All language subtitles for Episode 01 The Will to Win

- Get out of the middle of the street.

- Sir?

- I am aware of the intense interest

concerning developments
over the last few days.

This has, of course, not been a diff--

Has been a difficult time.

Tonight at 9:00 Eastern Daylight time,

the President of the United States

will address the nation
on radio and television

from his Oval Office.

- People have begun to just sort of gather

outside the White House,
just stand near the gate thee

on Pennsylvania Avenue
and across the street here.

- This applause you
hear-- what has happened

is that a moving van

has just pulled up,
over at the White House.

- But the hard fact is
that no one really knows

what's going on in the president's mind.

One thing is certain:
it's difficult for everyone

to live with this tension much longer.

- Is that really not getting
anywhere that you can see?

I don't think it is. I
gotta , but it might.

- Okay, sir.

- Hey, you're better-looking than I am.

Why don't you stay here? Ha.

Let me see the--did you
get these lights properly...

- Yes, sir. - My eyes always have--

You'll find as you get past 60--

That's enough.

Thanks.

My friend Ollie always
wants to take a lot of pictures.

I'm afraid he'll catch me picking my nose.

Well, you want a level, don't you?

Yes, yes. Good evening.

This is the 37th time

I have spoken to you from this office.

Need any more?

Each time, I have done so to
discuss with you some matter

that I believe affected
the national interest.

- That's fine.

- Okay.

- We are standing by now

for President Richard Millhouse Nixon,

37th President of the United States.

- The explanation of this man
and what has happened to him

I think maybe we won't
all fully understand.

- Get out!

- You never knew really who he was.

- Good evening.

This is the 37th time

I have spoken to you from this office.

- It's as though he has needed enemies,

from the beginning, not
only for political reasons,

but to give him his own identity.

- Now, my mother was a Quaker,

and my father was a Methodist.

But when they married, they compromised.

They both became Quakers, of course.

We were poor. We had very little.

We all used hand-me-down clothes.

I wore my brother's shoes,

and my brother below me wore mine.

When I was ten years of age,

we had the store and service station.

It was mostly study
and work. Not much play.

- They knew that when
their father told them

to do something, there
wasn't any question about it.

When he spoke, he
meant exactly what he said.

- We'll put it this way. He didn't believe

in any of the modern
methods of raising children.

He said, "You spare the
rod, you spoil the child."

It was a happy home.

A happy home--let me
describe it another way.

Sometimes, I think we judge
happiness, in these days,

as being a life in which
there are no problems.

That isn't my estimate of happiness.

In our family, we had many great problems.

We had many great crises.

When I was in high school,

my youngest brother Arthur died

of tubercular meningitis very suddenly.

Within a week he was dead.

And then my oldest brother
Harold had tuberculosis...

and my mother, for three years,

stayed with him in Arizona.

It was a rather difficult time, actually,

from the standpoint of the
family being pulled apart.

- Me and Dick were real buddies,

but the tuberculosis got him.

Harold died.

I think when you lose an older brother,

you suddenly have to
take on the role of elder son.

- So I always had the
drive of my father behind me

saying, "Now, look. I
had to quit when I was

in the sixth grade, and so
you're going to do better."

- When we came in as freshmen,

Dick Nixon was something of an opportunist.

He wasn't athletic,

but he went out for the football team.

This, I feel, was deliberate,

because the image served him well,

since this would contribute
toward his election

as Student Body President
and as a leader on campus.

- I worked my way through college

and through law school.

In 1940, probably the best thing

that ever happened to me happened.

I married Pat. She was a beautiful girl,

and she was a very remarkable person too.

Her mother died when she
was about nine years of age.

Her father died when she was 16,

and still graduated from USC with honors.

In 1942, I went into the service.

I enlisted in the Navy.

I was convinced that with this aggression

that was sweeping across the globe,

that no one could stand aside.

- How jubilant was the taste of victory,

how sweet the rewards of peace.

- I received a wire from an old friend.

The banker in our hometown
of Whittier, California

saying, "We're looking for candidates

to run for Congress."

I was off.

- Richard Nixon, from the very beginning,

had such a will to win

that anything he could use in the campaign,

apparently, was all right.

- In the year 1946, young, bright,

but unknown Dick Nixon was given a chance

to run for Congress from
his home district in California.

- Jerry Voorhis had been
the incumbent for ten years,

in a relatively conservative district.

- By a whirlwind of charges and innuendos,

the anti-Communist Democratic
incumbent Jerry Voorhis

was made to seem a pro-Communist.

