All language subtitles for Our.Nixon.2013.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

-Where to begin?

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

Um, we've waited a long time
to chat with Bob Haldeman.

And now we have the opportunity,
and, uh, the

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

question is where to start.

Here you were, you worked four
years in Washington as Nixon's

number two man--

Nixon's SOB, as you
called yourself.

Dick Nixon never went to Key
Biscayne without you.

He never went anywhere
without you.

-Pretty close to right.

-What you're accusing yourself
of is a cloudy crystal ball.

That's hardly the mea culpa
that the American public

thinks it's entitled to.

That's the issue.

-Well, maybe the American
public's wrong.

I know in my own heart, and I
know in my own head, precisely

what I did.

I know precisely why I did it.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: OK.

-And I know that I made
some mistakes.

I deeply regret those
mistakes.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: As
Richard Nixon's right-hand

man, he was the one most often
recorded on the tapes, and

they destroyed him.

-I had the rare privilege for
four years of serving on the

White House staff under one of
America's greatest presidents.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Former White House

chief-of-staff HR Haldeman found
guilty today on five

counts in the Watergate
cover-up trial.

-Do you regret what happened,
and what you did?

-Oh, sure.

The country lost motion.

Uh, a lot of the good things we
were working on in the way

of domestic reforms, uh,
were lost in the mess.

Uh, you can't help but regret,
uh, an aftermath of that kind.

A lot of good people had their
lives spoiled in the process.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: John
Ehrlichman has finished his

statements.

He was then returned to
the holding room.

Rather a strange phrase, Nelson,
the holding room.

Give's you an ide-- idea that
they're holding a chemical or

a bacterium or something.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Former
White House domestic

affairs adviser, John
Ehrlichman, four counts--

guilty.

-Uh, the references to like an
era of criminality, or like

people there were trying
to rape the

country of its democracy.

I mean, I just don't
see it that way.

-Chapin was linked in several
reports to the Watergate case,

alleged sabotage of
the Democratic

presidential campaign.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Chapin
today was found guilty

of lying to the Watergate
grand jury.

-I don't think you can take that
little piece of history,

which may have been the darkest
days of Richard

Nixon's career, and construct
from that a mosaic that tells

you all about that man.

[film projector noise]

[crowds cheering]

[MUSIC - TRACY ULLMAN,
"THEY DON'T KNOW"]

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]: You,
Richard Milhous Nixon, do

solemnly swear--

-I, Richard Milhous Nixon,
do solemnly swear--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]: --that
you'll faithfully

execute the office--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--that I will faithfully

execute the office--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--of President

of the United States--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--of President

of the United States--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--and will, to the

best of your ability--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--and will, to

the best of my ability--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--preserve

protect, and defend--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--preserve,

protect, and defend--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--the Constitution

of the United States.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--the Constitution of the

United States.

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
So help you, God.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
So help me, God.

[applause]

[music - "hail to the chief"]

-The new president was in his
office here at the White House

at 7:30 this morning, before
anyone else on his staff, and

after only about four
hours sleep.

He's felt for sometime that he
could do this job pretty well,

and he was eager to get at it.

-President-elect Nixon today
named another long time aide,

HR Haldeman, to be a White
House assistant.

-Haldeman, a Los Angeles
advertising executive, served

as chief-of-staff for
the Nixon campaign.

DAN RATHER [OFFSCREEN]: Haldeman
is the closest thing

to an alter ego the president
has, noted for his

conservative views, his crewcut,
and his nonstop home

movie taking.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: It was
just an extremely exciting

time for all of us.

It was terribly hard work,
and very, very

long difficult hours.

But it was exciting because you
were building something.

There was no great ideological
thrust or, uh, noble ambition

involved in this, and no thought
at all of, of, uh,

becoming permanently involved
in either politics or

government.

It was, it was a thing where
I felt it would be an

interesting side experience,
where I could make a

contribution, and that something
would be a learning

experience, and an interesting
experience for me.

So that's, that's
why I did it.

-The White House staff, as it
evolves, I think you'll find

will be smaller than it's
been in the past.

I know you'll find it'll be
probably the youngest one in

history-- certainly one
of the youngest.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Also
named as a special assistant

was another ad man, 27-year-old
Dwight Chapin, who

served as Mr. Nixon's
personal aide.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]: You
got to keep in mind I was 27

years old at that point.

And we'd just gone through this
campaign, and I was just

waiting to see what unfolded.

The day that I went in and
interviewed for the job, and I

met this young 34-year-old
crewcut guy by

the name of Bob Haldeman.

