All language subtitles for Episode 04 And Then You Destroy Yourself

- It all started in the early
morning hours of June 17th

when, on the sixth floor
of the building behind me,

five men with electronic
gear were caught in the offices

of the Democratic National Committee.

The building is called The Watergate.

- Arrested at gunpoint,

the five suspects had with
them bugs and microphones.

Just who wanted to
listen in to the chit-chat

of the Democratic National
Committee remains a mystery.

- Richard Nixon,

the man America needs now more than ever.

all: Four more years! Four more years!

- The shadowy trail of the
Watergate papers veers

closer to the White House today.

"The Washington Post"
said the Watergate break in

was no isolated event,

but part of a broader
effort to spy on democrats

and sabotage their presidential campaign.

- No reporter from "The Washington Post"

should ever be in the White House again.

Do you understand?

- The White House denied,
and continues to deny,

involvement in any wrongdoing.

- There are few signs that Watergate

is turning any concerns in the electorate.

- Does a thing like the Watergate affair

give you any second thoughts?

- No, no. It doesn't bother me at all.

- He is the most qualified mn for the job.

I'm gonna vote for Nixon.

- This is your vote,

and years from now,

I just hope you can all look back

and say it was one of your best votes.

Thank you.

all: Four more years, four
more years, four more years.

- President Nixon will be
reelected in a landslide.

- I, Richard Nixon,

do solemnly swear that
I will faithfully execute

the office of President
of the United States,

so help me God...

- So help me God.

- And President Nixon
sits in the Oval Office

for his second term.

- Well, it's turned out to be
a rather cold, blustery day

here in Washington. The wind chill factor

is pretty low coming in
from the north as that wind is.

- Here comes the president's car.

The president being preceded
by a fife and drum corps.

- All the bandsmen in
their colonial uniforms.

If the weather were just a bit warmer,

I suppose this would be a somewhat more

festive occasion.

- Perhaps it's been the weather,

but the crowds have been very, very light,

somewhat sparse.

Not the kind of crowd that
one would have hoped for

on a day like today.

- Here is a president who has just received

the greatest popular election victory

in the history of the country.

This is his great moment. His great day.

It must indicate, I suppose,
what Vietnam has done to us.

- Good evening.

President Nixon is about
to address the nation

on the status of the peace
negotiations on Vietnam.

That is the phrase the White House used

when it announced the president's

intention to speak.

Now, here is the president.

- We rolling, gentlemen? - All set.

- All right.

- Good evening.

I have asked for this radio
and television time tonight

for the purpose of
announcing that we, today,

have concluded an agreement to end the war

and bring peace with honor in Vietnam

and in Southeast Asia.

The ceasefire will take effet
at 2400 Greenwich Mean Time,

January 27, 1973.

Within 60 days,

all American forces will be
withdrawn from South Vietnam.

- It's over now. We're
gonna be reunited again.

President Nixon said
we got out of it with honor,

and I'm happy with that.

- Seven men went on trial
today, charged with the break-in

and burglary of Democratic
National Headquarters

in the Watergate building last June.

- Far more is involved here
than the guilt or innocence

of the seven defendants.

If they are guilty, why did they do it?

Then, who put them up to it?

- Good evening. The
jury in the Watergate case

reached a quick verdict late today.

Guilty on all counts,

of the break in and bugging

of National Democratic
Committee Headquarters.

- This was supposed to
be the finale for the seven

Watergate defendants,
the day of sentencing.

Instead, the case broke wide open again.

- James W. McCord, the
one-time security directr

for the Nixon reelection campaign,

one of the men convicted
in the Watergate affair,

has apparently decided to tell
what he knows about Watergate.

- Is your client doing
this in hopes of getting

a lighter sentence, or precisely why?

- I've advised Mr. McCord to be guided

solely by his own
conscience and conviction.

He'll do just that.

- McCord says that the trial was marred

by political pressure, by perjury,

and that people not on trial were involved.

- Today, James McCord Jr.

headed for his appointment at the capital,

now ready to testify
against his co-conspirators

and those who hired him

in the politically explosive
Watergate conspiracy.

- "The Los Angeles Times"
reporting today McCord

implicated two Nixon aides,
and White House Counsel

John Dean had prior
knowledge of the break in.

