All language subtitles for Episode 03 Storm Clouds

- Every inauguration has its special drama.

I suppose the special drama of this one

is the game that destiny has
played with Richard Nixon.

Eight years ago, he was defeated

for President of the United States.

Something few politicians recover from.

Six years ago, he was defeated

for the governorship of
California and quit politics.

Something no politician
has ever recovered from.

And he's back today,
the winner, to be sworn in

as the 37th President of the United States.

- The greatest honor history can bestow

is the title of peacemaker.

all: End the war in Vietnam!
Bring the troops home!

End the war in Vietnam!
Bring the troops home!

- This honor now beckons America.

all: Peace now! Peace now!

- This is our summons to greatness,

and I believe the American people

are ready to answer this call.

- Leave him alone!

- Hey! Hey! Hey!

- As the presidential motorcade moved west

on Pennsylvania Avenue,

the President passed a
group of peace demonstrators.

- People are throwing
things into the street now.

- Hey! Let's go! Let's go!

- As we move toward the
end of this inaugural day,

the title that President
Nixon yearns for most

is that of peacemaker.

So we wish our new president well

and all the luck in the world.

He'll need it.

- When I walked into the office

in January of 1969, I inherited a problem.

The war in Vietnam had been going on

for a period of five years

with the casualties
running 200 to 300 a week.

I didn't send 550,000 men to Vietnam.

Nevertheless, this was the responsibility

that I knew was mine.

Good evening, my fellow Americans.

Since I took office four months ago,

nothing has taken so
much of my time and energy

as the search for a way

to bring lasting peace to Vietnam.

I want to end this war.

The American people want to end this war,

but we want to end it permanently.

And therefore, we have ruled
out a one-sided withdrawal

from Vietnam or the acceptance of terms

that would amount to a
disguised American defeat.

When we assumed the burden
of helping defend South Vietnam,

millions of South Vietnamese men, women,

and children placed their trust in us.

To abandon them now would risk a massacre

that would shock and
dismay everyone in the world

who values human life.

Let me be quite blunt:

our fighting men are not
going to be worn down.

Our mediators are not
going to be talked down,

and our allies are not
going to be let down.

Thank you and goodnight.

- The speech this evening
was a culmination of more

than a month of background speculation.

Dan, I'd like to know if, indeed,

there is anything new
in the speech tonight.

- Roger, I think the
immediate visceral reaction

is "same old stuff."

The President did not announce

any limited U.S. troop withdrawals.

He announced no U.S.
troop withdrawals at all.

There just isn't a great
deal in this speech

that the American people will
immediately recognize as new.

- Do you think you're any nearer to peace

after listening to
President Nixon's speech?

- Well, maybe next three or
four years, but no way soon.

- For nine days, American
and South Vietnamese troops

have been trying to take a mountain

near the Laotian border,

and ten times they've been thrown back.

The casualties have been so high

that the mountain has come
to be known as Hamburger Hill.

- They just kept sending us up there,

and we weren't getting anywhere.

They were just slaughtering
us, like a turkey shoot,

and we were the turkeys.

- Hamburger Hill, captured only last week,

apparently is going to be abandoned.

The battle for Hamburger
Hill and the resulting casualties

set off quite a controversy this week,

and Senator Edward
Kennedy was in the center of it.

- Certainly anyone-- anyone that witnessed

the cruelty and savagery of this past week

would only have been immoral
if they had remained silent.

Silent about this war.

- Responding to that criticism,

the spokesman said Mr. Nixon

does not second-guess his field commanders.

- Teddy Kennedy is far and away

the Democratic front-runner
for president in 1972.

- 1972.

A great many stories about
a Muskie-Kennedy ticket

and a Kennedy-Muskie ticket.

I want to just say tonight, right now,

there's absolutely no
truth to those stories.

Ed Muskie hasn't picked
a vice president yet.

Let me say... neither have I.

- For Democrats, the young
Massachusetts senator,

last of the Kennedy brothers,

speaks out strongly on the major issues

where conflict arises with President Nixon

and Republicans, generally.

- All of the so-called intellectual elite,

the so-called better people,

were against what we were doing in Vietnam.

They thought we should get out,

whatever the cost might be.