And Bob Haldeman changed
my life.

I've never laughed as much as
when I worked in the Nixon

White House.

The, the sense of humor was
the leveling factor.

Things which'd--

messes we would find ourselves
in, or whatever it might be.

-I think a lot of the younger
staff people here find that he

can far excel, uh, them in terms
of energy and stamina.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I
took a camera on all my

trips-- a super 8--

and I have quite a collection
of film.

-John Ehrlichman, a 43-year-old
Seattle lawyer,

who directed Nixon's campaign
tour, will have a broad

advisory role in the Nixon
administration.

-I think this first year
will be seen as

basically a time of reform.

-Ehrlichman is the president's
chief aide for domestic

affairs, understudy of Haldeman,
whom he has known

since college.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I
was not a passionate Nixon

person, uh, going in.

Probably if, if some college
friend had invited me to go

and dance for John Kennedy,
I might have gone.

There were very few illusions
about Richard Nixon, I think,

among the senior staff--
particularly

as we got into things.

Uh, a good deal of kind of
wry humor about his, uh,

mannerisms, and his foibles,
and his prejudices.

Nevertheless, you're, you work
for the President of the

United States.

He's the only president
around.

Uh, you all elected him.

Uh, we all work for him, and
it's up to us to make it work.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
It was a very

unnatural kind of life.

And, um, you had the feeling
you were in the middle of a

great big, brilliantly
lighted, badly

run television show.

I was taking a home movie
of this throughout.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
I advanced the

first trip to Europe.

Uh, eight countries, and, and,
uh, I found myself hobnobbing

with the King of Belgium, and
the Pope, and all these folks,

and, and it got to be very
heady, very fast.

[speaking italian]

[speaking italian]

[applause]

[applause]

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Hello.

Hello.

How are you?

BARBARA WALTERS [OFFSCREEN]:
Their critics call them the

Germans, and describe their
office as the Berlin Wall.

I'm speaking of President
Nixon's chief White House

advisers, Henry Kissinger,
John Ehrlichman, and HR--

for Harry Robbins--

Haldeman.

Everyone these days knows
who Henry Kissinger is.

John Ehrlichman is the
president's assistant for

domestic affairs.

But HR Haldeman's job is not an
easy, tidy one to describe.

And of the three men, he has,
been by his own choice, the

least visible to the public.

He's the only one of the three
never to have given a

television interview,
until now.

His friends talk of his
brilliance, his efficiency,

his total dedication to the
president, and his lack of

personal egotism or jealousy.

His critics call him cold,
arrogant, hostile to the

press, inaccessible.

This interview was filmed a
week ago in Mr. Haldeman's

office at the White House.

You have no calendar
of your own.

You, you really follow
the president's day.

You're available, as I
understand it, from 7:00 in

the morning on, and
on, and on.

What does this do to
your personal life?

-Well, it, uh, poses some
problems in it sometimes.

But, uh, I have, fortunately,
uh, a very understanding wife,

and, and four very interested
and understanding children.

BARBARA WALTERS [OFFSCREEN]: Do
your sons want you to grow

your hair longer?

-[LAUGHS] I was afraid you'd
probably ask that.

My--

you've probably seen the picture
of my sons that we

sent out for Christmas.

But, uh, because my older son
has, what I would call, very

long hair, and my younger son
has pretty long hair.

BARBARA WALTERS [OFFSCREEN]:
They don't look like daddy, if

that's what you mean.

-They don't.

But, uh, I've faced the fact
that, uh, they're the ones

that are in style, and I'm the
one that's out of step on, uh,

hair styling.

And, uh, I'm afraid they're
right and I'm wrong on that

one.

-You have said--

I'm using one of your
quotations again--

"I often find it fascinating
to ponder by what standards

history will judge Nixon when
all the partisan battles are

over." Well, how do you think
he will be judged?

-If he has the opportunity to
move ahead with what he's

trying to do, I think there
isn't any doubt he'll be

judged as one of the
great presidents.

WALTER CONKRITE [OFFSCREEN]:
Good morning.

Man is about to launch himself
on a trip to the moon, with

the expectation of
landing there.

Man going to the moon here
this morning, from this

Florida launch complex aboard
that Saturn rocket.

The rocket will go, will put the
men into orbit 115 miles

above the Earth for one
and a half orbits.

And then the third stage--

[music playing]

BRUCE MCCANDLESS [OFFSCREEN]:
Uh, go ahead, Mr. President.

This is Houston.

Out.

-Hello, Neil and Buzz.

