1 00:00:01,523 --> 00:00:03,003 - Good evening. 2 00:00:03,046 --> 00:00:04,216 The men who worked closest to Richard Nixon 3 00:00:04,265 --> 00:00:05,955 in the White House and in politics, 4 00:00:06,006 --> 00:00:07,486 today, were sentenced to prison 5 00:00:07,529 --> 00:00:09,709 for their role in the Watergate cover-up. 6 00:00:09,748 --> 00:00:11,878 Former Attorney General John Mitchell... 7 00:00:11,924 --> 00:00:13,674 - Anybody puts one of those near me 8 00:00:13,709 --> 00:00:15,619 I'm gonna knock it down his throat. 9 00:00:15,667 --> 00:00:18,317 - White House Chief of Staff, H.R. Bob Haldeman... 10 00:00:18,366 --> 00:00:21,846 - I'm prepared now to accept the results. 11 00:00:21,891 --> 00:00:24,941 - Mr. Nixon's Domestic Affairs Counselor, John Ehrlichman. 12 00:00:24,981 --> 00:00:26,941 - Give each other room, man. - Yes, sir. 13 00:00:26,983 --> 00:00:30,333 - All were sentenced to at least 2 1/2 years in prison. 14 00:00:45,697 --> 00:00:48,527 - I want it implemented on a thievery basis. 15 00:00:48,570 --> 00:00:50,880 Goddammit, get in and get those files. 16 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,100 Blow the safe and get it. 17 00:00:58,232 --> 00:01:03,112 We're up against an enemy. 18 00:01:03,150 --> 00:01:04,890 A conspiracy. 19 00:01:04,934 --> 00:01:06,764 They're using any means. 20 00:01:11,941 --> 00:01:16,641 We are going to use any means. 21 00:01:16,685 --> 00:01:18,635 - We have a mystery story out of Washington. 22 00:01:18,687 --> 00:01:20,297 Five people have been arrested 23 00:01:20,341 --> 00:01:21,951 and charged with breaking into the headquarters 24 00:01:21,994 --> 00:01:23,524 of the Democratic National Committee 25 00:01:23,561 --> 00:01:25,301 in the middle of the night. 26 00:01:25,346 --> 00:01:27,166 - Police confiscated extensive photographic 27 00:01:27,217 --> 00:01:29,047 and electronic eavesdropping gear 28 00:01:29,089 --> 00:01:30,869 as well as several thousand dollars 29 00:01:30,916 --> 00:01:32,436 in consecutively numbered bills. 30 00:01:37,619 --> 00:01:41,139 - Please get me the names of the Jews. 31 00:01:43,015 --> 00:01:47,495 Big Jewish contributors to the Democrats. 32 00:01:47,542 --> 00:01:50,412 Could we please 33 00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:54,158 investigate some of the cocksuckers. 34 00:01:58,770 --> 00:02:01,600 - Mr. President. - Mr. Rather. 35 00:02:01,643 --> 00:02:04,083 - I wonder if you could share with us your thoughts. 36 00:02:04,124 --> 00:02:06,654 Tell us what goes through your mind... 37 00:02:06,691 --> 00:02:10,611 when you hear people-- people who love this country 38 00:02:10,652 --> 00:02:13,182 and people who believe in you... 39 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:16,920 say reluctantly that perhaps you should resign 40 00:02:16,962 --> 00:02:19,012 or be impeached. 41 00:02:30,759 --> 00:02:32,669 - Well, I'm glad we don't take the vote of this room, 42 00:02:32,717 --> 00:02:34,677 let me say. 43 00:02:34,719 --> 00:02:36,109 Uh... 44 00:02:38,941 --> 00:02:40,811 male narrator: The presidency of Richard Nixon 45 00:02:40,856 --> 00:02:43,636 was in many ways a reaction to a nation in chaos. 46 00:02:43,685 --> 00:02:47,465 By 1967, protest movements, racial tension, 47 00:02:47,515 --> 00:02:50,645 and the Vietnam War were tearing America apart. 48 00:02:50,692 --> 00:02:54,222 Vietnam threatened to dominate the 1968 presidential election 49 00:02:54,261 --> 00:02:56,831 dividing the country into hawks and doves. 50 00:03:06,142 --> 00:03:08,542 Over a million Americans had been drafted. 51 00:03:08,579 --> 00:03:10,489 There were 1/2 million troops in Vietnam... 52 00:03:10,538 --> 00:03:13,368 and over 20,000 Americans had already been killed. 53 00:03:19,982 --> 00:03:22,722 - If America's soul becomes totally poisoned... 54 00:03:22,767 --> 00:03:26,117 part of the autopsy must read Vietnam. 55 00:03:30,601 --> 00:03:33,601 - My people are being clobbered and stoned. 56 00:03:33,648 --> 00:03:38,218 And then they will turn around and send us to war. 57 00:03:38,261 --> 00:03:40,091 For what? 58 00:03:40,132 --> 00:03:43,222 - What we do know is that our military situation 59 00:03:43,266 --> 00:03:46,356 has substantially improved. 60 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:48,400 And then came 1968, 61 00:03:48,445 --> 00:03:50,615 starting with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, 62 00:03:50,665 --> 00:03:53,145 which turned millions of Americans against the war. 63 00:03:53,189 --> 00:03:55,709 - The Viet Cong simultaneously attacked 64 00:03:55,757 --> 00:03:58,847 just about every major city and town in South Vietnam. 65 00:03:58,890 --> 00:04:01,330 Much of the destruction was caused by Viet Cong 66 00:04:01,371 --> 00:04:04,371 but much of it was also caused by United States bombs. 67 00:04:04,418 --> 00:04:06,458 An American officer said it had been necessary 68 00:04:06,507 --> 00:04:09,067 to destroy the city to save it. 69 00:04:09,118 --> 00:04:11,558 - To say that we are closer to victory today 70 00:04:11,599 --> 00:04:14,039 is to believe in the face of the evidence 71 00:04:14,079 --> 00:04:16,779 the optimists who have been wrong in the past. 72 00:04:16,821 --> 00:04:19,171 The 1968 presidential campaign 73 00:04:19,215 --> 00:04:20,735 mirrored America's chaos. 74 00:04:20,782 --> 00:04:24,092 - I shall not seek... 75 00:04:24,133 --> 00:04:27,483 and I will not accept the nomination of my party 76 00:04:27,528 --> 00:04:29,788 for another term as your president. 77 00:04:29,834 --> 00:04:32,014 - The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. 78 00:04:32,054 --> 00:04:34,364 was shot to death by an assassin late today 79 00:04:34,404 --> 00:04:36,934 as he stood on a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. 80 00:04:39,366 --> 00:04:40,756 - Everybody out! 81 00:04:40,802 --> 00:04:42,592 - Oh, no. 82 00:04:42,630 --> 00:04:44,410 - Senator Robert Francis Kennedy... 83 00:04:44,458 --> 00:04:47,808 died at 1:44AM. 84 00:04:47,852 --> 00:04:51,422 He was 42-years-old. 85 00:04:51,465 --> 00:04:53,855 After Robert Kennedy's assassination... 86 00:04:53,902 --> 00:04:56,692 Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the democratic nomination 87 00:04:56,731 --> 00:04:58,341 but the antiwar movement 88 00:04:58,385 --> 00:04:59,905 wouldn't let Humphrey off the hook 89 00:04:59,951 --> 00:05:02,301 and at the 1968 Democratic Convention, 90 00:05:02,345 --> 00:05:04,295 police beatings of antiwar demonstrators 91 00:05:04,347 --> 00:05:06,177 tore the Democratic Party apart. 92 00:05:06,218 --> 00:05:09,218 - A noisy but non-violent crowd jammed the streets 93 00:05:09,265 --> 00:05:13,175 as Chicago police charged suddenly in all directions. 94 00:05:13,225 --> 00:05:16,095 They jabbed night sticks into stomachs and skulls, 95 00:05:16,141 --> 00:05:18,671 battering demonstrators and bystanders 96 00:05:18,709 --> 00:05:20,889 who were hopelessly trapped on sidewalks, 97 00:05:20,929 --> 00:05:23,279 in panic, with nowhere to run. 98 00:05:23,323 --> 00:05:25,373 Racist former Alabama Governor, 99 00:05:25,412 --> 00:05:27,852 George Wallace, ran as a third party candidate 100 00:05:27,892 --> 00:05:29,592 and carried most of the traditionally 101 00:05:29,633 --> 00:05:31,463 democratic south. 102 00:05:31,505 --> 00:05:34,895 - But any place you see the Confederate flag fly, 103 00:05:34,943 --> 00:05:37,293 you will see people who will fight with more zeal 104 00:05:37,337 --> 00:05:39,027 and determination for the American flag 105 00:05:39,077 --> 00:05:41,077 than anybody I know. 106 00:05:41,123 --> 00:05:43,263 With the country divided and disillusioned 107 00:05:43,299 --> 00:05:45,609 by Vietnam, many Americans wanted a savior 108 00:05:45,649 --> 00:05:47,779 and Nixon promised to be one. 109 00:05:47,825 --> 00:05:51,475 - My fellow Americans, the long, dark night 110 00:05:51,525 --> 00:05:53,825 for America is about to end. 111 00:05:55,964 --> 00:05:58,754 - Nixon's media image was carefully packaged 112 00:05:58,793 --> 00:06:01,063 by a young man named Roger Ailes, 113 00:06:01,099 --> 00:06:02,619 who would later create FOX News. 114 00:06:02,666 --> 00:06:04,756 - I pledge to you, 115 00:06:04,799 --> 00:06:08,539 we shall have an honorable end to the war in Vietnam. 116 00:06:08,585 --> 00:06:10,845 With those promises and with the Democratic party 117 00:06:10,892 --> 00:06:12,332 divided and crippled by Vietnam, 118 00:06:12,372 --> 00:06:14,242 Nixon won the presidency. 119 00:06:15,984 --> 00:06:18,034 - The president-elect, Richard Nixon. 120 00:06:19,944 --> 00:06:23,434 - My general opinion was, he's well qualified. 121 00:06:23,470 --> 00:06:27,390 I felt a kind of deep sigh of relief, 122 00:06:27,430 --> 00:06:29,690 the Johnson years were over. 123 00:06:29,737 --> 00:06:31,427 A chance for the country, if you will, 124 00:06:31,478 --> 00:06:34,348 to take its collective breath and start over 125 00:06:34,394 --> 00:06:38,144 and I was fairly optimistic. 