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tv   Our Nixon  CNN  August 5, 2013 12:00am-2:01am PDT

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complicated, i probably wouldn't have done it. where to begin? we've had a long time to chat with bob halldamon and have the opportunity and the question is where to start? here you were, you worked four years in washington as nixon's number two man, nixon's sob you called it. he never went anywhere without you. >> pretty close to right. >> what you're accusing yourself of is a cloudy crystal ball. that's hardly the thing the american public thinks it's entitled to. that's the issue. >> well, maybe the american public is wrong. i know in my own heart and i
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know in my own head precisely what i did and why i did it. >> okay. >> and i know that i made some mistakes. i deeply regret those mistakes. >> as richard nixon's right-hand man he was the one most often recorded on the tapes, and they destroyed him. >> i had the rare privilege for four years serving on the white house staff under one of the greatest presidents. >> chief of staff hr haldeman found guilty on the watergate trial. >> do you regret what happened and what you did? >> oh, sure. the country lost motion, a lot of the good things we were working on in the way of domestic reforms were lost in the mess. you can't help but regret aftermath of that. a lot of good people had their lives spoiled in the process.
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>> john finished his statements. he was then returned to the holding room, rather a strange phrase. the holding room gives you an idea they are holding a chemical or bacteria or something. >> john eurlichman, guilty. >> the references to like an era of criminality or like people there were trying to, you know, rape the country of it's democracy, i mean, i just don't see it that way. >> chapin was linked to the watergate case, sabotage of the campaign. >> i don't think you can take that little priest of history, which may have been the darkest
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days of nixon's career and construct from that a mosaic that tells you about that man. [ cheers ] ♪
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♪ ♪
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♪ do you richard milhouse nixon solemnly swear. >> i do solemnly swear. >> that you will faithfully execute the office. >> that i will faithfully execute the office. >> of president of the united
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states. >> of president of the united states. >> and will to the best of your ability. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> preserve, protect and defend. >> the constitutional of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> so help you god? >> so help me god. [ applause ] >> the new president was in his office here at the white house at 7:30 this morning before anyone else on his staff and after only about four hours sleep. he's felt for some time he can do this job well and he was eager to get at it. >> president elect nixon today named another long-term aid hr haldeman served as chief of
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staff for the nixon campaign. haldeman is the closest thing to an alter ego the president has known for conservative views, crew cut and non-stop video taking. >> it was just an extremely exciting time for all of us. it was terribly hard work and very, very long difficult hours, but it was exciting because you were building something. there was no great trust involved in this and no thought at all of becoming permanently involved in either politics or government. it was, it was the thing i felt would be an interesting experience where i could make a contribution and something that would be a learning experience and an interesting experience for me.
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so that's why i did it. >> the white house staff has it evolves, i think you'll find will be smaller than it's been in the past. i know you'll find it will probably be the youngest one in history, certainly one of the youngest. >> also named as a special assistant was another man, 27-year-old dwight chapin. >> you got to keep in mind i was 27 years old at that point, and we had just gone through this campaign, and i was just waiting to see what unfolded. the day i went in and interviewed for the job, and i met this young 35-year-old crew cut guy by the name of bob haldeman and bob laldeman changed my life. i've never laughed as much as when i worked in the nixon white house. the sense of humor was the leveling factor. things, messes we would find
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ourselves in or whatever it might be. >> i think a lot of younger staff people here find that he can far excel than in terms of energy and stamina. >> i took a camera on all my trips, a super 8 and i have quite a collection of film. >> john ehrlichman, a lawyer that went on the campaign tour will have an advisory role. >> i think this first year we'll see as basically the time of reform. >> ehrlichman is chief of affairs and under study. >> i was not a nixon person going in, probably if some college friend invited me to go advance for john kennedy, i might have gone. there were very few illusions
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about richard nixon, i think, the senior staff as we got into things, a good deal of kind of dry humor about his mannerisms and prejudices but nevertheless, you work for the president of the united states. he's the only president around. you-all elected him. we all worked for him and it's up to us to make it work. >> it was a very unnatural kind of life and you had the feeling you were in the middle of a great big, brilliantly lighted, badly run television show. i was taken a whole movie of this throughout. ♪ >> i advanced the first trip to europe, eight countries and
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found myself hobnobbing with the king of belgium and the pope and all these folks and it got to be very heavy very fast. ♪ ♪
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critics call them the germans and describe their office as the build in war. i spoke to the advisors, henry, john ehrlichman and haldeman.
