The Seventies (2015): Season 1, Episode 2 - The United States vs. Nixon - full transcript

Did someone
put up a lot of money

to have the Democratic headquarters
infiltrated?

And if so, who and why?

Justice will be pursued
no matter who is involved.

Do you have information implicating
President Nixon in a cover-up?

I'm sorry, I have no comment.

The President of the United States
demanded that the Attorney General

fire the Special Prosecutor.

That is the definition of tyranny.

People have got to know
whether or not their President is a crook.

Well, I am not a crook.



I don't think there was ever any discussion
that there wouldn't be a cover-up.

Congress must move ahead
with impeachment proceedings.

There can be no whitewash
at the White House.

I think what we have to do
is to feel it out.

We're going to have to
find out what the mood is.

In 1972, Richard Nixon is very much
at the top of his game,

and is in a position to
achieve his goal

of being the greatest President
in American history.

The comments before about Mao...

He had desegregated
all the Southern schools.

He had ended the draft.
He created the E.P.A., the Cancer Institute.

And he had the greatest arms control
agreement in American history.

Not a bad record,
and the American people thought so.

Air Force One, the Spirit of '76,
has just landed at Peking International Airport.



It is a historic moment.

The official beginning
of his visit to China.

China was considered
almost a different planet.

And the idea that any American
President would go to China

was considered a fantasy,
probably, at best.

In terms of foreign policy,
it was sort of a moon landing.

I think one of the results of our trip,
we hope, may be

the walls that are erected,
whether they are physical walls like this,

or whether they are other walls
of ideology or philosophy,

they will not divide
peoples of the world.

In Richard Nixon's own mind,
this was a script.

It was designed to result in an overwhelming
election victory in the November election.

Who do you think you'll vote for
for President this year?

- Nixon.
- Richard Nixon.

- Nixon.
- Yeah, Nixon.

Nixon.

Is anybody else running
but Nixon?

The President was a political animal.

The President was phenomenally skilled.

He was able to handle virtually anything.

Five men wearing white gloves
and carrying cameras

were caught earlier today
in the headquarters

of the Democratic National Committee
in Washington.

They were caught by
a night watchman

and they did not resist arrest
when the police came.

They apparently were unarmed
and nobody knows yet why they were there.

The film in the camera
hadn't even been exposed.

In any case, they're being held.

The Democratic National Committee
is housed

at the fashionable Watergate Complex.

The break-in apparently planned
well in advance.

Files were ransacked and papers removed.

Also in this area,
ceiling tiles had been removed

for the suspected planting of
bugging devices.

It was Saturday morning June 17th.
The phone rang, it was about 6:30.

A colleague of my mine,
Chuck Work, was on the phone.

He said, "hello, it's Chuck.
We have a hot one."

We have a burglary at the Democratic
National Committee headquarters.

And most unusual of all,
the burglars, five of them,

are wearing suits.

The arraignment of the five middle-aged men
was slowed down

by the fact that
each had several aliases.

Four said they were from Miami.

The fifth said he lived in
the metropolitan Washington area.

Three were originally from Cuba.

The facts presented so far
raise a number of intriguing questions,

such as did someone
put up a lot of money

to have the Democratic
headquarters infiltrated?

And if so, who and why?

The President's press secretary
said of this incident,

"I'm not going to comment from the White
House on a third-rate burglary attempt."

"Obviously," he said, "we don't
condone that kind of second-rate activity."

When the first reports came about
the burglary at the Watergate,

I didn't think very much of it.

But more and more facts
began to come out.

This is a police photograph
of James W. McCord.

McCord is a former CIA employee.
Now he runs his own private security service.

And guess what else he is.

A consultant to President Richard Nixon's
Re-Election Campaign committee.

McCord and his accomplices, meanwhile,
have been charged with second-degree burglary

and released on bail.

But I don't think that's the last
we're going to hear of this story.

It's one of the most shocking actions,
I think,

that's happened in this country
in a long time.

But I must say that it's the legacy
of years of wiretapping,

and snooping, and violation of privacy
in which the government itself

has been too deeply involved.

Both Democrats and Republicans
played with pranks,

and tricks all the time.

The difference in Watergate was that

these people were foolish
and they got caught.

No one in the White House staff,
no one in this administration

was involved in this
very bizarre incident.

Nixon said this is being investigated
by the Congress, by the FBI.