Well, if they wanted to end the war,

they should have supported
what we were trying to do,

rather than to sabotage
our efforts to end it.

- The President asks
for time to end the war,

but these people think he's had enough,

and they hope the
American public will give him

that same message, in a
big way on October 15th.

- Mr. President, what is your view, sir,

concerning the student
moratorium being planned

against the Vietnam War?

- As far as this kind
of activity is concerned,

we expect it.

However, under no circumstances

will I be affected whatever by it.

- That brief categorical
statement has backfired

and become a rallying point
for the anti-war movement.

all: Peace now! Peace now!

Peace now! Peace now! Peace now!

Peace now! Peace now! Peace now! Peace now!

Peace now! Peace now! Peace now! Peace now!

- Today we unite, from
one coast to another,

to seek, to request,
to implore an armistice.

- Hundreds and hundreds of thousands,

in cities from New York to Dubois, Wyoming,

have sought to impress upon the President

their opposition to the war.

- More than 40,000 of our
men have given their lives

as sacrificial lambs to a godless cause.

When will it cease?

When does the moratorium

on death to our sons begin

by the United States government?

- It just seems to all of
us who observe politics

that something has changed

since Richard Nixon has come in.

all: End the war! End the war!

What caused that?

Well, I think one must say

that the disillusionment index begins

to represent Middle
America, not just the left wing.

- What we've seen today--

President Nixon will
have to take account of it,

because if it appears
to him to be essential

to the success of his own
administration, he must do it.

- Well, you can go further than that, Ed,

and you can say that President
Nixon himself started this.

President Nixon ran on a platform

of ending the war and winning the peace,

so ending the war is now
dogma in American politics,

and it becomes a matter of when.

And then it becomes
inevitably a matter of "hurry up."

- I was particularly
concerned about this protest

we had on October the 15th,

and another was planned,
so under the circumstances,

I knew it was necessary
to address the nation.

- After a lot of the demonstrations,

he seemed frustrated and
he seemed beleaguered,

so I saw the toll it had taken on him,

but his first reaction was to fight back.

- In a few moments,
the President will address

the nation in a major policy speech

on the situation in Vietnam.

- The President undertakes
his most important selling job

since he moved into the White House,

and how well he does it may influence

the making or breaking of his presidency.

- Good evening, my fellow Americans.

I believe that one of the reasons

for the deep division about Vietnam

is that many Americans have lost confidence

in what their government
has told them about our policy.

Tonight, therefore,

I would like to answer
some of the questions

that I know are on the minds

of many of you listening to me.

We have adopted a plan
for the complete withdrawal

of all U.S. combat ground
forces and their replacement,

by South Vietnamese forces,

on an orderly, scheduled timetable.

I have not and do not intend
to announce the timetables.

- Oh.

- I recognize that some of
my fellow citizens disagree

with the plan for peace I've chosen.

In San Francisco a few weeks ago,

I saw demonstrators carrying signs reading,

"Lose in Vietnam. Bring the boys home."

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 it on the nation,

by mounting demonstrations in the street.

And so tonight, to you,

the great, silent majority,

I ask for your support.

I pledged in my campaign for the presidency

to end the war.

The more support I can have,

the sooner that pledge can be redeemed.

Let us be united for peace.

Thank you and goodnight.

- Whatever reaction to the President's

Vietnam speech you want,

you could find here in
Washington the day after.

The President himself received lots of it

and twice invited reporters in

to see it stacked on the
desk where the buck stops.

- Most of the response was favorable,

but not all was spontaneous.

- Before the President's speech,

Republican Party officials
were directed to generate

as much favorable reaction as possible.

- How many of the
telegrams and letters are part

of the carefully orchestrated

Republican Party publicity campaign?

It is too early to say.

- Do you believe there's something

such as a silent majority?

- Yes I do.

The minority have been
very active and very loud.

The silent majority are
the people that are, I think,

a little bit more in agreement
with what is happening,

and therefore they're not as loud.

- And I hope that the minority group

does join the majority group,

because he's doing a great job.

- I agree with him 100%.

- Our approval rating went up to 68%.

Despite the fact that the
media was overwhelmingly

against the war.