I'm talking to you by telephone
from the Oval Room

at the White House.

And this certainly has to be
the most historic telephone

call ever made from
the White House.

And as you talk to us from the
Sea of Tranquility, it

inspires us to redouble our
efforts to bring peace and

tranquility to Earth.

For one priceless moment, in the
whole history of man, all

the people on this Earth
are truly one--

one in their pride in
what you have done.

WALTER CONKRITE [OFFSCREEN]:
Armstrong is on the moon--

Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old
American, standing on the

surface of the moon, on
this, July 20, 1969.

NEIL ARMSTRONG [OFFSCREEN]:
That's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]:
A typical day for me.

Haldeman would pick
me up around 7:15.

He-- the car would get Bob.

Then it would get Larry
Higby, Bob's aide.

And then it would swing by my
house, and they'd end at the

White House.

I am responsible for the
scheduling, and also for the

president's daily activities.

Our thing was a machine,
and I knew my place.

A-- it really reflected a lot
about Richard Nixon, the

degree to which he wanted
things controlled.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
It literally was from 6

o'clock in the morning until
9 o'clock at night,

every day of the week--

and Saturdays and
Sundays, too.

And that pace was unremitting,
totally consuming, for

somebody like me.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I was
very tough on people, feeling

that I had to be.

There's something about
the presidency that--

I've been ridiculed for my
picking up to Navy term of

zero defects.

But you do have to operate
as close to zero

defect as you can.

And I was not overly concerned
with whether people like me,

as a result of it or not.

I was only concerned with the
result the president wanted

got carried out.

-Why didn't you burn
the tapes?

Surely you talked about it.

-Well, I-- the question came up,
at one point, should the

tapes be destroyed?

And my strong recommendation
was that they

should not be destroyed.

-That was a mistake, wasn't
it, Mr. Haldeman?

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
Yes, sir.

I would say that given what we
now know, and what's now

happened, that, that it was a
disastrous thing to have done.

But there was never a thought
that one word of those tapes

would be played in public, or
be played to other people.

And when it got to the point of
having to release them, or

of having even to consider the
possibility of releasing them,

they should have been, in my
opinion now, it should've have

been destroyed.

-I had no idea about
the taping system.

No.

No.

-No.

Never.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: John,
you didn't know about

the, uh, the tape maker--

the taping system in the
Oval Office, did you?

-No.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Did
it come as a surprise?

-It did.

Our White House staff was
essentially a dysfunctional

organization.

I think Nixon believed that he
didn't have to share every

piece of information
with everybody.

Listening to the tapes is very
revealing, because he's

talking to others about me,
and what I should know and

what he didn't want
me to know.

And he did the same thing with
Kissinger and the same thing

with a lot of people.

Um, several times I, I
recall his saying to

me, don't tell Henry.

He kept little water-tight
compartments of information,

and it didn't work very well.

-Dan Rather, who has closely
observed the Nixon presidency,

reports now on the first
year in office.

DAN RATHER [OFFSCREEN]: In 12
months, Richard Nixon proved

himself to have been
underestimated.

He emerged as a shrewd political
manager, with a

chance to be remembered as a
consummate politician, in the

mold of Woodrow Wilson or
Franklin Roosevelt.

Nixon-- the supremely
disciplined and

introspective loner.

His mind--

methodical, cautious.

Given to worry?

Yes.

But never, never let
the worry show.

Control--

the byword for every
public appearance.

Calculated non-flamboyance.

Make up to cover the beard,
special hair tonic to cover

grey at the temples, and a ready
smile to cover worry.

One year does not make or
break any president.

A first year does
set directions.

What the past year has proven
is that the principal

directions of the Nixon
presidency are--

cutting back commitments
abroad, reforming the

machinery of government at home,
and laying political

foundations that will have
Republicans replacing

Democrats as the majority party
in the decade ahead.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
President Nixon's primary

focus, his own personal
attention, was almost totally

dedicated to ending the
war in Vietnam.

Nixon tried to move into his
committed areas of welfare

reform, some areas of economic
reform, and all that.

But the one factor which really
totally overrode all of

those factors was Vietnam.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]: I
had been the office, in the

president's office, several
different occasions where he

had a handkerchief out, and was
wiping tears out of his

eyes, and he'd been there
writing notes to parents of

kids who'd been killed.

So I came from it, that the
president was doing the very

best he could, and that he
was trying to end it.

And that he-- so I, I didn't
have much compassion for the

people in the streets.

I respect their right to
demonstrate, because that's,

that's, you know, that's what
the country's about.