But even more importantly,

I've had my own White House counsel,
John Dean,

conduct an investigation,
and he's reported to me that

nobody presently employed
in this administration

had anything to do with this.

Well, this is the first I heard
of my investigation.

And my reaction is, "wow."

Seven people were indicted today,

the five who were caught by the police,
along with two others,

G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt.

I had never met Liddy,
nor had I met Howard Hunt.

I didn't know who they were
when I was in the White House,

but when the break-in occurred
I said, "oh, no,"

because I knew at once, instinctively,
it was our guys.

G. Gordon Liddy, finance counsel
to the Nixon Campaign Organization.

Ex-FBI, ex-treasury, ex-justice,
ex-White House consultant.

And E. Howard Hunt, Jr.

Ex-CIA, ex-Bay of Pigs planner,
ex-White House consultant.

They thought they were James Bond.
We didn't think they measured up.

It was closer to the typical gang
that couldn't shoot straight.

Prosecutor Earl Silbert read the names
of 60 government witnesses.

The list included only one
low-ranking White House lawyer

and several former employees of
the Committee to Re-Elect the President.

If you don't know
Richard Nixon's psychology,

if you don't know his background,
you could never understand

why the White House reacted to
Watergate the way it does.

From day one, there was a great sense
that we were under siege.

And we were not deceiving ourselves
that the press did not like us.

Both houses of Congress
did not like Nixon.

That is the truth.
And the question is how you deal with it.

He tries to build a little like
mafioso group out of the Oval Office.

People like Haldeman and Ehrlichman.

Guys that will take the bullet for you.
Pure loyalty. They fell under his spell.

President Nixon created what you'd have to call
a paranoid atmosphere in the White House.

You're supposed to get your enemies.

They took it literally.

If the President says
you've got to go get our enemies,

well, we've got to go get our enemies.

Nixon, he did not know
that they were doing the break-in.

But once it happened, he was convinced
they had to engage in a cover-up.

By August 29th, Nixon is deeply involved,
to my surprise

in all the key elements of the cover-up.

Who do you think gave the orders
to bug the Watergate?

Well, the persons whom the grand jury
indicted in Washington, D.C. last week

- gave the orders to do it.
- You don't think they were following orders, then?

- No, I don't.
- There's nobody higher?

There has been no evidence
presented that anybody did that.

I think the opposition is disappointed that
after such a thorough intensive investigation

that seven persons were indicted.

At the time,
most of the press was satisfied

that the Nixon White House had nothing
to do with this Watergate break-in.

I have full confidence in
the integrity of President Nixon,

and in his determination and ability
to resolve the Watergate matter

to the full satisfaction
of the American people.

Now this is when the Washington Post

really distinguished themself from
the rest of the press pack.

October '72, the headline said that

the Dirty Tricks Operation had been
run out of the White House.

That's a pretty good story.

They don't really crack the case.

What the Post does very effectively
was they kept the story alive

when nobody else
was paying any attention to it.

Using innuendo, third person hearsay,
unsubstantiated charges,

anonymous sources,
and huge scare headlines,

the Post has maliciously sought
to give the appearance

of a direct connection between
the White House and the Watergate.

A charge which the Post knows,

and half a dozen investigations have found,
to be false.

- Thank you very much.
- I want to ask one question.

Fairly early on,
we were running into a wall of silence.

We were being stonewalled,
that became clear.

None of the seven would talk to us.

The White House was basically paying hush
money to keep the Watergate burglars silent.

Hunt is asking for money.

And if the money isn't forthcoming,
these people aren't going to remain silent.

Haldeman, Ehrlichman and yours truly
were obstructing justice.

But nobody was thinking about the criminal law.
We were thinking more about the politics of it all.

All of the burglars stay quiet.

Nobody else is indicted, which is exactly
what the White House's strategy was.

The strategy was containment.

If it doesn't get widespread coverage
in the country as a whole,

then we'll be able to handle this.

This is about the government.

This is about credibility.
This is about bugging.

This is about deception.
This is about the White House.

And this is how you stop it.

With your vote.

While Senator McGovern is out
campaigning tirelessly,

trying to get his message
across to the people,

Mr. Nixon gives the impression of
remaining above the campaign.

Sitting in the White House
carrying out his Presidential duties,

and leaving the hard campaigning
to Vice President Agnew.

The fascinating thing about the role
of Watergate in the 1972 election is

people want to trust the king.

You know, people don't want to
believe this about their President.

