay of Pigs invasion." "Track 2 was our idea." "We thought that the invasion wouldn't work unless we got rid of Castro." "So we asked ourselves who else wants Castro dead?" "Was it the Mafia or money people?" "So we put together Track 2." "in '60." " Just before the election." " Before?" " Eisenhower approved that?" " Yeah." "he didn't veto it." "I ran the White House side the mob contact was Johnny Roselli." "One of the C.I.A. guys was this jackass" "Howard Hunt." "Jesus." "but Frank Sturgis and all those other Cubans." "All of them in the Watergate." "They're all involved in Cuba." "Hunt reported to my military aide." "I don't know how much Hunt knows... or the Cubans you never know." "So you wanted Castro dead." "Everybody wanted Castro dead." "if Hunt and the others are C.I.A." "why don't we just dump this back in the C.I.A.'s lap let Dick Helms take the fall?" "Because." "knows too much." "If there's anyone in this country who knows more than me period." "All right." "if Kennedy was so clean in all this" " didn't he cancel Track 2?" " Because he didn't even know about it." "The C.I.A. never told him." "They just kept it going." "It had a life of its own like it was some you know?" "It doesn't even know it exists." "It eats people when it doesn't need 'em anymore." "Two days after the Bay of Pigs" "Kennedy called me and he reamed me out." "He just found out about Track 2." " You never told him?" " I didn't want him to get the credit." "He said I'd stabbed him in the back and called me a two-bit grocery clerk from Whittier." "That's the last time I ever saw him." "when I saw Bobby lying there on the floor his eyes staring" "I knew then I'd be president." "didn't it?" "Yeah." "the Kennedys cleared a path through the wilderness just for me." "Over the bodies." "Four bodies." "You mean two." "Two bodies." "Four." "How many did you have?" "Hundreds of thousands?" "Where would we be without death?" "Abe?" "Who's helping us?" "or is it death?" "Harold." "Why don't you sit down?" "Here." "That was a whopper." "You'll be able to do it now." " What?" " Go to law school." " Mom and Dad'll be able to afford it." " Harold." "Mama expects great things from you." "Can I..." "Can I get you anything?" "Dick." "huh?" "isn't it?" "Dick." "Time to go home." "You..." "Harold?" "Richard." "I can't." "You must." "it's a gift from thy brother." "He had to die for me to get it?" "Something has to come of this." "It's meant to make us stronger." "stronger than Arthur." "God has chosen thee to survive." "Mother?" "Richard." "Strength in this life happiness in the next." "Buddy." "When the strongest nation in the world can be tied down for four years in a war in Vietnam with no end in sight when the richest nation in the world can't manage its own economy when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law" "is plagued by unprecedented lawlessness when a nation that has been known for a century for equality of opportunity is torn by unprecedented racial violence when the president of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home" "without fear of a hostile demonstration then it is time for new leadership for the United States of America." "we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame millions of Americans crying out in anguish" ""Did we come all the way for this?" ""Did American boys die in Normandy and Valley Forge for this?" "I pledge to you that the current wave of violence will not be the wave of the future." "Let us begin by committing ourselves to speak the truth and to live the truth." "A new voice is being heard across America today." "It is not the voice of the protesters or the shouters." "It is the quiet voice of the majority of Americans who've been forgotten the non-demonstrators." "They're the good people." "They work hard and they save and they pay their taxes." "who are they?" "Let me tell you who they are." "They're in this audience by the thousands." "They're the white Americans and black Americans" "Mexican and Italian Americans." "They're the great silent majority finally." "my friends because they love America and they don't like what's happened to America these last four years." "Let us understand." "North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States." "Only Americans can do that!" "I say to you tonight..." "I say to you tonight we must have a new feeling of responsibility of self-discipline." "We must look to renew state and local government." "bloated federal government." "Those of us in public service know we can have full prosperity in peacetime." "we can cut the defense budget." "We can reduce conventional forces in Europe." "We can restore the natural environment." "We can improve health care and make it more available to all people." "we can have a complete reform of this government." "We can have a new American revolution!" "The whole world is watching!" "It'd be a disaster." "There's a lot of sympathy out there for Cambodia." "neutral Buddhist country." "on your front lawn!" "Building the Cambodian army up?" "that would be harder than a Vietnamese Army." "They have no tradition." "the government there will collapse." "continue the bombing." "that's not good enough." "I'm sick of being pushed around by the Vietnamese pitiful giant." "They're using our P.O.W.s to humiliate us." "What we need now is a bold move into Cambodia and go right after their V.C. base camps hit'em in the ass. most of my staff have weighed in against this incursion." "They believe it will fail to achieve anything fundamental militarily and will result in crushing criticism domestically." "Henry?" "they're cowards." "Their opposition represents the cowardice of the eastern establishment. that the Communists only respect strength and they will only negotiate in good faith" " if they fear the madman Richard Nixon." " Exactly!" "Unpredictability is our best asset." "right in the nuts." "AI?" "Mr. President." "they don't understand." " You gotta..." " Mr. President." "bold moves make history." "Like Teddy Roosevelt" "T.R. rushing up San Juan Hill." "but dramatic." "People took notice." "all right." "If we sneak out of this war another will start a mile down the road." "We bite the bullet here in Cambodia." "There." "We bomb the hell out of these people." "Tonight American and South Vietnamese units will attack the headquarters of the entire Communist military operation in South Vietnam." "This is not an invasion of Cambodia." "We take this action not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam. major student protests against the U.S. Invasion of Cambodia rocked college campuses." "two negro students were killed and ten were wounded. student protesters were attacked by construction workers supporting President Nixon's policies." "protesters have barricaded the White House and are camping out at the Lincoln Memorial." ""We don't want your fucking war!" "doing their duty" "I bet they were scared." "I was when I was there." "you really have to look up to these men because they're the greatest." ""No more war!" "No more war!" "blowing up the campuses burning books and so forth." "And they call themselves flower children." "I call them spoiled rotten." "And I tell you what would cure them." "old-fashioned trip to my Ohio father's woodshed." "Dad." "thanks and congratulations." "everybody." "Bye." "Less than 24 hours after president Nixon called them bums four students were shot dead at Kent State University in Ohio." "Enraged student groups across the country are calling for a general strike tomorrow to shut down." "stop this pussyfooting around." "dead kids?" "How the hell did we give the Democrats a weapon like this?" "Kent State is not good." "We have to get out in front of this thing." " Follow the money." "Follow the money." " Sir?" "These kids are being manipulated by the Communists like Chambers and Hiss." " What's the matter with you?" " This isn't '48." "They'll never buy it." "for God's sake?" "sir." "He asked for President Harding." "never explain." "John." "this is anarchy." "It's a revolution." "sir." " Why not?" "sir?" "I mean is the war worth a one-term presidency?" "Because that's what we're looking at." "I will not go down as the first American president to lose a war." "bombing Laos buys us time so we can get out and give the South Vietnamese a fighting chance." "we'll win this." "no." "but we can drive a stake through the heart of the Communist alliance." "Henry's getting strong signals from the Chinese." "They fear the Vietnamese more than the Russians and they're worried about a united Vietnam." "we'll end up negotiating separately with both the Chinese and the Soviets." "And