But, I mean, I was of the
opinion that the demonstrators

prolonged the war.

They didn't help us get out.

They made it worse.

And that's just how I view it.

[music playing]

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
What do you want?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Peace.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
When do you want it?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Now.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
What do you want?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Peace.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
When do you want it?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Now.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Good evening.

Marching behind flags, and
banners, and picket signs

demanding peace now, at least
200,000 anti-war protesters

jammed the streets of Washington
today, in what was

probably the biggest peace
demonstration to be held since

they began six years ago.

Despite the huge crowd, no Nixon
administration official

spoke at the rally or appeared
on the capitol hill platform.

[MUSIC - JOHN DENVER, "THE
STRANGEST DREAM"]

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
What do you want?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Peace.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
When do you want it?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Now.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
What do you want?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Peace.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
When do you want it?

CROWD [OFFSCREEN]: Now.

-What is important is not just
that we are here today,

because we have been here
before, you and I. We've been

here before and we've
been other places.

And what we have to decide is
that we're going to keep

coming back until
this war ends.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Yeah.

-Good evening, my fellow
Americans.

A few weeks ago I saw
demonstrators carrying signs

reading, "Lose in Vietnam.

Bring the boys home." Well, one
of the strengths of our

free society is that any
American has a right to reach

that conclusion, and to advocate
that point of view.

But as President of the United
States, I would be untrue to

my oath of office if I allowed
the policy of this nation to

be dictated by the minority who
hold that point of view,

and who try to impose upon
the nation by mounting

demonstrations in the street.

And so tonight, to you, the
great, silent majority of my

fellow Americans, I ask
for your support.

I pledged in my campaign for the
presidency to end the war

in a way that we could
win the peace.

I pledge to you tonight that I
shall meet this responsibility

with all of the strength and
wisdom I can command--

in accordance with your hopes,
mindful of your concerns,

sustained by your prayers.

Thank you, and good night.

[interposing voices]

[music playing]

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
World War I?

Right?

-Right.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
Well, we're grateful

[inaudible].

Thank you for coming out.

Very grateful.

BILL GILL [OFFSCREEN]: It was
Irish night at the White

House, a salute to the visiting
prime minister of the

Emerald Isles with dances
from Castle Shannon.

Yet the crowd could hardly wait
for the truly big event

of the evening.

The president and Mrs. Nixon
ended the suspense in a

lighthearted mood.

-I understand that I'm supposed
to make a surprise

announcement.

[laughter]

-The difficulty is that every
time I'm supposed to make a

surprise announcement, I find
that some way it's leaked

before I get to make it.

Even though the information may
have leaked out, until I

say it, it's not official.

[laughter]

-And so tonight Mrs. Nixon and I
are very honored to announce

the engagement of our daughter
Tricia to Mr.

Edward Cox of New York.

[applause]

[music playing]

-And now to commemorate this
event, we have as our special

guests tonight the Ray
Conniff Singers.

It's very difficult
to describe them.

Most of you have heard them.

And if the music is square, it's
because I like it square.

[laughter and applause]

-President Nixon, stop bombing
human beings, animals, and

vegetation.

You go to church on Sundays,
and pray to Jesus Christ.

If Jesus Christ were here
tonight, you would dare drop

another bomb.

Bless the Berrigans, and
bless Daniel Ellsberg.

Two, three, four.

[MUSIC - RAY CONNIFF SINGERS,
"MA, HE'S MAKING EYES AT ME"]

-"The New York Times" began
publishing a partial text of

assiduously prepared study in
the Pentagon relating to the

origins of American involvement
in Vietnam.

Five days later, "The Washington
Post" began

publishing excerpts from the
same Pentagon report.

On June 22, "The Boston Globe"
joined the "Times" and the

"Post," and published
additional

material from the study.

The documents printed in the
papers were classified, which

means, according to the
government, they were not to

be made public.

[music - ray conniff singers]

-A single name has been
mentioned most prominently as

the possible source of the
"Times" documents.

Daniel Ellsberg, a former State
Department and Pentagon

planner-- and of late something
of a phantom

figure--

-I think we cannot at all let
the officials of the executive

branch determine for us what it
is that the public needs to

know about how well,
and how, they are

discharging their functions.

[music - ray conniff singers]

[music - ray conniff singers]

[applause]

-The Pentagon report is only
the beginning in itself, an

incomplete history.

There will be much more.

The temptation will be great
for a witch hunt, the

unmasking of villains, and the
manufacturer of scapegoats.

-The president was furious.

Kissinger was furious.

It was very intense.

