through and finding the people. >> and the other thing it told us from the beginning when the nixon white house said this is a third rate burglary, when we went taught to see the people who worked for the president and his campaign, we encountered incredible fear, bordering on terror. this is about the methodology. it's about that information in itself was ef sense. >> wouldn't you have been afraid, though, if you saw that air cut you had? if somebody like that showed up at your door? >> and it's fred collar. >> smoking cigarettes. >> that's right. >> i heard redford is going to make a documentary about watergate to april peer in 2013. can either of you tell us about it and why it's necessary? doesn't we know everything. ? >> redford is very serious pausing and look at at it that was -- i think one of the key yeses is who was richard nixon? and the watergate tapes are stunning. no one's ever going to listen to them all or look at the transcripts. >> but you do in the car. >> i do in the car instead of music, i have nixon tape cassettes to perfect me on down the road. and not on are there prime

howard hunt who years later he recruited to the nixon white house and supervised the watergate break driving lawyer he joined the nixon white house as special counsel and his chief task, to get richard nixon reelected by identifying and courting blue-collar workers, ethnics and other voters, later dubbed reagan democrats. he was a driving force behind the white house enemies list and the infamous plumber's group and his role in smearing antiwar activist, daniel else berg ultimately landed him in prison. >> it was the first thing in my life to be indicted. i had been so proud as a marine officer and proud to serve my country. and, a flag-waving patriot and end up in the courtroom, the u.s. of, a versus charles w. col soch son. >> reporter: and out of boston on the night of august 12, 197, h -- 1973, had his own epiphany. >> i drove up the driveway and got 100 yards and, this ex-marine captain, white house hatchet man and tough guy, found i was crying so hard i couldn't drive any further and spent probably a half-hour, in his driveway, that night, maybe an hour, and talking to god for

nixon cox, a candidate for that job. i thought i have a zero chance, a great chance to go to the white house. this is a lark. it was very fun. i told him i said you ought to know i voted for humphrey. i'm actually a great admirer of richard nixon's foreign policy. i'm more liberal that this domestic policy. but i'm interested in talking to you. i know you're going to hire somebody else. i was in north carolina, was right on the verge of accepting a job there when the phone rang. they fished me out. it was the white house calling. it was ray price on the line. he said i interview everybody, i'd like you to come to work for me. i said i can't believe it. i said, i want to remind you. he said that's fine. he said why don't you come for a year, it's 1971. we won't have an election campaign. i'll try you out, you try me out. we'll see how it fits. but i think we need diversity around here. i like the fact that you have views that are not consistent with everybody else. we have pat buchanan as far over to the right as you are to the left is a good fit. let's try it. and let me run interference on the fact that you'

we thought there's no place -- if you were on the nixon white house staff, you felt like you had just finished playing for the chicago black sox. your days were over. there's no come company. adds it turns out, merida is very forgiving, and a lot of people went on to strong careers in public service. the private success. to this day a lot of us have a strong loyalty to each other as human beings for what we came through. i still have a lot of affection for the people i worked with. >> please tell us a bit about ray price. from reading your book, it seems he was a very important influence on you in this period. >> i've been blessed in life, not only working for presidents but having extremely good mentors. ray was among the top of the mentors i had in life. you should know ray price brought me into the white house and i never would have been there had it not been for him and another dear friend i went to school with, jonathan rose. i was -- kind of a long story short, i was -- i had come back -- i had gone to law school after college and after law school went into the navy. my last yea

post" and all the others who cheered america into that war, and suddenly when richard nixon enters the white house, it is nixon's war? he simply wanted to end that war with honor. and in 1973, we had all the p.o.w.s home and the south vietnamese were in control of every provincial capital. he had won the war basically. what happened then was congress began to cut off all the military equipment until a north vietnamese said, the congress forced the south vietnamese to fight a poor man's war. it was not richard nixon who marched us into vietnam. he tried to get us out with other than. honor. he succeeded in doing so, quite frankly, against the opposition of a lot of people who were responsible for having all those guys over there. >> the controversy continues. it's useful to be reminded that this is a terribly controversial time. there were many advocates on the other side. controversial time, there were many advocates on the other side, and people gathered here were all at one time or another advocates on the other side, so it's natural that you've gotten a certain interpretation. i suppose there's