we'll get better deals than we ever dreamed of from both." "gentlemen." "Mr. President." "That's what geopolitics is about." "The linking of the whole world for self-interest." "how the hell I can explain that on TV to a bunch of simple-minded reporters and weeping mothers?" "but what am I telling the press about Kent State?" "Tell them whatever the hell you like." "They don't understand anyway." "sir." "Are you saying you're going to recognize Red China?" "That would cost us our strongest support." "I can do this because I spent my whole career building anti-Communist credentials." "and rightfully so." "Mr. President." "Why don't we wait until the second term?" "John." " This will get me a second term." "there's no history." "Nixon was born to do this." "Give history a nudge." "hear." "if Cambodia doesn't work we'll bomb Hanoi if we have to." "I'll drop the big one." "We have to entertain the possibility." "Goddamn it!" "Who cooked this damn steak?" "there's blood all over my plate." "Take it away." "sir." "Are you all right?" "Yeah." "John." "it wasn't your fault." "The soldiers were kids too." "They just panicked." "Yeah." "just rocks." "but" "I feel too much sometimes." "We just can't let our whole policy be dominated by our sentimentality." "You're doing the right thing." "Don't let'em shake you." "No." "it broke my heart when Harold died." " That was a long time ago." " Yeah." "when you're a kid." "The laughs and snubs and slights you get because you're poor or Irish or Jewish or just ugly." "Get off that." "That leads nowhere." "But you should offer condolences to the families of those kids." "Sure." "I'd like to." "I'd like to offer my condolences." "But Nixon can't." "Enraged student groups across the country are calling for a general strike tomorrow to shut down the entire university system until the Vietnam War is ended." "this is nothing compared to Venezuela." "Ike sent me down there like a blocking tackle." "They threw rocks." "Broke out the windows." "Bob." "Pat was brave." "they're serious." "Why are we stopping?" "Come on." "Move it!" " Jesus!" " Get that little punk!" "Tackle him." "Go on." "Get him!" "Yeah." "No." "Reminds me of my days at Whittier." "These kids are useless." "Probably flunking." "Nothing to do except come down here and chase girls." "Parents' fault." "It's a poison in the upper classes." "They've had it too soft." "Too many cars." "Too many colored TVs." "West." "Good football colleges." "Straight kids." "sir." "They're just kids." "They don't vote." "John." "Are you blind?" "They're putting the fig leaves on the statues." " Mr. President." " Bob." "sir." "As soon as we learned from the Secret Service you were en route the director was notified." " He should be here any minute." " Oh?" "Where the hell is he?" "sir." "let's go." "sir." "his office." "I want a very private conversation with him." "sir." "Okay." "Hi." "Bob?" "sir." "I have no access." "We'll see to that." "sir." "He's heard you're looking for a new director." "He certainly isn't acting like it." "That's Helms." "He's the epitome of sangfroid." "Aworld-class poker player." "I own the fucking casino." "that you've come all the way out here to Virginia to visit us at last." " My friends call me "Mr. President."" " And so shall I." "Mr. Helms." "General Cushman?" "please." "Bob Cushman is a lieutenant general in the marine corps." "Deputy director of the C.I.A." "Is this what you use him for?" "Mr. President." "You did." "You live pretty well out here." "Now I understand why you want to keep your budgets classified." "I suppose you're unhappy because I haven't implemented your domestic intelligence plan." "you're correct." "I'm concerned these students are being funded by foreign interests whether they know it or not." "The F.B.I. is useless in this area." "I want your full attention on this matter." "but so far we've come up with nothing." "find something." "And I want these leaks stopped." "the State Department." "I wanna know who's talking to them." "that this is a very tricky area given our charter and the Congressional Oversight Committee." "Screw Congressional Oversight." "this agency reports what it wants and buries what it doesn't want Congress to know." "Mr. President?" "Yes." "It involves some old and forgotten papers." "Things I signed as vice president." "and I don't want copies anywhere else." "I believe to chairing the Special Operations Group" " as vice president." " Yeah." "that was unique." "Not an operation so much as an organic phenomenon." "It grew." "It changed shape." "It developed appetites." "It's not unusual in such cases that things are not committed to paper." "That could be very embarrassing." "I saw to it that my name was never connected with any of these operations." "Dien." "Trujillo." "Lumumba." "Guatemala." "Iran." "Cuba." "Dick." "I'm interested in those documents that put your people together with the gangster elements." " All the documents." " Kennedy threatened to smash the C.I.A." "into a thousand pieces." "You could do the same." "I'm not Jack Kennedy." "Your agency is secure." "Not if I give you all the cards." "I promised the American people peace with honor in Southeast Asia." "that may take time." "maybe three years." "your agency will continue at current levels of funding." "Current levels may not be sufficient." "the president will support a reasonable request for an increase." "And me?" "Dick." "You're doing a magnificent job." "I accept." "I'm flattered." "And I want you to know that I serve only one president at a time." "Yes." "And you will give General Cushman full access." "It could take a little time but I will order a search for your papers." " Good." " But it does raise a troubling issue." " What?" " Castro." "Yes?" "We have recent intelligence that a Soviet nuclear submarine has docked at Cienfuegos." "we'll launch a formal protest." "I don't think we can treat this as a formality." "Mr. Kennedy gave the Russians a verbal promise that he would not invade Cuba." "Did you authorize Dr. Kissinger to put this in writing?" "Are you tapping Kissinger?" "unpleasant at times is to know what others don't want me to know." "it isn't." "It is not my practice to spy on the president." "Dr. Kissinger manages to convey his innermost secrets without my help." "we've lived with Communism in Cuba for ten years." "But it has never been the policy of this government to accept that and it is certainly not C.I.A. policy." "C.I.A. policy?" "The C.I.A. has no policy except what I dictate to you." "I tried to adjust to the world as it is today not as you or I wanted it to be ten years ago." "Is that why you and Kissinger are negotiating with the Chinese?" "Mr. President." "Terrible consequences can result from such enormous errors of judgment." "But if we were able to separate China from Russia once and for all we can - we could create a balance of power that would secure the peace into the next century." "And offer Cuba to the Russians as a consolation prize?" "Cuba would be a small price to pay." "So President Kennedy thought." "No." "I never thought Kennedy was ready for the presidency." "But I" "I would never have considered" "His death was awful." "It was an awful thing for this country." "Yeah." "Dick?" "The flowers are a continual reminder of our mortality." "Do you appreciate flowers?" "No." "and they smell like death." "I had two brothers die young." "Let me tell you." "There are worse things than death." "Yes." "There's such a thing as evil." "You must be familiar with my favorite poem by Yeats" ""The Second Coming"?" "Black Irish." "Very moving." "Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer." "Things fall apart." "The center cannot hold." "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." "And everywhere the ceremony of innocence is lost." "The best lack all conviction." "And the worst are full of passionate intensity." "But it ends so beautifully ominous." "What rough beast its hour come round at last." "Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born." "Yes." "This country stands at such a juncture." "Manolo?" "Manolo?" "Mr. President?" " Yeah." "I'm sorry." "I was asleep." "What can I get you?" "you know." " Of course." "Manolo?" "Mr. President." "didn't we?" "Your people." "sir." "do you?" "He was a politician." "Did you cry when he died?" "sir." "Why?" "I don't know." "He made me see the stars." "How did he do that?" "Those kids." "Why do they hate me so much?" "It's the president." "Hi." "I'm Dick Nixon." "Hi there." " Hi." "Where you from?" " Syracuse." "the Orangemen. the one with the blood disease." "right." "I used to play a little ball myself at