♪ and good evening, welcome. i'm anderson cooper. if you've been watching our original series "tricky dick," you just relived the final hours of nixon's presidency as a white house corruption scandal was finally exposed to public view and shook the nation and the world. what have we learned about watered gate? a lot to talk about. i'm joined by the key players from that time, carl bern teen, former nixon white house counsel john dean, and former watergate special prosecutor richard ben

vanista. >> i find in this documentary so fascinating. the story of richard nixon is shakespearean in scope and scale. in i think carl, for a lot of people, watergate seems to be like a flash point but in reality it played out over a very long period of time. >> yeah, two years from the time of the break-in, two years and a couple months till his resignation in august of 1974. it was a packed two years was tremendous amount of information that have at the time seemed incomprehensibly difficult for a lot of people because of the huge cast of characters involved. i'm not sure that today's cast of characters might be even more difficult to follow. >> i mean, an as a rotter at "the washington post" and with woodward, did you know he was going to go down ultimately? or was there -- when was the moment you realized, wait a minute, this leads to this? >> i'm going to have to tell a story. >> okay. >> there was a moment and it was

very early. it was about ten weeks after the break-in and we had learned that there was a secret fund that had been controlled by those closest to richard nixon including his former law partner, it the manager of the campaign and attorney general of the united states, john mitchell and that that fund had paid for the undercovered operations against the democrats. we were about to write that story, put it in the paper. woodward and i would have coffee every morning at a little vending machine room off newsroom floor, and input a dime in the vending machine that morning which is what coffee costs in those days. and i literally felt a chill go down, literally down the back of my neck and i said to woodward oh, my god, this president is going to be impeached. and woodward looked at me and he said, oh, my god, you're right. we can never use that word anywhere around "the washington post" lest the people in the newsroom have the idea we have some kind after agenda which, of course we did not and we never did use that word.

>> but that was ten weeks from the break-in. >> and then of course, i think we both came to disbelieve it because as the process went on, it seemed very doubtful that nixon was going to be held accountable, certainly until the watergate hearings and then we found the necessity of having a smoking gun for nixon to be held accountable and that might be and i'm sure we'll talk about it in this session the necessity of a smoking gun might be one of the most important legacies of watergate because i think bob woodward and myself for a long time have believed there should have been no necessity because the mountain of evidence was so strong without that smoking gun tape that he had committed numerous criminal acts. >> the moment of truth came when i listened to john dean and richard nixon and then h.r. haldeman in the march 21 cancer on the presidency conversation

where john comes into the president, lays out everything that's been done as though the president didn't know, giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying you need to save the presidency. you need to put a stop to this. i will plead guilty. others need toll plead guilty. we have committed crimes and nixon rejects that proposal, says we need to keep this going a little bit further. we need to get the money. i can get the money. i know where it could be gotten. so when i first listened that and then brought leon jaworski in to listen to it personally, that was the moment for me where i said, richard nixon cannot survive as president. he has associated himself with a conspiracy to obstruct justice, encouraged to be continued, how can he possibly survive this.

>> just i just want to pause it is and say how cool it is to have three of you and the other guests we're going to have and how weird life is. could you ever have imagined back then that one day you would be sitting with yawn dean and carl bernstein kind of discussing this? >> well, actually, i kind of predicted that. >> you did. really? wow. >> in my book, written shortly after i left the office, i said, look, for the future, the lessons of watergate are wonderful in that the system worked. in this circumstance. but it almost didn't work. and for the future, does it take something more than what we have experienced in watergate with the kind of evidence, dem mon strantive incredibly powerful evidence of criminal wrongdoing for a president of the united states to be put in a position

of either resigning or certainly impeached and quingted. >> that is certainly a question which is you know as important today if not more important today than ever. john, in this last episode we in tonight's episode we saw you testifying before congress. can you just kind of bring us into that moment what that day was like, what's going through your mind? >> i would testify for five days. we saw a little bit of the first day and some of the later parts. >> five days. >> five days. actually, i was on the stand during the trial for ten days. and this was actually short. but the first day first of all, i had no idea i was going to have to read my statement. and it was 60,000 words. had they told me i was going to read it, it would have been about 6,000 words at most. so it took a whoa day to read it, and i made a deliberate decision to read it in a monotone to not give any -- let