126 00:06:38,180 --> 00:06:40,310 But Richard Nixon hated the privileged, 127 00:06:40,356 --> 00:06:43,446 the media, and enemies both real and imagined. 128 00:06:43,490 --> 00:06:46,010 Demons that eventually led to Watergate. 129 00:06:46,057 --> 00:06:48,017 The first sign of possible trouble 130 00:06:48,059 --> 00:06:50,149 came from his presidential appointments. 131 00:06:50,192 --> 00:06:52,112 As National Security Advisor, Nixon chose 132 00:06:52,150 --> 00:06:53,500 a brilliant Harvard professor, 133 00:06:53,543 --> 00:06:55,373 Henry Kissinger. 134 00:06:55,415 --> 00:06:59,415 - We will not be blackmailed into an agreement. 135 00:06:59,462 --> 00:07:01,862 And if I may say so... 136 00:07:01,899 --> 00:07:05,289 we will not be charmed into an agreement... 137 00:07:05,337 --> 00:07:09,297 until its conditions are right. 138 00:07:09,341 --> 00:07:10,521 For Attorney General, 139 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:12,210 Nixon chose his friend 140 00:07:12,257 --> 00:07:13,867 and campaign manager, John Mitchell. 141 00:07:13,911 --> 00:07:15,521 A hardliner on law and order, 142 00:07:15,565 --> 00:07:17,475 drugs, and Vietnam. 143 00:07:17,524 --> 00:07:21,184 - They spread the idea that any act, 144 00:07:21,223 --> 00:07:25,793 no matter how monstrous, is justifiable 145 00:07:25,836 --> 00:07:30,406 if it is in what they refer to as their cause. 146 00:07:30,450 --> 00:07:32,540 And to run the White House, Nixon chose 147 00:07:32,582 --> 00:07:35,192 John Ehrlichman and H.R. Bob Haldeman. 148 00:07:35,237 --> 00:07:37,367 Both devout Christian scientists. 149 00:07:37,413 --> 00:07:39,463 Ehrlichman was a lawyer with a thin skin 150 00:07:39,502 --> 00:07:41,032 and a sharp tongue. 151 00:07:41,069 --> 00:07:43,639 - Contrary to the, uh... 152 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:46,160 statements of the Eastern Establishment press... 153 00:07:46,204 --> 00:07:49,124 uh... which, uh... 154 00:07:49,164 --> 00:07:51,864 understandably confuses the location of all cities 155 00:07:51,906 --> 00:07:53,646 west of the Mississippi. 156 00:07:53,690 --> 00:07:56,480 I do not come from Portland, I come from Seattle, 157 00:07:56,519 --> 00:07:59,959 and they are not suburbs of one another. 158 00:08:00,001 --> 00:08:02,311 Haldeman was an advertising executive 159 00:08:02,351 --> 00:08:04,531 with a reputation for ruthlessness. 160 00:08:04,571 --> 00:08:07,011 - Just after Richard Nixon was elected president 161 00:08:07,051 --> 00:08:09,581 and I was the White House correspondent at the time, 162 00:08:09,619 --> 00:08:13,139 H.R. Bob Haldeman, the new Chief of White House Staff, 163 00:08:13,188 --> 00:08:16,368 he had asked to meet with me in a small restaurant. 164 00:08:16,408 --> 00:08:20,278 And he looked me in the eye in a very cold way and said, 165 00:08:20,325 --> 00:08:23,015 "Dan Rather, we know who you are 166 00:08:23,067 --> 00:08:25,977 "and what you are and we know what you're after 167 00:08:26,027 --> 00:08:28,637 and we'll be watching you the whole time." 168 00:08:28,682 --> 00:08:30,732 Ehrlichman and Haldeman, as a pair, 169 00:08:30,771 --> 00:08:33,691 became Nixon's gatekeepers and enforcers. 170 00:08:33,730 --> 00:08:35,560 The White House staff called them 171 00:08:35,602 --> 00:08:38,652 the "German Shepards" or the "Berlin Wall." 172 00:08:38,692 --> 00:08:41,522 As soon as he took office, Nixon began alienating 173 00:08:41,564 --> 00:08:43,704 both the media and the antiwar movement. 174 00:08:43,740 --> 00:08:45,740 In his campaign, he had promised 175 00:08:45,786 --> 00:08:47,916 to end the Vietnam War but instead, 176 00:08:47,962 --> 00:08:50,792 he initially expanded it by secretly bombing Cambodia, 177 00:08:50,834 --> 00:08:52,444 invading Cambodia, 178 00:08:52,488 --> 00:08:54,358 and escalating the bombing of Vietnam. 179 00:08:54,403 --> 00:08:56,753 - Because let us understand... 180 00:08:56,797 --> 00:09:01,447 North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. 181 00:09:02,890 --> 00:09:06,460 Only Americans can do that. 182 00:09:06,502 --> 00:09:08,552 The antiwar movement and the media 183 00:09:08,591 --> 00:09:11,901 exploded in anger and that triggered Nixon's dark side. 184 00:09:11,942 --> 00:09:14,862 This is David Mixner, who at the age of 23, 185 00:09:14,902 --> 00:09:17,122 became one of the four co-chairmen 186 00:09:17,165 --> 00:09:20,255 of the Vietnam Moratorium antiwar organization. 187 00:09:20,298 --> 00:09:22,738 Mixner was totally committed, but he had a secret. 188 00:09:22,779 --> 00:09:25,389 - At first the Nixon people tried to treat us nice 189 00:09:25,434 --> 00:09:28,184 and then they... threatened us 190 00:09:28,219 --> 00:09:32,349 and I had meetings with Ehrlichman and Kissinger... 191 00:09:32,397 --> 00:09:34,177 and I was blackmailed 192 00:09:34,225 --> 00:09:36,615 in an attempt to get me out of the antiwar movement. 193 00:09:36,663 --> 00:09:38,713 Well, I was very closeted 194 00:09:38,752 --> 00:09:40,542 and if I hadn't been I would not have been allowed 195 00:09:40,580 --> 00:09:43,840 to participate at the leadership level... 196 00:09:43,887 --> 00:09:45,587 that I was at. 197 00:09:45,628 --> 00:09:48,458 It just was, in the times, in 1969, 198 00:09:48,500 --> 00:09:49,890 would have been a horrible liability, 199 00:09:49,937 --> 00:09:51,767 public relations wise. 200 00:09:56,683 --> 00:09:59,383 So...you'd go to a bar, 201 00:09:59,424 --> 00:10:01,474 that was down an alley and had no sign on it, 202 00:10:01,513 --> 00:10:04,213 and in walked a gentleman 203 00:10:04,255 --> 00:10:07,035 who I fell head over heels in love with. 204 00:10:07,084 --> 00:10:09,964 He liked all the poets I liked, the music I liked, 205 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:14,310 and I got a key and went back for, oh, near 30 days 206 00:10:14,352 --> 00:10:16,312 and it was beautiful, beautiful. 207 00:10:16,354 --> 00:10:19,144 One weekend we were gonna meet at a restaurant. 208 00:10:19,183 --> 00:10:23,753 I went to the restaurant and two guys show up... 209 00:10:23,797 --> 00:10:25,837 with badges. 210 00:10:25,886 --> 00:10:28,926 And they emptied on the table very explicit photographs 211 00:10:28,976 --> 00:10:30,626 of Frank and I having sex. 212 00:10:32,632 --> 00:10:34,242 They said, "Think about it but we want you out 213 00:10:34,285 --> 00:10:36,635 of the antiwar movement." 214 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:39,199 I went to warn Frank. 215 00:10:39,247 --> 00:10:40,937 Opened the apartment and there wasn't a stick 216 00:10:40,988 --> 00:10:42,598 of furniture, a book, or a record in it. 217 00:10:44,687 --> 00:10:46,597 Never saw him again. 218 00:10:46,646 --> 00:10:48,646 Don't even know if he was Frank. 219 00:10:48,691 --> 00:10:50,741 After contemplating suicide, 220 00:10:50,780 --> 00:10:53,440 Mixner decided to continue his work. 221 00:10:53,478 --> 00:10:56,348 - On October 15th, 1969, 222 00:10:56,394 --> 00:10:58,704 we were gonna bring the nation to a standstill, 223 00:10:58,745 --> 00:11:00,485 to a moratorium. 224 00:11:00,529 --> 00:11:02,749 And then we met with Ehrlichman. 225 00:11:02,792 --> 00:11:05,492 He said, "You know this march isn't going to take place." 226 00:11:07,362 --> 00:11:09,102 We said, "Well, of course it is." 227 00:11:09,146 --> 00:11:11,406 And then before he left... 228 00:11:11,453 --> 00:11:14,413 I remember him tapping my knee... 229 00:11:15,805 --> 00:11:17,755 And saying, "David." 230 00:11:17,807 --> 00:11:19,457 And I said, "Yes, sir?" 231 00:11:19,504 --> 00:11:22,074 He said, "We know all about you. 232 00:11:22,116 --> 00:11:25,336 All about you. Don't forget that." 233 00:11:35,999 --> 00:11:38,219 - Vietnam Moratorium Day. 234 00:11:38,262 --> 00:11:41,182 The largest demonstration against the Vietnam War 235 00:11:41,222 --> 00:11:43,222 the nation has ever experienced. 236 00:11:43,267 --> 00:11:46,657 - In the end we had 2 million people demonstrate. 237 00:11:46,706 --> 00:11:49,266 Covers of "TIME" magazine, "LIFE" magazine. 238 00:11:49,317 --> 00:11:51,277 It was the biggest news story that year. 239 00:11:51,319 --> 00:11:54,059 By this time, even Henry Kissinger's advisors 240 00:11:54,104 --> 00:11:56,064 were warning him that escalation in Vietnam 241 00:11:56,106 --> 00:11:57,756 wouldn't work. 242 00:11:57,804 --> 00:11:59,764 - I had consulted for Henry Kissinger 243 00:11:59,806 --> 00:12:01,756 almost as soon as he was appointed 244 00:12:01,808 --> 00:12:04,678 in the fall right after the election in 1968 245 00:12:04,724 --> 00:12:06,774 as National Security Advisor. 246 00:12:06,813 --> 00:12:09,863 And I did a study for him, 247 00:12:09,903 --> 00:12:12,603 of options in Vietnam 248 00:12:12,644 --> 00:12:14,784 and I said, "I don't think there is 249 00:12:14,821 --> 00:12:16,911 a win option in Vietnam." 