Whittier." "a tackling dummy." "We didn't come here to talk about football." "I understand that." "young lady?" " Nineteen." "Yeah." "probably most of you think I'm a real S.O.B. I know that." " I understand how you feel." "I want peace too." " But peace with honor." " What does that mean?" "you can't have peace without a price." "Sometimes you have to be willing to fight for peace and sometimes to die." "Yeah?" "Tell that to the GIs who are going to die tomorrow in Vietnam." "What lets you kill women and children?" "What you have to understand is we're willing to die for what we believe in." " That's right." " It's the truth." "Yeah." "that man up there he lived in similar times." "hatred between the races." " This is all bullshit." " Sometimes I go to the Lincoln Room at the White House and just pray." "Liberals act like idealism belongs to them." "That's not true." "No." "My family went Republican because Lincoln freed the slaves." "My grandmother was an abolitionist." "my hometown to abolish slavery." "conservative bible folk but they had a powerful sense of right and wrong." "Forty years ago I was like you." "Looking for answers." "See?" "Tricky Dick himself." "My mother used to feed hobos stopping over at our house." "pig my friends and I." "don't we?" "we don't." "so why don't you?" "Change always comes slowly." "I pulled out more than half the troops." "I'm trying to cut the military budget for the first time in 30 years." "I want a volunteer army." "But it's also a question of American credibility." "Mr. Nixon." "It's a civil war between Vietnamese." "You don't want the war." "We don't want the war." "The Vietnamese don't want the war." " So why does it go on?" "Mr. President." " Okay." "Please." "can you?" "Even if you wanted to." "it's the system." "The system won't let you stop it." "There's more at stake here" " than what you want or what I want." " Then what's the point?" "What's the point of being president?" "You're powerless!" "I'm not powerless." "I believe I can maybe not control it totally but tame it enough to make it do some good." "Sounds like you're talking about a wild animal." "maybe I am." "Mr. President." "Please." "man?" " When you gonna get us out?" " The old man's moving." "Bob." " Nineteen-year-old college kid." " What?" "Who?" "She understood something that's taken me 25 years in politics to understand." "those Wall Street bastards." " Sir?" " The beast." "sir." "the size of the crowds have swelled to over a quarter of a million demonstrators protesting the ongoing war in Vietnam." "Edgar." "they've been at it now for a whole year." "just like Tricia." "Edgar?" "This whole damn system of government." "Mr. President waiting for someone to pick it up." "The Communists have never been closer than they are now." "Now's the time to get back to the old themes." "The ones that made you president." "Let the Communists know you're onto them." "Those bastards." "Think they can ruin Tricia's wedding by dancing naked in the reflecting pool." "don't listen to them and don't quit." "Kennedy and King were against the war." "Where are they now?" "How the hell the Times got a hold of this Ellsberg stuff is a disgrace." "we can't keep a damn secret in this government." "They're stealing papers right out of this office." "Johnson had the same damn problem till he bugged his own office." "We took that system out." "But that was a mistake." "The White House was full of Kennedy people then." "It still is. you have C.I.A. people all over this place." "Helms has seen to that." "And then there's Kissinger's staff." "may be the leaker." " Kissinger?" " He's obsessed with his own image." "He wants his Nobel peace prize a little too much." "even an ape can win a prize with good press." "I'd like to book him into a psychiatrist's office." "He comes in here ranting and raving dumping his crap all over the place." "Edgar?" "I always get my man." "you do." "This damn tie!" " Could you help me?" " Yeah." "I'd be bugging myself." "Who'd get the tapes?" "No one." "Your property." "And it would prove your case." "Why do you think Kissinger is taping all your calls?" "For history." "His word against yours." "he's got the records." "I'll get Manolo to do this." "Thanks. you'd better write it yourself." "I don't want this to come back and haunt me." "as long as I'm here." "Good." "This way." "What's wrong?" "We're just not going to buckle to these people." "No more war!" "...beautiful!" "thank you." "may I?" "Thank you." "Princess." "Very." "Daddy." "Yeah?" "Some very secret essays on Vietnam have been leaked to the New York Times." "Chuck." " The New York Times." " Get Ron over here." "It's the happiest day of my life." "The New York Times began publishing today the first in a series of 47 volumes of top-secret Pentagon tapes relating to the war in Vietnam." "leaked by defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg reveal a pattern of government lies and American involvement in the war." "we are in a revolutionary situation." "the Weathermen." "The State Department under Rogers is leaking like a sieve." "insignificant little shit Ellsberg publishing all the diplomatic secrets of this country is destroying our ability to conduct foreign policy." "I wonder if many people here wouldn't think that ten years in prison was very cheap if they could contribute to ending this war." "The man has become a drug fiend." "He shot people from helicopters in Vietnam." "He's had sexual relations with his wife in front of their children." "He sees a shrink in L.A. The man's all fucked up." "And now he's trying to look good for the Liberals." "everybody will follow his lead." "This man must be stopped at all costs." "but don't you think this is a Democrat problem?" "They started the war." "It makes them look bad." "the Vietnamese" " It makes you look like a weakling!" " Goddamn it." "How long have we had this jackass dog?" "Two years?" "He still doesn't come." "We need a dog that looks happy when the press is here." " He's photogenic." "Try new biscuits." " Fuck it." "Henry." " I beg your pardon?" " It's your people talking to the press." "wasn't he a student of yours at Harvard?" "Henry." "So why are you running for cover?" "we taught a class togetherat Harvard but you know these back-stabbing Ivy League intellectuals." "Henry." "I don't." " Prosecute the New York Times." "John." "The question is how do we screw Ellsberg so bad it puts the fear of God into all leakers?" "The other issue is how do we stop these leaks once and for all?" "someone is talking to the press." "We gotta stop these leaks at any cost." "Russia." "Chuck." "We can do this ourselves." "The C.I.A. and the F.B.I. aren't doing the job." "we can create our own intelligence unit right here inside the White House." "why not?" "Our own intelligence to plug the leaks?" " Like plumbers." " Plumbers." "I like it." "I like the idea." "is it legal?" "Has it ever been done before?" "Sure." "F.D.R." "Truman cut the shit out of my investigation of the Hiss case in '48." "What he did was illegal." "you got to be brutal." "the whole damn place should be fired." "you do it like the Germans in World War II." "and a sniper hit one of'em they'd line the whole goddamn town up and say you're all getting shot." "I think that's what has to be done." "I don't think you can be Mr. Nice Guy anymore." "and I'll shoot Ellsberg myself." " We're not Germans." " Yeah." "Ellsberg's not the issue." "The Pentagon papers aren't the issue." "It's the lie." "Mr. Hiss is lying." "Yeah." "back in '48?" "Nobody believed Alger Hiss was a Communist except me." "they loved Hiss like they loved this Ellsberg character." "Ivy League establishment." "and never have been..." " Mr. Hiss is lying." " Mr. Hiss?" "nothing." " And Dick kicked the shit out of 'em." "I wouldn't have if Hiss hadn't lied about knowing Chambers." "just like these Pentagon papers." "The key thing we proved was that Hiss was a liar." "Then people bought that he was a spy." "It's the lie that gets you." "we're gonna go yourway." "Crush this Ellsberg same way we did Hiss." "Mr. President." "he'll look like everything that's sick and evil about the eastern establishment." "you're gonna get all the dirt on this guy." "Let's see him going to the bathroom in front of the American public." "they'll crucify him." "Then we'll get our second term." "Frank." " You seen the guys?" " They're around." " Why?" "You gota customer?" "The White House." "Frank." "We're gonna plug leaks." " Who are we workin' for?" " A guy named Gordon Liddy." "He thinks he's Martin Bormann." "He wants to meet you." "Frank Sturgis." "Frank." "Did you see the look on Hoover's