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everyone these days know who henry kissenger is but h.r. haldeman's job is not an easy, tighty one to describe and of the three he's been by his own choice the least visible to the public. he's one of the three to never give an television interview until now. his friends talk of his brilliance, efficiency, telephone dedication to the president and his lack of personal ego or jealousy. people call him cold, arrogant. this interview was filmed a week ago in mr. haldeman's office at the white house. you have no calendar? you really follow the president's day. you're available, as i understand it, from 7:00 in the morning and on and on and on. what does this do to your personal life? >> well, it poses some problems
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in it sometimes, but i have fortunately, a very understanding wife and four very interested and understanding children. >> do your sons want you to grow your hair longer? >> i was afraid you would probably ask that. you've probably seen the picture of my sons that we sent out for christmas, but -- because my older son has what i would call very long hair and my younger son has long air. >> they don't look like daddy. >> they don't. i face the fact they are is this in style and i'm out of step in hair styling and i'm afraid they are right and i'm wrong on that one. >> you have said, i'm using one of your owe tapgss again, i often find it fascinating to ponder by what standards history will judge nixon when all the partisan battles are over. well, how do you think he will be judged? >> if he has the opportunity to move ahead with what he's trying
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to do, i think there isn't any doubt he'll be judged as one of the great presidents. >> good morning. man is about to launch himself on a trip to the moon. the expectation of landing there. man going to the moon here this morning from this florida complex with the rocket. the rocket will put the men into orbit 115 miles above the earth for 1.5 orbits and then the third stage will put them on their way -- ♪
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>> go ahead, mr. president. this is houston. >> hello, neal and buzz, i'm talking to you by telephone from the oval room at the white house and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call made from the white house and as you talk to us from the sea of tranquility, it inspires us to redouble efforts to bring peace and tranquility to earth. for one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this earth are truly one, one in their pride in what you have done. >> armstrong is on the moon, neal armstrong, 38-year-old american standing on the surface of the moon on this july 20th, 1969. >> that's one small step for man, one giant leap for man kind.
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a typical day for me, haldeman would pick me up around 7:15. the car would get bob, then it would get larry higby, bob's aid and then it would swing by my house and then into the white house. i am responsible for the scheduling and also for the president's daily activities. our thing was a machine, and i knew my place. it really reflected a lot about richard nixon, the degree to
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which he wanted things controlled. >> it literally was from 6:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night every day of the week and saturdays and sundays, too. and that pace was unremitting, totally consuming for somebody like me. >> i was very tough on people feeling that i had to be. there is something about the presidency that i've been ridiculed from my picking up the navy term of zero detects that you have to operate as close to zero defect as you can. and i was not overly concerned with whether people like me as a result of it or not, i was only concerned with the result the president wanted that carried out. right now, seven years of music is being streamed.
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why didn't you burn the tapes? surely you talked about it. >> well, the question came up at one point, should the tapes be destroyed and my strong recommendation was that they should not be destroyed. >> that was a mistake, wasn't it mr. haldeman? >> yes, sir, i would say given what we now know and what happen it was a disastrous thing to have done but there was never a thought that one word of those tapes would be played in public or be played to other people, and when it got to the point of having to release them or having
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even to consider the possibility of releasing them, they should have been, in my opinion now, should have been destroyed. >> i had no idea about the taping system. no, no. >> did you ever talk to haldeman about that? >> no, never. >> john, you didn't know about the taping system in the oval office, did you? >> no. >> did it come as a surprise? >> it did. our white house staff was essentially a dysfunctional organization. i think nixon believed that he didn't have to share every piece of information with everybody. listening to the tapes is very revealing because he's talking to others about me, and what i should know and what he didn't want me to know. and he did the same thing with kissenger and a lot of people. several times i recall his saying to me, don't tell henry.
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he kept little watertight compartments of information, and it didn't work very well. >> dan rather what has closely observed the nixon presidency reports now on the first year in office. >> in 12 months richard nixon proved himself to be under estimated a political manager to be remembered as a politician like franklin roosevelt. nixon was supremely disciplined. his mind methodical, cautious, given to worry, yes, but never, never let the worries show. control the by ward for every public appearance calculate at non-flamboyance. one year does not make or break any president, a first year does set directions but the past year
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is the principle directions of the nixon direction are reforming the machinery of government at home and laying political foundations that will have republicans repressing democrats as the majority party in the decade ahead.