- Of course, that first campaign

was the most exciting of all.

There's nothing like winning the first one.

As far as Mrs. Nixon was concerned,

she liked adventure.

She thought that it was very important

to live an exciting life,

and frankly, going to Congress
would be exciting she thought.

- Representative Nixon, what do you think

Congress can and Congress must do

to deal with this problem
of foreign espionage

within our own government?

- I think the first thing
that Congress must do

is to continue to expose these activities

through the Committee
on Un-American Activities.

The facts regarding the
sinister Communist conspiracy

and other subversive activities

should be brought to the American public.

- I am not and never have been

a member of the Communist Party.

- Mr. Nixon, I urge that
your committee members

abandon such verdict first
and testimony later tactics.

- Hiss was good-looking,
suave, sophisticated,

Ivy League manner.

He was a very effective witness.

- At the time, everybody was backing Hiss.

The committee wanted to drop it completely.

Everybody was advising Nixon to drop it,

that it would kill his career.

- But somehow I had a feeling.

I said, "There's
something about that fellow

that doesn't ring true."

It is the intention of the Committee

on Un-American Activities

to pursue this investigation
until we put the spotlight

on those high officials
in the State Department

who are responsible for

selling this country down the river.

I am holding in my hand

a microfilm of the most confidential,

highly secret State Department documents.

This microfilm was made for the purpose

of transmitting these documents,

in reduced form, to the Soviet Union.

We knew that we had there

the hard evidence that
we had lacked before,

and this involved espionage.

That was what eventually
brought Hiss' indictment

and his conviction of perjury.

- Alger Hiss, one time
high government official,

will lose all civil rights,
after a year in prison.

- Mr. Nixon got a great
deal of political mileage

out of the conviction of Alger Hiss.

Had a great deal to do
with his future career.

- I'm Dick Nixon,

one of your United States
congressmen from California.

I am now applying for a new job:

that of United States senator.

- In 1950, Nixon ran against

Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas.

It was a very rough campaign

filled with a certain amount of innuendo.

He called Helen Douglas a pink lady.

- Saying if I was against the Committee

on Un-American Activities
I was for Communism.

Dirty tricks designed to
avod a discussion of issue,

and anything was acceptable,
if it guaranteed success.

- In California, Congressman
Richard Nixon wins easily.

- I know of no person who
could have been selected

for this high position and high honor

by the Republican Party of the nation.

- Is there any objection?

Here declares Richard M. Nixon

the Republican nominee for
vice president by acclamation.

- It's a big day for the little town

of Whittier, California.

There she is.

That's Mrs. Nixon.

He is a very personable young man...

And will undoubtedly be a great asset

to the Republican ticket.

- The whole Nixon family

considers it a great privilege

to work for the election to the presidency

of General Eisenhower.

And although Tricia and
Julie are a little too young

for active campaigning,

Mrs. Nixon will travel with
me throughout the country,

and I think you will find that she's

one of the best campaigners on record.

- Well, I certainly will do all I can.

- After all, I was only 39 years old,

and to even be considered
for vice president,

particularly running
with General Eisenhower,

for whom I had enormous respect,

was to me something that
you only dreamed about.

- A headline in the New
York "Post" newspaper said...

- The revelation that Senator Nixon,

the Republican vice presidential candidate,

was receiving what
amounted to a private salary,

an extra salary from
private persons in California,

is becoming a major political story.

Some Republicans are embarrassed,

and of course the Democrats are demanding

that Nixon withdraw from the race.

- In my judgment, men in
government that are dishonest

should be punished and put out.

- To demand his resignation
s vice presidential candidate.

- Everybody thought
that I could not survive

on the ticket.

But you know something
about miracles in politics?

Miracles don't happen.

They don't happen, unless
you make them happen.

- Senator Richard Nixon has interrupted

his nationwide campaign tour

to be with you tonight for
this important message.

- My fellow Americans,

I come before you tonight

as a man whose honesty and integrity

has been questioned.

I want to tell you my side of the case.

Not 1 cent of the $18,000

or any other money of that type

ever went to me for my personal use.

I am going, at this time,

to give a complete financial history.

First of all, I've had my salary

as a congressman and as a senator.

I have received a total
of $1,600 from estates...

approximately $1,500 a year

from nonpolitical speaking engagements...

we've inherited a little money.

We've got a house in Washington.

We have a house in Whittier, California

which cost $13,000...

I own a 1950 Oldsmobile car.

We have no stocks and bonds of any type.

My wife's sitting over here.