- It's hard to put events of
this magnitude in perspectiv.

Nevertheless, the scandal
has now moved right

to the doorway of the Oval
Office in the White House.

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

receiving--

Sorry.

The president today has requested

and accepted the resignation of John Dean

from his position of the
White House counsel.

Okay.

- Good evening.

In recent months,

members of my administration
and officials of the committee

for the reelection of the President,

including some of my closest
friends and most trusted aides,

have been charged with involvement

in what has come to be
known as The Watergate Affair.

In any organization,

the men at the top must
bear the responsibility.

That responsibility, therefore,
belongs here, in this office.

I accept it, and I pledge to
you tonight, from this office,

that I will do everything in my power

to ensure that the guilty
are brought to justice,

and that such abuses are
purged from our political processes

in the years to come,

long after I have left this office.

- I don't think that he
had anything to do with it.

I really don't.

- Well, I don't blame the president.

You know, I think that his associates

fooled him quite a bit.

- Many more things are bothering America

than Watergate, like
the high price of meat,

you know, and the high cost of living.

- As of now, we do not know

many of the details in the Watergate story.

Perhaps the answers will
come in the Senate hearings,

which start this week with witnesses

telling what they know,
under oath, before the public.

- Good morning.

This is the Senate Caucus
rom in Washington D.C.,

as the senate opens
what is likely to become

the most serious
investigatin it has ever made,

an investigation of the
American political system

and the presidency itself.

- The questions that have
been raised in the wake

of the June 17th break in,

strike at the very
undergirding of our democracy.

My colleagues on the committee

and I are determined to uncover

all the relevant facts
surrounding these matters.

The nation's history
itself are watching us.

We cannot fail our mission.

- These, of course, are days

where there's no shortage of controversy

with the Watergate
Committee on Capitol Hill,

but for a few hours tonight,
attention will be shifted awy

from those problems
here at the White House.

- It isn't that we're
trying to keep anything

from the American people

that the American people should know,

but had we not had secrecy,

you men would still be in Hanoi

rather than in Washington today.

- Good morning.

Although this is not ABC's scheduled day

to provide live continuous coverage,

we are going on now with the hearings

because the witness will be John Dean.

You see him here
with his wife at his right.

- The Committee will come to order.

- I met Mr. Dean.

- Could you please take the microphone

and put it closer to you
so we could all hear it.

- Certainly.

The Watergate matter
was an inevitable outgrowth

of a climate of excessive
concern over leaks,

an insatiable appetite
for political intelligence,

all coupled with

a do-it-yourself White House staff,

regardless of the law.

These elements culminated with the creation

of a covert intelligence operation

as part of the president's
reelection committee.

I shall now turn to meetings
I had with the president

in February and March of this year

on Watergate matters specifically.

I told the president about
the fact that there were money

demands being made by the
seven convicted defendants.

He asked me how much it would cost.

I told him that it might be
as high as a million dollars

or more.

He told me that that was no problem.

I concluded by saying this is
going to take continued perjury

and continued support of these individuals

to perpetuate the cover-up,

and I did not believe it was
possible to so continue it.

I told him

that there was a cancer
growing on the presidency,

and if the cancer was not removed,

the president himself
would be killed by it,

and he said that it would
be handled properly.

- Now, it is on the public record.

John Dean's damning, if
largely unsubstantiated,

testimony that the president
knowingly participated

in the Watergate cover-up.

Nothing less than
Richard Nixon's presidency

may ride on whether the
public believes John Dean or not.

- Today, John Dean ended
five days of testimony,

still insisting that the president

knew of the Watergate cover-up last year.

Not in this century has
anyone made such accusations

under oath against a president.

- The White House is
seeking protection from

the Dean testimony
behind a wall of silence.

The president's spokesman would not reply

except with "No comment"
to any of the charges.

- You know, there has been
talk of your father being--

a great deal of talk--
being very secluded that

when he is faced with a problem
like some of the Watergate

developments that there is this wall.

- Well, I think that there
have been a lot of secondhand

hear--you know, hearsay

and it's been printed as if it's fact,

and he hasn't done any wrong.

- You know, I feel like
almost uncomfortable

asking you these questions,
and yet, one must at this time.

How is your father, Mrs. Eisenhower?

