he didn't actually use those words. >> did you actually talk to him about the importance of saying -- >> i did, yeah. before the show i talked to him quite a bit about it. >> what did he say? >> he said he probably would. >> he said he probably would. >> yeah. he didn't make a promise, he said -- >> did he actually believe though that he had been wrong? >> i think he believed that -- i think he thought that lyndon jan son and jack kennedy had got through a lot of things. he didn't realize the full force of an antagonistic congress and a press that was out to get his blood because they'd missed the story in the first place. i don't think he realized the force of that would force him into the position he was in. i remember the night that --

bloody saturday. >> saturday night massacre? >> yeah. i was in -- maybe at that time i was working for metro media and i got a call. you won't believe what just happened but you better know. because they just went on thinking they could get away with it all. had he just admitted wrong and got rid of a couple people early, it probably never would have happened. is there help me understand this. this is man who didn't think he would get a fair shake from the washington press. >> yes. >> so he should have been on his guard, and yet he thought he would get away with it. why? >> nobody else had been caught up in that kind of thing. >> but you've been around -- you've been around for a while. you've been through all those campaigns. was it the same kind of stuff as what johnson and kennedy had been doing? >> well, thewhat they were doin probably was worse. johnson's people were stealing

money. and you heard a lot of questions about his broadcast license. other things like that. this is an entirely different thing. when he said "i'm not a crook," he really believed he was not a crook. he didn't steal anybody's money. what he didn't realize is that he was exerting power that he didn't have. >> did you get a sense as you were talking about your surprise and the white house surprise at the time of kent state, did you get a sense that the country was changing? you had been director of communications, your whole goal was to think about shaping public opinion. did you have a sense maybe that the country was moving in a different direction? >> i knew that we were -- the best thing he did was he made his speech about what did you call the public thing? silent majority.

we really got fantasy on that but i knew that was running out. the kent thing speeded up considerably. cambodia thing speeded up considerably so our support was weakening. but through the campaign of '72, it was still there. >> did you play a role in shaping the silent majority speech? >> no, that was done out of the speech department. spl what suggesti >> what suggestions did you give the president that he didn't take that might have helped his public image during this period when you were director of -- >> well, i thought he should have more press conferences. he wanted fewer and he was encouraged to have less relationship with the press. i thought that he could have handle them well and if he had more press coverage, more contact, he could handle it -- maybe he would have realized the intensity of the opposition. that was one of the major things. i thought that he was giving

colson way too much leeway. colson was -- i had a very good working relationship with the president of all the networks and the whole communication structure and colson would be undercutting me with that by going secretly to meet them and they'd call me and ask what the hell's going on. so i thought he was giving too much support to colson. bob haldeman, he and i have had our meeting of the ways and renewed our friendship before he died. and i and bob finch had lunch one time to talk it all out. in fact ghb his boktfact, in hi kind to us book. i think he just was consumed with power. the problem was he had a lot of young guys who, they would tell a cabinet officer the president wants this, be probably the only

time they'd seen the president were in the weeks he'd been on television and he had a few too much power was given to -- the president delegated too much power to haldeman and ehrliurla. the kind of language that came out of him, he would never use that kind of language. >> did you actually talk to the president? >> no, i didn't go to the president with that kind of thing. i talked to haldeman about it. >> you knew sometimes haldeman was carrying your mail. wasn't delivering your mail. >> well, i wasn't sure what he did or what he didn't. i was in haldeman's office one time when kissinger threatened to resign because rogers was getting too much play. we had to calm kissinger down. so i never knew one way or the

other but the first big fight i had with colson was over he was putting too much pressure on mcgruter. he was trying to get him to do things in my office that i protected my office very carefully so that we kept the credibility of that office was totally important to me. that's the kind of thing i would disagree with colson about. it was what i was trying to point out to the president, his credibility was the key to the whole thing. >> tell us about mcgruter. what kind of person was he? >> he was a very nice young guy. was very weak and he would let himself get pushed around and the time i had the battle on his behalf over colson i was surprised how tough colson could be because normally i could call someone in that was junior to me, say this is how we got to do