howard hunt, who years later colson would recruit to the nixon white house and go on to supervise the watergate break in. a former marine captain and hard driving lawyer on capitol hill, colson joined the nixon white house as special counsel. his chief task was to get richard nixon reelected by identifying and courting blue collar workers, ethnics and other voters later dubbed reagan democrats. he was a driving force behind the plumbers group. >> it was the worst blow of my life to be indicted because i had been so proud as a marine officer and proud to serve my country and a flag waving patriot and i end up in a courtroom and it's the united states of america versus charles w. colson. that was like a hot knife stabbing me. >> it was in the small town of weston, massachusetts, outside of boston on the night of august august 12, 1973, that colson, after visit ago friend who recently convert to do christ had his own epiphany. >> i started to drive up the driveway and i only got 100 yards before i had to pull over and this ex-marine captain and white house hatchet man was crying so hard,

. >>> the nixon foundation posted a gathering of former white house speechwriters who reflected on how the 37th president's messages were crafted and communicated. over the next 90 minutes they discussed richard nixon's public language from minor statements to major speeches. >>> and i'm here 0 to welcome you on behalf of the nixon foundation to our tenth nixon legacy panel. we began these panels last year and have every expectation of continuing them through the centennial of richard nixon's birth in january of 2013. we sponsor these in conjunction with the national archives, and my counterpart the assistant archivist in charge of all presidential libraries will be here at the end to help us conclude today's panel. today's legacy panel is entitled "working with 37" without speech writers remember working with richard nixon. you see, soaring rhetoric alone cannot sustain a presidency. it takes substance. but substance without sizzle cannot persuade. every administration struggles with a combination of substance and sizzle to show presidential leadership. how that was worked out with ou

i sort of thought to myself, that was sort of what it was like working in the nixon white house. you didn't see the bear. you didn't see what was obvious when it was over, but you didn't see it when it was there. it is -- like i have regrets about a lot of things i did in public life. things i should have done better. places i should have blown the whistle. times maybe i should have left. i didn't feel that so much about watergate. i really felt most of us did not understand until pretty close to the end. and once we understood it was over. >> what did you think of the pardon? >> i thought the pardon of richard nixon was the right thing to do. i thought it was a brave thing to do. i thought jerry ford deserved the honor when the john f. kennedy library some years later gave him the kennedy medal for bravery citing the watergate -- the pardon of richard nixon. i thought it was the right thing to do. i also thought it was as a little matter handled very clumsily so that it was a complete shock to the country. i remember it happened at 11:00 on a sunday, about 30 days into the presi

howard hunt who, years later, colson would recruit to the nixon white house and go on to sign vise the watergate break-in. a former marine captain and hard-driving lawyer, he joined the nixon white house as special council. the chief task was to get richard nixon re-elected by identifying and courting blue collar workers, ethnics and other voters later dubbed reagan democrats. he was a driving force behind the white house enemies list and the infamous plummer's group and the war in smearing antiwar activist daniel elsburg and ultimately landed colson in prison. >> it was the worst thing in my life to be indicted. i was so proud as a marine officer and proud to serve my country and i end up in the courtroom and that is in the united states of america. >> reporter: it was in the small town of westin, massachusetts, outside of boston on the night of august 12th, 1973colson, after visiting a friend who recently converted to christ, had his own epiphany. >> i started to drive out of the driveway and got 100 yards before i had to pull over and this quick marine captain and tough guy -- and i