face?" "He's redder than a beet." "That little closet fairy's got no choice." "he's gotta love me." "didn't he?" "Have you talked to Lyndon?" "what would you do on a scale of one to ten?" "boy." "Bomb them where they live."" " Yeah." "tell Trini I'll be in Key Biscayne at 4:00." "alone." "Pat's staying here with Mrs. Eisenhower." "sir." " Good." "Buddy." "What are you doing here?" "I missed you." "Why don't we go down to Key Biscayne together?" "Because." "I have to relax." "I was just thinking tonight." "Remember when you used to drive me on dates with other boys?" "Yeah." "You didn't want to let me out of your sight." "Yeah." "Sure." "It was a long time ago." "it's been a long time." "Buddy." "I don't need that." "I'm not Jack Kennedy." "you're not." "So stop comparing yourself to him." "You have no reason to." "You have everything you ever wanted." "You earned it." "Why can't you just enjoy it?" "I do." "I do in my own way." "honey?" "Buddy." "You don't understand." "Buddy." "the Liberals out there." "They're out there trying to figure out how to tear me down." " They're all your enemies?" " Yes." "personally?" "Yes!" "this is about me." "Why can't you understand that?" "you of all people." "It's not the war." "It's Nixon!" "it's Nixon." "They want to destroy Nixon." "they'll tear my insides out." "You want that?" "You know?" "Buddy?" "It's not pretty!" "Dick." "What the hell are you saying?" "!" "Are you drunk?" "you sound just like them now." "for the country." "the elite!" "chicken-shit faggots." "They don't have the long-term vision anymore." "They just want to cover their ass and meet girls and tear each other down." "Buddy." "you know." "Mother would have expected no less of me." "Buddy." "that's all." "but I did." "And it doesn't make you happy." "I don't." "I'm not Jack Kennedy." "Dick." "they never will." "the president." "gentlemen." "This is our last damn leak." "It's no way to run a goddamn government." "We're going to prosecute the hell out of Ellsberg and any else who wants to leak." "And that means anyone of you here who crosses the line okay?" "The permissiveness of this year is over." "The belts are coming off and people are going to go to the woodshed." "Because the government cannot survive with a counter-government inside it." "I know how traitors operate." "I've dealt with them all of my life." "It's never the little people." "Little people do not leak." "It's always some smooth son of a bitch like Ellsberg." "the Harvard Hebrew boys who leak." ""But Ellsberg did it for the good of the country." ""The people's right to know." You know?" "that's never the case and so did the Rosenbergs." "Look what happened to them." "see." "gentlemen." "stick in our spikes and twist and show them no mercy." "no one in this room talks to the press without checking first with Mr. Haldeman here." "Jack Anderson and the Washington Post." "Mr. Haldeman is the chief high executioner from now on so don't you come whining to me when he tells you to do something." "I'll be tougher than he is." "his fucking head comes off." "You got that?" "and good day to you." "History will never be the same." "We're taking a step into the future." "give them the folder."" " We have changed the world." "Mr. Chairman." "Looks can be deceiving." "We know what risks you've taken in inviting us here." "I took no risk." "I am too old to be afraid of what anyone thinks." "Don't ever trust them." "They never tell the truth or honor their commitments." "Vietnamese are like Russians." "Both are dogs." "there's an old saying in my country:" "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." "That has the added virtue of being true." "Mr. Chairman." "Bullshit." "My writings mean absolutely nothing." "I want to know your secret." "Mr. Chairman?" "How a fat man gets so many girls." "Mr. Chairman is the ultimate aphrodisiac." "I voted for you in your last election." "I was the the lesser of two evils." "Mr. Nixon." "You are as evil as I am." "We are the new emperors." "We are both from poor families and others pay to feed the hunger in us." "millions of reactionaries." "millions of Vietnamese." "Civil war is always the cruelest kind of war but our two nations were forged by revolution." "China." "Peace?" "Is peace all you're interested in?" "The real war is in us." "History is a symptom of our disease." "In a surprise Christmas bombing of Hanoi" "Nixon delivered more tonnage than was used at Dresden in World War II." "It is without doubt the most brutal bombing in American history." "Newspapers are calling it a Stone Age tactic and Nixon a maddened tyrant." "Nixon's response:" "I'll stop." "A penny for your thoughts." "Just think of the think of the life Mao's led." "In '52 I called him a monster." "Now he could be our most important ally." "Only Nixon could've done that." "You're a long way from Whittier." "Yep." "I am." "Dick." " Mr. Ziegler." "the press guys asked if you could come back for a minute?" "Mr. President." "Mr. President." "I think it would be a good move." " Who's back there?" " Everybody." "Okay." "I go now to discover width and depth of the shaft." "the president." " It's the president." " Hi." " Hi." " Hi." "sir." "Well done!" "sir!" "sir!" " Thank you." "Congratulations!" "Well... it looks to me like we're gonna lose a war for the first goddamn time." "Yep." "Dick buying into this Kissinger bullshit this detente with Communists." "Detente." "Sounds like a couple of fags dancing." "we're not living in the same country you and I knew in '46." "Our people are just not gonna sacrifice in major numbers for war." "Can't even get them to accept cuts in their gas tax." "the Arabs and the Japanese are draining the gold reserves" "And whose fault is that?" "we wouldn't be having this conversation." "Jack." "It's change." "It's a fact of history." "Even that old cocksucker J. Edgar Hoover's dead." "Who would have thought that possible?" "Mr. Nixon?" "if you're president." "So... what are you gonna do about that Allende fella nationalizing our businesses in Chile?" "You gonna send Kissinger down there?" "just as fast as we can." " He's at the top of the list." " How about Kissinger along with him?" "Kissinger's misunderstood." "He acts like a Liberal for his establishment friends" " but he's even tougher than I am." " So Kissinger stays." "Mr. Nixon." "Yeah." "He stays." "And you are comfortable with that decision?" "Desi's got a point." "What the hell are we gonna do about the Communists here in our own backyard?" "Jack?" "I mean I got federal price controls on my oil." "Dick!" "And your E.P.A. environmental agency has got its thumb so far up my ass it's scratching my ear!" "Bob." "I got a federal judge ordering me to bus my grandkids halfway across this town to go to school with some nigger kids." "Dick." "Mr. President." "Aren't you forgetting who put you where you are?" "Jack." "Really?" "that can be changed." "In a heartbeat." "I've learned politics is the art of compromise." "I learned it the hard way." "I don't know if you have." "Jack." "there's an election in November and you can take your money out in the open and give it to Wallace." "Jack?" "You willing to do that?" "Hand this country over to some pansy poet socialist like George McGovern?" "Because if you're not happy with the E.P.A. up your ass try the I.R.S." "Dick." "are you?" "Jack." "They don't have to." "gentlemen." "Thank you." "With candidate George Wallace out of the race paralyzed by an assassin's bullet" "Richard Nixon has crushed George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election." "It is the second-biggest landslide in American history." "Four more years!" "As the new term begins it does not seem the Watergate investigations have damaged Nixon politically in any significant way." "Probably our biggest achievement as an administration when it's all said and done isn't China or Russia." "It's pulling out of Vietnam without a right-wing revolt." "I believe you're right." "But even the presidency isn't enough anymore." "Sir?" "Bob." "We're beyond politics now." "Mr. Ehrlichman." "Yeah." "just in from Paris." "The Vietnamese have accepted Henry's peace proposal." "Good." " The bombing worked." "They're caving." " Congratulations!" "That mad bomber theory wasn't so crazy after all." "Henry is coming back to join us." "He wants to be included in the photographs." "There's a surprise." "This could be it." "This could be it." "Four long years." "Jesus." "but you should know" "Bill Sullivan at the F.B.I. got back to us with his report on Kissinger." " I didn't wanna bring it up because of..." " Go on." "Sullivan thinks he's the one." "Henry's the leaker." "I