it and he would agree. colson wouldn't move one inch. >> tell us a bit about the relationship between bill rogers and the president. because bill rogers -- the president brings bill rogers in at a very difficult time in '73 when he's about to fire haldeman. it is a strange relationship. >> bill rogers and dick knicks be were close personal friend. through most all of his career. when he was his best friend in the eisenhower cabinet, and he henry would have liked it if haldeman would have liked to get rid of rogers but they would never say that to dick nixon was dick nixon was loyal. >> but he did marginalize. >> yeah. marginalized what he was doing. but bill rogers wasn't able to

cope with the ability to wield power that mel laird could do or henry kissinger could do. they were -- they knew how to move things around in a tougher way. bill is just a very nice guy, a very smart guy and a very honest guy. >> fast forward a bit. did you see president nixon after he resigned -- how long after he resigned did you see president nixon? >> well, i saw him frequently afterward. i don't know how often. the first call i had after san clemente, before he left, the smoking gun tape had him talking to colson about me in which he said between he and colson said he is not our kind of guy, he's got egg on his face. those were the kind of quotes.

and i was playing golf with some friends and i got a call from a reporter who said you better get back to your office and see what's been said. the way i treated it was, we're friend and i've sure heard a lot of things said in a locker room which people don't really mean so i dismissed it that way. but it bothered me some and about the fourth day he got back he called me on the phone, said i want to talk to you about this and i'm sorry. which i thought was one of the more noble things that he did. >> did you visit him? >> i visited him, not right away but i did quite often, yes. >> he was very sick physically. >> yeah. we had the same doctor. >> was he pleased with his performance on the -- in the

press interviews? >> he would never admit he was really pleased but i think he was. i think he did well. turned the public opinion around for quite a while. the best press conference he ever had was the very first one when he took office. and he really did a great job in all the press left the press conference saying there's a new nixon. he just did this press conference and he had been open and all and there was a phrase that a reporter came up with describing the vietnam war which he adopted and used it quite a bit just from a reporter -- so it was hard to get him to admit he liked something he did but he like those two and i think they both were really very good. >> he liked the frost interview and the first press conference? >> yeah. >> tell me about his last speech to the bohemian club, please. >> he loved the bohemian grove,

as do i. everybody who goes there. he agreed to make it -- the primary speeches are called lakeside talks. there is lakeside being a pond with some grass in front of it with red ones back of it and. people standing on the grass while nixon spoke. nixon belonged to a camp called caveman. i belong to one called spot. there are names like that. reagan's camp was owl's nest. ford's is -- i forget what his is, but any rate. he came out there and i took them -- he made -- two times i

heard him do it and different circumstance. one was to the american society newspaper editors two or three years after he left office. which he got a standing ovation from them which i felt just really excited. i was introducing him and to have my colleagues give him a standing ovation was really something. and then in both cases he took people on a tour of the world and told them what he thought was going on in each part of the world and very precise, understandable terms. and at the bohemian grove the rule is that you speak for 30 minutes. he stood there for 30 minutes with no notes, spoke on this tour around the world and just knocked everybody off of their socks. it was probably one of the best speeches i ever heard him make. and when he didn't have a single

note. he stayed there and sort of wandered around. the people were looking at him, former president. right afterward there was a political problem. i don't remember what it was so-called a group of his caveman camp and talked about it. none of it affected him personally at all. it was probably the clinton period. >> tell me, did he get philosophical about his career in the end? >> no. his whole talk was to explain what was going on in the world. >> no, i meant afterwards. >> oh. yeah. he felt that he'd done a good job. he was proud of what he had's done on foreign policy. i think he enjoyed the fact t t that -- part of our friendship was always talking about sports. so we'd talk about sports quite

a bit when we were together any time. even on a campaign plane. and so we would talk about the baseball teams and he became a big fan of the mets. i tell you, kind of funny little story, too. one time there were three of us who got to super bowls for san diego and we had three super bowls. one of the guys was back to meet with the owners in new york and had some time. i said well why don't we see if we can go over to see the president. he was in new jersey then. so we went over and found him and he was -- it was in a little italian place that he had. so the first thing i did was take my friend to see his golf scorecard where he had had a hole in one at belaire and he had this -- i know he had a lot

of pride, he had a 5 iron and spalding ball. then we sat down and said, you guys were in the holiday bowl. how come you're not on cbs instead of espn? so i wanted to talk to him about the middle east. we had to talk about sports for about 20 minutes. that was the way he was. >> that's how he relaxed. >> yeah. >> hosted by our time warner cable partner, american history tv is in beaumont, texas this weekend to explore its history and literary culture. beaumont is site one of the largest oil fields in american history and when oil was discovered there in 1901 the population grew from 9,000 to 30,000 in just three months. learn more about beaumont, texas all weekend long on american history tv. we're in courtroom number one which was the courtroom in which judge lamar cecile presided, i think 1954 through