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president nixon's primary focus, person attention was almost totally dedicateed to ending the war on vietnam. he tried to move into the committed areas of welfare reform, some areas of economic reform but the one factor which really totally over rode all of those factors was vietnam. >> i had been in the office in the president's office several different occasions where he had a hanker chief out and writing
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notes to parents of the kids that had been killed. so i came from the president was doing the very best he could, and he was trying to end it, and that he -- so i -- i didn't have much compassion for the people in the streets. i respect their right to demonstrate because that's, you know, that's what the country is about. but i mean, i was of the opinion that the demonstrators prolonged the war. they didn't help us get out. they made it worse. and that's just how i view it.
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>> what do you want? what do you want? what do you want?
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>> good evening. marching behind flags and banners and picket signs demanding peace now, at least 200 thousand jammed the streets in washington today which was the biggest peace demonstration to be held since six years ago. despite the huge crowd no nixon official spoke at the rally or appeared at the capital platform. ♪ last night i had the strangest dream, i never dreamed before ♪ i dreamed the world would put an end to war ♪ sing it again. ♪ last night i had the strangest dream, i never dreamed before ♪
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♪ i dreamed the world had all the things to put an end to war ♪ >> what is important is not just that we are here today because we have been here before, you and i. we've been here before, and we've been other places, and what we have to decide is that we're going to keep coming back until this war ends. >> yes. ]dc(ñqgñ/twg
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good evening, my fellow americans. a few weeks ago i saw demonstrators carrying signs reading, lewds in vietnam -- lose in vietnam, bring the boys home. ai any american has a right to reach that conclusion and advocate that point of view, but as president of the united states, i would be untrue to my oath of office if i allowed the policy of this nation to be indicated by the minority that hold that point of view and try to impose it on the nation by amounting demonstrations in the street. so tonight, to you, the great silent majority on my fellow americans, i ask for your support. i pledged in my campaign for the presidency to end the war in a
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way that we could win the peace. i have pledged to you tonight that i shall meet this responsibility with all of the strength and wisdom i can command in accordance with your hopes, mindful of your concerns, sustained by your prayers. thank you and good night.
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♪ we are americans, we hope that you are, too ♪
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♪ our soles are here for you ♪ ♪ we are americans, we hope that you are, too ♪ [ cheers ] ♪ it was irish night at the white house, a solute to the visiting prime minister with dancers from castle shannon, yet the crowd could hardly wait, the president and mrs. nixon ended it in a suspensionble move. >> i understand i'm supposed to make a surprise announcement. [ laughter ]
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>> the difficulty is that every time i'm supposed to make a surprise announce the, i find someway it's leaked before i get to make it. even though the information may have leaked out, until i say it, it's not official. [ laughter ] >> and so tonight, mrs. nixon and i are very honored to announce the engagement of our daughter tricia to mr. edward cox of new york. [ applause ] ♪
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now to commemorate this event, we have as our special guest the ray conniff singers. most of you have heard them. and if the music is square, it's because i like it square. [ applause ]
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>> president nixon, stop bombing human beings, animals and vegetation. you go to church on sundays and pray to jesus christ. if jesus christ were here tonight, you would not dare drop another bomb. bless daniel elsberg. ♪
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>> a partial text of a prepared study in the pentagon relating to the origins of american involvement in vietnam. five days later, the washington post began publishing excerpts from the same pentagon report. on june 22, "the boston globe" published additional material from the study. the documents printed in the papers were classified, and were not to be made public according to the government. ♪
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>> a single name has been mentioned most prominently as the possible source as the "times" documents. daniel elsberg. >> we can not let the officials of the executive branch determine for us what it is that the public needs to know about how well and how they are discharging their functions. ♪
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♪ [ applause ] >> the pentagon report is only the beginning in itself. there will be much more. temptation will be great for a witch hunt, the unmasking of villains and the manufacture of scapegoats. >> the president was furious. kissinger was furious. it was very intense. it was a little like walking on egg shells. it was just a tense, tense time. >> the irony of the pentagon papers is they were not critical of nixon. they were very critical of the johnson administration.
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but nixon was committed to the proposition that classified documents, secret documents ought not to be stolen and given away. some of these documents did get into the hands of foreign governments, as well as part of them getting into the papers, and the president and kissinger were very upset that this map would be doing these kinds of things. >> you were so mad at elsberg, this dirty guy. i don't have to tell you or anyone else that the anger and the resentment toward elsberg was near hysterical levels in the white house. >> this didn't develop into any pathological hatred of elsberg, but a rather cold blooded and in my view, a misguided attempt to discredit him in the public eye. because at the time, he was being made a public hero and there was an effort to try to show that this man was not necessarily the great savior of the nation that many were portraying him as.