Pat doesn't have a mink coat,

but she does have a
respectable Republican cloth coat,

and I always tell her that
she'd look good in anything.

One other thing I probably should tell you,

because if I don't, they'll probably be

saying this about me too.

We did get something--a
gift--after the election.

You know what it was?

It was a little cocker spaniel dog,

black and white spotted,
and our little girl Tricia,

the six-year-old, named it Checkers.

And you know, the kids,
like all kids, love the dog,

and I just want to say this right now;

that regardless of what they say about it,

we're gonna keep him.

And now, finally, I know that you wonder

whether or not I am going to stay

on the Republican ticket or resign.

Let me say this:

I don't believe that I ought to quit,

because I'm not a quitter.

And incidentally, Pat's not a quitter,

but the decision, my friends, is not mine.

And I'm going to ask you to help wire

and write the Republican National Committee

whether you think I should stay on

or whether I should get off,

and whatever their
decision is, I will abide by it.

- All those in favor of Nixon

continuing as a candidate will say aye.

- Aye!

- He is not only completely vindicated.

I feel that he acted as a
man of courage and of honor,

and so far as I am concerned,
stands higher than ever before.

- Once you have fought the battle,

and once you have won...

- Last night, at Wheeling, West Virginia--

- Then you have a let-down.

- Eisenhower and Nixon
in a high peak of emotion

that brought Nixon to tears.

That was that, and a short time later,

Nixon was back on his
chartered airplane with his wife

going back to the speaking tour in the West

he had interrupted.

- It was a landslide for the
Eisenhower/Nixon ticket.

- We leave Washington on
the midnight October the 5th.

From there, we go down through
the Pacific to New Zealand,

then over to Australia, up
to Indonesia, to Jakarta...

To Saigon, and then to China.

To Hong Kong. Formosa.

Korea to Japan. Then down to Manila.

For the sake of millions in the world

who depend upon our leadership,

we must never falter.

- Washington, D.C.

In a four-week goodwill
tour of the Caribbean...

- This is Richard Nixon's 22-day

goodwill mission to eight African...

- Goodwill tour of eight
South American nations,

its purpose to-- - The
Communists are making

an all-out effort to win.

If they do, then the free world,

eventually, will be forced to its knees.

- For four days, now,
some of the 20th Century's

most extraordinary diplomatic maneuvers

have been taking place in Moscow.

- Khrushchev is a very,
very capable, tough,

unpredictable leader
who would test my mettle.

This, Mr. Khrushchev,

is one of the most advanced developments

in communication that
we have in our country.

It is color television, of course.

- We wish you success.

You can show us American possibilities,

and then we can say...

- Says Mr. K.,

"The Soviets will overtake America

and then wave bye-bye."

- This indicates the possibilities

of increasing communication,

and this increase in communication

will teach us some things,

and it will teach yu some things, to,

because after al, you don't know everythin.

- If I don't know
everything, then I would say

that you know absolutely
nothing about Communism.

- All that I can say, from the way you talk

and the way you dominae the conversatio,

you would have made
a good lawyer, yourself.

- I've seen Khrushchev
in action many times.

I think that he felt that here, at last,

he met a man of his own
mettle and worth arguing with.

- It was common for reporters
who followed him to say,

"I hate the guy, but--"

and then would come a reluctant statement

that Nixon was
representing his nation well.

Emerging from the long
shadow of Eisenhower,

he became leader of the Republican Party,

and after eight long years,

Nixon's supreme chance came in 1960.

- Gentlemen, could we bill this

as your first joint appearance?

The two leading candidates for 1960.

I will say this: that at the present time,

Senator Kennedy is
campaigning very effectively.

- I'm glad to return that compliment.

- Things are starting to pop

in this vital campaign of 1960.

- The chair declares that Vice
President Richard M. Nixon

has been unanimously nominated

to be the candidate of the Republican Party

for the office of President
of the United States.

- He's been downtown in his suite

at the Sheraton Blackstone
watching on television,

looking at us looking at him looking at us.

- Could we have a word
from Mrs. Nixon, please?

- Well, I still feel it's all a dream.

When I was teaching school 20 years ago

I never knew that this
event would happen tonight.

- Mr. Vice President, why do you want to be

President of the United States?

- These lights are a
little warm, if you notice.

I think this nation has a destiny.

I think every individual has a destiny.

- Richard Nixon.

- And I am convinced that,

if America does not give
the world, the free world,

the leadership that it
needs in these times...

We want Nixon!

- That the cause of freedom

will die forever.

- We want Nixon! - If you'll just be quiet,

you're gonna have Dick Nixon.

