Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I just don't
understand it, Bob.
I mean, I've logged
a lot of miles,
I've followed the sales textbook
by the letter.
I mean, I've applied
myself diligently.
I mean,
I try and I try
and I just cannot
get in the door.
I mean, what am I doin' wrong?
-Earl. Sit down.
Sure, 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?
That's right, 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.
Now, I don't want to pry,
but is everything all right at home?
Everything's all right
with Margie, right?
Will there be anything else, gentlemen?
-Leave it.
Just leave it.
-Yes, 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--
01. :21, Mark.
Okay, 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?
Jim.
-No wallets, no keys?
We rendezvous where?
The Watergate, room 214.
When? At 0300 hours.
Jawohl,
mein ''farten fuhrer. ''
I swear to God, Frank,
I'm gonna make you a new ***.
Let's get the *** out of here.
-Years of clean living are over.
If anything goes wrong, just sit tight
You'll hear from me or Howard.
Personally,
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.
And remember, Earl:
Always look 'em in the eye.
Nothing sells like sincerity.
Five men wearing
white surgical gloves, 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.
Good evening, General Haig.
Good evening,
sir.
Judge John Sirica today
sentenced the Watergate burglars
to terms ranging up to 40 years.
The White House continues
to deny any involvement.
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.
In a stunning announcement, 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
the Watergate special prosecutor,
Archibald ***,
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-halfminute gap
in the June 20, 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.
These are the tapes you requested,
Mr. President.
Okay.
***!
Nixon's never been good
with these things, Al.
I'll take care of it, sir.
Do you mind, sir?
Oh.
Sorry.
-Okay. Go on.
You know, Al,
if Hoover were alive,
these tapes would never
have gotten out.
I want the little *** back.
Mr. Hoover was a realist.
-Yeah.
Not like the others.
Dean, McCord, the rest.
We never got our side
of the story out, Al.
People have forgotten.
Such violence.
The tear gassing,
the riots,
burning the draft cards,
the black panthers.
We fixed it, Al,
and they hate me for it.
'Cause it's Nixon.
They always hated Nixon.
You're all set, sir.
Okay.
-Good night, Mr. President.
Good night, Al.
Hey, Al.
Men in your profession
give 'em a pistol
and then leave the room.
I don't have a pistol,
Al.
Oh. *** it.
They did what?
Evidently to install bugs
and photograph documents.
It was a fishing expedition. It was
their fourth attempt at the D. N. C.
O'Brien doesn't even use that office.
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 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?
Yeah, 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.
Liddy? That fruitcake? What about him?
-That's just it, sir.
He is a nut.
He used to work here with the plumbers,
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.
So, if--Yeah, if Liddy
takes the rap for Watergate,
we can take care of him
and that lets us off the hook.
I don't have time for all this ***.
Just handle it, Bob.
Keep it out of the White House.
I gotta see Kissinger.
He's throwing a tantrum,
threatening to quit. Again.
What else?
Well, sir, uh,
one of the people implicated
is still on the White House payroll.
Who?
Not another *** Cuban.
Uh, no, sir.
A guy named Hunt.
Howard Hunt, sir.
Hunt? Howard Hunt?
Dumb *** 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 *** Disneyland.
Since when?
Since Chappaquiddick.
He wanted dirt on Kennedy.
Colson brought him in.
-You know Hunt, sir?
Yeah, on the list
of horribles.
I know what he is and I know
what he tracks back to.
He was involved in the plumbers?
-Oh, 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.
He was in this Ellsberg thing too?
-Yes. You approved it, sir.
I did?
It was right after
the Pentagon papers broke.
They went in to get his psychiatric
records. We were working on China.
***.
Out!
What the ***?
You're not supposed to take pictures
of me! Take pictures of the files!
Give me that *** film!
Howard Hunt.
Jesus Christ.
You open up that scab,
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--
What the hell are you doing, John,
screwing with the C. I. A. ?
I don't care how much he wants.
Just pay him.
What are we
paying him for, sir?
Silence.
But, sir, you're covered.
It's only
this Ellsberg thing,
and if that comes out,
it's national security.
I say we cut ourselves loose from these
clowns, and that's all there is to it.
No, it's more than that.
I want Hunt paid.
We've never done that before, sir.
How do we do it?
We should set up a Cuban defence fund
on this and take care of all of 'em.
Should we talk to Trini about paying?
-No, keep Trini out of this.
And for God's sake,
keep Colson out.
It's time to baptize
Our young counsel here, Mr. Dean.
That means John can never talk about it.
Attorney-client privilege.
So get to it.
-Uh-huh.
John, you stay close to this, okay?
-Don't worry, sir.
Good.
Okay.
Did I approve
the Ellsberg thing? Huh?
You know, I'm glad we tape
all these conversations, but
I never approved the break-in
At the Ellsbergs'.
Oh, maybe I approved it
After the fact.
Someday we gotta 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. I. D. s.
But what else does Hunt
have on us?
We gotta turn off
the F. B. I. , 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,
and if he goes public--
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.
Just say this is a comedy of errors--
bizarre--without getting into it.
And, uh--
Say the president believes it's gonna
open up the whole Bay of Pigs again.
And tell Helms he should call
the F. B. I. , call Pat Gray
and say that we wish,
for the sake of the country,
that, uh, don't go any further
into this hanky-panky, period.
Bay of Pigs?
That was Kennedy's screw-up.
Why would that threaten us?
Just do what I say, Bob.
The only problem with that, sir--
It does get us into
obstruction of justice.
It's got nothing to do with justice,
Bob. It's national security.
How is this national security?
The president says it is.
Now, this isn't
a moral issue, 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.
Uh, Vietnam, China,
the Soviet Union.
When you look at
the big picture, Bob,
damn.
-We end up doing good in this world.
So let's not screw it up
with a ***-***, third-rate burglary.
What should I tell
Ziegler to tell the press?
Tell 'em what we always tell 'em.
Anything but the *** truth.
***!
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 *** 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.
And I think,
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, everybody,
relax.
I've had discussions with
35 presidents, 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.
What the hell happened to him?
-He just got out of the hospital.
He hasn't taken one hour off
during this campaign, thanks to you.
When we consider
the line up of the world,
we find there are
590 million people on our side,
800 million people
on the Communist side--
Shoulda slapped makeup on him.
-It's not a beauty contest.
We'd better hope not.
-And 600 million people are neutral.
What are you doing to him, 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.
Senator Kennedy,
you have one minute for a rebuttal.
Castro is only the beginning of our
difficulties throughout Latin America.
Oh, ***, 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 at tempt to strengthen the
democratic anti-Castro forces in exile.
These fighters have had virtually
no support from our government.
Son of a ***!
-What? What?
Kennedy was briefed
Last week by the C. I. A.
He's using it against us.
He wellshed on the deal.
If we had provided aid, we might never
have had Castro. Why didn't we?
Mr. Nixon?
Man, he's treading water.
-All right, come on.
He violated national security, ***.
Attack the ***.
the Constitution of the
United States, so help me God.
Mr. Nixon.
Yeah. Uh--
Uh, I think--
I think that's
the sort of, uh,
very dangerous
and irresponsible suggestion--
It's over. More coffee?
Helping the Cuban exiles
who oppose Castro would, uh,
not only be a violation
of international law,
it would be an open invitation
for Mr. Khrushchev--
It's still very close.
Uh, Senator Kennedy's lead
is about, uh, 700,000.
Think maybe Daley
stuffed the ballot boxes himself?.
In Texas, they had
the *** cattle voting.
The closest race in history, ***,
and he stole it. Son of a ***.
He outspent us and he still cheated.
A guy who's got every thing.
I can't believe it.
We came to Congress
together.
We were like brothers,
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.
Who's gonna do the counting?
The Democrats control Texas, Illinois.
We shift 25,000 votes
in two states.
And how long will that take?
Six months, a year?
Meanwhile, what happens
to the country, Herb?
If I'd called his shot, I'd have won.
-That's what I say.
Made me look soft.
''I feel very sorry for Nixon
-No.
''because he does not know
who he is.
A teach stop 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 *** liar.
''If he had to stick to the truth,
he'd have very little to say.
If you vote for Nixon, then you
oughta go to hell. ''Harry S. Truman.
That's what killed us, ***.
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.
He says I have no class,
and they love him for it.
You're only 47.
If you contest this election,
you'll be finished.
You got ta swallow this one.
They stole it
fair and square.
We'll get 'em next time,
***.
We'll get'em
Next time.
What makes you think there's
gonna be a next time, Murray?
Because if he's not
this Nixon,
he's nobody.
Good morning, sir.
-Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
We lost.
I know.
I hate to lose.
It makes us
human.
It's not fair,
Buddy.
I can take
the insults.
I can take
the name-calling.
But I can't take
the losing.
I hate it.
We don't have to put ourselves
through this again, ***.
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.
What do you think,
Buddy?
And go back to
being a lawyer.
End up with something solid,
some money at the end of the line.
You know, I, uh,
keep thinking of
my old man tonight.
He was a failure too.
You're not a failure,
***.
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?
Come on, give me a chance.
-I don't have time for you right now.
I got work
to do.
How is thy son?
-Very well, thank you.
What'd he say?
He said, In life,
there's no free ride.
What'd you say?
-I didn't need a ride, I need a suit.
Oh, 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.
Relax, ***.
Donald, finish thy sweeping
then pick out the bad apples.
Yes, Mother.
I'm working.
Richard, come with me,
would thee?