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>> i think i changed during the time i was in the white house. i'm not sure whether it was for the better. probably it's not in the time that i was there. when you first go in there, at least when i first went in there, i asked a lot of hard questions, why are we doing it this way? what's the justification for this program, why are we spending this money, why does this fellow work here, you know, those kinds of things. after a couple of years, i -- i felt like i was defending the status quo rather than
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challenging it and trying to get it changed and repaired and made better. and that was not satisfying to me at all. i have a very clear sense that i was becoming a part of the problem after a while rather than the solution. and i remember one day thinking i had just moved that pile of firewood from over there to over here, and today i was going to have to move it from over here back to there. and thinking to myself how strange it was to be coming to this historic place, dealing with these great issues, seeing the president of the united states two or three times a day, and feeling like i was just in the business of moving firewood around. and i thought to myself, well, if it's come to that, maybe it's time i was out of here. nixon talked me into staying.
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>> i was told the other day i was trying to tune in to the baseball game and then if game went off and cbs came on with a movie. they had two magnificent handsome guys and a stupid old fellow in it. they were glorifying homosexuality. >> was that a panel, sir? >> hell, no, it was a movie. >> no, that's a regular show. it's on every week. and usually it's just set in the guy's home. it's usually it's just that guy who is a hard hat. >> that's right. he is the hard hat. >> and he always looks like a slob. >> looks like jackie gleason. >> and then he has this hippie son-in-law. and usually the general trend of it is to downgrade him and upgrade -- >> upgrade the hippie son-in-law. >> make the square hard hat to be bad. >> what's it called? i've never seen it. >> archie is the guy's name. >> now that's real family entertainment, isn't it? >> the point that i make is that god damn it, i do not think that you glorify on public television homosexuality. you ever see what happened --you know what happened to the greeks.
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homosexuality destroyed them. aristotle was a homo, we all know that. so was socrates. >> but he never had the influence of television has. >> the last six roman emperors were fags. you see, homosexuality, immorality in general, these are the enemies of strong societies. and that's why the communists and the left-wingers are pushing it. they're trying to destroy us. >> yep. >> fatal liberality. it's fatal liberality. it's a different set of value that is's been induced. jesus christ. well, getting back to my point, i'd like to have everybody around here think from now on politically, well, don't waste much time. we run better with our left hands than the other ever ran. we're honest and we're smart.
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>> got into a discussion with me about the problems of henry's briefing tactics. he feels that he does too much of the good job telling people what they want to know rather than what we want them to know. then he also got on the point of the need for kissinger to be more discreet regarding his glamorous young women, especially in public, and especially in washington, d.c. it's okay for him to be a swinger in new york and california, but he should not be in washington. and not at white house dinners, but intelligent and interesting women instead.
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good evening. i have requested this television time tonight to announce a major development in our efforts to build a lasting peace in the world. i sent dr. kissinger, my assistant for national security affairs, to peking during his recent world tour for the purpose of having talks with premier zhou enlai. the announcement i shall now read is being issued simultaneously in peking and in the united states. premier zhou enlai on behalf of the government of the people's republic of china has extended an invitation to president nixon
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to visit china at an appropriate date before may 1972. president nixon has accepted the invitation with pleasure. ♪ >> two decades, every american president has been presented to the chinese people as the arch-enemy, as the personification of hated capitalism and imperialism. most asians recognize this development as a momentous step that can change the whole complexion of this part of the world. ♪ >> i found out i was going to china from bob haldeman. i was the acting chief of protocol for that trip and it was one of the great mountaintop experiences. the thing about the flight to china was -- one of the things was it was just kind of surreal.
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the plane is taking off to go to china, and we've got a television set there watching us take off. i mean everything about that trip was televised. i mean, it was a production from start to finish. >> the president will journey to peking in the dead of winter, a season especially severe in the chinese capital following the joint announcement issued at 4:00 a.m. peking time. the white house news secretary reemphasized president nixon's purpose for becoming the first american president to visit mainland china. >> as president nixon has pointed out on a number of occasions, he shall try in the meetings with the people's leader of the republic of china to seek a new direction in the relationship between our two countries, and to end the isolation of our two great peoples from each other. ♪
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>> four hours after his arrival, mr. nixon is taken to meet chairman mao tse-tung. the fact that the chairman arranged an immediate meeting with the american president in his home is considered significant by diplomatic observers. >> it's kind of funny. when i called ziegler, i sat him down in my room and i told him i wanted to know that if president had left. ron was holding a tangerine in his hand. took a bite of it, getting about half the tangerine in one bite, peel and all. he was, to say the leasts, a little startled. also speculated on all the wild range of possibilities you have when you're sitting in a chinese guest house with red army troops guarding you outside.