- With faith in America and in her people,

I accept your nomination

for President of the United States.

- It's the centennial convention

of the Republican Party.

100 years since the nomination of Lincoln.

It has come now from Abraham
Lincoln to Richard Nixon.

- When I first met Kennedy,
he was a congressman.

He was very intelligent.
He was very personable.

However, I sensed that he
was very shy, frankly, as I was.

I rather thought that we
were alike, in that respect,

but we were very different, in many ways.

He, of course,

had all the money he
needed for personal purposes.

He never had to fight his way up.

He never had to worry
about losing in a campaign

for fear that he wouldn't have a job.

- It is time, in short,

for a new generation of leadership.

- He was one that attracted
the people who wanted

a young, courageous man in the presidency,

and yet one who was suave, smooth,

debonair, and graceful.

Basically, that's the mark of royalty.

- The next President of the United States:

Richard M. Nixon.

- The reason advanced by people

who intend to vote for Nixon

was that he's had more
experience than Kennedy,

particularly in foreign affairs.

- Based on the record crowds,

and they have been record
crowds, press please note--

bigger than any that anybody's ever had--

- Oh, no. This isn't a test of looks.

It's a test of what you've
got upstairs. Thanks.

- Will you take camera two please, Roger?

- What the hell am I
seeing? Is that the light?

Bill, what do you want me to do? This?

- Testing. One, two, three. One.

- We have met. - Sure. How are you?

Good to see you again. - Good to see you.

- Mr. Nixon arrived at the studios first.

- I got a little--

- But they're not gonna show the back.

Am I on this side? - Yes.

If he's agreeable, I think we just both

should stand here. In
other words, you say the,

"We'll now have questions, gentlemen."

Then we move over here, right?

- Right. - Good.

- But the master tactician

made one major tactical mistake.

- David, will you hit the
one minute button, please?

On the cut, please.

- Did you want it quickly, or how--

- Yes. Well, we figure
when you see 30 seconds...

- Then try to make-- all right.

- Looking right at the
camera here. Good, again.

- Shake again, Kennedy, and look--

- Nixon was famous.

He was the world-famous vice president.

Kennedy was a rather unknown senator.

- He was thought to
be untested politically,

a bit of a political lightweight.

- One more time. - Thank you.

- Now.

- And Richard Nixon was the great debater.

- Can you hear me now speaking?

Is that about the right tone of voice?

- Looks like a brick wall.

- Good evening, and now,
for the first opening statement

by Senator John F. Kennedy.

- We discuss tonight domestic issues,

but I would not want that to be

any implication to be given

that this does not involve
directly our struggle

with Mr. Khrushchev for survival.

Therefore, I think the question
before the American people is:

are we doing as much as we can do?

I should make it very
clear that I do not think

we're doing enough,
that I am not satisfied,

as an American, with the progress

that we're making.
This is a great country--

- Kennedy was standing
up there very comfortably...

- Now, if the United States fails--

- And I expected the tiger
to come out of his corner

and rip apart this young challenger.

- I think it's time America
started moving again.

- The things that Senator Kennedy has said

many of us can agree with.

There is no question but that
this nation cannot stand still,

and I subscribe completely to the spirit

that Senator Kennedy has expressed tonight.

Our disagreement is not
about the goals for America

but only about the means
to reach those goals.

- Within the first two
minutes, I was convinced

that Nixon simply was
not going to fight back.

- He went in with the idea
he had to come through

as the nice guy, not the tough guy.

- He was trying to be too polite.

He was afraid of the Tricky Dick thing.

- Senator, the Vice
President, in his campaign,

has said that you are
naive and at times immature.

He has raised the question of leadership.

On this issue, why do you
think people should vote for you,

rather than the Vice President?

- The Vice President and I
came to the Congress together.

I've been there now for 14 years,

the same period of time that he has...

so that our experience in
government is comparable.

- I can only say that my experience

it there for the people to consider.

Senator Kennedy's is there
for the people to consider.

- Nixon was not up for the game.

- I think one party is ready
to move in these programs.

The other party gives them lip service.

- While Senator Kennedy
says we are for the status quo,

I do believe that he would
agree that my proposals

are just as sincerely held as his.

- He was soft. He was summating punches.

- He had a gray suit on
against a gray background,

and he looked sallow.

- A two-term vice
president, thoroughly wilted.

- I don't want historians
ten years from now to say,

"These were the years
when the tide ran out,

for the United States." I want them to say,

"These were the years
when the tide came in."