250 00:12:16,953 --> 00:12:18,653 It was clear to me that 251 00:12:18,694 --> 00:12:21,784 nothing we were doing would succeed 252 00:12:21,828 --> 00:12:25,048 and would only prolong a stalemated war. 253 00:12:25,092 --> 00:12:28,702 Killing a lot of people to no end effectively. 254 00:12:28,748 --> 00:12:30,308 And Mort Halperin, 255 00:12:30,358 --> 00:12:32,528 who was Kissinger's deputy at that point, 256 00:12:32,577 --> 00:12:34,407 and I, I think, agreed. 257 00:12:34,449 --> 00:12:37,449 - The South Vietnamese Army was completely corrupt. 258 00:12:37,495 --> 00:12:39,365 That it was incapable of defending itself. 259 00:12:39,410 --> 00:12:41,890 That when we left, it would fall apart. 260 00:12:41,935 --> 00:12:45,545 We knew, for example, that of every three rifles we gave 261 00:12:45,590 --> 00:12:49,200 to the South Vietnamese Army, one of them-- 262 00:12:49,246 --> 00:12:51,766 we gave it to a person who was actually in the Viet Cong 263 00:12:51,814 --> 00:12:54,384 because about 1/3 of the South Vietnamese Army 264 00:12:54,425 --> 00:12:56,555 was actually Viet Cong. 265 00:12:56,601 --> 00:12:59,781 And then the second of the 1/3 was given to somebody 266 00:12:59,822 --> 00:13:01,912 who's totally corrupt and immediately sold it 267 00:13:01,955 --> 00:13:03,775 on the black market to the Viet Cong. 268 00:13:03,826 --> 00:13:05,566 So we were supplying 2/3 of the weapons 269 00:13:05,610 --> 00:13:07,180 to the enemy. 270 00:13:07,221 --> 00:13:08,701 Disillusioned with Kissinger, 271 00:13:08,744 --> 00:13:10,274 Halperin resigned. 272 00:13:10,311 --> 00:13:12,141 But despite increasing evidence 273 00:13:12,182 --> 00:13:14,662 and expert advise that Vietnam couldn't be won, 274 00:13:14,706 --> 00:13:17,486 Nixon and Kissinger still couldn't accept defeat. 275 00:13:17,535 --> 00:13:20,535 We know this from Nixon's White House tapes. 276 00:13:20,582 --> 00:13:24,892 In early 1971, Nixon secretly installed a taping system. 277 00:13:24,934 --> 00:13:27,154 Bob Haldeman was the only senior official 278 00:13:27,197 --> 00:13:29,067 who knew the system existed 279 00:13:29,112 --> 00:13:31,112 and one of the very first conversations recorded 280 00:13:31,158 --> 00:13:32,378 was about Vietnam. 281 00:13:36,163 --> 00:13:39,783 - Thank God we're not going to lose. 282 00:13:39,819 --> 00:13:42,559 You say the air is pounding them good. 283 00:13:42,604 --> 00:13:44,264 - They're pounding them. 284 00:13:44,301 --> 00:13:46,561 They're putting every B-52 they've got in there. 285 00:13:46,608 --> 00:13:48,918 - Main thing is to be sure... 286 00:13:48,958 --> 00:13:51,788 the South Vietnamese fight well. 287 00:13:51,831 --> 00:13:54,961 If they fight well, North Vietnam... 288 00:13:55,008 --> 00:13:58,318 can never beat South Vietnam. 289 00:13:58,359 --> 00:14:02,579 South Vietnam has more people. - And more equipment. 290 00:14:02,624 --> 00:14:06,934 - We've gotta stay as long as we're needed there. 291 00:14:06,976 --> 00:14:10,546 Kennedy and the libs all get together and-- 292 00:14:10,588 --> 00:14:14,028 - And this bastard Halperin. Used to be on my staff. 293 00:14:14,070 --> 00:14:17,200 Mr. President, I'm convinced you're now 80% of the way. 294 00:14:19,119 --> 00:14:22,249 - Nixon and Kissinger's overriding priority 295 00:14:22,296 --> 00:14:25,076 regarding Vietnam was not 296 00:14:25,125 --> 00:14:27,735 the future of South Vietnam. 297 00:14:27,779 --> 00:14:30,829 It was the future of American prestige. 298 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:33,480 Each day, to facilitate the process 299 00:14:33,524 --> 00:14:37,144 by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam, 300 00:14:37,180 --> 00:14:39,790 someone has to give up his life... 301 00:14:39,835 --> 00:14:42,705 so that the United States doesn't have to admit something 302 00:14:42,751 --> 00:14:45,931 that the entire world already knows. 303 00:14:45,972 --> 00:14:49,982 So that we can't say that we've made a mistake. 304 00:14:50,019 --> 00:14:52,889 Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be, 305 00:14:52,935 --> 00:14:55,015 and these are his words, 306 00:14:55,068 --> 00:14:57,508 "The first president to lose a war." 307 00:14:59,594 --> 00:15:01,514 When escalation didn't bring victory, 308 00:15:01,552 --> 00:15:03,822 Nixon started withdrawing ground troops. 309 00:15:03,859 --> 00:15:05,949 But to prevent South Vietnam from collapsing, 310 00:15:05,992 --> 00:15:08,122 he intensified American bombing. 311 00:15:08,168 --> 00:15:10,948 The United States dropped 7 million tons of bombs 312 00:15:10,997 --> 00:15:12,517 during the Vietnam War. 313 00:15:12,563 --> 00:15:15,613 50% more than in all of World War II. 314 00:15:15,653 --> 00:15:18,793 And also used napalm and cancer-causing defoliants. 315 00:15:18,830 --> 00:15:21,830 Killing over a million civilians. 316 00:15:21,877 --> 00:15:23,787 - I had come back from Vietnam 317 00:15:23,835 --> 00:15:26,445 believing that we should get out of Vietnam. 318 00:15:26,490 --> 00:15:27,670 Left the government. 319 00:15:27,709 --> 00:15:29,839 Went to the RAND Corporation. 320 00:15:29,885 --> 00:15:31,445 Actually, one of the first things I did there 321 00:15:31,495 --> 00:15:33,275 was to be assigned to a study group 322 00:15:33,323 --> 00:15:35,983 that was preparing the McNamara study 323 00:15:36,022 --> 00:15:38,072 but then became more well known as 324 00:15:38,111 --> 00:15:40,111 the Pentagon Papers. 325 00:15:40,156 --> 00:15:42,846 The Pentagon Papers, 7,000 pages long, 326 00:15:42,898 --> 00:15:44,858 documented the history of American failure 327 00:15:44,900 --> 00:15:46,770 and dishonesty in Vietnam. 328 00:15:46,815 --> 00:15:49,035 Showing that many experts and government officials 329 00:15:49,078 --> 00:15:51,168 had known the war was unwinnable. 330 00:15:51,211 --> 00:15:54,001 - The Pentagon Papers show that on-- 331 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,910 at several critical moments... 332 00:15:57,957 --> 00:16:00,997 the government lied. Just straight-out lied. 333 00:16:01,047 --> 00:16:03,347 - That simply put the question in my mind: 334 00:16:03,397 --> 00:16:06,007 What can I do to help end this war 335 00:16:06,052 --> 00:16:07,792 now that I'm ready to go to prison? 336 00:16:07,836 --> 00:16:09,786 And so in 1971, 337 00:16:09,838 --> 00:16:12,278 Daniel Ellsberg decided to do something. 338 00:16:12,319 --> 00:16:15,059 Something that triggered all of Richard Nixon's demons. 339 00:16:15,104 --> 00:16:17,594 - "The New York Times" began publishing parts 340 00:16:17,628 --> 00:16:20,198 of a voluminous report that the Pentagon had drawn up 341 00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:22,020 on the causes and conduct 342 00:16:22,068 --> 00:16:24,198 of American involvement in Vietnam. 343 00:16:24,244 --> 00:16:26,334 - Henry Kissinger exploded over it. 344 00:16:26,376 --> 00:16:27,936 Kissinger came in and said 345 00:16:27,987 --> 00:16:29,467 we got to do something about this 346 00:16:29,510 --> 00:16:31,560 because we can't conduct secret negotiations 347 00:16:31,599 --> 00:16:33,559 if we can't maintain our secrets. 348 00:16:33,601 --> 00:16:36,471 - The Justice Department went to court in New York today 349 00:16:36,517 --> 00:16:39,127 and got a temporary order restraining "The Times" 350 00:16:39,172 --> 00:16:41,832 from publishing the next and last two installments. 351 00:16:41,870 --> 00:16:46,270 - The American press unites in this massive force. 352 00:16:46,309 --> 00:16:48,089 "The Times" is stopped from publication 353 00:16:48,137 --> 00:16:50,357 and "The Washington Post" rushes into the breach. 354 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,050 "The Post" is stopped from publication 355 00:16:52,098 --> 00:16:53,838 and "The St. Louis Post Dispatch" 356 00:16:53,882 --> 00:16:55,672 and "The Boston Globe" continue. 357 00:16:55,710 --> 00:16:59,450 - 17 papers in all had brought them out by this time. 358 00:16:59,496 --> 00:17:02,536 It was a wave of civil disobedience. 359 00:17:02,586 --> 00:17:05,196 - A name has now come out as the possible source 360 00:17:05,241 --> 00:17:07,071 of "The Times" Pentagon documents. 361 00:17:07,113 --> 00:17:09,943 It is that of Daniel Ellsberg, 40-years-old, 362 00:17:09,985 --> 00:17:12,765 one-time marine, later a top-policy analyst 363 00:17:12,814 --> 00:17:14,344 for the Defense and State Departments 364 00:17:14,381 --> 00:17:16,251 during the Vietnam build up. 365 00:17:16,296 --> 00:17:18,556 - Finally, only when I had gotten rid of 366 00:17:18,602 --> 00:17:22,262 all of the copies that I had, I surrendered. 367 00:17:22,302 --> 00:17:25,702 Was charged initially with three counts of felonies, 368 00:17:25,740 --> 00:17:28,220 which later became 12, 369 00:17:28,264 --> 00:17:32,054 for a possible sentence of 115 years in prison. 