Wh-Why me?
Ooh.
Because Harold hast father's
will is no reason to admire him.
Let Harold's worldliness be a warning
to thee, not an example.
Yes, Mother.
Harold may have lost touch
with his bible,
but thee must never lapse.
Now, give it to me.
Do not tell a lie,
Richard.
The corn silk cigarette Harold gave
thee behind the store this morning.
I don't have them.
Mother, I--
I promise
I didn't smoke.
I see.
Well, then, Richard, we have
nothing more to talk about, do we?
Please! Please.
Mother, 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.
No, please, don't--
don't--don't tell him.
I'll never do it again.
I promise. Please.
Richard, I expected
more from thee.
Please, Mama.
I shall never
Let thee down again.
Then this shall be
our little secret.
Remember,
I see into thy soul.
Thee may fool the world,
even thy father,
but not me, 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?
O heavenly Father,
we humbly thank you--
I'll do it. There's a couple
Of things I wanna say.
Could thee at least remove
thy apron, Frank?
This blood
pays the bills, Hannah.
I'm not ashamed of
how I earn my money.
Heavenly Father,
you told Adam in the garden,
after that business with the snake,
that man would have to earn his way
by the sweat of his face.
Well, as far
as I can tell, Father,
what was true in Eden is true
in Whittier, 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--
who happens to be
a Catholic, by the way--
is to work for it.
Amen.
-Amen.
Amen.
-Amen.
Are we gonna pray now,
Daddy?
Don't be silly.
You think
this is funny?
Maybe a trip to the woods hed'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's what gives life meaning.
Not victory, struggle.
When you quit struggling,
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.
They could call him
a little man, a poor man,
but they never beat him.
I always tried
to remember that
when things
didn't go my way.
Let's really get fired up now!
-Get on your stand, Nixon!
28! 44!
Come on, get in there!
What's Nixon doing here?
-He thinks he can make it.
Four years of being
a tackling dummy. Poor guy.
Let's go, Nixon!
Hike!
Worst athlete I've ever seen.
But
he's got guts.
Okay, 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?
Thank you, Fidel Castro.
You're not going to blame Castro.
-I sure am!
*** missile crisis united
the whole country behind Kennedy.
And he was supporting Brown.
People were scared, that's why.
I suppose Castro staged the
whole thing just to beat you.
Buddy, before you join the jubilation
of my being beaten again, 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.
I'm glad they don't,
***,
because life is tough
and it is unfair,
and sometimes you forget that
in your self-pity.
Happy days are here again
-You forget sometimes, ***,
that I had a life before you,
before California--
Let us sing a song
Of cheer again--
***!
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.
It's over, ***.
-I'll concede in the morning.
Not that.
Buddy?
I have always
stood by you.
I campaigned for you
when I was pregnant.
During Checkers, when Ike
wanted you out, I told you to fight.
This is different,
***.
You've changed.
You've grown more bitter,
like you're at war with the world.
You weren't that way
before.
I'm 50 years old now,
***.
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?
It's as if I, I don't know,
Just went to sleep a long time ago
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.
It'll ruin us,
Our family.
You're ruining us. If we stay with you,
you'll take us down with you.
This isn't political, ***.
This is our life.
Everything's political,
I'm political, you're political.
No, I'm not.
I'm finished.
Well, this is just
What they want, Buddy.
Don't you see?
They want to drive us apart,
to beat us.
We can't let them
do it.
We've been through
too much together, Buddy.
We belong together.
That's what you said
the first time we met.
You didn't even know me.
Oh, yes, I did.
I asked you to marry me,
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.
Uh,
Richard Nixon.
-Pleasure to meet you.
Pleasure to meet you.
Are you happy I called?
-In a way, yes.
Don't tell me you've been
cutting my part.
Of course, honey, 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.
The girls and I
love you, ***.
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.
I love you, Buddy.
I love you.
I love you.
Where are they?
***, you don't have to make a
statement. Herb covered 'em for you.
No!
Gentlemen, Mr. Nixon
is a man who is graceful in defeat,
and if he was
here with us--
Can I have
some quiet, please?
Give the--
just a second!
Can I have some quiet,
please? Quiet!
Thank you!
Mr. Nixon!
I believe Governor Brown has a heart,
even though he believes
I do not.
Uh, 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.
Uh, you gentlemen didn't report it,
but I'm proud that I did that.
And I would appreciate it, for once,
if you would just print what I say.
Uh, for 16 years,
uh, ever since the Hiss case,
you've had a lot of fun.
A lot of fun.
But recognize you have
a responsibility,
if you're against the candidate,
to give him the shaft.
But if you do that, at least put one
lonely reporter on the campaign
who will report
what the candidate says now and then.
Uh, I think,
all in all, I've given
as good as I've taken.
But as I leave you, I w--
I want you to know--
Just think what you're
gonna be missing.
Uh, you won't have Nixon
to kick around anymore.
Kick around anymore.
Because, gentlemen,
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.
As mall town lawyer like Lincoln,
Nixon became a representative at 33
and a senator at 35
as part of the post war 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
made it clear that,
to Nixon, politics was war.
He didn't have opponents,
he had enemies.
Why, she's pink, right down
to her underwear!
Nixon became one of
the leading lights
on the notorious House Un-American
Activities Committee,
questioning labor leaders, Spanish Civil
War veterans, Hollywood celebrities.
If I had my way, 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
Of the 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.
I am not, and never have been,
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.
When he said no,
I knew he was lying; I knew I had him.
After two trials, Hiss was convicted
not of spying but of per jury.
To some, Nixon was a hero
and a patriot.
But to many, he was
a shameless self-promoter.
Eleanor Roosevelt
angrily condemned him.
Nixon continued to tear into Truman,
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!
His speeches, if more subtle than those
Of his Republican all 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,
he went live on national television
in an unprecedented
appearance.
I'm going to give to this television
audience a complete financial history.
Everything I've earned, spent,
-The list included their house,
their Oldsmobile, Pat's cloth coat.
-everything I own.
And lastly, 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
in a crate that he'd sent all the way
from Texas--black and white, spotted.
And our little girl Tricia,
the six-year-old, named it Checkers.
58 million people saw it.
-And like all kids, they love the dog.
It was shameless it was manipulative
-I just wanna say right now,
regardless of what they say about him,
we're gonna keep him.
It was a huge success.
He stayed on the national scene,
serving two terms as vice president
under Eisenhower.
Against Khrushchev
at the Kitchen Debate in Moscow
and *** 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.
The truth is, we never knew who
Richard Nixon really was,
and now that he is gone
we never will.
Poor little Tricia.
-Her daddy couldn't get a job
in this city
when he got out of Duke.
Every white-shoe lawyer firm turned
me down. Didn't have the right look.
I couldn't even get into the F. B. I.
-Hi! How are ya?
Did you catch that picture of you
in the news last week, ***?
You were standin' on Fifth Avenue.
-Oh, yeah.
You were lookin'
Straight ahead
and everyone else was lookin' the other
way, like you just farted or somethin'.
It said-It said,
Who remembers
*** Nixon?
Unbelievable.
I was screamin'.
Yeah, that was hilarious,
Martha.
They were were waiting
For the light to change.
Typical of the press,
They wouldn't correct it--
We oughta catch Rocky
before he leaves.
I'm sure it's just
a run of bad luck, Mr. Nixon.
He can walk this direction, can't he?
-I don't know.
I've read some nice things about you.
-Maybe where you come from.
But where I come from, *** Nixon is
as misunderstood as a fox in a henhouse.
And do you know why?
Because, my darlin', they all think
that your smile and your face
are never in the same place
at the same time.
You and me, we're gonna have to
work on that, sweetie.
Someone freshen Martha's drink.
She's down a quart.
Well, 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.
Talks all day too. How the hell
can you put up with her, John?
Well, 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.
And you came damn close, ***.
How are you? Hi, John.
New York treating you all right? I'm
sorry I haven't been able to see you.
You're looking happy, Rocky.
-Happy. Happy, *** Nixon.
You remember him.
-Nice to see you again.
You're obviously making him happy.
-Repartee, ***! Marvelous!
What you predicting?
Your boy Goldwater
gonna split the party?
Some say you are, Rocky.
-Let me tell you something.
Every time the Republican party is a
home to extremism, we lose the election.
You oughta know better than anybody.
-Yeah.
This guy Goldwater
is as stupid as McCarthy.
And McCarthy never did you any good
in the long run, now, did he?
That's right.
I hate these
cocktail parties.
John, I'm in hell.
I'll be mentally dead in two years
and physically dead in four.
Make some money, ***.
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.
I miss the
pure acting of it, John.
I gotta get back
in the arena.
Ladies and gentlemen,
it's show time!
Right this way, ladies and gentlemen.
It's for you, it's for me.
It's Studebaker for 1963.
Amen. Bless you
for being here.
There's a man that loves Studebakers.
-Can I get your autograph?
The ex-vice president
-Mr. Nixon, please run again!
Of the United States,
Richard M. Nixon!
You throw
a hell of a party, Jack.
The party ain't even
started yet.
I've asked these gals out to the ranch
for a little private thing.
We're gonna have some fun,
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.
Like you said, Jack,
I'm just a New York lawyer.
We'll see about that.
-Mr. Nixon, 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.
Hello, baby.
-Hey, wait, wait, wait.
This is Julie there.
And that's Tricia.
-Oh, yeah.
She reminds me a bit of you, Sandy.