Despite the fact that
we had demonstrations,

thousands of them, that that
was not the voice of America.

The voice of America
was the silent majority.

I believe that we can
see that the Vietnam War

will come to a conclusion.

The time has come for action.

If when the chips are down
the world's most powerful nation,

the United States of America,

acts like a pitiful, helpless giant,

the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy

will threaten free nations
throughout the world.

- Mr. Nixon argues that
enemy activity across the border

in Cambodia has been provocative,

and that to ignore it would
hurt the President's ability

to continue withdrawing U.S. troops.

- They went ahead,
telling no one in Congress

and almost no one in the
State or Defense departments.

- This is certainly going to be a decision

that will provoke great controversy.

- We are protesting Richard Nixon's

stupid action of expanding
the war in Southeast Asia.

- President Nixon doesn't want peace.

You're not going to tell me that somebody

escalates the war that wants peace.

He's just lying to the American people.

- You can't have the
President of the United States

alienating students.

Refer to students as "bums."

- The statement itself
really was an affront

to students emotionally.

- Leave this area immediately.

- After two days of rioting over Cambodia,

the university have banned rallies.

So the National Guard
stood by to enforce the ban.

- She resented being called a bum...

because she disagreed
with someone else's opinion.

She felt that war in Cambodia was wrong.

Have we come to such
a state in this country

that a young girl...
has to be shot,

because she disagrees deeply

with the actions of her government?

- I must say that was certainly

the most emotionally wrenching experience

I had during the entire
period of the presidency,

because you see a girl like that

shot and killed at Kent State,

and her father made a
statement to the effect,

"My daughter was not a bum."

And I thought of my own daughters,

but let's understand that this was not

just a case of a group of
hard-nosed military people

shooting down innocent students.

Kent State had been
virtually a battleground.

They threw rocks at the guard

and threw tear gas canisters.

I particularly was disturbed

by those that had brought it on

by the kind of actions
that they were inspiring.

- The White House tonight issued

the following statement.

"This should remind us all that

"when dissent turns to
violence, it invites tragedy.

"It is my hope that this
tragic and unfortunate incident

"will strengthen the
determination to stand firmly

against the resort to violence
as a means of such expression."

- I believe the Nixon
administration is really

not trying to bring us together,

but is engaged in a polarization process.

all: No more Kent State!

No more Kent State!

- In New York, the students
have been demonstrating

against the war and
the killings of Kent State.

What do we want? all: Peace!

When do we want it? all: Now!

- These kids,

so-called peaceful, and they can get away

with all the garbage that
goes on here in the city.

Well, enough said.

all: USA! USA!

- Soon dozens then hundreds
of hard-hatted workers

from nearby construction jobs
charged through police lines

chasing the protestors from the steps.

Beating those who did not move fast enough

and the few who tried to slug it out.

- President Nixon tonight
will attempt to dispel

the atmosphere of growing crisis.

- The words he uses tonight

are considered at the White House

perhaps the most
important of his political life.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the President of the United States.

- Won't you be seated?

Mr. Risher?

- Mr. President, have you been surprised

by the intensity of the
protest against your decision

to send troops into Cambodia?

- No, I have not been surprised

by the intensity of the protests.

Those who are protesting believe

that this decision will expand the war.

I know how deeply they feel,

but I know that what I have done

will accomplish the goals that they want.

- Mr. President. - Mr. Cormier?

- Do you believe that you can open up

meaningful communications

with this college-age generation, and how?

- I would like to try, as
best I can, to do that.

It is not easy.

Sometimes, they, as you know,

talk so loudly that it
is difficult to be heard.

When the action is hot,
keep the rhetoric cool.

- Mr. President?

- Do you believe that the
use of the word "bums"

to categorize some of those
who are engaged in dissent--

do you believe that's in
keeping with your suggestion

that the rhetoric should be kept cool?

- All the members of this
press corps know that I have,

for years, defended the right of dissent.

I have always opposed the use of violence,

and when students on university campuses

burn buildings, when
they engage in violence,

then I think "bums" is
perhaps too kind a word

to apply to that kind of person.

- Public opinion polls
have indicated that lately

the President was slipping
in the matter of trust.

