a letter to a judge saying there was perjury at this trial and he jumps into watergate with both feet forcing nixon to take action. otherwise not sure he would have taken action. he is sending the watergate people up to congress and if they don't testify they would get sentenced. he was putting a hammer on them. and those events forced nixon to deal with the situation >> who was the judge john sarica and how did he get the case? >> he was the chief judge of the united states court district of columbia. he got the case while it would normally come up in a rotation, it appears he picked this himself. he may have gotten the original

break-in trial for those arrested in the rotation and then as chief judge decided to stay with the trial of that. he became as knowledgeable as any judge and he is a republican but takes on the president of the united states no question about it. he pushes the limit for a federal district judge on some of his actions. for example the 40 year sentences for a break in unless you talk to the senate is pushing the fifth amendment and someone's fifth amendment right a long way. so he doesn't necessarily get the hall of fame for being a good judge on that. he does get credit for pushing it to conclusion because of his actions. >> do people under 50 know who you are? >> i have been at usc for -- i

do two lectures a year and before i come over to do the lectures the class i do it in the instructor always says call your participant -- parents or grandparents to see if i should show up and they all show up. >> here is john dean's latest book: "the nixon defense: what he knew and when he knew it" you are watching booktv on c-span2. >> watch american history television on c-span 3 every weekend. 48 hours of people and events that help document the american story. >> joining us now on booktv is allen carl who has written a book called "forks". what is on the front of the book? >> it is actually a motorcycle believe it or not. it is in the middle of nowhere

in southern south america. bmws-650. i took that motorcycle for three years alone and road it all over the world. >> you road it around the world? >> yup. >> why? >> a lot of us have passions and dreams and i want to travel around the world. my passions is photography and motorcycle riding and i saw myself at a fork in the road. unemployed and recently divorced. i decided instead of scrambling to try to find the next job, i sold everything i had, and hopped on the motorcycle to live and experience different cultures and different people all over the world. >> so why the name of the book? >> i came to a fork we come to forks in our live and forks are the things on the motorcycle that keep us going in the right direction and steer us. and forks are what we share and eat food with.

if you a musicianer you know what a tuning fork is as well. there is a lot of meaning and it is all of them for me >> this book does have recipes >> yes, it does. it is about my experience with connecting with people. i went on the trip alone but i can tell you it didn't take long for me to realize i wasn't alone. i was hungry and just turned around and someone was there. that is amazing how easy it is to connect with people and we do that over food or drink. i thought rather than do the travel narrative this would bring another level to that. a full sensory experience. the food and what is better than tasting the food of cultures.

we always talk about food. it seems when you are cooking at home everybody ends up in the kitchen and that is where we connect with others and culture. >> did you run into any political situations as you travelled the world? >> i have to tell you there were a few places that didn't want me to come in one being sudan. when i got to the border of ethopia and sudan it was my own practice of negotiation to convince them into let me into the country. here is where it gets kind of funny: i had been on the internet with different forms and there were people trying to get a reason to come in and there were some in southern europe as well and all of them had been turned down by the embassy in sudan. here i am and where am i going

next? somehow after three visits to the embassy in sudan they decided to grant me embassy. but here is the catch they only gave me seven days to get through it. a transit visa basically. same thing in syria. as manan american you are supposed to acquire your visa at washington, d.c. before you go there. they don't grant visas to anyone with diplomatic relationships. when i got to the border they had go to washington to get it. i have been on the road for two years plus and the visas expire in six months.

so here i am stuck at a border and we are talking politics and diplomacy and how do you get into syria? i can turn around and go back through jordan which is where i was or try to go through israel in a lebanon but i wanted to see syria. i camped out at the border between jordan and syria and waited until i finally convinced somebody to call damascus and get in. it was one of the best countries i visited. i never had to pay for a tank of gas and even at the border with all of the stamps to get this visa into the country and i had to get one for my motorcycle as well. i had to import that. here is what they said: wait

mr. allen the chief inspector wants to see you and i am thinking great they are not going to let me through. they show up the border where i am waiting and ready to go and i have been there over a day. and he said before we go in the middle east it all about having peace. we get together and have a beer here. and here it is let's have shy. we sat on the side of this dusty border stop on the dirt road and drew an outline of the map of syria and pointed out here is where you need to go. but the people are warm and it is sad that the government, you know, and it brings tears to my eyes to think about what is going on there now because i had a positive experience in syria. that is where we connect with people. i had good experiences, too.

i embraced south africa and its diversity and all oversight america fantastic people all over the world. fantastic food. and beyond border hassles or you know challenges which i call opportunities anyway, we can get through those things. and great stuff all over the world >> allen carl did you ever get treated poorly because you were an american? >> never once was i treated poorly. in fact, i was in brazil at cafe chatting and there was another american who brought up the fact i cannot believe we are always getting tossed under the bus so to speak and mistreated or misunderstood. and what this brazilian said was i am