370 00:17:32,094 --> 00:17:34,184 - As it came out that it was Ellsberg 371 00:17:34,227 --> 00:17:36,617 who was the person who leaked the papers, 372 00:17:36,664 --> 00:17:38,714 Kissinger began to get a little nervous because 373 00:17:38,753 --> 00:17:41,673 he was the one who brought Ellsberg into the counsels 374 00:17:41,712 --> 00:17:44,932 of the Nixon administration during the transition period. 375 00:17:44,976 --> 00:17:47,236 And he starts spinning these lurid tales 376 00:17:47,283 --> 00:17:50,073 about Ellsberg which Nixon just gobbles up. 377 00:17:56,466 --> 00:17:58,986 - It started as the Ellsberg story. 378 00:17:59,034 --> 00:18:01,954 Front page, big black type. 379 00:18:01,993 --> 00:18:04,473 - Curse that son of a bitch. I know him well. 380 00:18:04,518 --> 00:18:06,128 - You know him? - Well. 381 00:18:06,172 --> 00:18:08,002 - He's nuts, isn't he? - Nuts. 382 00:18:08,043 --> 00:18:10,133 - Why did they have him in the Defense Department? 383 00:18:10,176 --> 00:18:12,476 - Well, Mr. President, he's a funny guy. 384 00:18:12,526 --> 00:18:14,306 He's a genius. 385 00:18:14,354 --> 00:18:16,144 Brightest student I've ever had. 386 00:18:16,182 --> 00:18:18,752 He was a hardliner. Volunteered for Vietnam. 387 00:18:18,793 --> 00:18:20,663 He was so nuts. 388 00:18:20,708 --> 00:18:23,228 He'd drive around all over Vietnam with a carbine. 389 00:18:23,276 --> 00:18:25,146 When it is guerilla-infested, 390 00:18:25,191 --> 00:18:27,061 he'd shoot at peasants in the fields 391 00:18:27,106 --> 00:18:29,146 on the theory that everyone in black-- 392 00:18:29,195 --> 00:18:31,145 - He's a born killer. 393 00:18:31,197 --> 00:18:33,327 - He's always been a little unbalanced. 394 00:18:33,373 --> 00:18:35,943 - It's the most slanderous lie that could be made of me. 395 00:18:35,984 --> 00:18:38,734 He also said that I was his most brilliant student. 396 00:18:38,769 --> 00:18:41,899 I'd never been a student of his for a minute. 397 00:18:47,038 --> 00:18:49,168 - They brought him into defense 398 00:18:49,215 --> 00:18:51,565 and he came back from Vietnam but he flipped, late '67, 399 00:18:51,608 --> 00:18:53,698 suddenly turned into a peacenik. 400 00:18:53,741 --> 00:18:56,271 He's moved into more and more radical position. 401 00:18:56,309 --> 00:18:58,919 - What do you suppose "The Times" paid him for this? 402 00:18:58,963 --> 00:19:00,443 - He wouldn't do that for money. 403 00:19:00,487 --> 00:19:02,317 - Well, they do if they're on dope. 404 00:19:02,358 --> 00:19:04,928 - He's married a very rich girl he doesn't need money. 405 00:19:04,969 --> 00:19:07,449 - Well, the other reason is that this is a labor of love 406 00:19:07,494 --> 00:19:09,374 for "The Times." 407 00:19:09,409 --> 00:19:12,329 There's nobody in "The Times" that's for us on Vietnam. 408 00:19:12,368 --> 00:19:14,848 - You can maybe blackmail Johnson 409 00:19:14,892 --> 00:19:17,032 on the bombing halt stuff. 410 00:19:17,068 --> 00:19:19,508 Huston swears there's a file on it at Brookings. 411 00:19:19,549 --> 00:19:21,289 - I wouldn't be surprised. 412 00:19:21,334 --> 00:19:22,994 Tom Huston was a hard-line official 413 00:19:23,031 --> 00:19:24,511 who had developed an aggressive 414 00:19:24,554 --> 00:19:26,254 and highly illegal plan for spying on 415 00:19:26,295 --> 00:19:28,425 the antiwar movement. 416 00:19:28,471 --> 00:19:30,521 Huston and his plan were stopped by federal officials, 417 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:32,820 but Nixon wanted to go even further. 418 00:19:32,867 --> 00:19:34,997 Including breaking into the Brookings Institute, 419 00:19:35,043 --> 00:19:36,963 a moderate think tank in Washington. 420 00:19:37,001 --> 00:19:39,221 - Now you remember Huston's plan? 421 00:19:39,265 --> 00:19:41,045 Implement it. 422 00:19:41,092 --> 00:19:43,882 I want it implemented on a thievery basis. 423 00:19:43,921 --> 00:19:46,401 Goddammit, get in and get those files. 424 00:19:46,446 --> 00:19:49,226 Blow the safe and get it. 425 00:19:54,018 --> 00:19:55,888 male narrator: Richard Nixon's angry cutthroat edge 426 00:19:55,933 --> 00:19:57,723 came from his background. 427 00:19:57,761 --> 00:19:59,421 His family was poor, his father was harsh, 428 00:19:59,459 --> 00:20:01,939 and two of his brothers died in childhood. 429 00:20:01,983 --> 00:20:03,993 When Harvard invited Nixon to apply, 430 00:20:04,028 --> 00:20:06,158 his parents told him they couldn't afford it. 431 00:20:06,205 --> 00:20:08,245 Forcing him to attend Whittier College, 432 00:20:08,294 --> 00:20:10,434 a small local school instead. 433 00:20:10,470 --> 00:20:13,120 Nixon emerged from this with a burning ambition. 434 00:20:13,168 --> 00:20:15,388 And in six years, he went from nobody 435 00:20:15,431 --> 00:20:18,481 to congressman, senator, and then Vice President. 436 00:20:18,521 --> 00:20:21,961 But Nixon also developed a deep, lifelong resentment 437 00:20:22,003 --> 00:20:24,573 of smooth, privileged, Ivy league elites. 438 00:20:24,614 --> 00:20:26,574 And then he started losing to them. 439 00:20:26,616 --> 00:20:29,446 - Nixon runs for the presidency in 1960 440 00:20:29,489 --> 00:20:31,489 against Nelson Rockefeller and Jack Kennedy, 441 00:20:31,534 --> 00:20:35,364 two wealthy, womanizing, Ivy league graduates 442 00:20:35,408 --> 00:20:38,278 who symbolize everything that Nixon is not. 443 00:20:38,324 --> 00:20:40,634 That first big defeat to Jack Kennedy. 444 00:20:40,674 --> 00:20:43,814 He believes that the election was stolen from him. 445 00:20:43,851 --> 00:20:46,641 You see for the first time this resolution by Nixon 446 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:48,600 that he's never gonna be out cheated again. 447 00:20:48,638 --> 00:20:50,418 Two years after losing 448 00:20:50,466 --> 00:20:51,986 the presidency to Kennedy... 449 00:20:52,033 --> 00:20:53,513 Nixon attempted a comeback. 450 00:20:53,556 --> 00:20:55,646 Running for Governor of California. 451 00:20:55,689 --> 00:20:57,999 He lost again and he blamed the media. 452 00:20:58,039 --> 00:21:02,169 - But as I leave you, I want you to know... 453 00:21:02,217 --> 00:21:04,567 Just think how much you're gonna be missing. 454 00:21:04,611 --> 00:21:07,091 You don't have Nixon to kick around anymore. 455 00:21:07,135 --> 00:21:10,225 And now, seven years later as president, 456 00:21:10,269 --> 00:21:12,449 Richard Nixon finds the same liberal media 457 00:21:12,488 --> 00:21:14,578 blocking his path. 458 00:21:14,621 --> 00:21:17,361 - I have chosen a plan for peace. 459 00:21:17,406 --> 00:21:19,666 I believe it will succeed. 460 00:21:21,497 --> 00:21:23,587 If it does not succeed... 461 00:21:23,630 --> 00:21:26,460 what the critics say now won't matter. 462 00:21:28,635 --> 00:21:30,375 Or if it does succeed, 463 00:21:30,419 --> 00:21:33,339 what the critics say now won't matter. 464 00:21:33,379 --> 00:21:36,599 - There was, in this speech, no new initiative, 465 00:21:36,643 --> 00:21:38,653 no new proposal, 466 00:21:38,688 --> 00:21:41,868 no announcement of any more troop withdrawals, 467 00:21:41,909 --> 00:21:44,349 and, in short, Mr. Nixon has taken a hard line, 468 00:21:44,390 --> 00:21:46,350 not only against the North Vietnamese, 469 00:21:46,392 --> 00:21:50,532 but also against those in this country who oppose his policy. 470 00:21:50,570 --> 00:21:53,490 - The president tonight perhaps has polarized attitude 471 00:21:53,529 --> 00:21:55,659 in the country more than it ever has been 472 00:21:55,705 --> 00:21:58,525 into groups who are either for him or who are against him. 473 00:21:58,578 --> 00:22:00,228 The media's response 474 00:22:00,275 --> 00:22:01,615 infuriated the Nixon White House 475 00:22:01,668 --> 00:22:03,498 and so Patrick Buchanan, 476 00:22:03,539 --> 00:22:06,149 Nixon's populist speech writer and strategist, 477 00:22:06,194 --> 00:22:08,334 persuaded Nixon to go on the offensive. 478 00:22:08,370 --> 00:22:11,110 - And so that's when I wrote him a memo saying, 479 00:22:11,155 --> 00:22:13,635 "You know, we're gonna have to counterattack the media 480 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:16,250 "and I'll write a speech for Agnew which goes 481 00:22:16,291 --> 00:22:18,641 directly after the networks the first time." 482 00:22:18,685 --> 00:22:21,555 That is the beginning of the wars against the media 483 00:22:21,601 --> 00:22:23,341 that exists to this day. 484 00:22:23,385 --> 00:22:25,815 - Tonight I want to discuss the importance 485 00:22:25,866 --> 00:22:29,866 of the television medium to the American people. 486 00:22:29,913 --> 00:22:33,223 Nowhere in our system are there fewer checks 487 00:22:33,264 --> 00:22:35,314 on such vast power. 488 00:22:35,354 --> 00:22:38,664 Perhaps the place to start looking... 489 00:22:38,705 --> 00:22:41,315 for a credibility gap is not in the offices 490 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,100 of the government in Washington 491 00:22:43,144 --> 00:22:45,324 but in the studios of the networks in New York. 492 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:52,110 In private, but only in private, 493 00:22:52,153 --> 00:22:54,463 Nixon was more specific about who he blamed. 