knew it." "I knew it from '69 on and I said it all along." "Bob." "Go on." "Looks like he talked to Joe Kraft and the Times." "Claims that he was dead set against the bombing that you were unstable and that he has to handle you with kid gloves." "That explains his press notices." "Working both sides of the fence." "Jew-boy Henry." "My God." "he did." "when he's on top." "And it'd set the right example for the rest of this administration." "I would personally volunteer for that assignment right now." "No." "No." "He's our only star right now." "He'd go crying to the press." "He'd crucify us." "Son of a bitch." "Get someone on our staff on his ass." "Tap his phones." "I want to know everyone he talks to." "Let's see how long the Kissinger mystique lasts." "what about these Watergate clowns?" "This Sirica's crazy." "right?" "No injuries?" "There's no success." "It's just ridiculous." "but they're solid." "What about this Washington Post crap?" "Woodwind and Fernstein." "anyway?" "you working on revoking their television license?" "I am." " Good." "they're trying to connect Bob and John with the secret fund." " But they don't have much." " They don't have anything." "The F.B.I.'s feeding me their reports." "sir." "good man." "I can therefore announce that our long and tragic involvement in Vietnam is at an end." "Our mission is accomplished." "We have a cease-fire and our prisoners of war are coming back home." "South Vietnam has the right to determine its own future." "we have peace with honor." "The president will take some of your questions now." "Mr. President!" " Dan." "Isn't it true little has been achieved in this agreement that the Communists have not been offering since 1969 that in fact your administration has needlessly prolonged the war and escalated it to new levels of violence? answer that question in some detail." "Mr. President!" "What is your reaction to James McCord's statement that high-level White House officials were involved in the Watergate break-in?" "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." "The Washington Post is reporting that Mr. Haldeman and Ehrlichman 000 in campaign funds." "let me make this perfectly clear." "I will not respond to the charges of the Washington Post." "Nor will I commenton a matter that is currently before the courts." "do you intend to cooperate with Senator Ervin's committee?" "Will you agree to the appointment of a special prosecutor?" " Mr. President!" " Mr. President!" "Mr. President!" "Thank you!" "shouldn't you..?" "get in there and do something!" "I end the longest war in American history and they keep harping on this chicken-shit" "don't you?" "Teddy Kennedy." "and he can't run for president." "He did get pretty burned at Chappaquiddick." "My point exactly!" "Somebody had to die before he got his shit in the papers!" "Fucking Kennedys get away with everything!" "Goddamn them!" "You see me screwing everything that moves?" "I did what the New York Times editorial page said for me to do!" "I ended the war!" "I opened China." "So why are these assholes turning on me?" "where I went to school!" "right." "They don't trust America." "Why would they?" "They just come here to stick their snouts in the trough." "Who are these people?" "Sulzberger." "Henry." "They buy things." "They come to Jew York city and buy up things." "is the New York Times." "sir." "Because we speak for the average American." "You know why they're turning on me?" "that's why." "They're playing with power." "They're forgetting the national interest." "how to set limits." "They wouldn't have torn this country apart over a third-rate burglary." "now all they care about are their egos looking good at cocktail parties." "Beating out other papers and chasing girls." "Wondering whether someone said something nice about them." "frivolous bullshit." "Ben Bradlee worrying about Teddy Kennedy liking him." "will you?" "I fear we are drifting toward oblivion here." "We are playing a totally reactive game." "We have to get ahead of the ball." "we all know that you are clean." "Right?" "Then let's take off the gloves." " Let's do a housecleaning." " Housecleaning?" "really ugly." "sir." "Your government is paralyzed." "All kinds of shit could come out." "The Ellsberg thing." "I heard something." "I suppose it was." "I thought it was your idea to expose Ellsberg as a sex fiend." "I guess somebody just took you too literally." "I never suggested a bunch of imbeciles break into a psychiatrist's office." "It doesn't matter." "The point is you might lose your media darling halo if the media start sniffing around our dirty laundry." "I never had anything to do with that and I resent the implication!" "but you're in with the rest of us." "Cambodia." "Ellsberg." "The wiretaps you put in." "The president wants you to know you can't just click your heels and head back to Harvard Yard." "and it's in the wind twisting with everyone else's." "Sir." "Yeah?" "There are times when even the president can go too far." "sir." "That cocksucker will think twice before he leaks again." "Yeah." "He'll be looking in his toilet bowl every time he pulls the chain." "Hunt wants more money." "Another 122 thousand." "He says if he doesn't get it right away and he means it." "he's been over the edge." "Pay him what he wants." "We've got to turn the faucet off on Hunt and these Cubans." "you might want to just burden me with..." "It's Helms." "It's gotta be Helms." "He's behind it." " I think we could leverage Helms." " How?" "he kind of tipped his hand." "Because this entire affair is related to the Bay of Pigs." "If it comes out..." "This has nothing to do with the Bay of Pigs!" "I have no concern about the Bay of Pigs!" "I couldn't believe it." "Dick." "I had to remind him who he was talking to." "sir?" "because all of a sudden it was no problem for Helms to go to the F.B.I. and try to put a lid on Watergate." "What about the documents he promised?" "He'll give us the documents." "But I think if we offer him an ambassadorship we can get rid of him." "I promised Iran to Townsend." "sir." "It's available." "150?" " What about England?" " Brandenberg's paid three times that." "Helms wants Iran or there might be a problem." "all his old buddies are over there making a fortune off the shah" "Bob?" " Executive clemency." " What?" "Hunt and the Cubans have nothing to lose now." "Pardon them all." "Nobody's going to investigate for which the criminals have been pardoned." "but it'll never do." "the people will go nuts." "Am I supposed to just sit here and watch them coming closer eating their way to the center?" "Lyndon bugged;" "so did Kennedy." "F.D.R. cut a deal with lucky Luciano." "even Eisenhower had a mistress." "What's so special about me?" "what about Lyndon?" "He could make a couple of calls hell and shut this whole damn thing down." " Anyone talk to him?" "What did he say?" " I did." "No dice." " He hit the roof." " Why?" "He said if you go out with a story about how he bugged your plane he's gonna reveal..." "Bob!" "What's the matter with you?" "I know." "I just know we've made too many enemies." "There's another thing." "Bob and I have to testify before the Urban Committee." "you're not." "You're going to claim executive privilege." "You're going to stonewall it all the way." "Plead the Fifth Amendment." "I don't give a shit." "They can't force the president's people to testify." "Executive privilege will just make it look like we're covering up." "for God's sake." "stupid shit." "and they'd be lies." "nobody believes me anyway." "Then we're going to have to give them Mitchell." "Mitchell's family." "or it comes here." "boss." "It's not personal." "It's just the way the game is played." "Sometimes you have got to punt." "Jesus." "I'm so goddamned worn out with this." "are you gonna tell Mitchell?" " You do it." " Why me?" " Because he hates you." "It's worse when you get it from someone you trust." "you know." " About Kennedy and L.B.J. and Truman." " How so?" "but nothing like this." "the enemies list" "You know?" "You got the attempted firebombing of the Brookings Institution." "Planting McGovern stuff on the guy that shot Wallace?" "Trying to slip L.S.D. to Jack Anderson?" "John." "You think this is about politics?" "Do you think L.B.J. would have ever asked Hunt to forge a cable implicating Kennedy in the assassination of the president of Vietnam?" "20 years?" "you ever shake hands with him?" "Have you ever had a real conversation with him?" "this..." "This is about Richard Nixon." "You got people dying because he didn't make varsity football." "You got the Constitution hanging by a thread not to Yale." "And what is this