the words speak for themself and not my dramatising or any inflection. >> because you felt the words were powerful enough, you didn't need that. >> these were the facts i knew. the only thing i speculated about was i thought that i had been taped. had i gotten word that nixon claimed he had taped me on one oh occasion and i had claimed i had immunity which never happened. >> in the full statement all the facts that you knew, how long did it take you to write all that out? >> over a period of a couple weeks, i made notes and then i sat down and pulled it all together. >> emotionally, was it difficult to write it all out? >> i had already broken rank and i had already warned them not to try to make me the scapegoat and if they did, it would be a mistake. i was really at war with the white house at that point. so the and my lawyer said john, remember the old saying when you kick the king, you got to kill

him. and so in fact, it's ironic that nixon in his memoirs writes that he thought he could really deal with my knowledge of watergate. it was everything else i put in that explained the atmosphere in which this had happened where a lot of it i had second hand or from people who were involved but didn't have direct knowledge of it. that's what he said really killed him. >> what was it about that sphere that contributed to this. >> well, as carl will say, carl sees it as nothing short of a mafia family operating. > criminal enterprise. >> a criminal enterprise. you know, it wasn't that bad, in fact, one of the things. >> i don't see it quite quite that way but go ahead foo one of the things that surprised me is when we look back on it, it looks like all we focused on was watergate. temperature actually took very little time during the cover-up, anybody for a day. it was if an hour was devoted to it, it was a lot.

so it wasn't all consuming. > i'm obsessed with the tapes. i find these tapes fascinating listen to them. i want to play nixon having the taping system explained to him. i mean, it's incredible to listen to when we know what is going to result from this. let's listen. >> how does it work in here? it depends on voice activation. what happens when. >> a radio is made by tape? >> a tape is made? >> yes, sir. this is totally for basically to be put in the file. in my file. i don't want it in anybody else's or bob or anybody else. there may be a day when we have to have this for purposes of --

just to be sure that we can correct the record. just don't try to hide anything. >> i think it's going to be a. >> it's a fascinating element of that quote when nixon says we may need it some of day to correct the record. almost prescient because his thought once watergate happened and once john dean was going to testify, was that they could use the tapes selectively to undermine john dean's testimony. >> but, of course, that blew up. >> that's exactly right. >> everything that john said in his aired remarks not knowing and answers to questions, not knowing for sure that there was a taping system was corroborated. he was the most corroborated witness i've ever had in 50 years of practicing law, anderson. it was astonishing. they couldn't lay a glove op him on cross-examination at the trial. >> i want to play the moment

that alexander butterfield reveals the existence of the tapes. i mean, it's a shock you can hear some of the congressman gasp. >> 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. >> what a moment. also how he pauses so dramatically before answering. > i've asked him why he did that and he says he has no idea, no

memory he said. i knew it was an important moment. i wanted to think instead of collect myself before i. >> but they knew the answer to the question. >> yes, did he. >> and the staff of the committee had learned two and a half -- had learned three days earlier. >> they gave it to fred because he's a republican and they wanted bipartisanship on this issue. >> which goes an important point which is how long did republicans in congress stand by nixon because you often pointed out in the end the fact that republicans. >> courageous republicans. >> courageous republicans changed and said look, you've got to go, that turned the tide. >> that's right. it started in the house judiciary committee impeachment committee hearings where a few courageous republicans joined democrats in the impeachment vote, the article afc impeachment. and there were several, not all of them by nell means. but then when the evidence became pretty much

incontrovertible and nixon was not going to resign and the tape, the smoking gun tape in fact had been revealed, barry goldwater, the great conservative, nominee of his party to be president in 1964, with a group of republican leaders went to the white house, met with nixon and nixon said barry, how many votes would i have in the senate to acquit meet if we went to trial and nixon fully expected that goldwater would tell him he had sufficient votes and goldwater looked him in the eye and he said mr. president, you might have the four votes and you don't have mine. and that was the final act and that's what happened. >> the story is that without important corroborating tape recorded conversations, nixon's

admissions from his own mouth, he would have survived in my view as president. >> do you agree? >> back to that smoking gun necessity which is -- >> he would have been able to survive in any trials where john and others who had been cooperating with the special prosecutors' office had testified to the facts, truthfully, and they would have dirtied them up and obfuscated and it is highly unlikely that without two things that happened, the tapes being revealed, and us being able to get them where congress could not get them, the special prosecutor was able to get them, and then the act of firing archibald cox. that was a moment in history that turned the tables that nixon had done himself in. >> coming out of nixon and trump, the time they spent together outside the oval office and the prediction that nixon