494 00:22:59,682 --> 00:23:04,432 - "Newsweek" is owned by Jews and dominated by them. 495 00:23:04,470 --> 00:23:06,820 "New York Times," "The Washington Post," 496 00:23:06,863 --> 00:23:08,133 totally Jewish. 497 00:23:08,169 --> 00:23:10,559 All three networks, 498 00:23:10,606 --> 00:23:13,606 except for the front men, Brinkley or Cronkite, 499 00:23:13,653 --> 00:23:15,353 but the writers are Jewish. 500 00:23:15,394 --> 00:23:18,144 Does this mean all Jews are bad? 501 00:23:18,179 --> 00:23:20,009 No. 502 00:23:20,050 --> 00:23:21,840 It does mean... 503 00:23:21,878 --> 00:23:24,448 most Jews are left wing. 504 00:23:24,490 --> 00:23:27,580 And they're for peace at any price 505 00:23:27,623 --> 00:23:29,973 except where Israel is concerned. 506 00:23:30,017 --> 00:23:34,457 Now, however, in the media we confront a solid block. 507 00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:36,330 It doesn't have anything to do with anti-Semitism. 508 00:23:36,371 --> 00:23:38,371 It happens though. 509 00:23:38,417 --> 00:23:41,767 - And they're the ones putting out the pornographic stuff. 510 00:23:41,811 --> 00:23:44,421 This stranglehold has got to be broken 511 00:23:44,466 --> 00:23:46,466 or this country's gonna go down the drain. 512 00:23:46,512 --> 00:23:49,252 - You believe that? - Oh, yes, sir. 513 00:23:49,297 --> 00:23:50,597 - So do I. 514 00:23:52,343 --> 00:23:53,873 I could never say it though. 515 00:23:53,910 --> 00:23:56,570 - No but if you're elected a second time 516 00:23:56,609 --> 00:23:59,049 you might be able to do something. 517 00:23:59,089 --> 00:24:00,739 The Pentagon Papers had everything 518 00:24:00,787 --> 00:24:02,917 to infuriate Nixon. 519 00:24:02,963 --> 00:24:05,143 They were published a year before Nixon faced re-election 520 00:24:05,182 --> 00:24:08,102 and they were the result of an antiwar, Harvard-educated, 521 00:24:08,142 --> 00:24:10,622 East Coast Jew leaking secrets 522 00:24:10,666 --> 00:24:12,966 to "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post." 523 00:24:13,016 --> 00:24:15,496 And then, the Supreme Court let them get away with it. 524 00:24:15,541 --> 00:24:17,191 - The United States Supreme Court, today, 525 00:24:17,238 --> 00:24:19,068 ruled against the government 526 00:24:19,109 --> 00:24:21,199 and gave "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" 527 00:24:21,242 --> 00:24:24,512 the right to resume publishing the secret Pentagon study 528 00:24:24,550 --> 00:24:27,550 on United States involvement in the war in Vietnam. 529 00:24:27,596 --> 00:24:30,426 - You see Richard Nixon getting more and more angry 530 00:24:30,469 --> 00:24:34,339 and more and more upset and he cracks. 531 00:24:35,909 --> 00:24:37,819 - I need a son of a bitch like Huston, 532 00:24:37,867 --> 00:24:39,957 who will work his butt off 533 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,830 and do it dishonorably. 534 00:24:42,872 --> 00:24:44,962 And we'll know what he's doing. 535 00:24:45,005 --> 00:24:46,785 I'll direct him myself. 536 00:24:46,833 --> 00:24:49,843 I know how to play this game. 537 00:24:49,879 --> 00:24:51,709 We're gonna start playing it. 538 00:24:51,751 --> 00:24:53,751 I want someone as tough as I am for a change. 539 00:24:53,796 --> 00:24:56,056 Do you think, for Christ's sakes, 540 00:24:56,103 --> 00:25:00,373 "The New York Times" is worried about all the legal niceties? 541 00:25:00,411 --> 00:25:03,021 Those sons of bitches are killing me. 542 00:25:03,066 --> 00:25:05,026 We're up against... 543 00:25:05,068 --> 00:25:07,848 an enemy. 544 00:25:07,897 --> 00:25:09,597 A conspiracy. 545 00:25:09,638 --> 00:25:11,898 They're using any means. 546 00:25:11,945 --> 00:25:15,555 We are going to use any means. 547 00:25:15,601 --> 00:25:17,991 Did you get the Brookings Institute raided last night? 548 00:25:18,038 --> 00:25:20,388 - No. - No? Get it done. 549 00:25:20,431 --> 00:25:24,221 I want the Brookings safe cleaned out. 550 00:25:30,659 --> 00:25:32,619 male narrator: Nixon often vented his frustrations 551 00:25:32,661 --> 00:25:34,141 to his staff, as Morton Halperin had seen 552 00:25:34,184 --> 00:25:35,584 while working for Kissinger. 553 00:25:35,621 --> 00:25:37,671 - I was-- often worked very late, 554 00:25:37,710 --> 00:25:39,580 and I would be in Kissinger's office 555 00:25:39,625 --> 00:25:41,405 and Haig would be there, 556 00:25:41,452 --> 00:25:43,592 who was Kissinger's then military assistant, 557 00:25:43,629 --> 00:25:46,629 and almost always the phone would ring 558 00:25:46,675 --> 00:25:48,715 and Kissinger would answer it 559 00:25:48,764 --> 00:25:51,334 and Haig would get on another line 560 00:25:51,375 --> 00:25:53,855 and it would be the president 561 00:25:53,900 --> 00:25:57,210 calling and ranting and raving 562 00:25:57,251 --> 00:26:00,081 about something or somebody 563 00:26:00,123 --> 00:26:04,133 and it would go on for a very long period of time, 564 00:26:04,171 --> 00:26:07,701 and Haig would then announce that... 565 00:26:07,740 --> 00:26:10,000 the president was out of control again 566 00:26:10,046 --> 00:26:14,566 and often suggest that he had, once again, been drinking. 567 00:26:14,616 --> 00:26:16,876 - Fine. How many if we take out the dikes? 568 00:26:16,923 --> 00:26:19,933 Will that drown people? - About 200,000 people. 569 00:26:19,969 --> 00:26:22,279 - No, no, no. I'd rather use a nuclear bomb. 570 00:26:22,319 --> 00:26:24,759 - That, I think, would just be too much. 571 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,850 - I just want you to think big, Henry. 572 00:26:27,890 --> 00:26:30,940 For Christ's sakes. 573 00:26:30,980 --> 00:26:33,550 - Nixon was prone to these explosions. 574 00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:37,032 He sends a memo to Haldeman and Ehrlichman and he says, 575 00:26:37,073 --> 00:26:39,643 "I'm gonna be issuing orders sometimes 576 00:26:39,685 --> 00:26:41,765 "that you guys are not gonna think are wise 577 00:26:41,817 --> 00:26:44,037 "and you're gonna decide that you don't want to obey them. 578 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,470 "That's okay. 579 00:26:46,517 --> 00:26:49,127 "I recognize this in me. 580 00:26:49,172 --> 00:26:52,132 "Just tell me so I know which of the orders are carried out 581 00:26:52,175 --> 00:26:53,915 and which ones are not." 582 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:55,790 When you're talking about the President 583 00:26:55,831 --> 00:26:57,751 of the United States this is incredibly dangerous 584 00:26:57,790 --> 00:26:59,620 because eventually you're gonna get somebody, 585 00:26:59,661 --> 00:27:01,791 like Charles Colson, who joins the administration 586 00:27:01,837 --> 00:27:03,927 in the fall of 1969 587 00:27:03,970 --> 00:27:07,190 and wants to worm his way into Nixon's good graces. 588 00:27:07,234 --> 00:27:09,544 - I've never walked over my grandmother 589 00:27:09,584 --> 00:27:11,244 if that's what you're asking. 590 00:27:11,281 --> 00:27:13,021 Chuck Colson was a ruthless, 591 00:27:13,066 --> 00:27:14,976 ambitious young lawyer who quickly became 592 00:27:15,024 --> 00:27:16,684 Nixon's favorite hatchet man. 593 00:27:16,722 --> 00:27:18,642 In part because Colson was willing to do 594 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,250 just about anything. 595 00:27:20,290 --> 00:27:21,940 And one of the first to learn that 596 00:27:21,988 --> 00:27:24,288 was another young lawyer named John Dean. 597 00:27:24,338 --> 00:27:27,728 In 1969, Dean had joined the Justice Department. 598 00:27:27,776 --> 00:27:29,296 Dealing with the antiwar movement 599 00:27:29,343 --> 00:27:30,473 and John Mitchell's 600 00:27:30,518 --> 00:27:31,868 hard-line drug policies 601 00:27:31,911 --> 00:27:33,171 including making possession 602 00:27:33,216 --> 00:27:34,346 of marijuana a felony. 603 00:27:34,391 --> 00:27:35,961 But in 1970, 604 00:27:36,002 --> 00:27:37,182 after John Ehrlichman became 605 00:27:37,220 --> 00:27:38,920 domestic policy advisor, 606 00:27:38,961 --> 00:27:40,961 John Dean joined the White House staff 607 00:27:41,007 --> 00:27:42,697 as the new counsel to the president 608 00:27:42,748 --> 00:27:44,308 and Chuck Colson soon gave him 609 00:27:44,358 --> 00:27:46,138 a taste of things to come. 610 00:27:46,186 --> 00:27:48,926 - First time I get something that's really serious 611 00:27:48,971 --> 00:27:53,541 is when Jack Caulfield walks in my office, wide-eyed, 612 00:27:53,584 --> 00:27:57,684 and said that, "I have just come from Chuck Colson's office 613 00:27:57,719 --> 00:28:00,589 who's ordered me to firebomb the Brookings Institute." 614 00:28:00,635 --> 00:28:02,155 I said, "What?" 615 00:28:02,202 --> 00:28:03,942 He said, "He wants me to firebomb 616 00:28:03,986 --> 00:28:05,766 "the Brookings Institute. 