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>> included is an evening, the red detachment of women that depicts it overthrow by female communist partisans. >> the evening ballet performance was quite an experience. a complete propaganda operation. extremely well done. he had interpreters behind me explain the theological aspects of the ballet all the way through. he wanted to be sure i understood all of the points. that was a rather odd sight to see the president clapping at the end for this kind of thing which would have been horrifying at home. but it all kind of seemed to fit together somehow here. >> the skies have been somber in
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peking all day, and in the afternoon a light snow began to fall. in the city streets, men and women with brooms began sweeping it up, almost flake by flake. and it seemed to have no effect at all on the president and premier enlai in their third long conversation. ♪ ♪
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>> it's the end of a very memorable day in american history. >> thank you. >> that italian story on henry is the most -- really, most -- do you see it? >> i haven't seen it. henry called me last night about it. >> oh, it's unbelievable. henry talks about the china trip, and he said well, the thing about it that was really appealing to the public is he said i did it, he, henry, did it alone. he said people like to see somebody do something alone. and did it all by himself. the whole china nation. what happened? was it some girl he met at a party or something? >> this is a point roger made to me yesterday. he said henry is always very careful in what he said publicly to build up the president, but never privately. whatever it is, he has to be cool that he knows he makes a great point of the great job the president is doing, but in private conversations he does
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himself. >> do you have -- >> yeah, i visit. >> take a reading of it. give me a call back, will you? >> yeah. >> call me back today. i'm not going to leave until 11:30. bye. >> bye. "start a new chat." what did i do? ok. wow. that is so weird. hello! hey! hi! hi! oh, my gosh. hi. god. i don't even know what to say right now, i'm so nervous. gia, you're so big! come closer to the camera. wait. now you're in my face. gia: bye! woman: love you! alex: that was so good.
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♪ >> we all have little kiddie kids the same age.
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i mean people at an ice skating parties, i mean there would be all kinds of things. and we're in our 30s, and we're, you know, living. ♪ >> there were pranks. there were these incredible friendships. and it was our -- our senses of humor and our personalities that made it all, you know, nice. >> illegal bugging apparently was one aim of a team which broke into the democratic
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national headquarters in washington during the weekend, and the political backgrounds of the men charged in the case have kicked up a storm. barry serafin has the story. >> the watergate apartment hotel office complex in washington has a fortress-like appearance that is noted for its security. but the burglars penetrated that security to break into the sixth floor offices of the democratic national committee. material from files there was found in their possession. democratic spokesman called the file information very mundane in the men's rooms police confiscated photographic and eavesdropping gear. as well as several thousand dollars of consecutive number dollar bills. >> currently about five men, one of them clearly under contract and employed by both the republican national committee and the campaign to reelect the president. this i thought, this administration was a law and order administration. and i've never seen such a crass violation of individual rights as we have seen in this instance.
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>> i must say that it's the legacy of years of wiretapping and snooping and violation of privacy in which the government itself has been too deeply involved. >> i again proudly accept your nomination for president of the united states. and let us pledge ourselves to win an even greater victory this november in 1972. >> four more years! four more years! four more years! ♪ ♪ reaching out to find the way,
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to make tomorrow a brighter day ♪ ♪ making dreams reality, more than ever nixon now for you and me ♪ ♪ nixon now, nixon now, he's made a difference, he showed us how ♪ ♪ nixon now, nixon now, more than ever nixon now ♪ ♪ listen, america, nixon now ♪ nixon now, nixon now, he's made a difference, he's shown us how ♪ ♪ nixon now, nixon now, more than ever nixon now ♪ ♪ listen, america, nixon now
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>> president nixon's victory in the election is surely one of the biggest landslides ever. let's look at the popular vote now with almost all of it counting. with 98% of the precincts reporting, it's nixon, 45,800,000. mcgovern 28,400,000. this adds up to a record-breaking 521 electoral votes for president nixon who won 49 states. mcgovern carried only massachusetts and the district of columbia for 17 electoral votes. >> at first it was called the watergate caper. five men apparently caught in the act of burglarizing and bugging democratic headquarters
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in washington. but the episode grew steadily more sinister, no longer a caper but the watergate affair, escalating finally into charges of a high-level campaign of political sabotage and espionage, apparently unparalleled in american history. >> the charges center about a man whose very name in italian is secrets. joel blocker reports. >> reporter: donald segretti. reports say white house aides recruited segretti for secret intelligence work and dirty tricks against the democrats. segretti went to college with several men now in the white house. he was particularly close to dwight chapin, and several press reports document recent links between chapin and segretti. a grand jury is investigating.