Bay of Pigs thing?" "Goes white every time you mention it." "even I figured that out." "I think he means the Kennedy assassination." " Yeah?" " They went after Castro and in some crazy way it got turned back on Kennedy." "I don't think the old man knows what happened." "But he's afraid to find out." "He's shitting peach pits every time he thinks about it." "Created a Frankenstein with those damn Cubans." "Eight words back in '72:" "I covered up." "I was wrong." "I'm sorry." "and the American public would've forgiven him." "John." "We failed him." "Dick Nixon saying "I'm sorry"?" "That'll be the day." "His whole suit of armor would fall off." "you tell Mitchell." "Yeah." "don't you?" "John." "we wouldn't be in this mess." " I was sorry to hear about your wife." " Yes." "Take out the money." "The president would like to know if that was the last payment." "I'll bet he would." "Is it? he's never had better value for his money." "all the dominoes would fall." "Can I ask you a question?" "You have the temerity to blackmail the president of the United States?" "John." "why is he paying?" "To protect his people." "I'm one of his people." "The Cubans are his people." "And we're going to jail for him." "then he'll pardon you." "Maybe." "Maybe not." "John." "You don't make them beg for their money like thieves." "You don't dump men with families who've served their country." "He didn't know." "This thing has gotten out of hand." "You think a man as controlled as Richard Nixon would've allowed a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters without knowing it?" "You think Mitchell or Haldeman wouldn't have run it by him at least once?" "nothing without Richard Nixon's permission." "sooner or later" "I think you're going to learn the lesson that's been learned by everyone who's ever gotten close to Richard Nixon." "That he's the darkness reaching out for the darkness." "And eventually it's either you or him." "John." "L. Patrick Gray shocked the Senate by revealing that John Dean has been secretly receiving F.B.I. reports on Watergate." "sir?" "Gray also said that Dean lied when he claimed Howard Hunt did not have an office in the White House." " How is he?" " He's in a bad mood." "He's running late." "Have a seat." "This is the sort of thing Mafia people can do." "Washing money and things like that." "We just don't know about these things because we're not criminals." "How much you need?" "I would say these people will cost a million dollars over the next two years." "We could get that." "Get a million dollars in cash." "I know where it could be gotten." "I'm still not confident we can ride through this." "Some people are gonna have to go to jail." "Hunt's not the only problem." "000 cash fund in his safe to make the payments." "in the Ellsberg break-in." "I don't know about that." "And I'm..." "I think it's time we begin to think in terms of cutting our losses." "Yeah." "and all the rest suppose the thing blows and they indict Bob and the others?" "John." "I mean... it's better to fight it out instead and not let people testify." "I still don't think we can contain this anymore." "and it's growing everything is a the softheads." "The average people don't think it's much of a crisis." "this is not Vietnam." "No one's dying here." "but... everybody bugs everybody else." "We know that." "that's really bad here." "you know." "Give them the hors d'oeuvre." "Maybe they won't come back for the main course." "that's the tragedy in all this." "so it's time he assumed responsibility." "You're not paying attention." "He won't." "He's told Ehrlichman he won't." "You tell my good friend Dick" "I got suckered into this by not paying aaattention to what these bastards and he shouldn't either." "Yeah." "he's right." "John." "A full and thorough investigation." "We've co-operated with the F.B.I." "We'll co-operate with the Senate." "we've nothing to hide." "No." "Nothing to hide." "the only fault in the plan is they're not gonna believe the truth anyway; that's the incredible thing." "I agree." "It's tricky." "Everything seems to lead back here." " People would never understand." " No." "I want you to get away from this madhouse I want you to go up to Camp David for the weekend and write up a report." "Put everything you know about Watergate in there and say here it all is." Okay?" "You want me to put it all in writing over my signature?" "nobody knows more" "John." "the details." "That stuff I don't know." "But..." "I'm not going to be the scapegoat for this." "Haldeman and Ehrlichman are in it just as deep as I am." "you don't wanna start down that road." "I remember" "Whittaker Chambers telling me back in '48" "He was a man who suffered greatly." "it is always night." "John." "sir." "You know how I feel about loyalty." "that I promise you." "The important thing is to keep this away from Haldeman and Ehrlichman." "and I have complete confidence in you." "Okay?" " I'll work on it." " Okay!" "Say hi to that wife of yours." "sir." " Good." "Shit." "It happens." "The place is a shambles." "I was determined that we should get to the bottom of Watergate no matter who was involved." "in one of the most difficult decisions of my presidency" "I accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the White House" "Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know." "Chief?" "Bob." "Six bodies." "has also resigned." "I will not place the blame on subordinates on people whose zeal exceeded their judgment and who may have done wrong in a cause they deeply believed to be right." "In any organization the man at the top must bear the responsibility." "belongs here in this office and I accept that." "There can be no whitewash at the White House." "Two wrongs do not make a right." "I love America." "and God bless each and every one of you." "And we're clear." "Thank you." "Are you going to Key Biscayne?" " Yeah." " When?" "Tomorrow." "Ron told me that" "Bob Haldeman has been calling but you won't talk to him." "will you pardon him?" "No." "Why are you cutting yourself off from the rest of us?" " Can't we discuss this?" " What exactly do you want to discuss?" "You." "What you're doing." " What am I doing?" " I wish I knew." "You're hiding." "Hiding what?" "Whatever it is you've always been hiding." "Dick." "You won't even ask for help! Mrs. Nixon's finished." "Dick." "If you don't even talk to me..." "Brezhnev's coming in three days." "I don't wanna deal with them and him and you." "How much more?" "How much more is it going to cost?" "When do the rest of us stop paying off your debts?" "I'd like to finish my dinner in peace if it's not too much to ask." "it isn't." "I won't interfere with you anymore." "I'm finished trying." "Thank you." ""Thank you"?" "sometimes I understand why they hate you." "The committee will come to order." "Counsel will call the first witness." "III." "After I departed the president's office" "I went to a meeting with Haldeman and Ehrlichman to discuss the matter." "The sum and substance of that discussion was the way to handle this now was for Mitchell to step forward." "It was a tremendous disappointment to me because it was quite clear as far as the White House was concerned was going to continue." "Why is he doing this?" "He's our goddamn lawyer." "why didn't he come talk with us?" "the weasel's got no proof." "It's still an informer's word against the president's." "...were all indictable for obstruction of justice." "That was the reason I was disagreeing with all that was being discussed." "general." "Mao taught me in 1963 let 400 million Chinese die" "300 million will be left." ""Bullshit!" " Mao... phfft!" " Yeah." "You want to know what happened?" "I can tell you what happened." "You want names?" "I can give you Haldeman." " I'm talking about the president." " Mao!" " We all know in our country..." " I can give you the president." "...this man in his dog heart." "You want him to be your ally?" "Leonid." "da." "...Mr. Nixon... and therefore it must not interfere with the building of the S.A.L.T. 2 treaty between our great countries." "Peace in our era is possible." "Dick." "It's okay." "unfortunately..." "Did you?" "Daddy?" "What?" "Did you cover it up?" "honey?" "then you can't give up." "You just can't." "You're one of the best presidents this country has ever had." "you brought this country back from civil war you can't let your enemies tear you down." "You've gotta stay and fight." "I'll go out there and make speeches." "how nice you are to people." "I'll tell them." "You're the most decent person I know." "Kitten." "They just don't know the real you." "They just don't know." "Tricky Dick always knew