617 00:28:05,814 --> 00:28:08,434 "When the fire department responds, 618 00:28:08,469 --> 00:28:12,079 he wants me to send a team of burglars in to break the safe." 619 00:28:12,125 --> 00:28:15,165 I got on the next courier flight to California 620 00:28:15,215 --> 00:28:18,515 and went to visit Ehrlichman in San Clemente 621 00:28:18,566 --> 00:28:20,696 'cause I wasn't gonna let him off on this one. 622 00:28:20,742 --> 00:28:22,882 I had opened the code before I left. 623 00:28:22,918 --> 00:28:26,438 I saw that it was probably a capital offense 624 00:28:26,487 --> 00:28:29,267 if anybody died as a result of arson 625 00:28:29,316 --> 00:28:31,096 in the District of Columbia. 626 00:28:31,144 --> 00:28:33,494 And so I was not gonna have a phone call 627 00:28:33,537 --> 00:28:35,447 where he would brush me off. 628 00:28:35,496 --> 00:28:37,496 I was going out there for an eyeball to eyeball 629 00:28:37,541 --> 00:28:41,371 to tell him this was insane, it was criminal, 630 00:28:41,415 --> 00:28:43,495 and it was certainly not conduct 631 00:28:43,547 --> 00:28:45,377 that should be even contemplated 632 00:28:45,419 --> 00:28:46,859 in the White House. 633 00:28:46,899 --> 00:28:49,769 And he heard me out. 634 00:28:49,815 --> 00:28:53,775 He picked up the phone, got Colson on the line, said, 635 00:28:53,819 --> 00:28:57,039 "Chuck, young counsel, Dean, is out here with me. 636 00:28:57,083 --> 00:29:00,003 "He's learned about the Brookings operation, 637 00:29:00,042 --> 00:29:03,522 "does not think it's a good idea, cancel it." 638 00:29:03,567 --> 00:29:05,657 Puts down the phone. Hangs it up. 639 00:29:05,700 --> 00:29:07,310 "Anything else, Counselor?" 640 00:29:07,354 --> 00:29:10,104 I said, "No, John, thank you." And left. 641 00:29:10,139 --> 00:29:12,269 - So, Ehrlichman already knew about it? 642 00:29:12,315 --> 00:29:15,485 - Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 643 00:29:15,536 --> 00:29:19,236 - It was war and it should be fought anyway... 644 00:29:19,279 --> 00:29:20,929 that you can fight it. 645 00:29:20,976 --> 00:29:23,886 I talked to Nixon enough. He believed... 646 00:29:23,936 --> 00:29:26,676 his phone was tapped. His wife was followed-- 647 00:29:26,721 --> 00:29:29,591 all of these things. Which were not true. 648 00:29:29,637 --> 00:29:31,807 Infuriated by leaks to the media, 649 00:29:31,857 --> 00:29:33,637 Nixon orders Ehrlichman to create 650 00:29:33,684 --> 00:29:35,344 a secret White House organization 651 00:29:35,382 --> 00:29:37,302 to identify leakers and attack them. 652 00:29:37,340 --> 00:29:39,390 Starting with Daniel Ellsberg. 653 00:29:39,429 --> 00:29:41,649 - Nixon calls this team that he sets up, 654 00:29:41,692 --> 00:29:43,742 "The Special Investigations Unit." 655 00:29:43,782 --> 00:29:45,352 They call themselves the "Plumbers." 656 00:29:45,392 --> 00:29:46,612 Break-in, plant bugs, 657 00:29:46,654 --> 00:29:48,924 rifle files, infiltrate. 658 00:29:48,961 --> 00:29:51,701 - Gordon Liddy is part of the "Plumbers" Unit. 659 00:29:51,746 --> 00:29:54,526 He's a screwball. He's a nutcase. 660 00:29:54,575 --> 00:29:57,745 He's a bumbler. He's a romantic. 661 00:29:57,796 --> 00:30:02,016 He is somebody who thought he was James Bond. 662 00:30:02,061 --> 00:30:04,851 He'd come up with a plan to break-in 663 00:30:04,890 --> 00:30:08,240 to Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office. 664 00:30:08,284 --> 00:30:11,074 Liddy and these Cuban Americans, 665 00:30:11,113 --> 00:30:13,073 he's been able to arrange 666 00:30:13,115 --> 00:30:14,985 to help him 667 00:30:15,030 --> 00:30:17,250 through another White House aide, Howard Hunt. 668 00:30:17,293 --> 00:30:20,643 They broke in. They find nothing in the files. 669 00:30:20,688 --> 00:30:23,468 They trash the place. 670 00:30:23,517 --> 00:30:28,087 - We had one little operation 671 00:30:28,130 --> 00:30:30,870 it's been aborted in Los Angeles, 672 00:30:30,916 --> 00:30:34,616 which I think it's better you don't know about. 673 00:30:36,356 --> 00:30:38,526 - They realize they gotta get Liddy 674 00:30:38,575 --> 00:30:40,655 and Hunt out of the White House. 675 00:30:40,708 --> 00:30:42,488 - And in classic Washington bureaucratic fashion 676 00:30:42,536 --> 00:30:44,186 they're promoted to be somebody else's problem 677 00:30:44,233 --> 00:30:46,193 and they're sent over to 678 00:30:46,235 --> 00:30:48,105 the Committee to RE-Elect the President, to CREEP. 679 00:30:48,150 --> 00:30:49,800 narrator: CREEP, which stood for 680 00:30:49,848 --> 00:30:51,408 the Committee to RE-Elect the President, 681 00:30:51,458 --> 00:30:52,888 was the organization created to manage 682 00:30:52,938 --> 00:30:55,288 Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. 683 00:30:55,331 --> 00:30:57,551 And Gordon Liddy wanted to control 684 00:30:57,594 --> 00:30:59,474 CREEP's intelligence operation. 685 00:30:59,509 --> 00:31:03,769 And so, in January, 1972, John Dean gets a call 686 00:31:03,818 --> 00:31:06,388 from Jeb Magruder, the Acting Director of CREEP, 687 00:31:06,429 --> 00:31:09,429 inviting Dean to a meeting at John Mitchell's office. 688 00:31:09,476 --> 00:31:11,906 Officially, Mitchell is still Attorney General 689 00:31:11,957 --> 00:31:13,567 but he's actually already managing 690 00:31:13,610 --> 00:31:15,000 Nixon's re-election campaign. 691 00:31:15,047 --> 00:31:17,007 - Magruder calls me, 692 00:31:17,049 --> 00:31:19,699 would I come over to the meeting 693 00:31:19,747 --> 00:31:22,397 where Liddy presents his intelligence plans. 694 00:31:22,445 --> 00:31:24,485 And it's one of the more amazing meetings 695 00:31:24,534 --> 00:31:26,454 I was ever in, in government. 696 00:31:26,493 --> 00:31:30,283 Liddy started talking about kidnapping antiwar leaders. 697 00:31:30,323 --> 00:31:33,463 He said, "I have some men who will take these people 698 00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:35,940 "off the street, take them below the Mexican border, 699 00:31:35,981 --> 00:31:37,811 "drug them, and put them out of commission 700 00:31:37,852 --> 00:31:39,292 during the campaign." 701 00:31:39,332 --> 00:31:41,902 Mitchell ended it and he said, 702 00:31:41,943 --> 00:31:44,383 "Gordon, I'm more interested in a plan 703 00:31:44,424 --> 00:31:47,384 where we can track the antiwar movement." 704 00:31:47,427 --> 00:31:50,907 A week or so later, I get a call from Magruder and said, 705 00:31:50,952 --> 00:31:54,962 "Liddy is presenting his revised intelligence plan." 706 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:57,130 I just went right up to Mitchell's office 707 00:31:57,176 --> 00:32:00,396 and they were talking about wiretapping. 708 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,050 So I said, very loudly, just to throw cold water 709 00:32:02,094 --> 00:32:03,884 on the meeting, 710 00:32:03,922 --> 00:32:05,712 that I didn't think these were the sort of things 711 00:32:05,749 --> 00:32:07,319 that should ever be discussed in the office 712 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,230 of the Attorney General of the United States. 713 00:32:09,275 --> 00:32:11,055 Dean's comment ended the meeting 714 00:32:11,103 --> 00:32:12,373 but not Liddy's planning. 715 00:32:12,408 --> 00:32:14,018 And soon afterwards, 716 00:32:14,062 --> 00:32:15,722 Mitchell resigned as Attorney General 717 00:32:15,759 --> 00:32:17,669 in order to run Nixon's re-election campaign 718 00:32:17,718 --> 00:32:19,328 full time. 719 00:32:19,372 --> 00:32:21,332 - Liddy doesn't give up. 720 00:32:21,374 --> 00:32:22,724 And that's what Magruder 721 00:32:22,766 --> 00:32:24,286 will later tell me. 722 00:32:24,333 --> 00:32:26,603 Got him to go down with the plan in hand 723 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,560 and get Mitchell to approve it. 724 00:32:28,598 --> 00:32:30,508 One of Liddy's first actions 725 00:32:30,557 --> 00:32:32,427 was to bug the Democratic National Committee 726 00:32:32,472 --> 00:32:34,172 but the results weren't impressive 727 00:32:34,213 --> 00:32:36,353 so he went back in and he blew it. 728 00:32:40,393 --> 00:32:42,003 - Five people have been arrested 729 00:32:42,047 --> 00:32:43,827 and charged with breaking into the headquarters 730 00:32:43,874 --> 00:32:45,314 of the Democratic National Committee 731 00:32:45,354 --> 00:32:47,054 in the middle of the night. 732 00:32:47,095 --> 00:32:48,785 - The Democratic National Committee is housed 733 00:32:48,836 --> 00:32:50,446 in the fashionable Watergate complex. 734 00:32:50,490 --> 00:32:52,320 The break-in apparently planned well in advance. 735 00:32:52,361 --> 00:32:54,361 - Police confiscated extensive photographic 736 00:32:54,407 --> 00:32:56,187 and electronic eavesdropping gear 737 00:32:56,235 --> 00:32:58,015 as well as several thousand dollars 738 00:32:58,063 --> 00:32:59,673 in consecutively numbered bills. 739 00:32:59,716 --> 00:33:01,236 - Each had several aliases. 740 00:33:01,283 --> 00:33:02,943 Four said they were from Miami. 