Some people have said
that he's aged 10 to 15 years.

- I haven't seen a dramatic change,

but I think he, you know, he--

you know, gets more gray
hair every day, that's for sure.

- President Nixon is resting tonight

at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.

- My appraisal of President Nixon

is that he has a very severe
illness, with pneumonia,

and has the kind of illness

that ought to be treated in the hospital.

- Asked if the recent stress of his office

may have contributed to the illness,

the doctor responded,

"Maybe yes. Maybe no."

- Okay.

- Programs regularly scheduld for this time

will not be seen today in
order that we might bring you

the following special report.

Watergate: Senate Hearings.

- State your name.

- My name is Alexander Porter Butterfield.

- What were your duties at the
White House, Mr. Butterfield?

- I was responsible for the management

and ultimate supervision
of the office of special files.

- Mr. Butterfield, are you
aware of the installation

of any devices,

listening devices, in the
Oval Office of the president?

- I was aware of listening devices;

yes, sir.

- On whose authority were
they installed, Mr. Butterfield?

- On the president's
authority for posterity.

- All right. Mr. Butterfield,

as far as you know from
your own personal knowledge,

all of the president's
conversations were recorded,

as far as you know?

- That's correct.

- Mr. Butterfield, in one word,

to reconstruct the conversations,

what would be the best way to reconstruct

those conversations?

- Well, in the obvious manner, Mr. Dash,

to obtain the tape and play it.

- Thank you very much, sir.

- A startling development,

certainly critical in regard
to Dean's testimony and,

in essence, the case against the President

of the United States.

- Mr. Ron, can you tell us
how the president was informed

about Mr. Butterfield's testimony

and what his reaction to it was?

- Well, he was informed
by members of his staff

when we were informed about it.

I won't give you his reaction to it.

- Is the president going
to release the tapes?

- Gentlemen, I understand
your interest in this subject,

but this is not the time.
Questions on another subject,

I'll take those. If not--

- Tell us this, whether those tapes

are considered presidential documents?

- I've already told you
that I'm not prepared

to talk about this beyond this.

- Ron, can you assure
us that the tapes are safe?

- Where are they physically?

- I thought I had been
quite clear earlier when I said

that I had nothing further to say

on this particular matter at this point.

- At some point, are
you ever going to be able

to talk about it?

- Well, we haven't determined that yet.

Thank you.

- Thank you very much for
your very warm welcome.

I do want you to know that
there is one bit of advice

that I am not going to take,

and it will be of interest
to our friends in the press.

Some people thought that, perhaps,

the burdens of the office
and the rather rough assaults

this office gets from time to time,

brings on an illness,

and that I might get so tired

that I might consider either slowing down

or, even some suggested, resigning.

Well, now, just so we set that to rest,

any suggestion

that this president's ever gonna slow down

while he's president or is
ever gonna leave this office

until he finishes the
job he was elected to do,

anyone who suggests that,

that's just plain poppycock.

Let others wallow in Watergate.
We're gonna do our job.

- It seems a lot longer,
but it was only last week

that the Senate Watergate Committee

learned of the existence of tape recordings

of President Nixon's conversations,

including conversations
bearing on Watergate.

- I would urge that the
tapes be furnished for use

in my investigation without restriction.

The request is part of an investigation

into serious criminal misconduct,

the obstruction of justice.

Therefore, it becomes my duty
promptly to seek subpoenas.

The tapes are material
and important evidence

pursuant to a conspiracy
and as part of a cover-up.

- Good evening. The time has come for me

to speak out about the charges made

and to provide a perspective on the issue

for the American people.

I had no prior knowledge
of the Watergate break-in.

I neither took part in nor knew

about any of the subsequent
cover up activities.

That was and that is the simple truth.

Many have urged that in
order to help prove the truth

of what I have said,

I should turn over to the
special prosecutor recordings

of conversations that I held in my office

or on my telephone.

However, these
conversations are privileged,

and their disclosure cannot be compelled.

I pledge to you tonight
that those who would exploit

Watergate in order to keep us from doing

what we were elected
to do, will not succeed.

- This is Virginia Sherwood
at a Ford Motor Company

plant near Detroit.

The factory workers
here had their own reaction

to the president's Watergate speech.