-She really is wholesome.
But, um, what about you?
What do you like?
Well, I like music.
-I like jazz.
Jazz, yeah.
Guy Lombardo.
How about rock'n'roll? Elvis Presley?
-Yeah, he's good.
Yeah. Decent guy.
Well, I guess for me
It also, um, depends on
what I'm doin'
to the music, ***.
Yeah.
So, uh, what's it like
bein' so famous and all?
A vice president!
Well, it's, uh,
not like that, Sandy.
You see, the reason I got into politics
in the first place was,
well, uh, to do something
for the people.
So, how are
you two doing?
You know, ***, there's more
privacy in the back of the--
No, Trini,
we're fine here.
Okay.
Hell, 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.
These are dangerous times, ***,
especially for business.
Agreed.
-We know what you tried to do for Cuba.
If you had been elected in '60,
Castro would be dead now.
Gentlemen, 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.
It's a long drive to Dallas, and Trini
and I have a plane to catch tomorrow.
So--
-***, these boys want you to run.
Absolutely.
-That's right.
Now, 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.
He's comin'to town tomorrow, and they
will run his *** outta town on a rail!
Damn right.
-That we will.
We are willing to give you a ***
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.
Well, gentlemen, I promised my wife
I, uh--I'm out of politics.
You just came down here for the weather.
Is that right, Mr. Nixon?
I came down here to close
a deal for Studebaker.
What about '68, ***?
Five years, Trini.
In politics,
that's an eternity.
***.
Your country
needs you.
Unfortunately the country's
Not available right now.
President Kennedy's due in
from Fort Worth in about an hour.
Kennedy is due in.
-Yeah, 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.
Look, Edgar, these, uh--
these guys were really strange.
I mean, you know,
extremists.
Strange?
-Right-wing stuff.
Birchers?
-Birchers, yeah.
This thing's pretty straight, ***.
-In Dallas, Lee Harvey Oswald--
Oswald's got
a Cuba connection?
To Castro?
-maximum security facility.
He's a Communist. That makes sense.
Okay, well,
thank you, Edgar.
Senator Ted Kennedy,
arriving early this morning
with his mother
and sister, Eunice.
Hoover says this Oswald
checks out as a--
a beatnik, a real bum.
***, you should
call Bobby.
Ah, he doesn't want me
At the funeral.
You don't have to go.
-DeGaulle's gonna be there.
McMillan. Adenauer.
We go now to the rotunda--
Nixon can't not
be there.
Then call him.
I'm sure it was an oversight.
Thousands, of mourners
-Yeah.
will pay their respects
-Jesus.
to their fallen leader.
It's awful. It's an awful thing
For this country.
***.
Huh?
No, it's his way, uh--
He hates me.
He and Teddy.
They always hated me.
They lost their brother.
You know what that means, ***.
relaxed with his family
in Hyannis Port.
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.
Daddy, please!
Make it stop!
Hold him tighter.
The infection's
spread to his spine.
Come on!
Stop it!
Get off!
You're it!
No. No, don't!
If I'd been president,
they never would've killed me.
Vice President Johnson,
shown here being sworn in--
***, are you gonna call? Bobby.
-Hmm?
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 price,
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.
Good night,
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.
His mother, Hannah Nixon,
just before her death last year,
commented on
her son's chances.
Mrs. Nixon, do you think your son
will ever return to politics?
I-I don't think
he has a choice.
He has always
been a leader.
Do you think he'd make
a great president, Mrs. Nixon?
If he's on God's side,
yes.
You must be very proud
Of your son.
I have always been proud
of all of my children.
Of course,
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?
-***!
I thought that guy
was gonna kiss your hand.
Congratulations, sir.
-Yeah, thanks.
Jesus, ***!
I've never seen anything like it.
Even the *** Times
is saying you've got it.
Vietnam's gonna put
you in there, 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?
We haven't announced
anything yet, but--
Jesus, uh--
Pat.
Uh, wait in the living room,
Will you, fellas? What is it, John?
You need her, ***. In '60,
she was worth five, six million votes.
Yeah. Don't worry.
I'll use the old Nixon charm.
In there. Okay?
Who could resist that?
Buddy?
You should be going.
Primaries are soon, aren't they?
New Hampshire.
-I love you, 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.
It's ours, Buddy,
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--We don't choose our way.
We can really
change things, Buddy.
We got a chance to get it right.
We can change America.
It was our dream, Buddy,
together, always.
Do you really want this, ***?
-Yeah. This, above all.
And then you'll be happy?
-Yeah, 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!
You're the strongest woman
I ever met, Buddy.
Can I just ask for one thing?
-Anything.
Would you kiss me?
-Yeah!
I'm a new person.
Hey!
My thanks to all of you. And now it's
on to Chicago, and let's win there.
Thank you very much.
I would never question,
uh, Senator Kennedy's patriotism.
But promising peace at any price
-Right there.
is, uh, exactly what
the North Vietnamese want to hear.
Cue the crowd.
Go to this
bald guy. Yeah, he's great, isn't he?
I, unlike Senator Kennedy,
have a plan
to end the war immediately.
But not for
peace at any price,
but peace with honor.
What do you think this plan is, Edgar?
A nuclear attack?
He's lying, Clyde.
Always has.
That's why Nixon's
always been useful.
Gracias, amigo.
-De nada, senor.
Hold still.
Okay, who's next?
-The ***.
No, we gotta have a ***.
This guy right here.
***, front row.
Mr. Nixon, 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 ***'s he doing?
He's making a speech!
Cut him off.
-I can't. This isn't Russia.
He sounds like a ***.
He's saying all these *** 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.
Go to commercial!
-You bought the whole half hour, baby.
Are you going to take off that mask
-***!
and show us who you really are?
Shut up and sit down!
-Okay. Okay.
It's a high hard one, Chief.
-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.
Dr. King said the same thing.
-Oh, please.
Do you know, young man,
who a great hero is? Abraham Lincoln.
Abraham Lincoln.
-Lincoln. Is he beautiful, huh?
He believed in common ground.
He brought this country together.
I love that man. I love him.
I want the son of a *** 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 majority of Americans want.
And that is why
I want to be president.
To bring us together.
Give me a break, Mary.
-Now, you all know me. I'm one of you.
I grew up here,
a stone's throw from here,
on a little lemon ranch
in Yorba Linda.
It was the poorest lemon ranch
in California, I can tell you that.
The poorest lemon ranch in California,
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.
-Huh. You're new here.
What's your name?
-Joaquin, Mr. Hoover.
Oh.
My father sacrificed
everything he had
so that his sons
could go to college.
A gentle Quaker mother quietly wept
-Oh, Christ.
When he went to war.
-Turn this crap off, Clyde.
It's giving me a headache.
You may go, Joaquin.
I want to see him,
Clyde.
Edgar, he works
in the kitchen.
Not the boy, 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.
You know, I met this guy
years ago in Havana. You know that.
Come on!
He's folding, Johnny.
Now, now, now.
You just wait a second now.
Olly's boy on the inside!
And a tragedy!
A bit extreme, isn't it?
It's the drama.
Look, the crowd loves this ***.
Hey, there's Randolph Scott
Over there. Look at that.
Cash these for me,
would you, Johnny?
Easy! Easy, easy!
It's a two-dollar bet, Edgar.
You got thousands coming on this.
I mean, what the ***?
-I told you, just cash it, Johnny.
And don't swear around me.
Come on.
Uh-huh.
Hello.
Edgar.
Wonderful to see you. Clyde.
-Mr. Nixon.
Hi.
-Thank you for coming, Richard.
Okay. Oh. Winning?
Actually, I've just had a bit of luck.
Are you gonna win?
You should ask Bobby.
Little Bobby.
-Yeah, Bobby Kennedy.
Yeah.
Walk with me down to the paddock.
I'd like to look at the horses.
Uh, can we talk here?
I got the police chiefs in San Diego.
Actually, I'm trying to
spare you an embarrassment.
That was Johnny Roselli,
you just passed.
He's on his way back.
Roselli?
Johnny Roselli?
Yes. You know him,
Richard? No?
From Cuba?
Hey, Johnny Roselli.
How're you doin'?
***.
-How are you?
I never met the man.
Uh--
Well, I know you've, uh,
been very careful not to.
That's why I'm so concerned.
Okay.
And they're off!!
You'll win the nomination.
Yeah, it could be 1960
all over again, Edgar.
Love you, ***!
And Bobby's got the magic
like a *** 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.
Hmm.
If things remain
as they are.
He's got
the anti-war vote.
Or he'll steal it,
like his brother.
Bobby's a mean little
son of a ***, 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 ***.
I wanna fight
Just as dirty, Edgar.
His women.
Use his women.
Any information you have.
The son of a ***
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.
The late Dr. King,
For example.
Amoral hypocrite.
Screwing women
like a degenerate tomcat,
stirring up the blacks,
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.
Well, like I said,
uh, Edgar--
You ask if you can count
on my support.
As long as I can count
on yours.
Yeah, the old queen
did it on purpose.
No, 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.
No, I know his name.
It was Bob Engel.
Oh, well, I know
all about that.
I don't understand that.
Track 2 is Chile.
Yeah, Chile, the Congo,
Guadalajara, Iran, Cuba.
Wherever there was need
for an executive action capability,
there's Track 2.
In Cuba, Track 1 was, uh,
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, uh,
who else wants Castro dead?
Was it the Mafia
Or money people?
So we put together
Track 2.