It--

it was a little like walking
on eggshells.

I mean, it was just a
tense, tense time.

-The irony of the Pentagon
Papers is that they were not

critical of Nixon.

They were very critical of the
Johnson administration.

But Nixon was committed to the
proposition that classified

documents, secret documents,
ought not to be stolen and

given away.

Some of these documents actually
did get into the

hands of foreign governments,
as well as part of them

getting in the papers.

And the president and Kissinger
were very upset that

this man would be doing
these kinds of things.

-You were so mad at Ellsberg.

This dirty guy.

I don't have to tell you or
anyone else that the-- that

the, the anger and resentment
toward, toward Ellsberg was

near hysterical levels
in the White House.

-This didn't develop into any
pathological hatred of, of

Daniel Ellsberg.

It developed into a rather
coldblooded, and in my, uh,

view, uh, uh, misguided, uh,
attempt to discredit Ellsberg

in the public eye.

Because at the time Daniel
Ellsberg was being made a

public hero, and there was an
effort to try to show that

this man was not necessarily
the, the great savior of the

nation that, that many were
portraying him as.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I
think I changed during the

time I was at the White House.

I'm not sure whether it
was for the better.

But it probably was not at the
time that I was there.

When you first go in there, at
least when I first went in

there, I asked a lot
of hard questions.

Why, why are we doing
it this way?

What's the, what's the

justification for this program?

Why are we spending
this money?

Uh, why does this fellow
work here?

You know, those kinds
of things.

After a couple years, I, I felt
like I was defending the

status quo rather than
challenging it, and trying to

get it changed, and repaired,
and made better.

And that

was not satisfying me at all.

I had a very clear sense that
I was becoming part of the

problem after a while, rather
than the solution.

And I remember one day thinking,
I had just moved

that pile of firewood from
over there to over here.

And today I was going to have to
move it from over here back

to over there.

And thinking to myself how
strange it was to be coming to

this historic place, and dealing
with these great

issues, seeing the President
of the United States two or

three times a day, and feeling
like I was just in the

business of moving
cordwood around.

And I thought to myself, well,
if it's come to that point,

[LAUGHING] it's time
I was out of here.

Uh, I let Nixon and Haldeman
talk me into staying.

-Good evening.

I have requested this television
time tonight to

announce a major development
in our efforts to build a

lasting peace in the world.

I sent Dr. Kissinger, my
assistant for national

security affairs, to Peking
during his recent world tour

for the purpose of having talks
with Premier Zhou Enlai.

The announcement I shall now
read is being issued

simultaneously in Peking and
in the United States.

Premier Zhou Enlai, on behalf
of the government of the

People's Republic of China, has
extended an invitation to

President Nixon to visit
China at an appropriate

date before May 1972.

President Nixon has accepted the
invitation with pleasure.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: For
two decades every American

president has been presented to
the Chinese people as the

archenemy, as the
personification of hated

capitalism and imperialism.

Most Asians recognize this
development as a momentous

step that can change the
whole complexion of

this part of the world.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]: I
found out I was going to China

from Bob Haldeman.

I was the acting

chief-of-protocol for that trip.

And, uh, it was one of the great
mountaintop experiences.

I-- the, the thing--

the thing about the flight to
China was-- one of the things

was-- that it was just
kind of surreal.

The plane was taking off to go
to China, and we've got a

television set there watching
us take off.

I mean, everything about that
trip was televised.

I mean, it was a production
from start to finish.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: The
president will journey to

Peking in the dead of winter, a
season especially severe in

the Chinese capital.

Following the joint
announcement, issued at 4:00

AM, Peking time, the White
House news secretary

reemphasized Mr. Nixon's stated
purpose for becoming

the first American president
to visit mainland China.

-As President Nixon has pointed
out on a number of

occasions, he shall try in the
meetings with the leaders of

the People's Republic of China
to seek a new direction in the

relationship between our two
countries, and to end the

isolation of our two great
peoples from each other.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Four
hours after his arrival, Mr.

Nixon is taken to meet Chairman
Mao Tse-tung.

The fact that Chairman Mao
arranged an immediate meeting

with the American chief of
state in his home is

considered significant by
diplomatic observers.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Included is an evening at the

Peking Opera to see a ballet,
"The Red Detachment of Women,"

that depicts the overthrow of
a cruel landlord by female

communist partisans.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: The
skies have been somber in

Peking all day, and in
the afternoon a light

snow began to fall.

In the city streets, men and
women with brooms began

sweeping it up almost
flake by flake.