Pennsylvania, a decisively important
state for the Democrats,

gone tonight to the Republicans.

Kansas, Connecticut, Texas,
Michigan, Delaware, Arkansas

and North Dakota. Those are the states
that we show for President Nixon.

- Four more years!
- Four more years!

That was one of the greatest victories
any President has ever had,

carrying every state except Massachusetts
and the District of Columbia.

I think that the shadow on his victory
is the Watergate affair,

and I believe that a great many people
very close to the President

would like to have him move on that as one of
the high priorities of his new administration.

Either have these people exonerated
or get them out and persuade the country

that the taint is gone,
as there is a real taint there.

The jury in the Watergate case
reached a quick verdict late today.

Nixon campaign counsel
Gordon Liddy

and campaign security chief
James McCord guilty on all counts

in the break-in and bugging of Democratic
National Committee headquarters.

Liddy, convicted on six counts,
faces a possible 35 years in prison.

McCord, with two more counts against him,
a possible 45 years.

They were all found guilty. All of the
seven men who were originally indicted.

But one of them starts to crack.

Is your client going to spill the beans
on the Watergate affair to the judge?

I've advised Mr. McCord to be guided solely
by his own conscience and convictions.

He'll do just that.

McCord isn't so willing
to go to prison and not speak up.

He feels higher-ups
shouldn't get off Scot-free.

McCord wrote Judge Sirica a letter.

It it, he says other people not yet named

were involved in the break-in
at Democratic National Headquarters.

McCord says there are
efforts being made to keep us quiet.

And there are people responsible
who are much higher up than us.

And you're being denied that information.

I think what bothers us as Republicans

is that there is apparently
so much more to be revealed.

And every day, every week,
when something else happens

it's one further dagger in the heart.

By and large it was a national consensus.

Listen, the President is saying one thing.
The prosecutors are saying another thing.

There are a lot of very serious
accusations in the air.

Let's get to the bottom of it.

Senator Sam Irvin of North Carolina
was chosen today by Democrats in the Senate

to conduct a full investigation of
the Watergate case.

Once that Senate committee convenes
in February of '73,

it's the first time that people were
going to have to testify under oath.

This was not good for the President.

I go in on March 21st to see Nixon
and I lay out the mess we're in.

Telling him I thought there was
a cancer on his presidency.

And my hope is by laying it out
as brutally as I can,

that he'll bring his fist down
on the table and he'll say,

"this is unacceptable.
We have to end this."

To my surprise,
I am unable to convince him.

Dean had been caught up in this,

and had done things that really
involved him in the obstruction of justice.

And I think they had decided he was
going to be the sacrificial lamb.

John Dean was in way over his head.

And then when he realized
this ship is going down, he jumped.

This morning, without the President's approval,
Dean issued a statement.

In which, among other things,
he declared,

"some may hope or think that I will
become a scapegoat in the Watergate case.

"Anyone who believes this," Dean added,
"does not know me,

know the true facts,
nor understand our system of justice."

Mr. Dean, do you have information
implicating President Nixon in a cover-up?

I have no comment this morning.
I'm sorry.

We started having secret conversations
with John Dean.

He was disclosing this sprawling conspiracy,
to put it mildly.

When I broke rank and started dealing
with the prosecutors in early April,

I had the naive belief that by breaking rank,
they would do likewise.

John Dean kept upping the ante.
"I want immunity. No? Okay, I'll tell you this."

As we were leaving,
I just remember this lawyer said,

"John has something to tell you."

And Dean told us this same group had broken
in to the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist.

And as he says it, he says,
"your jaw just dropped beneath the floor!"

Right across the street in the park.

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg,
who had been a defense consultant,

decided that the war was wrong and so he
took this vast volume of secret papers

and he leaked it to
The New York Times.

I felt that as an American citizen,
I can no longer cooperate

in concealing this information
from the American public.

The Pentagon Papers never mentioned
the name Richard Nixon,

but its leak drove Richard Nixon nuts.

I think it is time in this country

to quit making national heroes
out of those

who steal secrets and publish them
in the newspapers.

This is a product
of the President's paranoia

about his ability to control
his own government.

They actually broke into
the psychiatrist's office of Ellsberg.

Now, come on.
Somebody's psychiatrist office files

are raided by people who were
commissioned by the White House?

It's one thing to disclose breaking into the
offices of the Democratic National Committee.