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>> the only obvious problem is going to be the whole watergate grand deal, chapin. >> yeah. the story on that. how you going to handle that? >> well, i'm of mixed minds. but i thought one approach would be to attack "the post" for picking on a fine, clean, upstanding patriotic young man who has come to washington and done his part. >> hearsay. why don't you use the word mccarthyism? >> i had that in mind. >> the shocking double standard that "the post" and "the new york times" use that line. >> shocking campaign, the dirtiest in history there has never been an editorial written about that. there has never been any reaction at all. it's shocking that a paper that all the news that is fit to print would do a story on innuendo. >> all right. >> good luck.
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i richard nixon do solemnly swear -- >> i richard nixon do solemnly swear. >> i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states. >> that i will faithfully execute the office of president
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of the united states. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> and will to the best of my ability. >> preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> preserve and protect and defend the constitution of the united states. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. ♪ >> phone rings. it's john dee. and he said have you given any thought to what you're going to do next? and i said john, what in the world are you trying to tell me? and he said well, i think you need to figure out what you're going to do next. and i said does bob know this? and he said bob asked me to talk to you. i could not believe it.
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so the next day i flew up to camp david. and bob met me, and we went over to one of the cabins and talked. and we were both crying. and he said that it looked like i was going to be a political problem to the president because of all this ready stuff. and this guy sam ervin may hold some hearings. and therefore it's probably better for your career and everything else if you move on. i mean, it was just horrible. there is nothing that can describe how i felt. so i sucked it up, said yes, sir. went into the men's room to get myself kind of straightened up, and there is the attorney general of the united states, richard kleindienst, bawling like a baby. he had just met with ehrlichman. i'm thinking this thing is surreal. i mean, i can't believe this. so i went back, got on the
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helicopter and started figuring out my life. >> leon jaworski said if the american people had not demanded action in the watergate scandal, it might have grown into outrages as great as those in nazi germany. >> well, here again, you're into this -- this verbal excess thing, that it just seems to be as easy to do after the fact -- >> question, what was the mentality, what was the mind-set in the nixon white house that led to watergate? >> watergate didn't lead from -- it didn't come from the nixon white house. and i don't think there was any mind-set that led to watergate. >> the president is out of office.
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men in the nixon white house went to jail. what was the mind-set? what happened? >> that's the problem. i don't know what happened. >> the burglary had nothing to do with richard nixon at the time that it occurred. if he had kept distance between himself and that whole episode, he didn't know about that in advance, i'm persuaded. i've never heard anybody come forward with any evidence. if he had kept distance between himself and that episode and just said, you know, those guys did it. they're going to have to take their punishment. that is what could have saved richard nixon, i'm persuaded. a little quick surgery. but he was the compulsive minutia man. he had to get involved. he had to -- he had to dabble in this -- in this conspiratorial spy stuff.
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and he pulled it all into his office. >> what is the dumbest thing you did? >> the dumbest thing i did was not to go to him when i realized this and say, look, if you don't go out there and make a clean of this thing, i'm going out to the press room and i'm going to tell them everything i know about this. and then i'm going to walk out of here. >> do you think you would have had the courage to do that? >> well, obviously i didn't. i just was -- i was not playing with a full deck. i just didn't know at the time, one, that there were tapes. two, that he was as deeply involved as he was. >> ladies and gentlemen, president nixon has requested time on the networks this evening for a report on vietnam. >> good evening. i have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the
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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 following statement is being issued at this moment in washington and hanoi. at 12:30 paris time today, january 23, 1973, the agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in vietnam was initialled by dr. henry kissinger on behalf of the united states and special adviser le duc tho on behalf of the democratic republic of vietnam. let us consecrate this moment by resolving together to make the peace we have achieved, a peace that will last. thank you. and good evening. >> the parliament, please. >> thank you. >> yes, sir?