And it seemed to have no dimming
effect at all on the

exuberance of President Nixon
and Premier Zhou Enlai in

their third long conversation.

FEMALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Sir?

FEMALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Thank you.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]:
We all have little kit--

kids the same age.

I mean, people have ice
skating parties.

There would be--

we have just all kinds
of things.

And we're in our 30s, and
we're, you know, living.

There were pranks.

There were these incredible
friendships.

And it was our, our senses of
humor and our personalities

that it made it all,
you know, nice.

-The illegal bugging apparently
was one, uh, aim of

a team which broke into the
Democratic National

Headquarters in Washington
during the weekend.

And the political backgrounds of
the men charged in the case

have kicked up a storm.

Barry Serafin has the story.

BARRY SERAFIN [OFFSCREEN]: The
Watergate Apartment Hotel

office complex in Washington has
a fortress like appearance

that is noted for
its security.

But the burglars penetrated that
security to break into

the sixth floor offices of the
Democratic National Committee.

Material from files there was
found in their possession.

Democratic spokesmen
called the file

information very mundane.

Here and in the men's rooms in
the adjoining hotel, police

confiscated expensive
photographic and electronic

eavesdropping gear, as well as
several thousand dollars in

consecutively numbered bills.

-Apparently about five men,
one of them clearly under

contract and employed by both
the Republican National

Committee and the campaign to
re-elect the president.

Uh, this, I thought, this
administration was a law and

order administration.

And I've never seen such a crass
violation of individual

rights as, uh, we have seen
in this instance.

-I must say that it's the, uh,
legacy of years of wire

tapping, and snooping, and
violation of privacy in which

the government, itself, has
been too deeply involved.

[crowd cheering]

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
Well, I--

I, again, proudly accept your
nomination for President of

the United States.

[crowd cheering]

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]: And
let us pledge ourselves to win

an even greater victory this
November, in 1972.

[crowd cheering]

-Four more years.

Four more years.

Four more years.

Four more years.

[MUSIC - MIKE CURB CONGREGATION,
"NIXON NOW"]

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
President Nixon's victory in

the election is surely one of
the biggest landslides ever.

Let's look at the popular
vote now, with

almost all of it counting.

With 98% of the precincts
reporting, it's Nixon--

45,800,000.

McGovern--

28,400,000.

This adds up to a record
breaking 521 electoral votes

for President Nixon,
who won 49 states.

McGovern carried only
Massachusetts and the District

of Columbia, for 17
electoral votes.

-At first it was called
the Watergate Caper.

Five men, apparently caught in
the act of burglarizing and

bugging Democratic Headquarters
in Washington.

But the episode grew steadily
more sinister.

No longer a caper but the
Watergate Affair, escalating

finally into charges of a high
level campaign of political

sabotage and espionage
apparently unparalleled in

American history.

The charges center about
a man whose very name

in Italian is secrets.

[inaudible]

reports.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Donald Segretti.

Reports in major newspapers
say White House aides

recruited Segretti for secret
intelligence work and dirty

tricks against the Democrats.

Segretti went to college
with several men now

in the White House.

He was particularly close with
Dwight Chapin, and several

press reports document
recent links

between Chapin and Segretti.

A grand jury is investigating.

WARREN BURGER [OFFSCREEN]:
I, Richard

Nixon, do solemnly swear--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
I, Richard

Nixon, do solemnly swear--

WARREN BURGER [OFFSCREEN]:
--that I will faithfully

execute the office of President

of the United States--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--that I will faithfully

execute the office of President

of the United States--

WARREN BURGER [OFFSCREEN]:
--and will, to

the best of my ability--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--and will, to

the best of my ability--

WARREN BURGER [OFFSCREEN]:
--preserve, protect, and

defend the Constitution
of the United States.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--preserve, and protect, and

defend the Constitution
of the United States.

-So help me, God.

-So help me, God.

[music - "hail to the chief"]

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]: Phone
rings, it's John Dean.

And he said, have you given
any thought to what you're

going to do next?

And I said, John, what
in the world are you

trying to tell me?

And he said, well, I think you
need to figure out what, what

you're going to do next.

And I said, does
Bob know this?

And he said, Bob asked
me to talk to you.

I could not believe it.

So the next day I flew
up to Camp David.

And Bob met me, and we went over
to one of the cabins, and

talked, and we were
both crying.

And he said that it looked
like I was going to be a

political problem to the
president because of all the

Segretti stuff, and
this guy Sam Ervin

may hold some hearings.

And, therefore, it's probably
better, for your career and

everything else,
if you move on.