It's another to have broken into
the offices of a person's psychiatrist.

And the public would really have
an adverse reaction to that.

Much more so than the Democratic
National Committee headquarters.

I hope that whatever comes out,
they get it over with,

they find out what it is,
and it teaches us some kind of lesson,

because this country is coming on
to its 200th anniversary,

and I want to be proud of it when it does.

And I'm not too proud of it right now.

That's when I went to Nixon and I said
get up and clear from this thing.

Whoever's going to have to go
ought to go now.

Good evening. The biggest
White House scandal in a century,

the Watergate scandal,
broke wide open today.

The two closest men to the President,
H. R. Haldeman, his Chief of Staff,

and John Ehrlichman, his Chief
Domestic Adviser, have resigned.

The President's White House legal counsel,
John Dean, has been fired.

Reportedly Dean is implicated in efforts
to cover up the Watergate scandal,

and he may implicate
Ehrlichman and Haldeman.

Good evening.

I want to talk to you tonight
from my heart

on a subject of deep concern
to every American.

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.

He thought by throwing out his inner circle,
he would be left alone.

He was throwing his people under the bus
so the bus wouldn't hit him.

Justice will be pursued fairly,
fully and impartially,

no matter who is involved.

Richard Nixon wants to control everything,
but he's extraordinarily delusional.

I mean, he really
doesn't seem to understand

that he's digging himself deeper
and deeper into the crime

when he's trying to
dig himself out.

We must maintain the
integrity of the White House.

And that integrity must be real,
not transparent.

There can be no whitewash
at the White House.

In May of 1973,

Earl Silbert is preparing to
hand the case over to Archie Cox.

And he says there are 39 principals
involved in this case.

This is number 39, Richard M. Nixon,
President of the United States.

What if this trail leads into
the Oval Office at the White House?

Well, as I replied then,

the trail should be followed
wherever it leads.

Watergate Senate hearings.

Good morning. This is the Senate
caucus room in Washington, D.C.

And it's jammed this morning.
Jammed with spectators.

News men, senators and their aides.
And the scene adds to the sense of drama

as the Senate opens what is likely to become the
most serious investigation it has ever made.

I was glued to the hearings
like everybody else.

I was watching my friends
go up there and testify,

and trying to understand
what happened.

I think there was no question that
the cover-up began that Saturday,

when we realized there was a break-in.

I don't think there was any discussion
that there wouldn't be a cover-up.

The President said there is
no problem in raising a million dollars.

We can do that,
but it would be wrong.

Neither Mr. Haldeman nor I were criminally
involved in this matter in any respect.

People are seeing this underside
of the White House.

This kind of Gothic reality
that they never dreamed existed.

Men in trench coats showing up
at phone booths with bags of money.

- It comes from way up at the top?
- Yes, sir.

I believed that he was talking
about the President.

Good morning.

Although this is not ABC's scheduled day
to provide live continuous coverage,

we are going on now with the hearings
because the witness will be John Dean,

the 34-year-old lawyer

who one year ago was just another
anonymous official in the White House,

but who today
is a very well-known figure indeed.

- The truth, so help you god?
- I do, so help me god.

If people knew one thing
about John Dean,

he was the guy that knew
what was going on in Watergate.

So when it was announced
he was going to testify,

people really thought that this was the moment
the thing was going to blow wide open.

I told the President about the fact

there was no money to pay these individuals
to meet their demands.

He asked me how much it would cost.

I told him I could only make
an estimate that it might be as high

as a million dollars or more.

He told me that was no problem.

He also looked over at Haldeman
and repeated the same statement.

This was the first time that a
White House staffer

had ever contradicted,
with criminal consequences,

contradict the President
on live television.

There was also maintained
what was called an "enemies list,"

which is rather extensive
and continually being updated.

The idea that the White House
draws up a list of enemies

and is prepared to use the
agencies of government...

This very, very serious scary stuff.

John Dean talked about a list of enemies

that was compiled at the White House.

Number 1, Arnold Picker of United Artists,
described as a "top Muskie fundraiser."

Second, Alexander Barkan...

Once the enemies list was revealed,
Daniel Schorr, a CBS news correspondent,

is reading off this,
and he reads his own name.

17, Daniel Schorr of the Columbia
Broadcasting System in Washington.

The note here is,
"a real media enemy."

I remember thinking at the time,
what is going on?

Is this really believable?