made about trump's political future. (game beeps as ball hits paddle) video games have evolved. why hasn't the way you bank? virtual wallet from pnc bank helps make it easier to see what you're spending, stash more into savings and stay on top of your finances in a digital world. just one way pnc is modernizing banking to help make things easier. pnc bank. make today the day. from l'oréal paris.ra voluptuous volume. intense length. feathery-soft lashes. this is what paradise looks like. lash paradise mascara from l'oréal paris. take your lashes to paradise. they're america's bpursuing life-changing cures. in a country that fosters innovation here, they find breakthroughs... like a way to fight cancer

by arming a patient's own t-cells... because it's not just about the next breakthrough... it's all the ones after that.

ensure max protein... to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't. (straining) i'll take that. (cheers) 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. in two great flavors. that we're playing "four on four" with a barbershop quartet? [quartet singing] bum bum bum bum... pass the ball... pass the rock.. ...we're open just pass the ball! no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my car insurance with geico. yea. [quartet singing] shoot the j! shoot, shoot, shoot the jaaaaaay... believe it! geico could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. believe it! geico could save you fifteen percent ♪ pardon the interruption but this is big! now at t-mobile buy any samsung galaxy s10 and get a galaxy s10e free!

welcome back to talking tricky dick. did richard nixon predict the election of donald trump? we'll take a look at the letter he wrote 0 trump in 1997. dear don, mrs. nixon told me you were great on the donahue show. she predicts whenever you decide to run for office, you will be a

winner. trump showed off the letter in a fox interview and told friends he planned to hang it in the oval office. richard, do you think this letter is the only ves continual of nixon that lives on in the trump white house? >> no, i think the vestige of nixon is dividing the country and the social issues that he learned from roger ailes and began to exploit in the southern strategy of dividing this country. >> that lingers on. >> that lingers on with great force. to our dismay as a country. >> did -- i also want to read you something trump wrote about or somebody wrote for trump in a book that trump published about nixon saying i've seen some real killers in my line of work but richard nixon makes them look like babies. the man is a rock like him or not. when you think how far he's come back, the things he's endured, he's even more amazing. > who is that from?

>> that's from donald trump. >> the donald trump. >> do you think trump admires nixon? trump surrounded himself. >> he's been clear about his admiration and once again, he goes to the idea of a strong man in what he seems to have admired was that nixon wouldn't back down as as opposed to taking a look and seeing what nixon's crimes were and how nixon damaged the presidency and damaged the united states of america. >> john -- >> trump also thinks nixon got a bad rap. he gets a lot of that from roger stone, his one-time political adviser who obviously has every conspiracy relating to watergate, roger buys. so. >> and roger has a nixon face tattooed on his back. do any of you guys have any nixonian tattoos? >> no, i tried to get the shadow

off my back. >> show that around in prison. >> john, trump once compared you to his own white house counsel don mcgahn in a tweet saying don mcgahn was not a john dean type rat. how would you compare trump and nixon when it comes to the value they place on loyalty to them not necessarily it seems often a one-way street loyalty for some of these people it, loyalty and secrecy? >> i think it's much more one-way with trump than nixon. i don't think he ended up pardoning haldeman and erlichman at the last minute although they were asking for it because i this i he realized they had done him in. a lot of things he didn't know. not that he wouldn't have bought into them but no one ever told him. i think that it the men are very similar. they're both authoritarian personalities. nixon behind closed doors, trump in the rose garden wherever he

is, he shows that. but they're very similar in that nature. we wouldn't know about nixon's authoritarianism without the tapes. >> one of the things he says, the president says you know in this book, how far he came back, the things he's endured. it is extraordinary when you think of the humble beginnings of richard nixon, you know, what he overcame to get where he was, you know, a dramatic lawsuit first time he ran against john f. kennedy, losing then for governor a race that many people thought he was going to win in california and then this comeback and historic. >> elements of real tragedy to nixon's story. >> the documentary shows a lot of that. >> and if you go to nixon's boyhood home in california, it's impossible i found not to be moved by what the course of his life was in some ways. here is this man who all his

life had aspired his adult life to the presidency. he finally gets it and he is destroyed by his own demons and comes to recognize it in probably the most extraordinarily personal speech by a president of the united states we've ever heard in his farewell in the east room. >> which is all about him. a projection. >> yes. >> of his own short comings where he allows his personal hatred, his demons to overcome any sense of at the equanimity in the job. he has surrounded himself with toadies who bring the dead mouse to his feet and that's what he rewards instead of people who will say no to him. as john dean did on march 21. others were totally lacking, the colsons of the world, the kissingers of the world. >> that's the speech that trump ought to listen to.