741 00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:04,461 The fifth said he lived 742 00:33:04,504 --> 00:33:05,984 in the metropolitan Washington area. 743 00:33:06,027 --> 00:33:08,117 Three were originally from Cuba. 744 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:09,810 The story attracted the interest 745 00:33:09,857 --> 00:33:12,727 of two young, ambitious reporters. 746 00:33:12,773 --> 00:33:16,393 - I had come in to the office and I saw this commotion 747 00:33:16,429 --> 00:33:19,299 over on the city desk and it was about... 748 00:33:19,345 --> 00:33:21,605 this break-in that occurred at 749 00:33:21,651 --> 00:33:24,181 the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate. 750 00:33:24,219 --> 00:33:28,269 So I said to the city editor, "Hey, I know some people 751 00:33:28,310 --> 00:33:31,620 over at the Watergate, maybe I'll make some phone checks." 752 00:33:31,661 --> 00:33:34,451 - The morning of June 17th was one of those 753 00:33:34,490 --> 00:33:37,800 glorious, beautiful days in Washington. 754 00:33:37,841 --> 00:33:39,931 Saturday. 755 00:33:39,974 --> 00:33:42,374 The editors said, 756 00:33:42,411 --> 00:33:45,501 "Well, we've got this burglary at... 757 00:33:45,545 --> 00:33:48,195 "the Democratic headquarters. Who would be dumb enough 758 00:33:48,243 --> 00:33:50,993 to come in on such a beautiful day?" 759 00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:54,079 and they immediately thought of me. 760 00:33:54,119 --> 00:33:57,729 - In 1972, I was 28 761 00:33:57,774 --> 00:34:01,344 and I'd been working for 12 years in the business. 762 00:34:01,387 --> 00:34:04,737 I actually was, I think, the first reporter 763 00:34:04,781 --> 00:34:07,181 to be hired without a college degree. 764 00:34:07,219 --> 00:34:11,439 - I was a Republican. Registered Republican. 765 00:34:11,484 --> 00:34:15,974 I was in the Navy in '68 and I voted for Nixon... 766 00:34:16,010 --> 00:34:19,140 because I believed he would 767 00:34:19,187 --> 00:34:22,627 get us out of the Vietnam War. 768 00:34:22,669 --> 00:34:27,799 I saw some of it from a ship off the coast of Vietnam 769 00:34:27,848 --> 00:34:33,068 and I felt the Vietnam War was a giant mistake and waste. 770 00:34:33,114 --> 00:34:35,684 I'd been at "The Post" nine months 771 00:34:35,725 --> 00:34:38,115 and was the night police reporter 772 00:34:38,163 --> 00:34:40,953 which meant working from 6:30 at night 773 00:34:40,991 --> 00:34:43,211 to 2:30 in the morning. 774 00:34:43,255 --> 00:34:46,475 - I didn't know Woodward well at all. 775 00:34:46,519 --> 00:34:49,299 Didn't really take very well to him 776 00:34:49,348 --> 00:34:51,828 from what I had seen of him at the paper. 777 00:34:51,872 --> 00:34:53,922 - Oh, how come? - He was, uh-- 778 00:34:53,961 --> 00:34:58,311 Well, there were a group of us actually that sort of thought 779 00:34:58,357 --> 00:35:00,917 that Woodward had come in and moved very fast 780 00:35:00,968 --> 00:35:04,408 by kind of brown-nosing the management a little bit. 781 00:35:04,450 --> 00:35:06,710 - It was tense. 782 00:35:06,756 --> 00:35:09,366 - But we were very complimentary 783 00:35:09,411 --> 00:35:12,501 because we had this kind of good cop, bad cop routine 784 00:35:12,545 --> 00:35:14,675 that Woodward and I would do every day. 785 00:35:14,721 --> 00:35:18,161 - I was a young journalist and I was hired by CBS 786 00:35:18,203 --> 00:35:20,773 and put in the Washington bureau. 787 00:35:20,814 --> 00:35:23,954 So there was this break-in at the Watergate 788 00:35:23,991 --> 00:35:25,731 at the Democratic National Committee 789 00:35:25,775 --> 00:35:27,465 but no one thought-- no one thought 790 00:35:27,516 --> 00:35:30,166 it was anything more than a local burglary 791 00:35:30,215 --> 00:35:32,125 anI walked into the courtroom. 792 00:35:32,173 --> 00:35:33,833 There was only one other reporter there 793 00:35:33,870 --> 00:35:35,960 and it was Bob Woodward. 794 00:35:36,003 --> 00:35:38,143 - They had sent me to the court house. 795 00:35:38,179 --> 00:35:41,569 I sat in the front row when the five Watergate burglars 796 00:35:41,617 --> 00:35:43,877 were arraigned 797 00:35:43,924 --> 00:35:47,234 and the judge asked the lead burglar, 798 00:35:47,275 --> 00:35:49,095 James McCord, "Where did you work?" 799 00:35:49,147 --> 00:35:52,367 And James McCord said... "CIA." 800 00:35:52,411 --> 00:35:54,671 Judge said, "Speak up." 801 00:35:54,717 --> 00:35:58,717 And McCord finally said, "CIA." 802 00:35:58,765 --> 00:36:02,635 And my reaction was... 803 00:36:02,682 --> 00:36:04,862 Holy shit. 804 00:36:04,901 --> 00:36:09,561 - The story went on page one and that was the beginning. 805 00:36:09,602 --> 00:36:12,562 My aide, Ken Khachigian, called me and he said 806 00:36:12,605 --> 00:36:16,035 they caught five guys in the Watergate office complex. 807 00:36:16,086 --> 00:36:18,516 And my heart sank... 808 00:36:18,567 --> 00:36:20,607 because I... 809 00:36:20,656 --> 00:36:24,786 knew, not with hard knowledge but just the way you know, 810 00:36:24,834 --> 00:36:27,054 our guys were involved. 811 00:36:27,097 --> 00:36:29,577 But that's not what Mr. Buchanan said in public. 812 00:36:29,622 --> 00:36:30,932 - There is no White House knowledge 813 00:36:30,971 --> 00:36:32,711 of the Watergate incident. 814 00:36:32,755 --> 00:36:34,235 There's been no White House connection with it. 815 00:36:34,279 --> 00:36:36,149 Secondly, the American people have 816 00:36:36,194 --> 00:36:38,074 a relatively high tolerance level 817 00:36:38,108 --> 00:36:40,018 for the kind of bizarre, 818 00:36:40,067 --> 00:36:42,287 political episodes of which this is one. 819 00:36:42,330 --> 00:36:43,850 narrator: CREEP and the White House 820 00:36:43,897 --> 00:36:45,287 pretended they didn't care 821 00:36:45,333 --> 00:36:46,863 about the Watergate arrests 822 00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:48,420 but actually they were terrified. 823 00:36:48,467 --> 00:36:50,727 Hugh Sloan was the Treasurer of CREEP. 824 00:36:50,773 --> 00:36:53,523 - I came to work on June 17th. 825 00:36:53,559 --> 00:36:57,519 Evidently, the burglary had happened in the early morning 826 00:36:57,563 --> 00:37:01,963 and Mr. Liddy passed me in the hall, rather frantic, 827 00:37:02,002 --> 00:37:05,882 and said to me that, "I made a terrible mistake. 828 00:37:05,919 --> 00:37:07,959 "I'm gonna lose my job. 829 00:37:08,008 --> 00:37:11,098 I used someone from here which I told them I wouldn't do." 830 00:37:11,141 --> 00:37:14,621 - This is a police photograph of James W. McCord. 831 00:37:14,667 --> 00:37:16,837 McCord is a former CIA employee 832 00:37:16,886 --> 00:37:18,626 and guess what else he is? 833 00:37:18,671 --> 00:37:20,541 A consultant to President Richard Nixon's 834 00:37:20,586 --> 00:37:22,326 re-election campaign committee. 835 00:37:22,370 --> 00:37:23,980 Paul Magallanes, 836 00:37:24,024 --> 00:37:26,244 a young, Spanish-speaking FBI agent, 837 00:37:26,287 --> 00:37:28,197 was assigned to interview the burglars. 838 00:37:28,246 --> 00:37:30,766 - I went there and I interviewed the Cubans. 839 00:37:30,813 --> 00:37:32,293 You know, "What happened here?" 840 00:37:32,337 --> 00:37:34,117 And they kept responding to me, 841 00:37:34,164 --> 00:37:35,914 in Spanish, this was all in Spanish, 842 00:37:35,949 --> 00:37:37,989 "Paul, you know." 843 00:37:38,038 --> 00:37:40,518 He says, "We're working for the same man." 844 00:37:40,562 --> 00:37:42,042 I said, "What are you talking about, 845 00:37:42,085 --> 00:37:43,215 working for the same man?" 846 00:37:43,261 --> 00:37:44,871 He says, "Yeah." 847 00:37:44,914 --> 00:37:46,444 He says, "We're working for the president. 848 00:37:46,481 --> 00:37:48,701 You're working for the president." 849 00:37:48,744 --> 00:37:51,444 And he says, "Everything will be all right. 850 00:37:51,486 --> 00:37:53,306 You know, we're gonna be taken care of." 851 00:37:53,358 --> 00:37:55,318 The burglars were taken care of 852 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:57,320 as part of a huge cover-up operation 853 00:37:57,362 --> 00:37:59,062 run by CREEP and the White House. 854 00:37:59,102 --> 00:38:01,672 Involving payoffs, political pressure, 855 00:38:01,714 --> 00:38:04,804 destruction of evidence, and lying to the FBI. 856 00:38:04,847 --> 00:38:07,497 It was all coordinated by John Dean. 857 00:38:07,546 --> 00:38:09,326 Although Dean had initially opposed 858 00:38:09,374 --> 00:38:11,464 the White House's crazier schemes, 859 00:38:11,506 --> 00:38:13,116 managing the Watergate cover-up 860 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:14,680 was both a job requirement 861 00:38:14,727 --> 00:38:16,857 and a major career opportunity. 862 00:38:16,903 --> 00:38:18,913 - Liddy tells me, 863 00:38:18,948 --> 00:38:22,078 "I need money to get these guys out of jail 864 00:38:22,125 --> 00:38:25,125 because of their earlier exploits." 