You're fully aware, Mr. Dean,
of the gravity of the charges you have made

under oath against
the highest official of our land,

- the President of the United States?
- Yes, I am.

And being so aware,
do you still stand on your statement?

Yes, I do.

When I'm finishing my testimony
for the Senate,

I read it and I said,
"you know, it's my word

against Haldeman, Ehrlichman,
Colson, Mitchell and the President.

Those of us who've been attending
these sessions would surmise

that there is another witness
someplace in the building.

A witness will be called,
and as to who it will be,

I think we're just going to have to
wait and see.

Butterfield, are you aware
of the installation of any

listening devices in the Oval
Office of the President?

I was aware of listening
devices, yes, sir.

When he answered yes,
everybody in America just froze.

Like, "uh-oh. Tapes?
What tapes?"

As far as you know,
did Mr. Ehrlichman or Mr. Dean know about

the existence or the presence
of those devices?

That would be very unlikely.
My guess is that they definitely did not know.

From that day forward, the story of Watergate
takes on a whole different complexion.

And the happiest man in America
at that moment is John Dean.

What would be the best way to reconstruct
those conversations, Mr. Butterfield?

Well, in the obvious manner,
Mr. Dash.

To obtain the tape and play it.

Slowly, this smile comes
over my face.

I said, "get those tapes
as fast as you can."

Before they disappear.

This afternoon I received
from the White House a letter

declining to furnish the
eight requested tapes.

Careful study before requesting the tapes

convinced me that any
blanket claim of privilege

to withhold this evidence
from the grand jury

is without legal foundation.

Nixon had a legitimate argument

that Congress shouldn't
be able to delve into

the private discussions of the President
in the White House.

That's a legitimate
constitutional argument.

But to invoke executive privilege

to cover up cover up a third-rate burglary
was suspect.

Now both the Senate Watergate Committee

and Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox
are taking the White House to court

in an effort to gain access to those tapes.

As the weeks have gone by,

many have urged that in order to help
prove the truth of what I have said,

I should turn over to the Special
Prosecutor and the Senate Committee

recordings of conversations
that I held

in my office or on my telephone.

However, a much more important
principle is involved in this question

than what the tapes might prove
about Watergate.

He gathers his legal team, his advisers,

and a number of them say,
"Mr. President, if you destroy these tapes

"it's an admission of guilt.

"And also, theoretically,
it could be obstruction of justice."

He felt it would suggest
he was implicated in Watergate

and he had something to hide if he
refused to give them up and destroyed them.

And that's probably true,
but he still should have done it.

The President gets contradictory advice,

and he the moment passes.
He doesn't destroy the tapes.

So he fights not to release the tapes.

Judge Sirica says the evidence
is not yet conclusive

as to why the President
hasn't fully complied

with subpoenas for those tapes,

and that there is a distinct
possibility of unlawful conduct.

What he is doing is kind of
depersonalizing it all.

In saying, "if I release these,
it will do irreparable damage

to the office of the presidency."

Well, for one thing, the President
still has not said, at any time,

"listen, John John Dean is lying
and I have the tapes to prove it."

Well, maybe there is more on those tapes

than the President
would have us believe.

After hard deliberation and
much prayer,

I concluded several days ago,

that the public interests and the interests
of those who mean the most to me

would best be served by my stepping down.

There is evidence which shows that
Agnew was taking political kickbacks,

not only while governor of Maryland,
but also while he was Vice President.

What is your reaction to the resignation
of Vice President Agnew, just announced?

I said, "uh, who?"

Agnew, just, I don't know too
much about him. But Nixon stinks.

There were developments at
the White House today

that indicate some kind of
major decision is near

on the constitutional issue
of the White House tapes.

Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox,

he wanted the tapes.
He wanted the tapes themselves.

And there's an impasse.

Yesterday Mr. Nixon ordered
Cox to stop going to court

to try and gain access to the tapes.

Today Cox held a news conference
that said in effect that

since the President was defying the court,

he was going to defy the President.

Last night we were told that the
court order would not be obeyed.

That the papers, memoranda,
documents of that kind

would not be provided at all.

Archibald Cox let the President have it.

He said this is obstruction of justice

and that was the turning point.

There was a limousine on the west side driveway
of the White House this afternoon,

with the number 77. It turned out
to be Eliot Richardson's limousine.

And when reporters spotted him
leaving the White House,

they knew that some sort of
denouement was in progress.

General reaction to the developments today?