>> that's what's so interesting is that with nixon, you know, and most presidents, they surrounded bill protection, not just secret service but layers to protect their own opinions from the rest of the country so that they show people what they want to show and in that speech, you do see this naked nixon. you see this -- you see all this stuff coming out. and with president trump because of twitter, you really do get a sense on whether you think he should be tweeting or not and that whole discussion, it is a fascinating realtime, it's like you don't have to wait for the trump tapes. it's all happening in realtime on twitter. >> much of what nixon did in secret in private, clement sit, hush money, is all out there in the open with donald trump. it's as though it's a stickup in broad daylight. >> long before president trump called cnn fake news, nixon's

naibobs negativism. the president and the president when we come back. >> one can only be angry with those he respects. h: at safelit, we really pride ourselves on making it easy to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

(v...especially when your easily distracted teenager has the car. the worst... at subaru, we're taking on distracted driving [ping] with sensors that alert you when your eyes are off the road. the all-new subaru forester. the safest forester ever. what is that? uh mine, why? it's just that it's...

lavender. yes it is, it's for men but i like the smell of it laughs ♪

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! hey, welcome back. we're talking tricky dick definitely diagnose deeper into

cnn's series on the life and presidency of richard nixon. one of the really remarkable things about watching the series which i loved is seeing the players involved in the nixon presidency who factored in the trump presidency. one of them is roger ailes who was nixon's media adviser taught him how to manipulate it the media of television. joined by tim naftali. you were the historical consultant on this series of films, the former director of the nixon library among many other things. talk a little bit about nixon's understanding of television and how it worked for him a lot but it also worked against him. >> it's hard to remember that richard nixon was a pioneer infer using television for political purposes. television saved his career in 1952. there were allegations that there was a secret fund from which he was benefiting. he had been selected to be the vice presidential nominee with dwight eisenhower.

nixon didn't have the support of eisenhower. eisenhower basically wanted him to fight for the job and what nixon decided to do was go on television and give what we know was the checks are speech because he talks about his dog that his kids received and he uses twiths mastly. and it drives real people to send real telegrams to say keep him on. what happens to richard nixon and that's what's so extraordinary about this film which is a film without talking heads, it's a film just nixon talking and those of the period and the films is that you see nixon change on screen. it stops the tv stops being his best friend. he not only ages visibly, but his control begins to fall apart. he's no longer -- he's no longer projecting the image of the presidency that he had in his own mind and by the end of the fourth episode and the end of his administration, the tv makes him look guilty in a way that was not true at the beginning.

>> carl, what was nixon's relationship with the press like? and how did that change over time? >> well, tim's right. he started seeing himself as a victim of the press. and you go back to what he said when he lost the governorship of california. he said in his so-called farewell press conference, well you won't have nixon to kick around anymore and that was indicative of his attitude. and then he got to the white house, and when watergate occurred, he decided that along with those around him, that he would make the conduct of the press the issue in watergate, attack us at "the washington post" in particular bob woodward. >> sounds so familiar. >> myself yes. the editors of the "washington post." the owners of the "washington post." he would make us the issue in watergate, not the conduct of the president and his men and it worked for a good while. the first few months the stories we were writing in "the washington post" even most of our senior colleagues in the

washington press corps didn't believe what we were writing. > really? >> yes, because we were these young metropolitan reporters. we had never covered the presidency. what did we know about the white house? we covered it the way we would cover a police story which it was in some ways. it was a burglary and we went from there. >> i just want to play some sound which again, it's nixon but it is language which we've also heard obviously a lot from this president. >>. >> we're up gins an enemy, a conspiracy. they're using any means. >> so, john, you were the one who introduced the idea of an enemies list. is that true? >> no, i was the one they asked to assemble act on it. >> so they already had the idea. >> in fact, anderson, i wrote a memo that i thought that they would find offensive about how to screw your enemies and use very graphic terms, a document i later turned over to the senate,