First assassination attempt
was, uh, in '60.
Uh, just before the election.
-Before?
Eisenhower approved that?
-Yeah.
Well, he didn't veto it.
I ran the
White House side
and, uh, the mob contact
was Johnny Roselli.
One of the C. I. A. guys
was this ***
Howard Hunt.
Jesus.
Yeah. Not just Howard Hunt,
but Frank Sturgis
and all those other Cubans.
All of them in Watergate--
Uh, they're all involved
in Cuba.
Yeah, Hunt reported
to my military aide.
I don't know how much
Hunt knows, or, or the Cubans,
but you never know.
So you
wanted Castro dead.
Every body wanted
Castro dead.
You know, 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 *** Helms
take the fall?
Because.
Because Helms knows,
knows too much.
If there's anyone in this country
who knows more than me,
it's Hoover and Helms, and you
don't *** with *** Helms, period.
All right.
But why, 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. ,
uh, never told him.
They just kept it going.
It had a life of its own
like it was some, uh,
kind of a thing,
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 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.
Fever if I kissed you
fever if I held you tight
Huh.
-Fever in the morning
Fever all through the night
-That's the last time I ever saw him.
Play it on the runway
in Paris
See, when I saw Bobby
lying there on the floor,
Arms stretched out like that,
his eyes staring,
I knew then
I'd be president.
His death paved the way,
didn't it?
Yeah.
Vietnam, the Kennedy's
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, huh?
Abe?
Who's helping us?
Is it God,
or is it
death?
Harold.
Why don't you sit down, huh?
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?
Relax, ***.
It's just me, huh?
The desert's so beautiful,
isn't it?
I want to go home, ***.
Time to go home.
You--
You're not gonna quit on me now,
are you, Harold?
Down came the rain
and washed the spider out
Richard.
I can't.
You must.
This law school, 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.
Thee art stronger than Harold,
Stronger than Arthur.
God has chosen thee
to survive.
What about happiness,
Mother?
Thee will find thy peace
At the center, Richard.
Strength in this life,
happiness in the next.
Hey! Hey!
Now tell me you didn't
Want this, Buddy.
Hey!
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.
As we look at 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 the truth--to find the truth,
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-shouters,
the, uh, non-demonstrators.
They're the good people. They work hard
and they save and they pay their taxes.
Now, 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,
and they have
become angry, finally.
Angry, not with hate,
But angry, 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.
We must have a complete reform of a big,
bloated federal government.
Those of us in public service know
we can have full prosperity
in peacetime.
Yes, we can cut
the defence budget.
We can reduce, uh,
conventional forces in Europe.
We can restore
the natural environment.
We can improve health care and make it
more available to all people.
And yes, we can have
a complete reform of this government.
We can have a new
American revolution!
The whole world is watching!
The whole world is watching!
It'd be a disaster.
There's a lot of sympathy
out there for Cambodia.
Tiny, little, neutral
Buddhist country.
They'll be rioting in the streets,
on your front lawn!
Building the
Cambodian army up?
My God, that would be harder
than a Vietnamese Army.
They have no tradition.
Mr. President, the government
there will collapse.
So you're saying, do nothing.
-No, sir, continue the bombing.
The same old horseshit.
Well, that's not good enough.
I'm sick of being pushed around
by the, uh, Vietnamese
like we're some, uh,
you know, 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,
uh, V. C. base camps,
and, uh, uh, make 'em scream,
hit 'em in the ***.
What do you think, Henry?
-Well, as you know,
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.
I didn't ask what your staff thinks.
What do you think, Henry?
What I think is,
they're cowards.
Their opposition represents the
cowardice of the eastern establishment.
They don't realize,
as you do, sir,
that the Communists
only respect strength,
and they will only negotiate
in good faith
if they fear the mad man, Nixon.
-Exactly!
Unpredictability is our best asset.
We gotta take the war to 'em, hit'em
where it hurts, right in the nuts.
More assassinations.
Right, Al?
That's what they're doing,
Mr. President.
See, your people in the State
Department, Bill, they don't understand.
You gotta--
-Mr. President.
You gotta electrify people with bold
moves. I mean, bold moves make history.
Like, uh, Teddy Roosevelt,
T. R. ,
rushing up San Juan Hill.
Small event, but dramatic.
People took notice.
Yes, well, they'll take 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.
All across the nation,
major student protests against
the U. S. invasion of Cambodia
rocked college campuses.
At Jackson State, two *** students
were killed and ten were wounded.
Unanimously united behind--
-In the streets of New York City,
student protesters were attacked
by construction workers
supporting President Nixon's policies.
In Washington, protesters have
barricaded the White House
and are camping out
at the Lincoln Memorial.
We don't want your *** war!
See, when I think of those kids
out there in Vietnam, doing their duty,
uh, I bet they were scared.
I-I was
when I was there.
But when it comes down to it, you
really have to look up to these men
because they're
the greatest.
No more war! No more war!
I mean, you see these bums,
you know, blowing up the campuses,
burning books
and so forth.
And they call themselves,
uh, flower children.
I call them spoiled rotten.
And I tell you what
would cure them.
A good, old-fashioned trip
to my Ohio father's woodshed.
Right, Julie?
-Right, Dad.
That's what these bums need. Well, Kurt,
thanks and congratulations.
Thank you, sir.
-Yeah. Okay. Thanks, 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 the
entire university system until the Vietnam War is ended.
I tell you, the soldiers were provoked.
Now, stop this pussyfooting around.
I mean, dead kids. How the hell did we
give the Democrats a weapon like this?
Well, one way or the other,
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.
How do you know that, John?
What's Hoover found, for God's sake?
Well, he called the other day, sir.
He asked for President Harding.
We can have a national prayer day.
-Never complain, never explain.
Come on, these are not
fraternity pranks, John.
No, this is anarchy.
It's a revolution.
I wouldn't go that far, sir.
-Why not?
Is it worth it, 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.
Going to Cambodia,
bombing Hanoi, bombing Laos,
buys us time so we can get out and give
the South Vietnamese a fighting chance.
Exactly, sir.
-If we keep our heads, we'll win.
What, win Vietnam, sir?
-No, no.
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.
Now, if we stick it out,
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.
That is triangular diplomacy,
gentlemen.
Exactly,
Mr. President.
That's what geopolitics
is about.
The linking of the whole world
for self-interest.
Ron, how I can explain that on TV
to a bunch of simpleminded reporters
and, uh, weeping mothers.
Yeah, but what am I telling
the press about Kent State?
Ah, tell 'em what the hell you like.
They don't understand anyway.
Excuse me, sir.
Are you saying you're going
to recognize Red China?
That would cost us
our strongest support.
No, I can do this because
I spent my whole career
building anti-Communist
credentials.
If Kennedy or Johnson tried it, they'd
have crucified them, and rightfully so.
Damned risky, Mr. President.
Why don't we wait until the second term?
This will get us a second term, John.
-This will get me a second term.
Damn it, without risk,
there's no heroism, there's no history.
Nixon was born to do this.
Give history a nudge.
Come on!
-Hear, hear.
I mean, if Cambodia doesn't work
we'll bomb Hanoi if we have to.
That's right. And if necessary,
I'll drop the big one.
We have to entertain
the possibility.
*** it!
Who cooked this damn steak?
Manolo, there's blood all over my plate.
Take it away.
I'm sorry, sir.
Are you all right?
Yeah.
My brother, Harold, was the same age
as those kids, John.
Tuberculosis got him.
-Come on, it wasn't your fault.
The soldiers were kids too.
They just panicked.
Yeah.
They were throwing rocks,
John, just rocks.
They don't think I feel,
but I feel too much
sometimes.
I 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.
You know, it broke my heart
when Harold died.
That was a long time ago.
-Yeah.
I think that's when it starts--
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.
Manolo?
Mano?
Mr. President.
Yeah.
I-I'm sorry.
I-I was asleep.
What can I get you?
Well, you know.
Of course.
Do you miss Cuba,
Manolo?
Yes, Mr. President.
We let you down,
didn't we?
Your people.
That was Mr. Kennedy, sir.
Oh.
You don't think
he was a hero, do you?
He was a politician.
Did you cry when he died?
Yes, 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?
Hi. I'm *** Nixon.
Hi there.
Hi. Where you from?
Syracuse.
Oh, yeah,
the, uh, Orangemen.
Now, there's
a football program, uh...
... Jim Brown and that, uh,
other, uh...
... tailback... the one
with the blood disease.
Ernie Davis.
Yeah, right, right, right.
I used to play a little ball
myself at Whittier.
Of course, they used to use me
as atackling dummy.
We didn't come here
to talk about football.
Yeah, I understand that.
How old are you, young lady?
Nineteen.
Yeah.
Well, probably most of you think
I'm a real S. O. B. I know that.
I understand how you feel.
But, you know,
I want peace too.
But peace with honor.
What does that mean?
Well, you can't have peace
without a price.
Sometimes you have to be,
uh, willing to fight for peace...
... and sometimes to die.
Yeah? Tell that to the G. I. s 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.
Look, that man up there...
... he lived in similar times.
Oh, he had chaos, civil war,
hatred between the races.
This is all ***.
Sometimes I go to the Lincoln Room...
... at the White House
and just pray.
But, you know, Liberals...
... act like idealism belongs to them.
That's not true.
My family...
... went Republican because
Lincoln freed the slaves.
My grandmother
was an abolitionist.
It was Quakers who founded
Whittier, my hometown.