- In one hour, Nixon elevated his opponent

to his own level of fame

that he had worked eight
yeas to obtain himself.

- Silly damn thing anyways.

- It is interesting though.

I mean, it's as vivid as the light suit

and how much he stands
out, then how much the dark--

- You see the other point is that it was--

If it had been in color, it
would have been different.

A light suit in color is fine.

It's in black and white-- -
It just fades into the gra.

- In black and white,
always wear a dark suit.

That's something I should have.

Oh, well, hell.

- What's Jack got tht the rest haven't got?

The matinee face.

The bright, white teeth.

- It was rough, because of course,

many in the media are, more frankly,

suckers for style than average people.

- And his lovely wife Jacqueline.

- But the media being, shall we say,

not particularly in my corner--

generally speaking,
they're just against me.

- Mr. Vice President,
there are some who say,

"I don't know what it is,
but I just don't like the man."

- Mr. Nixon, in that first debate,

a great deal was made of
your appearance on television.

- Well, I've often said
that there wasn't much

that can be done with my face.

Sometimes, it's very
importat for a potential leader

to go through the fire.

That's how you learn how to win.

Whatever has happened, up to this point,

you haven't seen anything yet. Now is--

- This election is still wide
open and could be close,

or it could be a landslide either way.

- I do not believe that we can afford

to use the White House as a training school

to give a man experience

at the expense of the American people.

- 65 million Americans or more

will step into booths and
secretly vote their choice.

- I run against a candidate

who reminds me of the symbol of his party:

the circus elephant.

- Whom will the voters choose?

- It's a tremendous decision.

It might well be the most
crucial one they'll ever mak.

- The people of the United States realize

that it's a pied piper from Boston,

and they're not gonna go down that road!

- Tuesday, November 8th, is Election Day

all over the country.

Everyone has said this
would be a close election.

- Across the United States,
it's been a very calm day,

despite this record turnout
across the entire nation.

- It's been one of the
most arduous campaigns

we have ever had, and Vice President Nixon,

when he ended it, was gray with fatigue.

He said he hoped sometime
he would write a book

about running for president,

and he said the title of it should be

"The Exquisite Agony."

Now begins the exquisite agony

of waiting to see how it all turned out.

- The very first returns

are now beginning to pour in substantially.

- And it is a very close rac, indeed,

as you see on the board.
415,000 votes for Nixon

with 2% of the nation's precincts counted,

and for Nixon, he's leading in states

that would give him 173 electoral votes.

It is just neck and neck.

Let's see how the IBM 7090

is looking at these returns
this early in the evening.

Going over to the IBM data
center and Howard K. Smith.

- The first forecast that we can make

is with 1% of the nation's
precincts reporting,

the trend indicates that Richard M. Nixon

will be elected tonight.

- Suppose we direct your attention now

to the National Recap Board.

First, to the popular
vote, as it now stands.

- Now, Kennedy has moved
ahed in the popular vote.

On the electoral board,

Nixon is still holding on to the lead,

but it is so narrow at this point.

- In Maryland, Nixon
has jumped into a lead.

- New Hampshire a surprise.

Kennedy ahead with 10% of the votes in.

- Missouri has flopped
over into the Nixon column,

and that state was
expected to be for Kennedy.

- Not 100% of the vote,

but Kennedy has a slight lead in Texas.

This will be important.

- This turns into a seesaw battle

in quite a few of the
states, all night long.

- The vote has now
reached roughly 14 million.

- Kennedy in the lead by about a million.

We have, now, about 60%...

The board now

shows Kennedy ahead.

Very close still.

- Charles, we just heard from Los Angeles,

from Vice President Nixon's
election night headquarters,

that his aides say he
remains confident of victory.

- I have a philosophy that

this country is a country of destiny.

I happen to believe that
through the years our people,

some way, know how to
select the man for president

that the times need and
that the country needs.

all: We want Nixon! We want Nixon!

We want Nixon!

We want Nixon! - A hundred hands go up

in a peace sign which Nixon himself

has been using during the campaign.

all: We want Nixon!

- Our great presidents
have really articulated

what people felt at the time,

and it was because they were representative

of the tide of the times
that they were president.

- Mr. Pres--Mr. Vice President,

you almost convinced
me there, for a moment.

- John F. Kennedy becomes President-elect

of the United States.

- Just think how much
you're going to be missed.

You don't have Nixon
to kick around anymore.

We see cities enveloped in smoke and flame.

We see Americans hating each other,

fighting each other,
killing each other at home.

A long, dark night for
America is about to end.