and it wasn't until years later i realized i never got it but haldeman wrote a big approval okay, go on it. that wasn't sent back to me. >> and that was a list of what to call your enemies? or words to use? >> i was to assemble all these and then start this plan to attack them and they did some of that with irs, turned the irs loose. the big difference between nixon and trump is, trump is publishing his enemies list. nixon kept it secret. >> can we stop for a minute and listen to that quote there? we are up against a conspiracy. here is the real conspirator saying we are up against a conspiracy and the conspiracy is the press. and by implication, those who are his political opponents. it is so haunting to look at that and look at where we are

today and stop that tape and say, he said that then? and here we are today. >> he says it in 1971. and he's not just talking about the president. he's talking about jews, too. this is -- this is sort of the -- this is all a very darkside but this is a very dark side of richard nixon. he believes he's up against a jewish conspiracy and orders a list be made of every jewish american in any position in the u.s. government. >> are you serious? >> he certainly did. >> he wanted as he said a gentile, a nonjewish person to be over them because he says on tape, you know, bob, bob haldeman, his chief of staff, jews are disloyal and they both say yes, they're disloyal. this is a terrible moment in american history. this is 1971 when it lays the foundation for watergate. because one of those that gets involved in doing the president's bidding is a man

named e. howard hunt and he would later be involved obviously in the burg glare. that's the human link with g. jordan liddy between these two. anyway, the point here is when you have a president who has a conspiratorial mind-set, that's very dangerous for the country because there are a lot of tools and instruments at their disposal where they can make a lot of -- they can do a lot of damage. richard nixon tried hard but fortunately, not everybody he ordered to do bad things did them. and things could have been much worse in the nixon administration but there were good government republicans who said no, mr. president. i can't do that. >> when we come back, nixon, trump and the silent majority. >> but the silent majority is back and we're going to take the country back. i was tired of having my calls dropped. it's very frustrating. and i was having these issues, and my friend said, "well, maybe you should switch over to verizon."

and then i'd heard that i could get apple music if i switched over, and i said, "boom!" (laughing) music is very important to me. i come from the techno era, but i'm hip-hop at heart. (vo) the best network is even better with more music on us. get apple music included with unlimited. plus save big when you switch. only on verizon. you wouldn't accept an incomplete job from any one else. why accept it from your allergy pills? flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills don't. and all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. flonase sensimist. there are healthy snacks, there are tasty snacks, and then there are kind bars. made with ingredients you know and love. like whole nuts, real fruit and a drizzle of dark chocolate. do your tastebuds and your body a favour. do the kind thing. do your tastebuds and your body a favour. guys do whatever it takes to deal with shave irritation. so, we re-imagined the razor with the new gillette skinguard.

it has a unique guard between the blades. that's designed to reduce irritation during the shave. because we believe all men deserve a razor just for them. the best a man can get. gillette. hey, who are you? oh, hey jeff, i'm a car thief... what?! i'm here to steal your car because, well, that's my job. what? what?? what?! (laughing) what?? what?! what?! [crash] what?! haha, it happens. and if you've got cut-rate car insurance, paying for this could feel like getting robbed twice. so get allstate... and be better protected from mayhem... like me. ♪

tricky dick. we've just watched the final episode of cnn's four-part series. you can't help bud draw parallels. a professor at harvard has written about race and the republican party. leah, first of all, thanks for being part of the conversation. where do you see the comparisons between nixon and trump in terms of how they speak or spoke to white voters?

>> so you know, donald trump's attempts at the southern strategy i think represent the absolute worst excesses of richard nixon's version of the southern strategy. >> how so. >> when we see something like with donald trump and we see him kind of calling out, you know, not using dog whistles in fact speaking with a megaphone really, making overt gestures to race, to to bigotry to racism, we don't necessarily see that in the same way with nixon even though you know, the moment of the southern strategy is popularized during the nixon era. flix on is all over the place when it comes to the southern strategy. we see a explitity lit racelized race-baiting racial campaign in the 1970 midterm elections. by 1972, we're seeing something different, what we call a suburban strategy. >> tim, one of the most striking side by sides are from two