Uh, to abolish slavery.
They were, you know,
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 *** himself.
My mother used to feed hobos
stopping over at our house.
Sure, we got him.
Don't push, pig.
Move away.
It's okay, Bob, they are just
wrapping my fence, now I...
In fact, we agree on a lot
of things, don't we?
No, we don't.
You say you want to end
the war, 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.
Our... Our position in the world.
Come on, 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?
You should be going, Mr. President.
Okay.
Please.
You can't stop it, can you?
Even if you wanted to.
'Cause it's not you, it's the system.
The system won't let you stop it.
That's right.
There's... 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!
No!
No, I'm not powerless.
Because I understand
the system, I believe I can, uh...
... I can control it,
maybe not control it totally...
... but tame it enough
to make it do some good.
Sounds like you're talking
about a wild animal.
Yenah, maybe I am.
We really must go,
Mr. President. Please.
Hey, what about the war, man?
When you gonna get us out?
The old man's moving.
Move it. Getaway.
She got it, Bob.
Nineteen-year-old college kid.
What? Who?
She understood something that's taken me
25 years in politics to understand.
The C. I. A. , the Mafia,
those Wall Street ***.
Sir?
The beast.
Nineteen year old kid.
She called it a wild animal.
Yes, sir.
Before his judgment seat...
Oh, be swifr, my soul
to answer him be jubilant, my feet...
Our God is marching on...
Glory, glory, hallelujah...
Glory...
In Washington,
the size of the crowds...
... have swelled to over a quarter
of a million demonstrators...
... protesting the ongoing war
in Vietnam.
What's wrong?
We're just not going
to buckle to these people.
No more war!
It's beautiful.
Yes, thank you.
Princess, may I?
Thank you.
I'm very proud of you
today, Princess. Very.
Thank you, Daddy.
Yeah?
Some very secretes says on Vietnam
have been leaked to the New York Times.
I know, I know. Not now, 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.
The papers, leaked
by defence analyst Daniel Ellsberg...
... reveal a pattern of government lies
and American involvement in the war.
Mr. President,
we are in a revolutionary situation.
We are under siege.
The Black Panthers, the Weathermen.
The State Department under Rogers
is leaking like a sieve.
And now this little,
insignificant little *** 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 *** relations with his wife
in front of their children.
He sees a shrink in L. A.
The man's all *** up.
And now he's trying
to look good for the Liberals.
And if he gets away with it,
Every body will follow his lead.
This man must be stopped
at all costs.
I'm as frustrated as you are Henry, but don't
you think this is a Democrat problem?
They started the war.
It makes them look bad.
But, Mr. President,
the Russians, the Vietnamese...
... it makes you look like a weakling!
*** it.
How long have we had this *** 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.
Aw, *** it.
He doesn't like me, John.
It's your fault, Henry.
I beg your pardon?
It's your people talking to the press.
Uh, this Ellsberg,
wasn't he a student of yours at Harvard?
I mean, he's your idea, Henry.
So why are you running for cover?
Well, yes,
we taught a class to get her at Harvard...
... but you know these back-stabbing
Ivy League intellectuals.
No, I don't, Henry. I don't.
Prosecute the New York Times. Go for injunction.
Yeah, but it's not, bottom line,
gonna change a *** thing, 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 the hell we stop
these leaks once and for all?
Now, someone is talking to the press.
We gotta stop these leaks at any cost, Henry.
You hear me? Then we can go
for the big pic... China, Russia.
Sir, if I might?
Go, Chuck.
We can do this ourselves.
The C. I. A. and the F. B. I.
aren't doing the job.
Now, we can create our own intelligence
unit right here inside the White House.
Well, why not?
Our own intelligence to plug the leaks?
Yeah.
Like plumbers.
Plumbers.
I like it.
I like the idea.
Yeah, but, uh,
is it legal?
Has it ever
been done before?
Oh, sure.
Lyndon, J. F. K. , F. D. R.
Truman cut the *** out of my
investigation of the Hiss case in '48.
What he did was illegal.
You know, with this kind of thing,
you got to be brutal.
A leak happens, the whole damn place
should be fired.
Really, I mean, you do it like
the Germans in World War II.
They went through these towns,
and a sniper hit one of'em...
... they'd line the whole
*** town up and say...
"Until you talk,
you're all getting shot. "
Really, I think that's
what has to be done.
I don't think you can
be Mr. Nice Guy anymore.
You just whisper the word
to me, 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.
Remember, John,
back in '48?
Nobody believed Alger Hiss
was a Communist except me.
Well, they loved Hiss like they loved
this Ellsberg character.
He was their kind-
Ivy League establishment.
I am not,
and never have been...
Mr. Hiss is lying.
Mr. Hiss?
I was dirt to them, nothing.
And *** kicked the *** out of'em.
I wouldn't have if Hiss hadn't lied
about knowing Chambers.
The documents were old and out of date,
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.
All right, Henry,
we're gonna go your way.
Crush this Ellsberg
same way we did Hiss.
There is no other choice,
Mr. President.
We're gonna hit him so hard, he'll look
like everything that's sick and evil...
... about the eastern establishment.
You and your plumbers, you're gonna
get all the dirt on this guy.
Let's see him going to the bathroom
in front of the American public.
And when we finish with him,
they'll crucify him.
Then we'll get our second term.
The claws are out,
Frank.
You seen the guys?
They're around.
Why? You gota customer?
The White House.
You're ***' me.
We're gonna be plumbers, 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.
Gordon Liddy,
Frank Sturgis.
Hey, 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 hates McGovern and Kennedy
so much, he's gotta love me.
And Lyndon?
He looked old, didn't he?
Have you talked to Lyndon?
Yeah, I asked him, "Lyndon, what would
you do on a scale of one to ten?"
He said, "Bomb the *** out of Hanoi, boy.
Bomb them where they live. "
Yeah.
Bob, tell Trini I'll be
in Key Biscayne at 4:00.
With Pat?
No, alone.
Uh, Pat's staying here
with Mrs. Eisenhower.
Yes, sir.
Good.
Hi, Buddy.
What are you doing here?
I missed you.
Why don't we go down
to Key Biscayne together?
Because I have to relax.
You know, I was, uh,
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.
Yes, it's been a long time.
Now, look, Buddy.
I don't need that.
I'm not Jack Kennedy.
No, 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.
Then what are you
scared of, honey?
I'm not scared, Buddy.
You don't understand.
They're playing for keeps,
Buddy.
You know, the press, the kids,
the Liberals out there.
They're out there trying to
figure out how to tear me down.
They're all your enemies?
Yes.
You, personally?
Yes!
Listen, this is about me.
Why can't you understand that?
I mean, you of all people.
It's not the war.
It's Nixon!
It's not Vietnam, it's Nixon.
They want to destroy Nixon.
If I expose myself just the slightest bit,
they'll tear my insides out.
You want that?
You know?
You want to see that, Buddy?
It's not pretty!
Sometimes I think
that's what you want, ***.
What the hell are you saying?
Are you drunk?
Jesus, you sound just like them now.
I gotta keep fighting,
Buddy, for the country.
These people running things,
the elite!
They're just soft,
chicken-*** faggots.
They don't have
the long-term vision anymore.
They just want to cover their ***
and meet girls and tear each other down.
Oh, God, this country's in deep,
deep, deep trouble, Buddy.
I have to see this
through, you know.
Mother would have expected
no less of me.
I'm sorry, Buddy.
I just wish you knew
how much I love you, that's all.
It took me a long time to fall
in love with you, ***, but I did.
And it doesn't make you happy.
You want them to love you.
No, I don't. I'm not Jack Kennedy.
They never will, ***.
No matter how many elections
you win, they never will.
History
will never be the same.
We're taking a step into the future.
Liddy, give them the folder.
We have changed the world.
Five, ten.
Let's see what else you got.
I must say, you look very good,
Mr. Chairman.
Looks can be deceiving.
Uh, 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.
Mr. Chairman, there's an old saying
in my country:
The enemy of my enemy
is my friend.
That has the added virtue of being true.
Your writings
have changed the world, Mr. Chairman.
***.
My writings mean absolutely nothing.
I want to know your secret.
My secret, Mr. Chairman?
How a fat man gets so many girls.
Power, Mr. Chairman...
... is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
You know,
I voted for you in your last election.
I was the lesser of two evils.
You are too modest, 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.
In my case,
millions of reactionaries.
In your case,
millions of Vietnamese.
Uh, civil war is always
the cruelest kind of war...
... but our two nations
were forged by revolution.
The United States, 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...
... president 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:
"When the Vietnamese take the Paris
peace talks seriously, I'll stop. "
A penny for your thoughts.
Just think of the...
Think of the life
Mao's led.
In '52 I...
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.
Yes, I am.
Congratulations, ***.
Mr. Ziegler.
Mr. President, the press guys
asked if you could come back.
The hell with them.
I'll go back, Mr. President.
No, uh, they want you, Mr. President.
I, uh... I think it would be a good move.
Oh?
Who's back there?
Everybody.
Okay.
Gentlemen,
I go now to discover...
... the exact length, width
and depth of the shaft.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the president.
Oh, it's the president.
Hi.
Hi.
Hi.
Mr. President...
Congratulations, sir.
Well done!
Thank you, sir!
Bravo, sir!
Thank you.
Congratulations!
Well...
... it looks to me like we're gonna lose
a war for the first *** time.
Yep.
And you're goin'
right along with it, ***...