what was going on." "Every last goddamn detail." "And my husband is not going to take the rap this time." "They know they can't shut me up." "Probably end up killing me." "She doesn't know what she's talking about." "Stop bothering her!" "she's nuts." "You bastards have seen to that." "Are you and Martha gonna get back together again?" "thank you very much." "Stick that up your keister!" "were the visitors that went into the White House warned that their conversations with the president would be taped?" "I am not aware of the technical details." "we have the high school students from Ohio." "Saturday is the National Women's Republican Club." "In a development that could break Watergate wide open former White House aide Alexander Butterfield testified today before the Senate Select committee." "He revealed a taping system that may have recorded conversations the executive office building and even members of his own family." "All calls to the White House would be taped?" "the tape would not discriminate." "None of them had knowledge that their conversations were being taped?" "This is a stunning revelation." "once and for all and when did he know it." "[Nixon On Tape] I want Hunt paid." "Maybe it's time to go the hang-out route." "[KissingerOn Tape] If they fear the madman..." "[Nixon] It's a legal contribution." "Who the hell authorized this?" "Colson?" " [Haldeman] The Bay of Pigs." "[Nixon] lf you tell Helms that Howard Hunt... and it's growing with every day... it'll be a fiasco for the C.I.A." "They're like love letters." "You should burn 'em." "Why didn't you?" "They're evidence." "You can't legally destroy evidence." "do you?" "Does it matter what's on them?" "Dick?" "your fantasies?" " Or is just me and you and..." " Don't be ridiculous." "I remember Alger Hiss." "I know how ugly you can be." "You're capable of anything." "It doesn't really matter at the end of the day what's on them because you have absolutely no remorse." "No concept of remorse." "You want the tapes to get out." "You want them to see you at your worst." "yeah!" "including you." "And what would I find out that I haven't known for years?" "What makes it so damn sad is that you couldn't confide in any of us." "You had to make a record for the whole world." "They were for me." "They're mine." "They're not yours." "They are you." "You should burn them." "Richard?" " Go away!" "ten times." "just gave up?" "They just don't walk away." "ten times?" " I never said this." " Never." " You think people like that gave up?" "Castro." "These guys went after Castro." "they'd blame me for everything." "Forget Kennedy or Johnson." "It's Nixon!" "Whoever killed Kennedy... this beast." "In the latest bombshell the president's lawyers revealed that there is an 18-and-a-half minute gap in a critical Watergate tape." "Reactions of disbelief and anger are being heard across the country." "My God." "Pat!" "Pat!" " Has he had chest pains?" " He woke up coughing blood!" " I'm in charge here!" " Has he been short of breath?" "and he's sure that he has T.B!" " Why T.B?" "Because his family had it." "His brother had it." " I think it's flooded." " Richard." "Get those I.V.s started." "Dick." " They need you to lie down!" " Sedate him!" "Dick." "Dick." "Richard?" "Mother?" "Maybe a trip to the woodshed will..." "Daddy?" "Vice President Agnew has resigned today pleading no contest to charges of income tax evasion." "This follows Special Prosecutor Cox's continuing investigation into President Nixon's finances." "Dick." "'71 and '72" " They need you to lie down." "California." "Where's the blood coming from?" "What's wrong with him?" "He's got an acute viral pneumonia and a very serious phlebitis." "if the clot were to break loose it could go into his lungs and... has returned to the White House but Archibald Cox has declared war by issuing a subpoena for nine of the president's tapes." "Never!" "Over my dead body." "It's the president's personal property." "Democrat-cocksuckers." "This could trigger the impeachment." "They'll go to the Supreme Court." "I appointed three of those bastards." "They'll never get my tapes." "Can the president afford to ignore a subpoena?" "Who the hell does Cox think he is?" "I've never made a dime from public office." "I'm honest." "My dad died broke." "Jesus." "he went to the same law school as Jack Kennedy." "The last gasp of the establishment. so now they gotta squeal about Watergate because we were the first real threat to them in years." "We would've changed it so they couldn't have changed it back in 100 years." "Yeah." "If only the..." " Mr. President." " What?" "sir." "Congress is considering four articles of impeachment." "sir." "abuse of power." " Yep." "what else?" "failure to co-operate with Congress." "sir." "They can't impeach me for Cambodia;" "the president can bomb anybody he likes." "but the other three... sir." "They sell tickets to an impeachment like a damn circus." "fuck'em!" "it's just a matter of mathematics." " How many votes we have in the Senate?" " About a dozen." "I got half of 'em elected." "so I got the South and" "Goldwater and his boys." "we should." "we'll have to deal with the possibility of removal from office loss of pension and possibly... possibly even prison." "plenty of people did their best writing in prison." "Lenin." " That's right." "I could rip it apart." "that's what they'll get." "they will." "I will never resign this office." "Never." " Where the fuck am I?" "What's in there?" " The P.O.W.s and their families." " Oh." "I'm supposed to be..." " Proud?" " Sir?" " Proud." "Of them." "of course." " Fire him." " Who?" " Cox." "Archibald Cox." "Fire him!" "He works for the Attorney general." "sir?" "Then tell Richardson to fire him!" "sir." "He'll resign." "The hell he will." "Then fire him too." "If you have to go all the way down to the janitor at the Justice department" " fire that son of a bitch." " He's asked for it." "sir?" "I think that you should welcome this subpoena." "sir the tapes can only prove that Dean was a liar." "Right?" "sir." "there's more." "There's more than just me." "my boy." "Even though it's ended." "when it's gone." "Do you think those P.O.W.s in there did?" "AI think you can go stand in the middle of a bull ring and cry mea culpa while the crowd is hissing and booing and spitting on you." "a man doesn't cry." "I don't cry." "You don't cry." "You fight." "Okay. the president of the United States!" "We interrupt this program for a special report from NBC news." "The country is in the midst of the most serious constitutional crisis in its history." "President Nixon has fired special prosecutor Archibald Cox." "Attorney General Elliot Richardson has quit and his deputy William Ruckelshaus was fired when he refused to fire Cox." "has executed President Nixon's orders and fired the special prosecutor." "In an attempt to head off impeachment proceedings the president has agreed to release transcripts of 46 taped conversations." "Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president." "a judge has dismissed all charges against Daniel Ellsberg." "Ehrlichman... for God's sake." "How can you let this shit go through?" "Look." "This." "Nixon can't say that." "sir." " Never!" "I never said that about Jews." "Makes me sound like an anti-Semite." " We can check the tapes again." " No need." "I know what I said." "AI!" "Nixon can't say this!" " Niggers?" "Niggers!" "It can't say that!" " We could delete it." "it's not good enough!" "sir?" " We could write "expletive deleted." "Cut all these "goddamns" and "Jesus Christs" out." " Jesus!" " Mr. President don't you see that all these deletion marks in the transcripts make it look as though you do nothing but swear?" "It soils my mother's memory." "You think I want the whole goddamn world to see my mother like this?" "Raising a dirty-mouth?" "but we don't really have the staff to do that." "Then start over!" "Just start over!" "The world will see only what I show them!" "Ron!" "get in there and do something." "All this stuff..." "Mr. President." "two... my fellow Americans." "Tonight I'm taking an action unprecedented in the history of this office." "I had no knowledge of the cover-up until John Dean told me about it a year ago." " I think I'm going to throw up." "that payment to Hunt or anyone else be made." " He's lost touch with reality." " I've made my mistakes" "I have never profited." "Can you imagine what this man would have been" " had he ever been loved?" " I've earned every penny." "In all of my years of public life" " I have never obstructed justice." " It's a tragedy" " because he had greatness in his grasp." " I welcome this