memorable speeches that nixon and trump gave. i just want to play those. >> for a few moments, let us look at america. let us listen to america. as we look at america, we see city enveloped in smoke and flame. we hear sirens in the night. >> the attacks on our police and the terrorism of our cities threaten our very way of life. americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets. >> i mean, not a coincidence i think some of those. >> no. >> similarities. >> carnage speeches this is basically the law and order president. richard nixon brought the george wallace voters to the republican party. these were voters who were many of them were white supremacists but in addition or besides, they also believed the federal

government was trying to alter their social, their way of living in the south but not just in the south. also in the northeast. and parts of the midwest. those voters came to the republican party in part because of the southern strategy. those voters are now the base in large measure, not the same people. there are a few that are still around, i'm hopeful, but that concept, that view of life is the base of donald trump's electoral coalition. and it comes from decisions that richard nixon made. richard nixon had a very racialized view of america. on tape he shares the fact that he believes that african-americans are genetically inferior to white people. he has this is horrible genetic sense of sort of hierarchy of races. his policies on welfare are the product as we know from documents and what's on tape of his racial view of america. so he had a sense that he could speak to white people because he

understood why they felt aggrieved by affirmative action. that thinking we don't know whether donald trump shares the racial viewses of richard nixon, but the dog whistles and the rhetoric that donald trump uses is exactly the same rhetoric that richard nixon used to make the republican party the majority party in the 1970s and '80s. >> leah, how do you see nixon on race? i mean, we hear these things on the tapes that tim was just talking about. you know, just obviously, crude, awful racial stereotypes. he also did help dedeg gra gate southern schools and tried to champion native americans. how do you see overall his legacy on this? >> so there's no question that richard nixon is a racist. i mean the nixon tapes, his private correspondence, his

conversations, certain policies make that very clear that he has racist -- he holds racist views privately and sometimes publicly holds bigoted views, things of that nature. but when we actually look at the policies, we see this kind of mixed bag. and you know, this is part of the really fascinating part about richard nixon. even as he holds these racist views they go in all different directions. so some policies we see things like the start of the philadelphia plan, some several federal affirm tisk action programs, historically black colleges and universities funding, actually do relatively well under the nixon administration. why does he across to -- why does he choose to support them? why does he work progress esively on those things? that's a complicated answer. at the same time, the civil rights advances that he does make he also undercuts and deliberately downplays them and does other things that are

disasterous. >> it's one of the things that makes those tapes so invaluable and fascinating listen to, to hear the president you know, trafficking in these stereotypes. john. >> i had a couple conversations on this subject with nixon. he for example, belittled the one black member of the supreme court at the time, thurgood marshall. he had one black person on the white house staff. that was it. >> one of the challenges for nixon was that he had a democratic senate and a democratic house of riptives. and he wanted to be re-elected. so a lot of his so-called progressive legislation comes in the first two years of his first term because esthinks he's going to be running against someone like ed muskie. he's trying to set himself up for re-election. i don't believe he believed in that legislation, and what the tapes show us is that in 1973, he wanted to dismantle most of what we now associate him with, most of the liberal programs. he wanted to dismantle them.

he did them because he needed to be re-elected. once he was reelected in a landslide he wanted vengeance and wanted to remove a lot of his first term legacy on the domestic side. >> he really didn't care much about the doe mismess tick policy. >> do the similarities between nixon and trump end at the special counsel's doorstep and how can history predict what what will happen next after the break. ♪ ♪

applebee's bigger, bolder grill combos. now that's eatin good in the neighborhood. from l'oréal paris.ra voluptuous volume. intense length. feathery-soft lashes. this is what paradise looks like. lash paradise mascara from l'oréal paris. take your lashes to paradise. so, i started with the stats regarding my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. like how humira has been prescribed to over 300,000 patients. and how many patients saw clear or almost clear skin in just 4 months - the kind of clearance that can last. humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to symptoms. numbers are great. and seeing clearer skin is pretty awesome, too. that's what i call a body of proof. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions,

and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. want more proof? ask your dermatologist about humira. this is my body of proof. yeah, i've had some prettyeer. prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executive transport manager, and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that. get a plan that's right for you. td ameritrade. ♪ so many of them are full of this great. acomplicated,ess ad. tricky language about their network and offers and blah blah blah blah blah blah. look sprint's gonna do things differently,

and let you decide for yourself. they're offering a new 100% total satisfaction guarantee. try it out and see the savings. if you don't love it, get your money back. see? simple. now sprint's unlimited plan comes with one of the newest phones included for just $35 a month. so switch now.

we think sometimes when things happen that don't go the right way. we think that when we lose the election, we think that we suffer at the feet 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. those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. and then you destroy yourself.

