primetime. tonight at 8:30, and tuesday through friday at 8:00, book tv features a wide range of topics including foreign policy, law and legal issues, iran, coverage of book fairs and festivals and the best sellers from this year. let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. call us at 202-626-3400 or e-mail us at comments@c-span.org. follow us on facebook. like us on twitter. this month marks the 40th anniversary of president nixon's r resignation. during the special presentation of american history tv, the president's speech. first we go behind the scenes in the oval office as the president prepares to deliver his remarks. this is about 20 minutes.

>> how is that? >> okay. >> you're better looking than i am. why don't you stay here. blonds, they say, photograph better than brunettes. is that true or not? you are a blonde, aren't you? red head? we're same. >> mr. president -- >> hi. i know. have you got an extra camera in

case the lights go out? is that on nbc? that's an nbc camera, i presume? standard joke. did you get these lights properly? my eyesores, you'll find when you get past 60 -- that's enough, thanks. my friend ollie always wants to take a lot of pictures. i'm afraid he'll catch me picking my nose. he wouldn't print that, would you, ollie? you take a long shot but that's enough right now. i guess i can see it. yes, yes.

good evening, this is the 37th time i have spoken to you from this office, where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of our nation. need any more? each time i have done so to discuss with some matter that affected the national interest. okay. ollie, only the cbs crew now is to be in this room during this. only the crew. no, there will be no picture. no. after the broadcast. you've taken your picture. didn't you take one just now? >> yes, sir. >> that's it. because you know, we don't want -- we -- the press will take one. you've taken it and just take it right now. right after the broadcast, you got it.

come on. okay. okay, fine. i'll make the other photographers mad by giving you too many. that's enough. all secret service, any secret service in the room? >> just one agent. >> out. you don't have to stay, do you? you're required to? i'm just kidding you.

>> 2 minutes and 15 seconds to air. >> don't we usually have more -- >> not when you speak in here, sir. >> i see. but better for the crew, is that right? [ inaudible ] >> one minute and a half. >> i better get in position. what? >> i'd like you to move the pages away from the microphone. >> if i can. i'll try to. you mean, move them like this? >> yes, sir. >> would that help you?

am i straight in the back? would you mind checking my collar? i mean, it's not ruffled up? good evening. this is the 37th time i have spoken to you from this office where so many decisions have been made that shape the history of this nation. each time i have done so to discuss with you some matter that i believe affected the national interest. in all of the decisions i have made in my public life, i have always tried to do what was best for the nation. throughout the long and difficult period of watergate, i

have felt it was my duty to persevere. to make every possible effort to complete the term of office to which you elected me. in the past few days, however, it has become evident to me that i no longer have a strong enough political base in the congress to justify continuing that effort. as long as there was such a base, i felt strongly that it was necessary to see the constitutional process through to its conclusion. that to do otherwise would be unfaithful to the spirit of that deliberately difficult process and a dangerously destabilizing precedent for the future. but with a disappearance of that base, i now believe that the constitutional purpose has been served. and there is no longer a need a

for the process to be prolonged. i would have preferred to carry through to the finish whatever the personal agony it would have involved, and my family unanimously urged me to do so. but the interest of the nation must always come before any personal considerations. from the discussions i have had with congressional and other leaders, i have concluded that because of the watergate matter, i might not have the support of the congress that i would consider necessary to back the very difficult decisions and carry out the duties of this office in the way the interest of the nation will require. i have never been a quitter. to leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. but as president, i must put the

interests of america first. america needs a full-time president. and a full-time congress. particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad, to continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the president and the congress. in a period when our entire focus should be on the great issues of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. therefore, i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. vice president ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office. as i recall the high hopes for america with which we began this

second term, i feel a great sadness that i will not be here in this office working on your behalf to achieve those hopes in the next two and a half years. but in turning over direction of the government to vice president ford, i know as i told the nation when i nominated him for that office ten months ago, that the leadership of america will be in good hands. in passing this office to the vice president, i also do so with the profound sense of the weight of responsibility that will fall on his shoulders tomorrow. and therefore of the understanding, the patience, the cooperation he will need from all americans. as he assumes that responsibility, he will deserve

the help and the support of all of us. as we look to the future, the first essential is to begin healing the wounds of this nation, to put the bitterness and divisions of the recent past behind us. and to rediscover those shared ideals that lie at the heart of our strength and unity as a great and as a free people. by taking this action, i hope that i will have hastened the start of that process of healing which is so desperately needed in america. i regret deeply any injuries that may have been been done in the course of events that led to this decision. i would say only that if some of my judgments were wrong, and some were wrong, they were made