Well, there'll be an announcement out of the
White House later on. I can't say now.

There will be? Does it have to do with
the resignation of the Attorney General?

Well, it might.

In breathtaking succession tonight,
the following historic events occurred.

The President of the United States
demanded the Attorney General

fire Special Prosecutor
Archibald Cox.

The Attorney General, Elliot Richardson,
refused and resigned.

The President then ordered the assistant
Attorney General, William Ruckelshaus,

to fire the Special Prosecutor.
Ruckelshaus refused.

The President immediately
fired Ruckelshaus.

Solicitor General Robert Bourke quickly
was named acting Attorney General.

Bourke was ordered to fire
Special Prosecutor Cox.

He did.

It was unbelievable. Literally
unbelievable, except that it was real.

You kept thinking that couldn't be,
you know. But it was.

I can make no further comment now, other than
that our offices have been sealed by the FBI.

How could you possibly
bring this man to justice

if it was within his power to
call the investigation to a close?

Please, everyone.
No one is allowed in.

Basically the President has seized full control
of the Special Prosecutor's office,

and is in full possession of
potentially incriminating evidence

that could lead to the conviction of his
closest associates and to his conviction.

And that is the definition of tyranny.

There could be no doubt this
was a constitutional crisis.

This was a President trying to
stand above the law.

And I remember thinking at the time,
the country's not going to stand for this.

I think it's amazing that the country
is not already fighting in the streets.

He's divided the country that much.

Events of the past few days
leave us little choice

but to move ahead with preparation
for impeachment proceedings.

- Do you think the President should be impeached?
- Yes, sir, I do.

- Why?
- I can't trust him.

At the time, the idea of impeaching the
President was a pretty radical idea.

It hadn't happened in over a century.

Impeachment does not mean removing
the President from office.

It does mean putting the President
on trial in the Senate

to determine his fitness
to continue in office.

The whole country is going
bananas over this.

I went by a Howard Johnsons today.
You know what the flavor of the month is?

- No.
- Impeachment.

What is it about the
television coverage of you

that has so aroused your anger?

They say that one can only be
angry with those he respects.

He obviously was having some
sort of mental breakdown.

It became clear that there was
something very wrong with Nixon.

People have got to know whether or not
their President is a crook.

Well I am not a crook.

An awful lot of people want
the President to resign.

They really don't want to put the
country through an impeachment drama.

So they want to create an atmosphere
that essentially forces his hand.

The Senate Watergate Committee
named a new Special Prosecutor.

Conservative Texas Democrat Leon Jaworski.

Whatever I conceive to be necessary
in order to perform my function properly,

I'm going to ask for it.

And if I don't receive it, I'm going
to proceed to undertake to get it.

Jaworski comes to Washington,
is presented with all the evidence.

Couple days later he goes off
to the White House and he says,

"I think the President has
to get a criminal lawyer."

I think it's not excessive to say
that we've been put through too much.

Either the Congress or the President
by his own patriotic decision

should relieve the nation of a burden
that's grown too heavy to carry any longer.

The effect of this was a huge dip
in public support for Richard Nixon.

But the White House thought that it could solve
the tapes problem by producing transcripts.

The idea that he's going to
release these transcripts...

Richard Nixon thinks that he's finally
going to be able to cauterize the wound.

From the text, quote Dean,

"I think there's no doubt about the
seriousness of the problem we've got.

We have a cancer from within,
close to the presidency, that is growing."

The tapes show that the
President

is involved at the times
that Dean said he was.

It shows that Dean's memory is prodigious.

Dean:

I would say that these people are going to cost
a million dollars over the next two years.

The President:

You could get a million dollars. You could get
it in cash. I know where it could be got.

Now, when individuals read
the entire transcript

they may
reach different interpretations.

But I know what I meant
and I know also what I did.

Richard Nixon's problem is they keep
on subpoenaing more and more tapes.

He says he's not going to give them up
unless the Supreme Court demands him to.

The Supreme Court today heard
arguments in the historic case

of the United States of America versus Richard Nixon,
President of the United States.

The television camera saw the two main players
in this classic confrontation arrive.

First, James St. Clair,
President Nixon's attorney.

Then, Leon Jaworski,
the Special Watergate Prosecutor,

to argue his case against the President's
refusal to surrender 64 tapes and documents.

It is a strange notion that the
President of the United States

is the defendant and the government of
the United States is the prosecutor.