... buyin' into
this Kissinger ***...
... this detente with Communists.
Detente.
Sounds like a couple of *** dancin'
Jack, 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'em to accept
cuts in their gas tax.
Now, the Arabs and the Japanese
are draining the gold reserves...
If we'd won in Vietnam,
we wouldn't be having this conversation.
It's nobody's fault, Jack.
It's change. It's a fact of history.
Even that old ***
J. Edgar Hoover's dead.
Now who'd have thought that possible?
How's the food over there
in China, Mr. Nixon?
Oh, it's delicious,
if you're president.
So, uh...
... what are you gonna do
about that Allende fella...
... nationalizing our businesses
in Chile?
You gonna send Kissinger
down there?
We're gonna get rid of him,
Allende
just as fast as we can.
He's at the top of the list.
How about Kissinger along with him?
Now, Kissinger's
misunderstood.
He acts like a Liberal for
his establishment friends...
... but he's even tougher than I am.
So Kissinger stays.
Just like Castro,
Mr. Nixon.
Yeah. He stays.
And you are comfortable
with that decision, huh?
Desi's got a point.
What the hell are we gonna do about the
Communists right here in our own backyard?
What do you really mean,
Jack?
I mean I got federal price
controls on my oil.
And the rag heads are beatin'
the *** out of me, ***.
And your E. P. A.
environmental agency...
... has got its thumb so far up my ***
it's scratchin' my ear!
Sir, I think it's time for us to be...
Let him finish, Bob.
I gota federal judge orderin' me to bus
my grandkids halfway across this town...
... to go to school
with some *** kids.
Now, ***...
Mr. President...
... aren't you forgetting
who put you where you are?
The American people
put me where I am, Jack.
Really?
Well, that can be changed.
In a heartbeat.
Jack, I've learned politics
is the art of compromise.
I learned it the hard way.
I don't know if you have.
Well, let me tell you this, Jack.
If you don't like it,
there's an election in November...
... and you can take your money out
in the open and give it to Wallace.
How about it, Jack?
Willing to do that?
Hand this country over to some pansy
Poet socialist like George McGovern?
'Cause if you're not happy
with the E. P. A. up your ***...
... try the I. R. S.
***, ***.
You're not threatening me, are ya?
Presidents don't threaten, Jack.
They don't have to.
Good day to you, gentlemen.
Thank you.
With third party 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...
... politicaly 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.
Even the presidency
isn't enough anymore.
Sir?
The presidency by itself
won't protect us, Bob.
We're beyond politics now.
Mr. Ehrlichman.
Yeah.
Sir, 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,
of course.
There's a surprise.
This could be it. This could be it.
Four long years. Jeez.
Incidentally, I don't know if this is
the right time, 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.
Well, Sullivan, uh,
thinks he's the one.
Henry's the leaker.
Yeah, I knew it. I knew it
from '69 on and I said it all along.
Yeah, I remember.
I didn't, Bob.
Come on.
Looks like he talked to, uh,
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 talked to the New York Times?
Yes, he did.
We ought a fire his whining
*** right now, when he's on top.
You know what, sir? I would 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 ***.
Get someone on our staff
on his ***.
Tap his phones.
I wanna know everyone he talks to.
Let's see how long
the Kissinger mystique lasts.
So, John, what about
these Watergate clowns?
This, uh,
Sirica's crazy.
Thirty-five year sentence.
No weapons, right?
No injuries. Uh, there's no success.
It's just ridiculous.
Sirica's just trying to force someone
to testify, but they're solid.
What about this
Washington Post crap?
Uh, Woodwind
and Fernstein.
Bernstein, sir.
Who the *** are they, anyway?
Bob, you working on revoking
their television license?
Yes, sir, I am.
Good.
Well, uh, 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.
I-I didn't think you should lose
any more sleep over it, sir.
Good man, John,
good man.
I can therefore announce that our long
and tragic involvement in Vietnam...
... is at an end.
Our mission is accomplished.
Uh, we have a cease-fire...
... and our prisoners of war
are coming back home.
South Vietnam has the right
to determine its own future.
So, 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?
I will, uh, try to, uh...
... 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?
Well, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
The Washington Post is reporting
that Mr. Haldeman and Ehrlichman...
... secretly dispersed up to
$900,000 in campaign funds.
Is there any truth to that?
Now, let me make this perfectly clear.
I will not respond to the charges
of the Washington Post.
Nor will I comment on a matter
that is currently before the courts.
Sir, 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!
Mr. President,
shouldn't you...
Ron, get in there
and do something!
I end the longest war
in American history...
... and they keep harping
on this chicken-***!
God!
You know who's behind this, don't you?
Teddy Kennedy.
Yeah, he drowns a broad in his car,
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 *** in the papers!
*** Kennedy's getaway
with everything! *** them!
You see me
screwin' everything that moves?
For Christ's sake, I did what
the New York Times editorial page...
... said for me to do!
I ended the war!
I got S. A. L. T. One with the Russians;
I opened China.
So why are these ***
turning on me?
'Cause they don't like the way I look,
where I went to school!
Because they're not Americans.
Yeah, right. They don't trust America.
Why would they? Hmm? They just come here
to stick their snouts in the trough.
Who are these people?
Sulzberger.
Their parents are gold traders from
eastern Europe, with due respect, Henry.
They buy things. They come
to "Jew" York city and buy up things.
And one of the things they buy,
Mr. President, is the New York Times.
You know what? You should be proud,
because they'll never trust you, sir.
Because we speak
for the average American.
You know why
they're turning on me?
It's because they're not
serious about power, that's why.
They're playing with power.
They're forgetting the national interest.
In the old days people knew
how to hold power, how to set limits.
They wouldn't have torn this country
apart over a third-rate burglary.
For Christ's sake, 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.
All short-term,
frivolous ***.
Ben Bradlee worrying about
Teddy Kennedy liking him.
Get Mr. Dean in here,
Will you?
Mr. President, I fear we are
drifting toward oblivion here.
We are playing
a totally reactive game.
We have to get ahead
of the ball.
Now, we all know
that you are clean. Right?
Then let's take off
the gloves.
Let's do a housecleaning.
Housecleaning?
No, it could be ugly,
Henry, really ugly.
It must be done, sir.
Your government is paralyzed.
All kinds of *** could come out.
The Ellsberg thing.
You knew about that, didn't you, Henry?
Well, I heard something.
It sounded idiotic.
"Idiotic. " Yeah, 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.
Sir, I never had anything to do with
That and I resent the implication...
Resent it all you want, Henry,
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.
It's your *** too, Henry, and it's in
the wind twisting with everyone else's.
Sir.
Yeah?
There are times when even
the president can go too far.
You played it perfectly, sir.
That ***'ll think twice
before he leaks again.
Yeah.
He'll be looking in his toilet bowl
every time he pulls the chain.
Pardon them all.
Hunt and the Cubans have nothing
to lose now.
Nobody's going to investigate crime, for
which the criminals have already been pardoned.
Yeah, I like that, it is a good solution.
Yeah, but it'll never do.
Pardoning them means we're all guilty.
The press, the people'll go nuts.
Am I supposed to just sit here
and watch them coming closer...
... eating their way
to the centre?
Lyndon bugged;
so did Kennedy.
F. D. R. cut a deal
with lucky Luciano.
Christ, even Eisenhower
had a mistress.
What's so special about me?
Huh?
I know. I just know we've made
too many enemies.
There are things I can say
what other people said, and they'd be lies.
When I say them,
nobody believes me anyway.
Then, we're going to have to
give them Mitchell.
Mitchell's family.
Either it goes to Mitchell,
or it comes here.
John's right, boss.
It's not personal.
It's just the way
the game is played.
Sometimes
you gotta punt.
He's wrong, you know.
About Kennedy and L. B. J. and Truman.
How so?
Well, I mean, sure, they did stuff,
Bob, but nothing like this.
I mean, forget about the break-in,
the, the enemies list...
... the, uh... 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?
The old man plays politics harder
than anybody else, 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?
How long have you known Bob, 20 years?
This is the Roosevelt Room...
... named after
our 26th president...
This is about Richard Nixon.
You got people dying because
he didn't make varsity football.
You got the Constitution
hanging by a thread...
... because he went to Whittier,
not to Yale.
And what is this Bay of Pigs thing?
Goes white every time
you mention it.
It's a code or something.
Well, ***, 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.
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.
But we never opened
our mouths, John.
We failed him.
*** Nixon saying "I'm sorry"?
That'll be the day.
His whole suit of armour
would fall off.
So, you tell Mitchell.
Yeah.
And John, you do know
that we're next, don't you?
You're early, John.
If you'd been that stealthy at the
Watergate, 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?
In Richard Nixon's long history
of underhanded dealings...
... he's never had better value
for his money.
If I were to open my mouth,
all the dominoes would fall.
Can I ask you a question?
How the hell you have the temerity to blackmail
the president of the United States?
That's not the question,
John.
The question is,
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.
Howard, you will serve no more
than two years, then he'll pardon you.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
But you don't leave your men
on the beach, 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?
The president's men
did nothing... nothing...
... without Richard Nixon's
permission.
John, sooner or later...
... sooner, 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.
Your grave's
already been dug, John.
F. B. I.
director-designate L. Patrick Gray...
... shocked the Senate
by revealing that John Dean...
... has been secretly receiving
F. B. I. reports on Watergate.
Crown, this is Echo Six.
How are you, 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.
Uh-huh.
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.