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>> i thought you would be amused to hear that eric sevareid, marvin kalb and dan were sick. >> bad night for eric. >> they were all just sick about the fact. they weren't happy about it that the peace was coming. i guess we're pissing on it all over. >> it was -- in a sense, it was so masterfully underplayed in the way that, you know, you dropped this huge bomb in your first sentence. >> right. >> and there it was. i gist sits there. and i think -- like a thunder clap. but it was great. >> that's right. okay. >> very good.
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senate democrats have chosen north carolina's sam ervin to investigate the watergate bugging case. the committee would have full subpoena power and a half million budget. ♪
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>> when it was learned today that some of the watergate conspirators had been involved in illegal actions relating to the pentagon papers case, the whole affair took on a new and more sinister air. >> two of the convicted watergate conspirators, howard hunt and gordon liddy burglarized the offices of a psychiatrist of defendant daniel ellsberg to get files on ellsberg. >> the message of watergate as i read it is the same as the message of the pentagon papers. from the eyes of people who work for the president, all law stops at the white house fence. >> the entire political system, that the entire standard of politics in the country has reached an all-time low. >> the president and his cabinet and his administration owe this country an explanation first of all, and secondly, an apology.
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>> i don't respect the type of journalism, the shabby journalism that is being practiced by "the washington post." >> informed sources say it was the watergate prosecution that set off the recent series of explosions, and there are further time bombs in president nixon's hands. >> we're in late april of 1973, and i'm really getting beat up in the press. >> we're going make it. yeah, let me get up here to the door and then i'll -- okay. excuse me. here we are. >> i'm going to be following the unvarying practice of having no comment on this matter until its final disposition. >> i have delegations of fbi agents in and out of my office all the time, and all of the sudden it has dawned on me that i have a very serious problem, that richard nixon has a very serious problem, that haldeman and a lot of other people have
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serious problems. >> the president flew south to look at flood damage and dedicate a naval training station in mississippi to senator john stennis. in the presidential party were h.r. haldeman and john ehrlichman. >> we're on air force one. we're going off to dedicate a john stennis memorial rocket launcher or something in mississippi. and i'm standing on the flight deck, and it occurred to me for about 30 seconds that i could crash this airplane and that would put an end to everybody's problems. mine and nixon's and haldeman's and everybody, everybody who was aboard. i stepped off that airplane. and usually the drill is richard nixon steps off the airplane and all the cameras click away and all that. he got off and nobody paid any attention to him.
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i got off, and boy, they were all taking mark shots. >> the very last conversation i had with him there, we were talking about this break-in in california, the ellsberg psychiatrist break-in. and he said i didn't know about that, did i? and i had to -- i had to indicate to him that he did know about it. >> that, of course, is a totally, totally out of our ken. have you ever heard of such a thing? >> yes, sir. >> goddamn it, i never heard of it, john. i should have been told about that, shouldn't i? >> well, i'm not so sure but you weren't. my recollection is that this was discussed with you.
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>> yeah. yeah. uh-huh. well, i've got to know about that. >> all right. i'll check it. >> i mean, uh, if i'm in that kind of a position, i'm in a position i just didn't know about. believe me, i have throughout this thing i must say i have not known that you -- i didn't know about the watergate and i didn't know about this other. but i knew that we were checking all this, but my god -- >> i didn't know there was a taping system in the room at the time. since then, it's occurred to me that he was talking for the record, among other things. but at the same time, i'm convinced he really didn't know the difference between what was true and what wasn't true at any given moment. for a long time. and he could persuade himself of
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almost anything, which is kind of too bad. >> hello? >> mr. ziegler calling you. >> yes, hello. >> i talked to bob and i told him that your decision was to ask for their resignation. and you had thought this through now for three weeks. and i told him that you recognize that their lawyers don't agree with this approach and that they don't agree with this approach. but the president feels clear in his mind now that this must be done, and that's what he wants. and bob said fine. he understands. he feels it's a wrong decision, but he will abide by it. and in terms of john, he said i think john is going to be more difficult in accepting this. and bob said i'll do what i can with john. >> good. big man. >> he sure is. >> big man.
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you're saying in other words he's got to talk to john? >> he's going to talk to him on the helicopter. >> okay. thank you. >> yes, sir. >> good evening. president nixon moved at the highest level today to cleanse the white house of the taint of the watergate scandal. the president has asked me to announce that he has today received and accepted the resignation of two of his closest friends and most trusted assistants in the white house. in their statements of resignation, haldeman and ehrlichman blamed many of their problems on the press. whether the president plans to incorporate any such statement in his nationwide address tonight is unknown.