Jaworski was even cheered by some in the crowd
as he entered the Supreme Court building.

Much as a Roman gladiator
entering the arena to do battle.

It was a product of this peculiar moment

when the U.S.
government had to test the constitution

to find out what
limits there were on Presidential power.

If it came down to the Supreme Court of the United
States making a decision against the President,

would he obey or would he put himself in a
confrontation with the Supreme Court?

I don't know of anyone here or at the White House
or anywhere else who knows the answer to that.

It would be hard to imagine a more memorable day in
the history of constitutional law than this one.

At 11:00 A.M., the Supreme Court tells the
President he was wrong to withhold those tapes.

At 7:00 P.M., the President announces that,
of course, he will obey.

At 8:00 P.M., the House
Judiciary Committee opens its doors

to the national television audience
for its final impeachment debate.

Now, the American people, the House of
Representatives, and the Constitution

demand that we make up our mind.

All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

All those opposed, no.

- Mr. Donahue.
- Aye.

- Mr. Bruce.
- Aye.

- Mr. Kastenmeier.
- Aye.

It was a Saturday night,

and it was sort of near sundown when they
voted the first article of impeachment.

And the room was quiet.

- Mr. Rodino.
- Aye.

Peter Rodino went in the back and cried.

We took it very seriously.

And with that vote, Mr. Nixon became the
first President in more than a century,

and only the second in all of our history,

to confront removal from office through the
only means provided in the Constitution...

Impeachment.

I stood by Nixon and felt that
he should remain in office.

But then we discovered the tape
of June 23rd. This was fatal.

Good evening.
President Nixon stunned the country today

by admitting that he held back evidence
from the House Judiciary Committee,

keeping it a secret from his lawyers
and not disclosing it in public statements.

Mr. Nixon issued transcripts of
three recorded conversations

he had with H. R. Haldeman
on June 23, 1972.

Six days after the burglars
were caught in the Watergate.

_

The facts came out.
Yes, the President himself

not only was he involved in this,
but he directed this criminal operation.

_

The problem with that tape was not that it
implicated Nixon so much in the Watergate thing

as in it contradicted what had said.
He had not told the country the truth.

The news has caused a storm in Washington,

and some of Mr. Nixon's most loyal
supporters are calling for his resignation.

I'm aware of the intense
interest of the American people

concerning developments today
and over the last few days.

Tonight at 9:00,
Eastern daylight time,

the President the United States will
address the nation on radio and television

from his Oval Office.

As you probably can see behind us,
we have a large number of people

who have been standing by
to watch the various television networks.

Most here out of curiosity and concern.

Only the CBS crew now is
going to be in this room

during this.
Only the crew.

No, there will be no picture.

Just a few moments.
We have 40 seconds to go now.

The President has taken
his place at the table

in the White House
where he's going to speak.

Good evening. This is the 37th time
I have spoken to you from this office,

where so many decisions have been made
that shape the history of this nation.

Throughout the long and
difficult period of Watergate,

I have felt it was my duty
to persevere,

to make every possible effort to complete
the term of office to which you elected me.

But as President, I must put the
interests of America first.

Therefore, I shall resign the
presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

Vice President Ford will
be sworn in as President

at that hour in this office.

When you weigh what happened
against the potential of President Nixon,

this is almost the dictionary
definition of tragedy.

By taking this action,

I hope that I will have hastened the
start of that process of healing,

which is so desperately needed in America.

Good morning, this is Today in Washington,
Friday, August 9th.

The nation awaits the swearing in at noon Eastern
time of our 38th President, Gerald Ford.

And the departure from political
life of Richard M. Nixon.

He and his family are expected to leave by air
for their home in California later this morning.

And we expect to see their
departure from the White House.

In departing the presidency, Richard Nixon
is leaving us with one notable legacy.

Proof that the American system
does work.

That there is equal justice
under the law

and that public office must always
be regarded as a public trust.

I walked out to the helicopter where
the old man gave the double V.

Putting the best face on the
worst moment of his life.

Trying to show that he was not broken.

And so I'd go in the helicopter
and take off for the last time.

It was over.

We think that
when we suffer a defeat,

that all is ended.
Not true.

Because only if you've
been in the deepest valley

can you ever know how magnificent it is
to be on the highest mountain.

And so I say to you on this occasion,
others may hate you.

But those who hate you don't win
unless you hate them.

And then you destroy yourself.