I mean, it was just horrible.

I, I, I-- there's nothing that
can describe how I felt.

So I sucked it up.

Said, yes, sir.

Went into the men's room
to get myself kind of

straightened up, and there is
the Attorney General of the

United States, Richard
Kleindienst,

bawling like a baby.

He had just met with
Ehrlichman.

I'm thinking to myself,
this thing's surreal.

I mean, I can't believe this.

So I went back, got on the
helicopter, and started

figuring out my life.

-Leon Jaworski said, "if the
American people had not

demanded action in the Watergate
scandal, it might

have grown into outrages as
great as those in Nazi

Germany."

-Well, here again, you're,
you're into this, this verbal

excess thing that it, it just
seems to me is, is, uh, uh,

easy to do after the fact.

-Question.

What was the mentality--

what was the mindset
in the Nixon White

House that led to Watergate?

-Watergate didn't
lead from the--

didn't come from the Nixon White
House, and I don't think

there was any mindset that
led to Watergate.

-Well, you--

the president is
out of office.

Men in the Nixon White
House went to jail.

What was the mindset--

what, what happened--

-That's the problem.

I--

I don't know what happened.

-The burglary had nothing to do
with Richard Nixon at the

time that it occurred.

If he had kept distance
between himself

and that whole episode--

he didn't know about that in
advance, I'm persuaded.

I've never heard anybody
come forward with any

evidence that he did.

If he had kept distance between
himself and that

episode, and just said, you
know, those guys did it,

they're going to have to
take their punishment.

That is what could have saved
Richard Nixon, I'm persuaded.

A little, little
quick surgery.

But he was the compulsive
minutia man.

He had to get involved.

He had to-- he had to dabble in
this, in this, uh, um, uh,

conspiratorial, um,
uh, spy stuff.

And he pulled it all
into his office.

-What's the dumbest
thing you did?

-The dumbest thing I did was,
was not to go to him when I

realized this, and say, look, if
you don't go out there and

make a clean breast of this
thing, I'm going out to the

press room, and I'm going to
tell them everything I know

about this.

And then I'm going to
walk out of here.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Do
you think you'd have the

courage to do that?

-Well, obviously, I didn't.

I just was, I was not playing
with a full deck.

I just didn't know,
at the time, one--

that there were tapes.

Two-- that he was as deeply
involved as he was.

[rewinding tape]

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Ladies and gentlemen,

President Nixon has requested
time on the networks this

evening for a report
on Vietnam.

-Good evening.

I have asked for this radio and
television time tonight

for the purpose of announcing
that we, today, have concluded

an agreement to end the war and
bring peace with honor in

Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.

The following statement is being
issued at this moment in

Washington and Hanoi.

At 12:30 Paris time today,
January 23, 1973, the

agreement on ending the war and
restoring peace in Vietnam

was initialled by Dr. Henry
Kissinger on behalf of the

United States and special
adviser Le Duc Tho on behalf

of the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam.

Let us consecrate this moment by
resolving together to make

the peace we have achieved
a peace that will last.

Thank you, and good evening.

-Senate Democrats have chosen
North Carolina's Sam Ervin to

investigate the Watergate
bugging case.

The committee would have full
subpoena power and a half

million dollar budget.

-When it was learned today that
some of the Watergate

conspirators had been involved
in illegal actions relating to

the Pentagon Papers case, the
whole affair took on a new,

and more sinister, air.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Two
of the convicted Watergate

conspirators, Howard Hunt and
Gordon Liddy, burglarized the

offices of a psychiatrist of
defendant Daniel Ellsberg to

get files on Ellsberg.

-The message of Watergate, as I
read it, is the same as the

message of the Pentagon
Papers.

That from the eyes of people
who work for the president,

all law stops at the
White House fence.

-The entire political system,
uh, the entire standard of

politics, uh, in the country has
reached an all time low.

-The president, and his
cabinet, and his

administration owe this country
an explanation, first

of all, and, secondly,
an apology.

-I don't respect the type of
journalism, the shabby

journalism that is being
practiced by "The Washington

Post."

-Informed sources say it was the
Watergate prosecution that

set off the recent series of
explosions, and that there are

further time bombs in President
Nixon's hands.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
We're in, uh, late April of

1973, and I'm really getting
beat up in the press.

Uh, we're going to make it.

Yeah, let me get up here to
the door, and then I'll--

OK.

Excuse me.

There we are.

I'm going to, uh, be following
the unvarying practice of

having no comment on this
matter until its final

disposition.

I have delegations of FBI agents
in and out of my office

all the time.