- Well, I thought the
president was kind of evasive

in some of the matters that he said.

- You want a real literal answer?

- Yes sir.

- I thought it was a bunch of bananas.

- Well, I think he's wrong. He should--

- What do you mean?

- Well, he should bring them tapes out

and let the public see what's going on.

- The number for United
Press International, please.

This is Jim Doyle from
Archibald Cox's office.

I have a statement that
I'm gonna read as fast

as you can take it.

It's from Special Prosecutor Cox.

Are you ready?

"The president is refusing to
comply with the court decrees

"to turn over tapes, and other documents.

I shall bring this to the
attention of the court."

- Ladies and gentlemen,

some things I feel very
deeply about are at stake.

There has been and is
evidence of serious wrongdoing

on the part of the President
of the United States.

Wrongdoing involving an effort
to cover up other wrongdoings.

- --Will not be seen tonight

so that we may bring you
the following special report.

- Roll one. Take one.

- President Nixon has discharged

Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.

- What, are they kicking you out?

- What can I say, guys?

- Oh, shit. - Are they seizing files?

- I can make no further comment
now other than our offices

have been sealed by the FBI.

- This is nuts.

- Good evening.

The president has
abolished Special Watergate

Prosecutor Cox's office and duties.

In my career as a correspondent,

I never thought I'd be
announcing these things.

Because of the president's actions,

the Attorney General has resigned.

At the same time, the
Deputy Attorney General

has been fired.

All of this adds up

to a totally unprecedented situation,

a grave and profound
crisis in which the president

has set himself against

his own Attorney General
of the Department of Justice.

- Is everybody ready? - Yeah, hold on.

- Mr. Cox's comment when
he was about to be fired was,

"Whether ours shall continue
to be a government of laws

"and not of men is now for congress,

and ultimately the American people."

- In firing the Special Prosecutor

and abolishing his entire office,

Mr. Nixon has made it abundantly clear

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

The people are beginning to respond.

The anger and outrage
reflected in these telegrams,

all of them demanding that the congress act

and impeach the president.

all: Impeach Nixon now, impeach Nixon now,

impeach Nixon now.

- Good evening. The
president has agreed to o

just what he had always
said he would not do:

turn over certain tape recordings

of his conversations about Watergate.

- Mr. President! Mr. President!

- Wondering if you could
shae with us your thoughts

when you hear people

saying perhaps you should
resign or be impeached.

- Well, I'm glad we don't take the vote

in this room, let me say.

- At the risk of reopening
an obvious wound,

what is it about the television coverage

of you that has so aroused your anger?

- Gentlemen of the press,

one can only be angry
with those he respects.

As a matter of fact, I have
never heard such outrageous,

vicious reporting in
27 years of public life,

but regardless of what people see and hear

on television, night after night,

the tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

I have what it takes.

Mr. President! Mr. President!

- Most interesting.

Well, as you can see,
the president has decided

to end his news conference himself.

- Good evening.

The matter of the president's
White House tape recordings

took an unexpected turn today.

It is now said by the president's lawyer

that two of the requested
tape recordings do not exist.

- Do you think the public
will believe this story?

- I don't know.

- Last night I read a thing on the air

about the tapes vanishing,

and the audience
thought it was a sick joke.

- Can't you hear the
dialogue in the White House.

"Pat, now, you know I put
those tapes in that drawer."

Just every day he does
something that interests--

it's sort of like a rat going around,

you keep trying to kill
it and he gets away.

I have to have my Watergate fix

every single morning in the paper.

I get like this if I haven't gotten it.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the President of the United States.

- Mr. President, when did you discover

that two of the subpoenaed
White House tapes

did not exist?

- Let me just respond, if I could, sir,

before going to your question.

I turn left and then
come back to the right.

I don't want to tilt either
way at the moment,

as you can be sure.

- Well, today, another bomb exploded,

more trouble about those subpoenaed tapes.

- The 18-minute segment
of another of the subpoenaed

Watergate tapes is missing.

- You can be sure that
this kind of a subject

is one that is a difficult one to explain.

- Technical experts report
that the 18-minute gap

was caused by erasing and re-recording.

- Impeach him now!

all: Impeach Nixon now!

Impeach Nixon now!