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>> today in one of the most difficult decisions of my presidency, i accepted the resignations of two of my closest associates in the white house, bob haldeman, john ehrlichman, two of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to know. i want to stress that in accepting these resignations, i mean to leave no implication whatever of personal wrongdoing on their part. and i leave no implication tonight of implication on the part of others who have been charged in this matter. god bless america. and god bless each and every one of you.
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>> hello? >> hi. >> i hope i didn't let you down. >> no, sir, you got your points over, and now you're -- you got it set right and move on. you're right where you ought to be. >> well, it's a tough thing, bob, for you, for john, the rest, but goddamn it, i'm never going to discuss this son of a bitching watergate thing again, never, never, never, never. the interesting thing, the only cabinet officer that has called is cap weinberger, bless his soul. all the rest are waiting to see what the polls show. let me say you're a strong man, goddamn it, and i love you. and i love john and all the rest. and by god, keep the faith. keep the faith. you're going win this son of a bitch. >> absolutely. >> i don't know whether you can call and get any reactions and call me back. would you mind?
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>> i don't think i can. >>, no i agree. >> i'm kind of an odd goddamn soul. any cabinet officer except weinberger an hour afterwards. and thank god. and no staff member. >> when i called, the board said they were instructed not to put any calls through. >> to hell with that. i told them to put all the calls through. >> well, that may be why you haven't gotten them though. >> all right. i'll change it. i'll change it. fine. but god bless you, boy. god bless you. i love you, as you know. >> okay. >> like my brother. all right, boy. keep the faith. >> right.
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dwight chapin, president nixon's former appointment secretary, today was found guilty of lying to the watergate grand jury investigating political sabotage during the 1972 presidential campaign. >> i will never, ever under any circumstance have a regret for any contribution or any hardships or anything else that have come out of the work that i have done with richard nixon.
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>> i loved what i did, and it was very important to me. and i think these friendships just, you know, are golden, and they still exist. >> john ehrlichman, president nixon's domestic affairs adviser is behind bars tonight. the highest ranking former nixon aide to go to prison so far. >> for myself, i went through a process of being just absolutely stripped bare. i woke up one day realizing that there was nothing left. there just really wasn't anything.
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and it occurred to me that there might be an opportunity in all of that to do it over again simpler and better. ♪ >> h.r. bob haldeman convicted for his part in the watergate scandal is here to see his daughter graduate from law school. on wednesday, haldeman reports to the federal prison in lompoc, california, to begin serving a two and a half to eight-year sentence.
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>> i've spent five years in a legal defense against, first of all, an investigation. and then a charge and then a trial. >> yeah. >> and then a year and a half in prison. all of that time had to work on my defense. the time is here to stop defending, at least on my part, and to start looking ahead there is a lot more to my life than watergate. there is a lot more to my life than politics. ♪
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♪ there was a town so quiet and still then came the folks from capitol hill ♪ ♪ sentiment is not the same, mr. nixon, you're to blame ♪ ♪ you made our town your summer home, and crowned with the capitol dome ♪ ♪ you took a step out on the beach, now cotton's points is out of reach ♪ ♪ there was a town so quiet and still and then came the folks from capitol hill ♪ ♪ san clemente's not the same, mr. nixon you're to blame ♪ ♪ at night we used to close the bar that was okay with fdr ♪
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♪ mr. nixon you're so great, but must your guests stay out so late ♪ ♪ there was a town so quiet and still then came the folks from capitol hill ♪ ♪ sentiment is not the same, mr. nixon, you're to blame, mr. nixon, you're to blame, mr. nixon, you're to blame ♪ >> convicted watergate cover-up conspirator john ehrlichman is out of a job. the one-time white house aide to former president richard nixon has ended his brief career as an ice cream pitchman on television. by all accounts, the ad campaign was simply a meltdown. >> try this stuff. it's unbelievable. and believe me, i'm an expert on that subject. >> the california ice cream company that ran the ad said consumer response was so negative, the ehrlichman commercials were being taken off the air immediately.
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american embassies closed and al qaeda threats shutting down 19 u.s. embassies and posts for the entire week. what do we know about it? we are live. one women killed and 11 injured when a driver barrels through a crowd of people. game over for a-rod today. one of baseball's biggest stars could be banned for hundreds of games. alex rodriguez goes down for using performance enhancing drugs. he's going to go down swinging. >> nice list. good morning. i'm zoraida sambolin. >>

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