in what i believed at the time to be the best interest of the nation. to those who have stood with me during these past difficult months, to my family, my friends, the many others who joined in supporting my cause because they believed it was right, i will be eternally grateful for your support. and to those who have not felt able to give me your support, let me say, i leave with no bitterness toward those who have opposed me. because all of us in the final analysis have been concerned with the good of the country, however our judgments might differ. let us all now join together in

affirming that common commitment and in helping our new president succeed for the benefit of all americans. i shall leave this office with regret of not completing my term but with gratitude for the privilege of serving as your president for the past five and a half years. these years have been a momentous time in the history of our nation and the world. they have been a time of achievement in which we can all be proud, achievements that represent the shared efforts of the administration and congress and people. but the challenges ahead are equally great. and they too will require the support and efforts of the congress and people working in cooperation with the new administration. we have ended america's longest war. but in the work of securing a

lasting peace in the world, the goals ahead are even more far reaching and more difficult. we must complete a structure of peace so that it will be said of this generation, our generation of americans, by the people of all nations not only that we ended one more, but that we prevented future wars. we have unlocked the doors that for a quarter of a century stood between the united states and the people's republic of china. we must now ensure that the one quarter of the world's people who live in the people's republic of china will be and remain not our enemies, but our friends. in the middle east, 100 million people in the arab countries, many of whom have considered us

their enemy for nearly 20 years, now look on us as their friends. we must continue to build on that friendship. so that peace can settle at last over the middle east. and so that the cradle of civilization will not become its grave. together with the soviet union, we have made the crucial breakthroughs that have begun the process of eliminating nuclear arms, but we must set as our goal not just limiting but reducing and finally destroying these terrible weapons so that they cannot destroy civilization and the threat of nuclear war will no longer hang over the world and the people. we have opened the new relation with the soviet union.

we must continue to develop and expand that new relationship so that the two strongest nations of the world will live together in cooperation rather than confrontation. around the world in asia and africa and latin america and the middle east, there are millions of people who live in terrible poverty. even starvation. we must keep as our goal turning away from production of war and expanding production for peace so that people everywhere on this earth can at last look forward in their children's time, if not in our own time, to having the necessities for a decent life. here in america we're fortunate that most of our people have not

only the blessings of liberty but also the means to live full and good and by the world standards even abundant lives. we must press on, however, toward a goal not only of more and better jobs, but of full opportunity for every american. and of what we are striving so hard right now to achieve, prosperity without inflation. for more than a quarter century in public life, i have shared in the turbulent history of this era. i have fought for what i believed in. i have tried to the best of my ability to discharge those duties and meet those responsibilities that were entrusted to me. sometimes i have succeeded, and sometimes i have failed.

but always i have taken heart from what theodore roosevelt once said about the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood and strives valiantly and errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without error in shortcoming but who does actually strive to do the deed. who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions. who spends himself in a worthy cause. who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievements and with the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

i pledge to you tonight that as long as i have a breath of life in my body, i shall continue in that spirit. i should continue to work for the great causes to which i have been dedicated throughout my years as a congressman, senator and vice president and president, the just the cause of peace for america but among all nations and prosperity and justice and opportunity for all of our people. there is one cause above all to which i have been devoted and to which i shall always be devoted for as long as i live. when i first took the oath of office as president five and a half years ago, i made this sacred commitment, to consecrate my office, my energies and all

of the wisdom i can summon to the cause of peace among nations. i've done my very best and all the days since to be true to that pledge. as a result of these efforts i'm confident that the world is a safer place today not only for the people of america but for the people of all nations. and that all of our children have a better chance than before of living in peace. rather than dieing in war. this more than anything is what i hoped to achieve when i sought the presidency. this more than anything is what i hope will be my legacy. to you. to our country.