And all of a sudden it has
dawned on me that I have a

very serious problem, that
Richard Nixon has a very

serious problem, that Haldeman
and a lot of other people have

serious problems.

-The president flew south to
look at flood damage, and

dedicate a Naval training
station in Mississippi to

Senator John Stennis.

In the presidential party were
HR Haldeman and John

Ehrlichman.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
We're on Air Force One.

We were going off to, uh,
dedicate a John Stennis

memorial rocket launcher or
something in Mississippi.

And I'm standing on the flight
deck, and it occurred to me

for about 30 seconds that I
could crash this airplane, and

that would put an end to
everybody's problems--

mine, and Nixon's, and
Haldeman's, and everybody,

everybody who was aboard.

I stepped off that airplane,
and usually the drill is

Richard Nixon steps off the
airplane and all the cameras

click away, and all that.

He got off-- nobody paid
any attention to him.

I got off, and then, boy, you
know, they were all taking,

uh, mugshots.

The very last conversation I
had with him there, we were

talking about this break-in in
California, the Ellsberg

psychiatrist break-in.

And he said, I didn't know
about that, did I?

And I had to, I had to indicate
to him that he did

know about it.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
Now, I didn't know there was a

taping system in the
room at the time.

Uh, since then it's occurred to
me that he, he was talking

for the record, among
other things.

But, at the same time, I--

I'm convinced he really didn't
know the difference between

what was true and what wasn't
true at any given moment for a

long time [inaudible].

And he could, he could persuade

himself of almost anything--

which is kind of too bad.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
Hello?

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
Yeah.

FEMALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Thank you.

There you are.

WALTER CONKRITE [OFFSCREEN]:
Good evening.

President Nixon moved at the
highest level today to cleanse

the White House of the taint
of the Watergate scandal.

-The president has asked me to
announce that he has today

received and accepted the
resignation of two of his

closest friends, and most
trusted assistants, in the

White House.

-In their statements of
resignation, Haldeman and

Ehrlichman blamed many of their
problems on the press.

Whether the president plans to
incorporate any such statement

in his nationwide address
tonight is unknown.

-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, John
Ehrlichman--

two of the finest public
servants it has been my

privilege to know.

I want to stress that, in
accepting these resignations,

I mean to leave no implication
whatever of personal

wrongdoing on their part.

And I leave no implication
tonight of implication on the

part of others who have been
charged in this matter.

God bless America, and
God bless each and

every one of you.

-Dwight Chapin, President
Nixon's former appointment

secretary, today was found
guilty of lying to the

Watergate grand jury
investigating political

sabotage during the 1972
presidential campaign.

-I will never, ever, under any
circumstance, have a regret

for any contribution, or any
hardships, or anything else,

that have come out of the work
that I have done, uh, with

Richard Nixon.

I loved what I did, and it
was very important to me.

And, and I think these
friendships just, you know,

are golden, and they
still exist.

-John Ehrlichman, President
Nixon's domestic affairs

adviser, is behind bars tonight,
the highest ranking

former Nixon aide to go
to prison so far.

-For myself, I went through
a process of being just

absolutely stripped bare.

I woke up one day realizing that
there was nothing left.

There just really
wasn't anything.

And it occurred to me that there
might be an opportunity

in all of that to do it over
again simpler and better.

FEMALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: HR
"Bob" Haldeman, convicted for

his part in the Watergate
scandal, is here to see his

daughter graduate
from law school.

On Wednesday, Haldeman reports
to the federal prison in

Lompoc, California, to begin
serving a two and a half to

eight year sentence.

-I've spent five years in a
legal defense against, uh,

first of all an investigation,
and then a, a

charge, then a trial--

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Yeah.

---and then a year and
a half in prison.

All of that time, had to
work on my defense.

The time is, is here to, uh, to
stop defending, at least on

my part, and to start
looking ahead.

There's a lot more to my
life than Watergate.

There's a lot more to my
life than politics.

[MUSIC - BARBARA FOSTER, "SAN
CLEMENTE'S NOT THE SAME"]

-Convicted Watergate cover-up
conspirator John Ehrlichman is

out of a job.

The one time White House aide
to former President Richard

Nixon has ended his brief
career as an ice cream

pitchman on television.

By all accounts,
the ad campaign

was simply a meltdown.

-Try this stuff.

It's unbelievable.

And believe me, [LAUGHING] I'm
an expert on that subject.

-The California ice cream
company that ran the ad said

consumer response was so
negative the Ehrlichman

commercials were being taken
off the air immediately.