Haldeman let me use
the $350,000 cash fund in his safe...
... to make the payments.
Ehrlichman had a role-a big role-
in the Ellsberg break-in.
Oh, I don't know
about that.
And-And I'm...
I think it's time we begin to think
in terms of cutting our losses.
You're saying cut
our losses, John, and, uh, all the rest.
And, you know, suppose the thing blows
and they indict Bob and the others?
Jesus, you'd never recover
from that, John. I mean, uh...
No, it's better to fight it out
instead and not let people testify.
Sir, I, I still don't think
we can contain this anymore.
There's a cancer on the presidency,
and it's growing...
... with every day-
Jesus, you know, every...
Everything's a crisis among the
upper intellectual types, the softheads.
The average people don't think
it's much of a crisis.
For Christ's sake, this is not Vietnam.
No one's dying here.
I mean, isn't it ridiculous?
I agree. It's ridiculous, but, uh...
It's *** crazy!
Goldwater was right when he said...
"For Christ's sakes,
everybody bugs everybody else. "
We know that.
It's the cover-up, John, not the deed,
that's really bad here.
If only Mitchell could step up
and take the brunt of it, you know.
Give 'em the hors d'oeuvre.
Maybe they won't come back
for the main course.
You know, that's
the tragedy in all this.
Mitchell's gonna get it anyway,
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 ***...
I got into this by not paying attention
to what these *** were doing.
I don't have a guilty conscience,
and he shouldn't either.
Yeah.
Well, he's right.
Maybe it is time to, uh, go
the hang-out route, John.
Uh, a full and thorough
investigation.
Uh, we've cooperated
with the F. B. I.
We'll cooperate
with the Senate.
What have we got to hide?
No, we've nothing to hide.
No.
Nothing to hide.
You know, the only...
the only fault in the plan is...
... they're not gonna believe the truth;
that's the incredible thing.
I agree.
It's, uh, it's tricky.
Everything seems
to lead back here.
People would never understand.
No.
John, I want you to getaway
from this madhouse.
I want...
these reporters.
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...
"Mr. President,
here it all is. " Okay?
You want me to put it all
in writing over my signature?
Well, uh...
... nobody knows more about this thing
than you do, John.
You know, the details. Thatstuff
I don't know. But.
Uh-huh.
Sir, I'm not going to be
the scapegoat for this.
Haldeman and Ehrlichman are
in it just as deep as I am.
No, now, John,
you don't wanna start down that road.
I remember, uh...
Whittaker Chambers
telling me back in '48...
He was a man
who suffered greatly.
And he said, "On the road
of the informer, it is always night. "
Now, uh... It's beyond you,
or even me, John.
It's the country. The presidency.
I understand that, sir.
You know, I...
You know how I feel about loyalty.
I-I'm not gonna let any of my people
go to jail, that I promise you.
The important thing is to keep this
away from Haldeman and Ehrlichman.
I'm trusting you to do this, John, and
I have complete confidence in you. Okay?
I'll work on it.
Say hi to that wife of yours.
Yes, sir.
Good.
***.
It happens.
The place is a shambles.
Hey!
I was determined that we should get
to the bottom of Watergate...
... and the truth should be fully brought
out, no matter who was involved.
Today, 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.
More light, Chief?
No, Bob.
Six bodies.
The counsel to the
president, John Dean, 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.
That responsibility, therefore,
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.
Now, I love America.
God bless America,
and God bless each and every one of you.
And we're clear.
Out.
Thank you.
Are you going
to Key Biscayne?
Yeah.
When?
Tomorrow.
Ron told me that, um...
Bob Haldeman has been calling
But you won't talk to him.
If he's convicted,
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 been hiding.
You're letting it
destroy you, ***.
You won't even ask for hel...
Manolo, uh...
Mrs. Nixon's finished.
I am the only one
left, ***.
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.
Howmuch more...
Howmuch 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.
No, 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.
Mr. John W. Dean, 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 disappointment
to me because it was quite clear...
... that the cover-up, as far as
the White House was...
Was concerned,
was going to continue.
Why is he doing this?
He's our *** lawyer.
If he had a problem,
why didn't he come talk with us?
Remember, 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.
Give 'em hell,
general.
Mao taught me in 1963
If I have nuclear weapons...
... let 400 million
Chinese die...
300 million will be left.
Mao!
Yeah.
I can tell you what happened.
You want names?
I can give you Haldeman.
I'm talking about the president. Mao!
We all know
I can give you the president.
... this man
in his dog heart.
You want him to be your ally?
Uh, well, he was your ally
for 20 years, Leonid.
Yes, yes, ***.
Da, da, da, da.
Da.
Mr. Nixon...
Life is the best teacher,
and therefore it must not interfere...
... with the building of the S. A. L. T. Two
treaty between our great countries.
Peace in our era is possible.
Excuse me, uh, Leonid.
It's okay, ***. It's okay.
He's spilling his guts to the Ervin
committee. And, uh, unfortunately...
Da.
Did you...
Daddy?
What?
Did you cover it up?
You think I'd do something
like that, honey?
Well, then you can't give up.
You just can't.
You're one of the best presidents
this country has ever had.
You've done what Lincoln did... 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.
Nobody knows the real you, how sweet
you are, how nice you are to people.
I'll tell them.
You're the most decent
person I know.
I just hope I haven't
let you down, Kitten.
They just don't know
the real you.
They just don't know.
Tricky *** always knew
What was goin' on.
Every last *** detail.
And my husband is not going
to take the rap this time.
They know they can't shut me up.
Probably end up killin' me.
She doesn't know what she's talking
about. Stop bothering her!
Hell, she's nuts.
You *** have seen to that.
Are you and Martha gonna
get back together again?
Our marriage is finished, thank you
very much. Stick that up your keister!
Now, were the visitors that went
into the White House warned...
... that their conversations
with the president would be taped?
Again, I am
not aware of the technical details.
On Friday, 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...
... in the White House,
the executive office building...
... and even members
of his own family.
All calls
to the White House...
... of whatever nature and character,
would be taped?
Yes, the tape
would not discriminate.
None of them had knowledge that
Their conversations were being taped?
This is a stunning revelation.
If such tapes exist, they could
tell us, once and for all...
... what did the president know,
and when did he know it.
I want Hunt paid.
It's time to go the hang-out route.
If they fear the madman...
It's a legal contribution.
Who the hell authorized this?
Colson?
The Bay of Pigs.
If you tell Helms
that Howard Hunt...
There's a cancer
on the presidency, and its growing...
... with every day...
If Hunt goes public,
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.
You don't expect me to believe that
for one minute, do ya?
Huh?
Does it matter what's on 'em?
Really? ***, ***?
Sex? Your secrets,
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.
You're drunk.
Oh, yeah!
No one'll ever see
those tapes, 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.
What has changed in you, Richard?
Go away!
These guys went after Castro
seven times, ten times.
What, do you think people like that,
just gave up? They just don't walk away.
What, seven, ten times?
I never said this.
Ten tim... Never.
You think people like that gave up?
Castro.
These guys went after Castro.
If this got out,
they'd blame me for everything.
Forget Kennedy or Johnson.
It's Nixon!
Whoever killed Kennedy...
... came from this thing we created,
this beast.
In the latest bombshell...
... the president's lawyers revealed that
there is an 18-and-a-halfminute 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?
No, 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.
Please lie down, ***.
They need you to lie down!
Sedate him!
***. ***.
Richard?
Mother.
Maybe a trip
to the woodshed'll...
Daddy?
Vice President Agnew
has resigned today...
... pleading no contest to charges
of income tax evasion.
This follows Special Prosecutor
***'s continuing investigation...
... into President Nixon's finances.
The president paid no income tax Lie down, ***.
... in the years 1970, '71 and'72
They need you to lie down.
... and may have used funds to improve his
residence in San Clemente, California.
Where's the blood coming from?
What's wrong with him?
He's got an acute viral pneumonia
and a very serious phlebitis.
It could go into his lungs.
Oh, no.
The president
has returned to the White House.
But Archibald *** 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.
I'll never give up my tapes to a bunch
of Kennedy-loving, Democrat cocksuckers.
This could trigger the impeachment.
They'll go
to the Supreme Court.
I appointed three of those ***.
They'll never get my tapes.
Can the president afford
to ignore a subpoena?
Who the hell does *** think he is? I've
never made a dime from public office.
I'm honest.
My dad died broke. Jesus.
That son of a *** ***, he went
to the same law school as Jack Kennedy.
The last gasp
of the establishment.
Yeah, they got the hell
kicked out of 'em in the election...
... so now they gotta squeal
about Watergate...
'cause 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, uh...
Mr. President.
What?
Sir, Congress is, uh...
No, over here, sir.
Sir, Congress is considering
Four articles of impeachment.
Yeah. For what?
They're very serious charges, sir.
First, abuse of power.
Yep.
Second, obstruction of justice.
Yeah, what else?
Third, failure to
cooperate with Congress.
And last, bombing Cambodia, sir.
They can't impeach me for Cambodia;
the president can bomb anybody he likes.
That's true.
We'll win that, but the other three...
You know, Fred, they sell tickets.
It's Ron, sir.
They sell tickets to an impeachment
like a damn circus.
Okay, so they impeach me.
Well, *** 'em!
Yeah, well, it's just
a matter of mathematics.
How many votes we have in the Senate?
About a dozen.
A dozen? Jeez, I got
half of 'em elected.
Okay, so I got
the South and, uh...