That there was a vague feeling
that perhaps President Nixon

did not have quite as
strong a grip on things

as might have appeared
during his first year.

He is on the spot. He knows it.

- Campaign '70 election preview.

- Perhaps the most striking
feature of this campaign

has been the unprecedented personal effort

by President Nixon.

- In the last year or so,
the United States Senate

has served as a focus for the
opposition to the Vietnam War,

and so this year Mr. Nixon

is hoping to change the
complexion of the Senate.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm proud to present

to you the President of the United States.

Let's welcome him.

I know that I--

There are those who say,

"How do we answer those
who engage in violence?

How do we answer those who
try to shout down a speaker?"

And my answer is don't answer in kind.

It's time for the great silent majority

just to stand up and be counted.

- There have been reports, sir,

that those who shout
obscenities to the President

are his secret weapon.

- I don't think there's
any question about it.

I think the President said the other day

that one obscenity was worth 10,000 votes.

- What did you think of the disruptions?

- The disruptions?

Oh, I'm always sorry for young
people that have no values.

- Go back to construction!

- The President of the United States

should not be heckled
and yelled obscenities at.

They just ought to throw
them out and shoot 'em

or hang 'em or something like that.

- We will get a direct answer tonight

on how successful Mr. Nixon was

in helping his hand-picked
candidates for the Senate.

- Mr. President, can we have a picture

of you putting it in the box, sir?

- Oh-oh. - Pardon me.

- Could we get the
whole family together, sir?

- Go.

- Yeah. - Go.

- Now from election
headquarters in New York,

Howard K. Smith and Frank Reynolds.

- Howard, what do you
make of the effect so far,

so far as we can tell,

of the last-minute blitz by the President?

- The blitz did not have
the expected results.

- President Nixon's law and order campaign

failed to touch off the Republican stampede

he hoped for.

- Democrats have retained
control of the Senate.

The House remains in Democratic hands,

and in the balloting for 35 governorships,

the Republicans have come out behind.

- The message of the campaign
seems to be the Republicans

are doing something that's not right.

They'd better find out what
it is that's wrong before 1972.

- Here we are at an all-time low.

The polls are low. The
credibility rating's low.

The magazines are
saying Nixon's in trouble.

Everything is bad,

and we needed to do something about that.

- The preparations are in
full swing at the White House

for tomorrow's wedding
of the President's daughter,

Tricia, to Edward Finch Cox.

- Nervous at all?

- No, I'm not nervous. - Not yet.

- In 1967, Secretary of Defense McNamara

assigned his officials to
write a top-secret history

of how we got into Vietnam.

Composed over two years,
it was 7,000 pages in length,

full of secret documents.

Well, one copy has been
leaked to the "New York Times,"

which yesterday began
publishing a digest of it.

- Unconscionable--

- Was Nixon paranoid?

Yes, and he took on
this self-survival cloak,

and that led to other things happening.

- There was a mood of panic and despair.

Nixon wanted to bring in a group of people

who would do security,
these kind of black bag jobs,

and told me to do whatever it took.

That really led to the
creation of the Plumbers.

- From the Oval Office of the White House,

a conversation with President Nixon

with White House correspondent Dan Rather.

- Thank you, Mr. President.
Happy New Year to you.

Since this is a new year,

may we assume that you
are a candidate for reelection?

- Well, that's not an unexpected question.

While I cannot announce it on this program,

most assume that a man

who has served in the office of President

will be a candidate for reelection.

- Everything seems to have
been pointed in the direction

of climaxing in this election year.

Trips to Peking and Moscow.

Is all of this coincidental,
the timing, or is it,

as some of even your friends say,

politically motivated?

- Those of us who make decisions in offices

like this--certainly, we think politically,

but the country comes first.

The government of the
People's Republic of China

and the government of the United States

must see that we can have differences

without being enemies in war.

- Many world leaders said
they felt the visit might be

a key to ultimate peace in Southeast Asia.

- Certainly from here on,
the attention, the publicity,

the news reporting will be centered

on Mr. Nixon's journey to China.

- My hope is that many, many Americans,

particularly the young Americans

who like to travel so much,

will have an opportunity to see this Wall,

to know the Chinese
people and know them better.

- The President's China
visit is politically convenient.