865 00:38:25,172 --> 00:38:29,132 But he said, "John, something you should know and take back 866 00:38:29,176 --> 00:38:34,046 "to your superiors is that two of the men I used 867 00:38:34,094 --> 00:38:36,314 "in the Watergate operation, 868 00:38:36,357 --> 00:38:38,967 "I used earlier in an operation 869 00:38:39,012 --> 00:38:41,142 that was authorized by the White House." 870 00:38:41,188 --> 00:38:43,888 And this had to do with the break-in 871 00:38:43,930 --> 00:38:46,240 at Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office 872 00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:49,590 which was an eye opener to me. I didn't know about this. 873 00:38:49,631 --> 00:38:51,981 So this thing suddenly 874 00:38:52,025 --> 00:38:54,155 brings these two events together. 875 00:38:54,201 --> 00:38:56,731 - There were these entries in the address books 876 00:38:56,769 --> 00:38:58,859 of two of the burglars. 877 00:38:58,901 --> 00:39:04,041 "W House - H. Hunt." Or Howard Hunt. 878 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,740 Just called the White House and asked for Howard Hunt. 879 00:39:06,779 --> 00:39:12,179 The operator said, "I think he's in Mr. Colson's office." 880 00:39:12,219 --> 00:39:15,399 I eventually got Hunt on the phone 881 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,880 and asked why his name was in the address books 882 00:39:19,922 --> 00:39:23,972 of two of the people arrested at the Democratic headquarters 883 00:39:24,013 --> 00:39:27,503 and he shouted out, "Good God." 884 00:39:27,539 --> 00:39:30,019 Slammed down the phone and left town. 885 00:39:34,676 --> 00:39:37,026 - I was worried that we might be libeling Hunt 886 00:39:37,070 --> 00:39:39,030 because I didn't know what he did. 887 00:39:39,072 --> 00:39:42,472 So I called Mark Felt 888 00:39:42,510 --> 00:39:45,380 who was at the FBI. 889 00:39:45,426 --> 00:39:49,206 I had met him when I worked as courier for the Pentagon 890 00:39:49,256 --> 00:39:51,256 going to the White House. 891 00:39:51,301 --> 00:39:56,261 And Felt said, "Don't worry. Hunt's deeply involved." 892 00:39:56,306 --> 00:40:00,216 Carl and myself called Mark Felt "Deep Throat." 893 00:40:00,267 --> 00:40:02,267 - The reason Deep Throat is important, 894 00:40:02,312 --> 00:40:04,712 one, is we knew we were right. 895 00:40:04,750 --> 00:40:08,800 He confirmed information that we had obtained elsewhere. 896 00:40:08,841 --> 00:40:10,671 So we knew we were right. 897 00:40:10,712 --> 00:40:12,892 - Deep Throat happened to be the number two man 898 00:40:12,932 --> 00:40:14,802 at the FBI, Mark Felt, 899 00:40:14,847 --> 00:40:17,887 and one of his primary motivations, 900 00:40:17,937 --> 00:40:19,937 if not the primary motivation, 901 00:40:19,982 --> 00:40:22,252 was that he had been passed over 902 00:40:22,289 --> 00:40:24,549 by Nixon and Haldeman when they picked Patrick Gray 903 00:40:24,596 --> 00:40:27,246 to be Director of the FBI. 904 00:40:27,294 --> 00:40:31,044 And so here was a classic case of a Washington bureaucrat 905 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,170 leaking to damage the guy above him 906 00:40:34,214 --> 00:40:35,784 who got the job he wanted. 907 00:40:35,824 --> 00:40:37,914 - "The Washington Post" reported today 908 00:40:37,957 --> 00:40:40,347 that Hunt's name was found in the address books 909 00:40:40,394 --> 00:40:43,144 of two of the five men arrested in the incident. 910 00:40:43,179 --> 00:40:46,309 Hunt's immediate supervisor, White House Special Counsel, 911 00:40:46,356 --> 00:40:49,746 Charles Colson, denies any knowledge of the incident. 912 00:40:49,795 --> 00:40:51,095 A few weeks later, 913 00:40:51,144 --> 00:40:52,804 the FBI arrested Hunt and Liddy, 914 00:40:52,841 --> 00:40:54,541 but they stopped there. 915 00:40:54,582 --> 00:40:56,892 The cover-up prevented further arrests 916 00:40:56,932 --> 00:40:58,762 and FBI Director, L. Patrick Gray, 917 00:40:58,804 --> 00:41:00,464 didn't like leaks either. 918 00:41:00,501 --> 00:41:02,941 - We're called at home on a Friday night, 919 00:41:02,982 --> 00:41:04,552 "Be in the Washington field office 920 00:41:04,592 --> 00:41:06,512 "at 8:00, 8:15 Saturday morning. 921 00:41:06,551 --> 00:41:09,601 Be in your best suit. Be ready to see the director." 922 00:41:09,641 --> 00:41:12,641 And as we go into the meeting room, 923 00:41:12,687 --> 00:41:18,387 out comes Gray and he launches into a bizarre rant. 924 00:41:18,432 --> 00:41:21,572 "I want the agent or agents who leaked this information 925 00:41:21,609 --> 00:41:24,869 to take one step forward." 926 00:41:24,917 --> 00:41:26,957 And now we're all... 927 00:41:27,006 --> 00:41:29,876 "Whoa, what is this?" 928 00:41:29,922 --> 00:41:32,322 You could forgive Gray for being tense. 929 00:41:32,359 --> 00:41:34,539 He knew he was sitting on a powder keg 930 00:41:34,579 --> 00:41:37,149 and that the Nixon White House wanted him to play nice. 931 00:41:37,190 --> 00:41:38,930 Only a week after the burglary, 932 00:41:38,974 --> 00:41:41,634 Nixon and Haldeman had tried using the CIA 933 00:41:41,673 --> 00:41:43,943 to shut down the FBI investigation. 934 00:41:43,979 --> 00:41:47,419 Nixon chose Vernon Walters, the Deputy Director of the CIA 935 00:41:47,461 --> 00:41:48,941 to deliver a message to Gray. 936 00:41:55,556 --> 00:41:58,906 - Now, on the Democratic break-in, 937 00:41:58,951 --> 00:42:01,001 we're back in the problem area. 938 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:03,740 Because the FBI is not under control. 939 00:42:03,782 --> 00:42:07,052 Because Gray doesn't exactly know how to control them. 940 00:42:07,089 --> 00:42:10,699 John Dean concurs now with Mitchell's recommendation 941 00:42:10,745 --> 00:42:14,225 that the only way to solve this is to have Walters call Gray 942 00:42:14,270 --> 00:42:17,580 and just say, "Stay the hell out of this. 943 00:42:17,622 --> 00:42:19,842 We don't want you to go any further on it." 944 00:42:19,885 --> 00:42:21,405 And that's not unusual. 945 00:42:21,451 --> 00:42:23,191 - Pat Gray doesn't want to control them? 946 00:42:23,236 --> 00:42:25,586 - Pat does want to. He doesn't know how to 947 00:42:25,630 --> 00:42:28,280 and he doesn't have any basis for doing it. 948 00:42:28,328 --> 00:42:29,848 And that will fit rather well 949 00:42:29,895 --> 00:42:31,675 because the agents working the case 950 00:42:31,723 --> 00:42:33,333 feel that this is CIA. 951 00:42:33,376 --> 00:42:35,066 - But they've... 952 00:42:35,117 --> 00:42:38,207 traced the money. - They've traced a name 953 00:42:38,251 --> 00:42:40,251 but they haven't gotten to the guy yet. 954 00:42:40,296 --> 00:42:42,686 Now it's directly traceable. 955 00:42:42,734 --> 00:42:45,304 And there's more. 956 00:42:45,345 --> 00:42:48,085 We're relying on more and more people all the time. 957 00:42:48,130 --> 00:42:50,130 That's a problem. 958 00:42:50,176 --> 00:42:53,046 They'll stop if we take this other way. 959 00:42:54,789 --> 00:42:57,619 - Right. Fine. 960 00:42:57,662 --> 00:42:59,662 - And they say the only way to do that... 961 00:42:59,707 --> 00:43:02,187 is from White House instructions. 962 00:43:02,231 --> 00:43:05,411 It's gotta be Helms and uh, what's his name? 963 00:43:05,452 --> 00:43:07,372 - Walters. 964 00:43:07,410 --> 00:43:10,590 - The proposal would be that Ehrlichman and I call him. 965 00:43:13,591 --> 00:43:16,551 - All right, fine. 966 00:43:16,594 --> 00:43:19,904 How do you--well... 967 00:43:19,945 --> 00:43:22,595 we protected Helms from one hell of a lot of things. 968 00:43:22,643 --> 00:43:25,043 - Well, that's what Ehrlichman says. 969 00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:29,520 The FBI interviewed Colson yesterday. 970 00:43:29,563 --> 00:43:32,703 The FBI guys working the case had concluded it was either 971 00:43:32,740 --> 00:43:34,870 a White House operation or it was-- 972 00:43:34,916 --> 00:43:36,566 - Cuban thing. 973 00:43:36,614 --> 00:43:39,014 - Cubans and the CIA. 974 00:43:39,051 --> 00:43:41,491 And after their interrogation of Colson yesterday 975 00:43:41,531 --> 00:43:43,531 they concluded it was not the White House 976 00:43:43,577 --> 00:43:45,667 but are now convinced it's the CIA. 977 00:43:45,710 --> 00:43:48,100 So the CIA turn off would-- - Good. 978 00:43:48,147 --> 00:43:50,187 Play it tough. 979 00:43:50,236 --> 00:43:51,886 That's the way they play it, that's the way 980 00:43:51,933 --> 00:43:55,073 we're gonna play it. - Okay, then we'll do that. 981 00:43:55,110 --> 00:43:59,510 - Just say, it was aomedy of errors... 982 00:43:59,549 --> 00:44:02,069 and they should call the FBI in 983 00:44:02,117 --> 00:44:04,377 and say that, for the country, 984 00:44:04,424 --> 00:44:06,344 don't go any further into this one. 985 00:44:06,382 --> 00:44:07,472 Period. 986 00:44:07,514 --> 00:44:09,784 Tell them, lay off. 987 00:44:09,821 --> 00:44:12,481 - Yeah, that's the basis we do it on. 988 00:44:12,519 --> 00:44:16,089 - I don't want them to get any ideas 989 00:44:16,131 --> 00:44:19,701 that we're doing it because our concern is political.