- Let me just say this, I want to say

this to the television audience,

because people have got to know

whether or not their president's a crook.

Well, I'm not a crook.

all: Nixon is a crook!

Nixon is a crook!

Nixon is a crook!

Nixon is a crook!

- Well, now, there's another
battle for White House tapes.

- Today's subpoena is for 64 conversations

covering more than 45 hours.

- The president and his
lawyers pursue their hard lie

on not giving another inch
on the Watergate scandal.

- It was like trench warfare,

charge after charge over the top.

- President Nixon will
fight the case all the way

to the Supreme Court.

- Only a few yards gained and then lost.

There wasn't going to be a miracle.

We couldn't make one happen.

- History was made today

as a unanimous Supreme Court

told the president of the United States

that he has no right to
withhold White House tapes

subpoenaed for the
Watergate cover-up trial.

- The meeting will come to order.

Make no mistake about it,

this is a turning point,

whatever we decide.

- Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The president has engaged
in a series of actions

designed to thwart the lawful investigation

by government prosecutors,

and I am not going to sit here

and be an idle spectator to the subversion,

the destruction of the Constitution.

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the law requires that we
decide the case on the evidence.

Nobody doubts that. On the evidence.

There's not a word of
presidential knowledge,

or awareness, or involvement
in obstruction of justice.

Now, ladies and gentlemen,

I do ask you to judge the proof,

which is the law of this case.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

- With great reluctance
and deep personal sorrow,

I am prepared to support
those portions of article 1

of the Bill of Impeachment.

The magnificent career of Richard Nixon

must be terminated.

- Well, thank you very much for calling.

- White House, may I help you?

- Yes?

- Yes, well, it's so good to you to call

so many times, sir,

to make certain that the
president will not resign.

- Although resignation appears certain,

the staff assistant in charge
of the phone bank said,

"We're refusing to believe it

until we hear it with our own ears."

- According to United Press International,

President Nixon will go on the air

to address the nation tonight

at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

- It's been a day of incredible suspense,

but the hard fact is that no one

really knows what is going
on in the president's mind.

- It was a painful day.

Tears were brimming in
virtually everybody's eye.

But the essence of every
great leader I have known

is that he was a lonely man.

What? Okay.

Only the CBS crew now
is gonna be in this room.

Only the crew. That's it.

You got it? Now, all Secret Service,

are there any Secret Service in the room?

- Just one agent, Mr. President.

- Out.

- 15 seconds to air, please.

- President Richard Milhous Nixon.

- Good evening.

This is the 37th time I have spoken to you

from this office.

Throughout the long and
difficult period of Watergat,

I have felt it was my duty to persevere.

I have never been a quitter.

To leave office before my tem is completed

is abhorrent to every instint in my body,

but as president, I must put the interests

of America first.

Therefore, I shall resign the presidency

effective at noon tomorrow.

I do so with this prayer:

May God's grace be with you

in all the days ahead.

- This is the culminating act,

the final act of his
administration, of course.

- The first president in American history

to be forced to leave office
before the end of his term.

Mr. Nixon resigning
effective at noon tomorrow.

- This is the south side of the White House

where, later this morning,

President Nixon and
his famiy will be leaving.

Mr. Nixon will make farewell remarks

to members of the White
House staff, personal friends,

all of whom have
gathered here this morning.

- Now, the president and Mrs. Nixon

coming into the East Room.

This will be the last
time that he will do it

as President of the United States.

- Thank you.

We think, sometimes,

when things happen
that don't go the right way,

we think that when we lose an election,

we think that when we suffer a defeat,

that all has ended.

Not true.

It's only a beginning. Always.

And so I say to you on this occasion,

never get discouraged, never be petty,

always remember, others may hate you,

but those who hate you don't
win unless you hate them,

and then you destroy yourself.

- We come to the end of the Nixon years,

years which saw America's
greatest political comeback

turn into America's
greatest political disgrace.

- To those who say, "Will
you apologize? Are you sorry?"

There's no way that you could apologize...

Which would exceed

resigning the Presidency
of the United States.

That said it all, and I don't
intend to say any more.

- This will be viewed as a
great watersheds of history.

- Sometimes these watersheds
last for about a generation.

Do you think that as the lessons of, say,

Watergate are forgotten

we might have to go through
something like this again?