The other candidates in the New Hampshire

and Florida primaries
aren't getting any attention.

Mr. Nixon is on the
other side of the world,

and he's getting all of the attention.

But then he is President,
and he is in China.

- The North Vietnamese have launched

a major military offensive.

- South Vietnamese forces are evacuating

the positions in South Vietnam,

and the civilians are going with them.

The first real test of South
Vietnamese military forces

has been failed.

Andrew Pearson--

- The enemy offensive
touched off alarm bells

throughout the White House.

The President is personally coordinating

much of the battlefield strategy himself.

It is a misty, rainy night in Washington.

The President requested
nationwide broadcast time,

after a series of meetings
with his chief aides.

The White House would
say only the President

will discuss Southeast Asia.

It is important.

- Today, there was no effort to conceal

the grave atmosphere which precedes

a military decision of
the highest importance.

- Good evening.

The Communist armies of North Vietnam

launched a massive
invasion of South Vietnam.

The North Vietnamese arrogantly refuse

to negotiate anything.

Their answer to every
peace offer we have made

has been to escalate the war,

and the Communist offensive
has now reached the point

that it gravely threatens the
lives of 60,000 American troops

who are still in Vietnam.

There's only one way to stop the killing.

- Put on your goggles.
Standby to start engine.

- I have ordered the following measures

which are being implemented
as I am speaking to you.

All entrances to North
Vietnamese ports will be mined.

- Stand clear of intakes,
exhausts and propellers.

- Rail and all other communications

will be cut off to the
maximum extent possible.

- 30 seconds. 30 seconds to launch.

- Air and naval strikes
against military targets

in North Vietnam will continue.

- Launch aircraft. Launch aircraft.

- I know how much you want to end this war.

I know how much you
want to bring our men home,

and I think you know,
from all that I have said

and done these past three-and-a-half years,

how much I, too, want to end the war,

to bring our men home.

With God's help, with your support,

we will accomplish that great goal.

3 and 4. - Roger, 3 and 4.

- Today, U.S. bomber pilots

reported destroying an
important railroad bridge,

cutting one of two rail lines to China.

- The North Vietnamese say
American planes bombed a dike

on the outskirts of Hanoi
and other populated areas.

- The Hanoi government
claimed that the targets

were not just military installations.

Hospitals, schools, factories,

and storehouses were damaged.

- The President pledged in 1968

a plan to end the war.

Now, we're moving into
the year of his reelection

with the war escalating to a level

it has, heretofore, not achieved.

I am now convinced there's
no way to end this war,

except to take Richard Nixon out of office.

- What's your opinion?

- I think it's great.

I'm backing him 100%.

- Well, you got to blast
the whole damn place

off the map and forget it.

- I approve thoroughly.

- Would you approve
stronger military action?

- Yes, I would.

- Bomb 'em and then get
out. I think that's the best way.

- Good evening.

We have a mystery story out of Washington.

Five people have been arrested and charged

with breaking into the headquarters

of the Democratic National Committee

in the middle of the night.

- The Watergate Apartment
Hotel office complex

in Washington is noted for its security,

but the burglars penetrated that security

through a fire well door.

Material from files there
was found in their possession,

as well as extensive photographic

and electronic eavesdropping gear.

- The suspects are saying nothing.

The Democrats say they have no idea

who would want to spy on them.

The season's first hurricane

was born today, in the Caribbean.

She's moving through the Yucatan Channel,

on a course that could bring her ashore

somewhere along the west coast of Florida.

- A small, but extremely dangerous storm

is now shifting westward.

- A White House consultant
was implicated today

in that apparent attempt
to bug or burglarize

the offices of the Democratic
National Committee.

- All residents of the low-lying areas

are advised to evacuate by noon today.

- The White House denied
and continues to deny

involvement in any wrongdoing.

- The tides are running six
to eight feet above normal,

and it's going to get higher.

- Mr. Nixon has made it clear

that he does not intend
to obey the law of the land.

- Any suggestion that this president's

ever gonna slow down

or is ever gonna leave this office,

until he finishes the job
he was elected to do...

- The President has
engaged in a series of actions

designed to thwart the lawful investigation

by government prosecutors.

- That--that's just plain poppycock.