'58. in this courtroom, he made two decisions with respect to desegregation in beaumont. there had been the famous case, brown versus board of education, which ordered the desegregation of public schools, ruled that separate but equal was not constitutional. and so based on that, there were cases around the united states challenging the jim crow segregation system. like americans were bard frred hotels an restaurants and cafes, libraries, golf courses. and in bow moeaumont, texas, bl golfers were barring from playing at the public golf course here in beaumont, it was a municipal golf course. black americans, black beaumonters could work there and they could caddie there, and they could play there when the course was closed, but because of their color, because of jim crow segregation, they were not

permitted to play there when the course was open. there were six black golfers who put together a challenge to that segregation. six black golfers wanted to challenge that segregation system at the golf course and they joined with three black lawyers, two young lawyers from beaumont, theo johns and elmo willard who had just graduated from howardshington, and then a lawyer from dallas, u6i. simpso tate who was the naacp lawyer for texas. and they put together a lawsuit against the city of beaumont and it was booker fasin versus el know beard versus the city of beaumont. that was in the summer of '55.m

know beard versus the city of beaumont. that was in the summer of '55.o know beard versus the city of beaumont. that was in the summer of '55.b beaumont. that was in the summer of '55. in order to set up the case several went out to the golf shop at the course, they were refused and so they got the case set up like that. and then after they set up the case, then johns and willard and tate filed the suit papers in beaumont challenging the fact that they were not permitted to play the course because of their color. an the new judge, he had just been appointed recently, was lamar cecile. and so judge cecile had to handle this new case that was coming in. johns and willard and tate argued this case in the courtroom here. they brought the plaintiffs and the defendants together and judge cecile presided there at his bench. theo johns and elmo willard and simpson tate argued that the case of brown versus board of

education did apply to the golf course, even though it was an education, a school case. he ruled in favor of the black plaintiffs, ruled that brown versus board of education does in fact apply to this golf course, and he ordered the desegregation of terrill park golf course. so that was one small step that was taken here in beaumont to begin the desegregation. booker fasin and joe griffin and those other black gentlemen did get to enjoy the golf course and many of them played here for many years. it was a good ending for the black golfers and a first step in the desegregation of facilities in beaumont. the next summer the same three black lawyers went after a bigger pry. they went after the desegregation of lamar university here in beaumont. a state university, four-year college. lamar university was, by charter

for white students only. so there were some black students applied for admission there, they were refused. and so the three black lawyers joined with two black plaintiffs, a 26-year-old woman who had graduated from high school and who had attended texas southern, and then a black young man who had just graduated from blessed sacred high school here in beaumont. it was a fairly simple case for judge cecile and the lawyers. again, brown versus board of education was about the public schools, but there had been other state colleges already desegregated in texas. and so the precedents were there for judge cecile. when it was all said and done, judge cecile ruled in favor of the black students just before registration began.

and about 25 black students enrolled at lamar college that fall, and began classes. there was some trouble on the lamar campus. there were pickets. there were white people who protested this desegregation who were opposed to admission of plaque students to lamar college. there was a threat of violence against the mayor of beaumont, jimmy kokonos. but with the help of the walnut police department and the lamar administration, desegregation did go forward and it was accomplished without any serious violence. so as we know later in other parts of the american south, there were serious, very serious problems in violence on some of the campuses. but at lamar university it was accomplished and it was accomplished with these plaque lawyers and the white federal

judge, judge lamar cecile, working the rule of law. a rule of law that presumes the equality of all persons. coming up next on this big game weekend, university of chicago law professor dennis hutchison discusses the life of just disbyron white. justice white served as an associate justice on the supreme court for 31 years but before his appointment in 1962 he was a college and professional football player earning a great deal of national media attention in the early 20th century. mr. hutchison looks at how byron white's early celebrity shaped his career on the court. this is about 40 minutes. thank you for that round of applause. it is nice to be home. i grew up colorado and have been in exile for the last 35 years.