examination." "But he had the defects of his qualities." " They'll crucify him." "Does anybody really care anymore?" "which many of you were good enough to purchase." "And what happens... after?" "decided to become a candidate for the president" "I decided to clean the decks and to put everything in real estate." "that's where the money came from." "That's all I own." "and that's what we owe." "Because people have got to know whether or not their president president is a crook." "I am not a crook." "I've earned everything I have..." "She does have a respectable Republican cloth coat." "she'd look good in anything." "There has never been any feathering of nests." "Not in this administration." "let me just say this and I want to say this to the television audience." "The Supreme Court ruled today eight to nothing that President Nixon's claims of executive privilege cannot be used in criminal cases" " and must turn over subpoenaed tapes." " The House Judiciary Committee... has voted 27 to 11 to recommend impeachment to the full House." "The deliberations now go to the House floor." "the committee offers evidence Nixon obstructed justice on at least 36 occasions that he encouraged his aides to commit perjury and that Nixon abused the powers of his office." "the Senate Select committee details the misuse of the I.R.S." "the C.I.A. and the Justice Department." "It denounces the plumbers and it raises the question of whether the United States had a valid election in 1972." "Come in." "Al." "Henry." "The Pacific Theater." "you can almost hear the waves breaking over the decks." "Mr. President." "gentlemen." "sir." "Your instructions to Haldeman regarding the C.I.A. and the F.B.I." "So?" "Your lawyers feel that it's the smoking gun." "That's totally out of context." "I was protecting the national security." "the deadline is today." "Al?" "sir." "You don't get around it." "you can keep your tapes as a private citizen." "You could fight them for years." "What if I stay?" "You have the army." "The army?" "Lincoln used it." "We'll have civil war." "How do you see this?" "God." "sir." "They also have you instructing Dean to make the pay off to Hunt." "There's nothing in that statement the president can't explain." "you talked about opening up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again." " That's right." " Three days before on the June 20 tape." "The one with the 18-minute gap." "I don't know anything about that." "You mentioned the Bay of Pigs several times." "they're going to want to know what that means." "They're going to want to know what's on that gap." "It's gone." "No one will ever find out what's on it." "They might if there was another recording." "We both know it's possible." "I know for a fact that it's possible." "I've spoken to Ford." "There's a very strong chance that he'll pardon you." "for God's sake." "Mr. President." "I thought you'd rather do it now." "I'll wait outside." "Sir." "that if you stay now it will paralyze the nation and its foreign policy." "Henry." "When to give and when to take." "How do you think Mao and Brezhnev will react?" "Henry after all the great things you and I did together as some kind of of crooks?" "They will understand." "To be undone by a third-rate burglary is a fate of biblical proportions." "History will treat you far more kindly than your contemporaries." "Yeah." "Depends who writes the history books." "never have been." "But I'm not stupid either." "A trial would kill me." "That's what they want." "They won't get it." "Fuck 'em." "and I will tell the world why." "Henry." "You always saw the big picture." "You were my equal in many ways." "Henry." "Do you ever pray?" "believe in a supreme being?" "not really." "You mean on my knees?" "My mother used to pray a lot." "It's been a long time since I really prayed." "Henry." "Let's pray a little." "Just you and me." "Henry." "no." "is it?" "Henry." "Never be too proud to go on your knees before God." "God." "How can a country come apart like this?" "What have I done wrong?" "I opened China." "I made peace with Russia." "I ended the war." "I did what I thought was right." "why do they hate me so?" "It's unbelievable." "It's insane." "God." "I didn't mean it." "I didn't know what to do." "I don't know why this is happening to me." "I can't believe..." "Al." "AI." "you know?" "metallic smell." "sir." "you know?" " Sir?" " That smell." "everyone suffered so much." "Their boys killed." "They need to sacrifice something." "appease the gods of war." "Jupiter." "General." "I am that sacrifice." "In the highest place of all." "Yeah." "All leaders must finally be sacrificed." "Things won't be the same after this." "I played by the rules." "right in the middle of the game." "There's no respect for American institutions anymore." "people are cynical." "the press is out of control." "People spit on soldiers." "Government secrets mean nothing." "I pity the next guy who sits here." "gentlemen." "Mr. President." "When they look at you they see what they want to be." "When they look at me they see what they are." "please don't." "I can't." "I don't have the strength anymore." "It'll be over soon." "it's going to start now." "Buddy." "If I could just sleep." "If I could just sleep." " There'll be time for that." " Yeah." "once when I was sick as a boy my mother gave me this stuff and she made me swallow it." "It made me throw up all over her." "I wish I could do that now." "I'm so afraid." "There's darkness out there." "I could always see where I was going." "But it's dark out there." "I've always been afraid of the dark." "Buddy." "There are many fine careers." "This country needs good farmers good plumbers good carpenters." "I remember my old man." "I think that they would have called him sort of a a common man." "he didn't consider himself that way." "You know what he was?" "He was a streetcar motorman first." "Then he was a farmer." "Then he had a lemon ranch." "I can assure you." "He sold it before they found oil on it." "Then he was a grocer." "But he was a great man because he did his job." "And every job counts up to the hilt regardless of what happens." "about my mother." "I guess all of you would say this about your mother." "My mother was a saint." "And I think of her two boys dying of tuberculosis and seeing each of them die." "And when they died" "she will have no books written about her." "But she was a saint." "we look to the future." "I remember something Theodore Roosevelt wrote when his first wife died in his twenties." "He thought the light had gone from his life forever." "and he not only became president he served his country strong sometimes wrong." "But he was a man." "And as I leave that's an example I think all of us should remember." "we think sometimes when things happen that don't go the right way we think that when someone dear to us dies when we lose an election or when we suffer defeat that all is ended." "Not true." "always not when things go always good for you but the greatness comes when you're really tested some disappointments when sadness comes." "Because only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is" "to be on the highest mountain." "So I say to you on this occasion proud of the people who have stood by us and worked for us and served this government and this country." "We want you to continue to serve in government if that is what you wish." "always give your best." "Never get discouraged." "Never be petty." "others may hate you." "But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them." "you destroy yourself." "And so we leave with high hopes and good spirits and with deep humility." "And I say to each and every one of you not only will we always remember you but always you will be in our hearts." "And you'll be in our prayers." "And only then will you find what we Quakers call peace at the center." "He gave of himselfwith intelligence and energy and devotion to duty." "Richard Nixon was buried and honored by five presidents 1994 had died." "Nixon always maintained that if he had not been driven from office the North Vietnamese would not have overwhelmed the South in 1975." "Cambodian society was destroyed and mass genocide resulted." "The second half of the 20th century will be known as the age of Nixon." "Russia and the United States returned to a decade of high-budget military expansion and near war." "who was pardoned by President Ford lived to write six books and travel the world as an elder statesman." "For the remainder of his life he fought successfully to protect his tapes." "The National Archives spent 14 years indexing and cataloging them." "60 hours have been made public."