Goldwater and his boys.
I'll take my chances in the Senate.
Yes, we should.
This damn leg.
Well, then, sir, we'll, uh...
... have to deal with the possibility
of removal from office...
... loss of pension
and possibly...
... possibly
even prison.
Yeah, well, plenty of people
did their best writing in prison.
Gandhi, Lenin.
That's right.
What I know about this country,
I could rip it apart.
If they want a public humiliation,
that's what they'll get.
Yes, they will.
I will never resign this office. Never.
Where the *** am I? What's in there?
The P. O. W. s and their families.
Oh. I'm supposed to be...
Compassionate, grateful...
Proud.
Sir?
Proud. Of them.
Oh, yes, of course.
Fire him.
Who?
***. Archibald ***. Fire him!
He works for the attorney general.
Only Richardson can fire him.
May I echo my concern here, sir?
Then tell Richardson
to fire him!
Well, Richardson won't do that, 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 ***.
He's asked for it.
Mr. President,
may I just say something, sir?
I think that you should
welcome this subpoena.
Why?
Well, sir...
... the tapes can only prove
that Dean was a liar. Right?
That's right, sir.
Well, there's more.
There's more than just me.
You can't break, my boy.
Even though it's ended.
You can't admit, even to yourself,
when it's gone.
Uh, do you think
those P. O. W. s in there did?
Now, there's some people,
and we both know them, Al...
... think you can go stand in the middle
of a bull ring and cry "mea culpa, mea culpa"...
... while the crowd is hissing and booing
and spitting on you.
Well, a man doesn't cry.
I don't cry.
You don't cry.
You fight.
Okay.
Ladies and gentlemen...
... 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 ***.
Attorney General
Elliot Richardson has quit...
... and his deputy William Ruckelshaus
was fired when he refused to fire ***.
Acting Attorney General Robert Bork
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 of46 taped conversations.
Gerald Ford
was sworn in as vice president.
Citing wrongdoing, a judge has dismissed
all charges against Daniel Ellsberg.
A grand jury has indicted former
Nixon aides Haldeman, Ehrlichman...
I mean, you're a lawyer, for God's sake.
How can you let this *** go through?
Look. This.
Nixon can't say that.
Well, you did say it, 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.
Have you lost your mind?
Look, Al! Nixon can't say this!
'***. ***. " It can't say that!
We could delete it.
We're doing the best we can.
Well, it's not good enough!
Would you have us black it out, 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...
you do nothing but swear?
It soils
my mother's memory.
You think I want the whole *** world
to see my mother like this?
Raising a dirty-mouth?
We could start again, sir, 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 'em!
From page one, Al.
Page one, Ron!
Ron, get in there and do something.
All this stuff...
Five seconds,
Mr. President.
And four, three, two...
Good evening,
my fellow Americans.
Tonight I'm
taking an action...
... unprecedented in the history
of this office.
I had no knowledge of the cover-up
till John Dean told me about it...
... on March 21st, a year ago.
I think I'm going to throw up.
... no payment to Hunt
or anyone else be made.
He's lost touch with reality.
I've made my mistakes...
... but in all my years of public life,
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.
I made $250,000 from a book
They'll crucify him.
Does anybody really care anymore?
Which many of you were
good enough to purchase.
... and what happens after?
... every year.
When I, in 1968, decided to become
a candidate for the president...
I decided
to clean the decks...
... and to put everything
in real estate.
So, that's where the money came from.
That's all I own.
That's what we have,
and that's what we owe.
Because people have got to know
whether or not their...
... president is a crook.
Well, I am not a crook.
I've earned everything I have...
She does have a respectable
Republican cloth coat.
And I always tell her, uh,
she'd look good in anything.
There has never been
any feathering of nests.
Not in this
administration.
Now, 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.
In its report, 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.
In a separate report,
the Senate Select committee...
... details the misuse
of the I. R. S.
... the F. B. I. , 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.
Victory at Sea, Al.
Henry.
The Pacific Theatre.
Christ, you can almost hear
the waves breaking over the decks.
I'm afraid we have another problem,
Mr. President.
Excuse me, gentlemen.
June 23rd, '72, 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.
Sir, the deadline
is today.
Can we get around this,
Al?
It's the Supreme Court,
sir.
You don't get around it.
If, uh...
If you resign, 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?
Oh, God.
We can't survive this,
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.
Sir, you talked about opening up
the whole Bay of Pigs thing again.
That's right.
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.
Sooner or later, 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.
I don't need a *** deal,
for God's sake. I...
This is something that
you will have to do, Mr. President.
I thought
you'd rather do it...
... now.
I'll wait outside.
Sir.
May I say, sir,
that if you stay now...
... it will paralyze the nation
and its foreign policy.
You always had a great
sense of timing, Henry.
When to give...
... and when to take.
How do you think Mao
and Brezhnev will react?
Do you think they'll
remember us, 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.
I'm not a quitter,
never have been.
But I'm not stupid either.
A trial would kill me.
That's what they want.
They won't get it.
*** 'em.
If they harass you, I too will resign,
and I will tell the world why.
Don't be stupid.
The world needs you, Henry.
You always saw
the big picture.
You were my equal
in many ways.
You're the only friend
I got, Henry.
Do you ever pray?
You know, believe
in a supreme being?
Uh, not really.
You mean on my knees?
My mother used to pray
a lot.
It's been a long time
since I really prayed.
Let's pray, Henry.
Let's pray a little.
Just you and me.
I hope this doesn't
embarrass you, Henry.
No. Not at all, no.
This is not going to leak, is it?
Don't be too proud,
Henry.
Never be too proud
to go on your knees before God.
God.
How can a...
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.
Uh...
God, why do they
hate me so?
It's unbelievable.
It... It's insane.
Oh, M-Mom, I'm sorry.
God, please forgive me, 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.
They smelled the blood
on me this time, Al.
I got soft, you know?
A rusty, metallic smell.
I know it well, sir.
It came over from Vietnam,
you know?
Sir?
That smell.
I mean, everyone
suffered so much.
Their boys killed.
Uh, they need to
sacrifice something.
You know, appease
the gods of war.
Mars, Jupiter.
I am that blood,
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.
No, I played
by the rules.
Rules changed right
in the middle of the game.
There's no respect
for American institutions anymore.
No, people are cynical.
The press... ah, the press
is out of control.
People spit on soldiers.
Government secrets mean nothing.
I pity the next guy
who sits here.
Good night,
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.
No, it's going to start now.
Oh, Buddy.
If I could just sleep.
If I could just sleep.
There'll be time for that.
Yeah.
You know, 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.
God, I've always been
afraid of the dark.
Buddy.
There are many fine careers.
This country needs
good farmers...
... good businessmen,
good plumbers...
... good carpenters.
I remember my old man.
I think that they would have
called him sort of a...
... sort of a little man,
a common man.
Well, 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.
It was the poorest lemon ranch
in California, 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.
Nobody will ever write a book,
probably, about my mother.
Well, 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...
Yes, she will have no books
written about her.
But she was a saint.
Now, however,
we look to the future.
I remember something, uh,
Theodore Roosevelt wrote...
... when his first wife died...
... in his twenties.
He thought the light
had gone from his life forever.
But he went on, and he
not only became president...
... but as an ex-president,
he served his country...
... always in the arena,
tempestuous, strong...
... sometimes right,
sometimes wrong.
But he was a man.
And as I leave...
... that's an example I think
all of us should remember.
See, we think sometimes
when, uh...
... things happen
that don't go the right way;
... we think that when someone
dear to us dies...
... uh, when we lose
an election...
... or when we suffer defeat...
... that all is ended.
Not true.
It's only a beginning,
always...
... because the greatness comes,
not when things go always good for you...
... but the greatness comes...
... when you're really tested...
... when you take some knocks,
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...
... we leave, proud of the people
who have stood by us...
... and worked for us and served
this government and this country.
They want you to continue
to serve in government...
... if that is what you wish.
Remember,
always give your best.
Never get discouraged.
Never be petty.
Always remember,
others may hate you.
But those who hate you
don't win unless you hate them.
And then,
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
himself with intelligence and energy...
... and devotion to duty.
Richard Nixon was buried
and honored by five presidents...
... on April 26, 1994...
... less than a year after his
beloved wife, Pat, 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.
In a sideshow, Cambodian society was
destroyed and mass genocide resulted.
The second half of the 20th century...
... will be known
as the age of Nixon.
In his absence,
Russia and the United States returned...
... to a decade of high-budget
military expansion and near war.
Nixon, 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.
Out of 4,000 hours,
60 hours have been made public.
Oh, Shenandoah
I long to see you
And hear
Your rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah
I long to see you
Way
We're bound away
Across the wide
Missouri
I long to see
Your smiling valley
And hear
Your rolling river
I long to see
Your smiling valley
Way
We're bound away
Across the wide
Missouri
'Tis seven long years
-Shenandoah
Since last I seen you
-Shenandoah
Oh, to hear
Your rolling river
'Tis seven long years
-Shenandoah
Since last I seen you
-Shenandoah
Way
We're bound away
Across the wide
Missouri
The wide Missouri
The wide
Missouri
Oh, Shenandoah
I long to see you, I long to see you
Away
You rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah
I long to see you
Way
We're bound away
Across the wide
Missouri
Missouri
Oh, Shenandoah
Oh, Shenandoah
Oh, Shenandoah
Oh, Shenandoah
Oh, Shenandoah
Oh, Shenandoah