a few day after john f. kennedy was inaugurated president of the united states in january of 1961, byron white, the deputy attorney general, slipped out of the department of justice building for a quick lunch at a nearby restaurant. after the sandwiches, his coffee was poured, the waitress looked carefully at white and asked, say, aren't you whizzer white? white took a sip of coffee, measured her slowly, and replied in a soft voice, "i was." f. scott fitzgerald famously said that there are no second acts in american lives. but there must have been times when byron white wish that his first act could be forgotten once and for all. for his entire public career, white was constantly framed in the public eye by his headline making first act -- an act so to speak, that made him a nationwide household name while

he was still a teen abler. but which penalized a shy, modest young man with expectations he could not foresee, did not wish, and sometimes could not meet. but we're already ahead of the game. summary of act one -- byron raymond white was born june 17, 1918, in ft. collins, colorado but he grew up 11 miles away in wilmington. population 500 at the time. his father managed a lumber yard. wellington's economy was dominated by sugar beets, a crop demanding attention constantly and back breaking work. both white and his older brother, clayton s. sam white, worked beet fields after school and during the summer from the time that they could wield a hoe. winters were harsh. spring brought strong winds off the front range. and summers were hot and dry.

character was shaped in the relentless competition between the land and the elements. self-reliance was not an abstraction. by graduating first in his class from the tiny local high school, like his brother before him, byron white earned a full tuition scholarship to the university of colorado. tle was a st there he was a star in three sports -- football, basketball and baseball. president of the student body. if i beta capita. and again, like his brother before him, a rhodes scholar. his performance during his senior year is still statistically one of the most impressive in the history of intercollegiate football and it was capped by all-american honors in brilliant play in the cotton bowl. so great was the press interest in the young student athlete that the new york basketball writers association created the first national invitational basketball tournament, largely as a showcase for white and his

teammates. white delayed his ma trickalation at oxford to accept the highest salary ever offered to a player in the national football league -- $15,800. this was pre-tv, pre-roselle. he spent two years at oxford studying law but he returned home in september 1939 when war broke out in europe. he spent a year at yale law school, one the prize for highest grades in the first year, then took a leave of absence, each of the two succeeding fall terms to continue to play professional football. he was thus able to finance his legal education, help support the medical education of his brother, and provide a retirement nest egg for his parents. with the onset of world war ii, white tried to enlist in the marine corps to become a fighter pilot. but he failed the colorblindness

test and had to settle for naval intelligence. and with the war, byron white was allowed to drop out of the headlines. but for a half decade, in the spring of 1936, he was a household name regionally and from the fall of 1937, nationally. in an era when sports writers created dramatic athletic heroes, white was almost too good to be true. small town boy, three-sport star, student body president, valedictorian, and eventually a rhodes scholar. his only handicap was his location. football was still a college sport focused on the east coast. all the media there viewed transallegheny competition as suspect with the possible exception of the small college in indiana. one prominent sports writer of

the day ventured in country to watch white play and memorialized it with a gripping account of a memorable play in a bitter rivalry. white returned to punt 97 yards for a touchdown. zigging and zagging the field, and leaving spectators breathless. colorado won 17-7. although one newspaper headline accurately stated "white 17-you the utah 7. white's national fame was secured by the column published by over 400 newspapers. one of the problems though is it went national with a memorable nickname which he quickly came to loathe. here's a sample of his column. the recipe for an all-american backfor a man reads something like this. take people parts of speed, power and savvy. mix well with ability to kick

and pass. add a generous pinch of endures, if that's right, then byron whizzer white of coll and all the items that a man or an all-american team comes in for. within days, newspapers from chicago to new york were heralding the new galluping ghost of the rockies, the whizzing man. white's instant national fame and colorado's record yielded a berth in the second cotton bowl. but eastern writers wanted more, so the n.i.t. was established in madison square garden to showcase byron white basketball star. colorado was outmatched. but deeper wound were inflicted than the lopsided loss in the finale. new york sports writers treated white like a rural chicken to be plucked. they made up quotes about interviews. they distorted his