as i leave the presidency. to have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every american. and leaving it, i do so with this prayer. may god's grace be with you in all the days ahead. president nixon resigned 40 years ago on august 9th, 1974. "the washington post" recently

hosted a discussion about watergate. the secret white house tapes and the 37th president's fall from power. their conversation was about two hours. welcome, everybody. my name is marty baron, executive editor of the "washington post." it is a real pleasure to welcome you here tonight. you can consider yourselves all very special because when the invitation went out for this event, it was sold out within a day. and ever since, folks here at "the post" have been telling people that there's no more room. and you can see that from the attendance here and the overflow crowd in the next room as well. there's not a single seat left for anybody. and there are many, many people who would have liked to have come. and it's no wonder that this is a sellout crowd as well and a must-have ticket because you

have an extraordinary panel here today. individuals who loom very large in history and in journalism and revelations about the presidency. this defining moment in american history was also a defining moment for american journalism and a defining moment certainly for "the washington post" and a defining moment in its own way for people like me. not that i want to make anyone feel old, but i was in college when nixon resigned. and "the post" was breaking its watergate stories. and it was that journalism that really helped inspire me to get into the field as it did with many others. i'm fortunate to be able to introduce your wonderful moderator ruth marcus. ruth joined "the post" in 1984 and is now one of our most distinguished columnists. she's known for doing the hard reporting before offering her opinions, but she has strong opinions, too.

over the course of her career, she's covered every institution it seems in washington from the supreme court to the white house to congress to the justice department, and she's also deeply experienced on the campaign trail. has covered many campaigns of every type and few know washington as well as ruth. so you couldn't help for a better journalist to moderate this panel. >> you might. >> what? >> you might but you got me. >> you certainly couldn't ask for a nicer person. so i'm going to get out of the way and turn it over to ruth who will introduce the panel. thank you to everyone for coming. >> thank you so much. thank you, marty. marty talked about making people feel old, and i don't actually have a lot of opportunity to do that these days, so i would like to trump marty by saying that i

was going into my senior year of high school. sorry, guys. except for ken who we'll get to later who i'm a little bit bitter about. on the night that nixon resigned. and i have to say, not in my wildest dreams could i ever have imagined growing up to be able to be here moderating this panel tonight with this incredibly distinguished group of folks. so this is not just a privilege for me. it's just an absolute hoot. it's particularly a hoot since i think maybe somewhere in this audience are my two daughters who are the age that i was when president nixon resigned. and i didn't even have to twist their arms to get them to come tonight. let me just say it wasn't to see their mother. i am going to start from that end and actually probably do bob

and carl together because they, in fact, are together in the public's mind as woodstein. this is the ultimate needs no introduction introduction in american journalism. bob and i, he probably doesn't remember this, we first met in 1981 when he told me i was very foolish to be heading off to law school and should just come to work for "the washington post." he was probably right then, but it all worked out just fine in the end. bob has worked for "the post" since '71 and teamed up with carl, as everybody in the universe knows, to start reporting the watergate story which has been called the single greatest reporting effort of all time. if there's one word to apply to bob, it is indefatigable. most of us having reported the watergate story would have sat back and rested an our laurels. woodward apparently does not have laurels to rest on because

in addition to the two incredible pieces of work that he and carl produced, "all the president's men" and "the final days," -- please buy them out front -- he's written 14 other books that pierce everything -- every institution in washington from the supreme court, which i personally know how hard it is to pierce, to hollywood, to the federal reserve, to, of course, multiple presidencies. and if you just want to get a little bit depressed, if you are me at least, he's written more number one national nonfiction best sellers than any contemporary author. so there you go. so i'm going to leap over ken for a moment because they literally are separated here but that's just to make them behave. to introduce carl. and i think only woodward could make bernstein look like a slacker. because if you look at, he

has -- while woodward went after the supreme court, carl decided to tackle such easy subjects as the pope and hillary clinton. two venerated but impenetrable institutions. in addition, carl, this is a story you don't know. in addition to writing a book about his parents' experiences in the mccarthy era, many years ago, one of my colleagues came back from a trip to garfinkels and she'd given her credit card to -- >> showing your age. >> yes, some of us remember it was a department store. this colleague gave her credit card to a woman behind the counter who said, oh, you work for "the washington post." perhaps, she said, you know my son carl bernstein, proving that behind every successful journalist is a proud mom. >> and she regularly waited on

john ehrlichman. >> is that right? >> who bought mean porcelain birds. >> carl has written for "vanity fair," "time," "usa today," "rolling stone" and "the new republic" in addition to being an abc correspondent. and welcome to him. now it's so exciting to feel taller than somebody. thank you for doing this, elizabeth. elizabeth drew, whatever her actual physical height here is a washington institution. the washington journals she wrote were a citizen's guide to watergate and washington as the nixon presidency was unraveling. i have to tell you, though i read them at the time and reread them some years later, i have been rereading them now, and they really fit the goal that she had which was to explain to people what was going on in a way that would be understandable and comprehensible and illustrative