>> that's from president nixon's farewell speech as the final episode of "tricky dick" reminded us when nixon resigned the country was fractured and eroded. as we just kind of wrapped this discussion up. for those carl who didn't live through this, how would you describe those few months before nixon was impeached and resigned? >> well, one, he became increasingly isolated and unstable especially in the final days to the point where al hague chief of staff was concerned that nixon might be suicidal. at one point nixon said to hague, you know, al who was a military guy and your business, they have a gun in the desk for dealing with the kind of situation as he saw the walls closing in. what i get so much from watching this extraordinary series that is different than donald trump is nixon is a genuinely complex man. he had knowledge of a sweep of

history if you listen to part of the farewell address, he talks about aspirations for the united states and its place in the world as the leading power of democratic aspiration. we would never hear that from donald trump. donald trump i don't think is a particularly complex figure. so nixon is one of the reasons we study him the way we do is the fascination both with the ugliness and criminality that starts on day one he's a criminal president from day one if you look at the articles until the day he leaves office and yet, all of these other aspects is knowledge and his being a supremely able politician, his views of humanity which is arthur burns is counselor is talking about

the way he talked about jews and black people he has whole sections of humanity. >> just in your opinion, what is the importance of learning about nixon, about listening to the tapes, about the lessons, learning the lessons from his administration? >> one of the things that merges is a complete breakdown in the american public's trust with government and the federal government and i'd like to point to the example of african americans who see this and who seen richard nixon resigning and see his presidency for good or bad as an example of the ways in which privilege and power continue to be corrupted and abus abused. that's something important to look for. >> also, liz, it's fascinating the breakdown and institution, the break town adown and trust institutions, i don't know if

there say hopeful aspect to it that that came back somewhat, i guess, after nixon and obviously it's being broken down again or did it never really come back? >> the trust in government never really came back. there were a couple moments after 9/11, a lot of trust in government but no, in fact, what happens after dramatically and it also there was a time when they would respect and trust the president regard lole of the party. after nixon, people will trust government only if their party is in the white house. that's a major shift that occurred. >> immediate change is the attitude towards the presidency, also. prewatergate, presidents were given the benefit of the doubt. post watergate they were assumed guilty. you mentioned roger ailes. but for nixon we probably wouldn't have a fox news.

the embryo form happens in the oval office where ails, chuck coal s coleson and richard nixon is starting a channel that's a right-wing channel. obviously, this is what fox would become. so this goes right back to richard nixon. >> i would add that watergate was a necessary corrective for the imperil presidency. richard nixon's complaint was i'm just doing what my predecessors have done and got caught. that was the problem. will there be a check on the presidency. >> it worked because there was a smoking gun tape. it's very questionable whether the system would have worked without that. >> your final thoughts on -- >> it's hard to believe that we didn't learn lasting lessons. i think the lessons of watergate lasted about a decade. that only really -- >> you think they were forgotten. >> except in two areas, in the

media and with the practice of law. >> those lessons are -- >> with law, the fact that ethics is important. they have not given up and they hammer that right today. you had to take a statewide or nationwide ethics test. teach anytime law school. you can't get a credit without it. the law of that profession changed the result of watergate as did the media. newsrooms are different today because of that event. >> it's been a fascinating discussion. want to thank all of you for joining us. thank you so much. it's -- if you missed any of "tricky dick" it starts again right now or you can watch any time on demand.

what is that? uh mine, why? it's just that it's... lavender. yes it is, it's for men but i like the smell of it laughs ♪ alrightygreat!guys are almost all set. sounds good! honey, while you finish up here, i'll grab us some coffee. ok. ♪ (music stops) ready to go? but... i... ♪ getting a volkswagen during the sign then drive event. it's almost that easy.

with practically just your signature, you can get a 2019 volkswagen jetta for zero down, zero deposit, zero first month's payment, and zero due at signing. we really pride ourselves >> ton making it easyautoglass, to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪

♪ every inauguration has its special grandeur. i suppose the special grandeur of this one is -- eight years ago he was defeated for president of the united states. something few politicians recover from. six years ago he was defeated for the governorship of california and quit politics, something no politician has ever recovered from and he's back