he was known as the evil genius of the nixon white house. he once said that he would walk over his grandmother to get nixon reelected. well in prison he became an evangelical christian and spent the rest of his life helping prison inmates. he died of complications from brain surgery, he was 80 years old. he could get out of jail any time. reporters and photographers are staking out a florida jail where george zimmerman may be released from. the bail money is not the only issue keeping him in jail. there is another major concern. >> george zimmerman remains in jail as his attorney works out the details for his release but a major concern is find a secure location for him to live. >> we have a lot of concerns over security >> the judge set bail at 150,000 hours. george zimmerman must also report to authorities every three days. wearing a gps ankle bracelet to keep track of his movements. and obey a dusk to dawn curfew. he is accused of murdering trayvon martin. the boy's parents rush from the courthouse friday after the judge granted bell. the

here we are 40 years later and we're doing these panels with veterans of the nixon white house and nixon administration who can tell you about what it was like to be there. and, you know, we have almost the full original staff of speech writers. we're going to be talking about a lot of on other substantive areas as we go forth, but it is because there was a very, very young staff and we have matured quite nicely. you saw the colored hair in the beginning of it and you look across and we don't have that anymore. thank you all for coming. >>> a generation before president john f. kennedy acting on behalf of a grateful nation designated him an honorary american citizen, winston churchill paid his own heartfelt tribute to his transatlantic origins. appearing before a joint session of congress on the day after christmas, 1941, he puckishly observed, i cannot help reflecting that if my fathered had american and my mother british instead of the other way around i might have got here on my own. today outside the british embassy on massachusetts avenue churchill literally describes two nations wi

. >>> prominent member of the nixon white house who became a key member in the watergate scandal today. we get more tonight from nbc's pete williams. >> reporter: the life of charles colson was marked by a profound met mor metomorphosous once said he would walk over his own grandmother to get nixon re-elected. he worked on the 1972 campaign. he was never charged directly with anything due to the watergate break-in. instead he pled guilty to trying to block an investigation of another break-in, the office opsychiatrist treating daniel elsburg who leaked the pentagon papers. after serving seven months of his prosecute prison sentence, colson came out a man changed by the scandal and the punishment. >> in my own life, i look at it with gratitude. by going to prison, i've now seen how god has been able to use my life. >> reporter: he found an organization can called prison fellowships in 1976, reaching out to prisoners, ex-cons and their families here in the u.s. and around the world. >> those nonviolent offenders ought to be out of prison, working, paying back their victims instead of sit

he was known as the evil genius of the nixon white house and once said that he would walk over his grandmother to get nixon reelected. while in prison he became an evangelical christian and spent the rest of his life helping prison inmates. he died of complications from brain surgery, he was 80 years old. reporters and photographers and cameramen sticking out a florida jail after a judge agreed to let george zimmerman out on bail. he is the neighborhood watch volunteer accused of killing an unarmed teen. but the bail money is not the only issue keeping him in jail. here is another major concern. >> george zimmerman remains in jail as his attorney works out the details for his release. but a major concern is finding a secure location for zimmerman to live. >> we have a lot of concerns over security, >> the judge set bail at $150,000. zimmermann must also report to authorities every three days. wearing a gps ankle place lit to keep track of his movements and obey a dusk to dawn curfew. zimmerman is accused of murdering 17 year-old trayvon martin. the boy's parents rush from the courthouse friday

he was troubled by what was going on in the nixon white house. he was also trying to protect the fbi and people forget about, this he was not a volunteer. he didn't come to us. we went to him and i actually was -- you used the term stalker to get him to talk. >> there's another fundamental flaw in this book. bob maybe won't be as forth right as i am about it it, and that is the idea that felt somehow played us, tricked us. that we obtained information all over the lot. it was rare he volunteered information. he would certainly confirm it. certainly the idea that he played us is uter nonsense. the people who got police department were the prosecutors. and they really good played prp partly because the attorney general and assistant attorney general were in on the play and we wrote it. >> the panel is called how would the story unfold in the digital age. i want to bring other people in as well. josh, tell us where does watergate fit in your life and how do you see investigative reporting today? >> i think like everybody else it's the totemic invest

he was known as the evil genius of the nixon white house and once said that he would walk over his grandmother to get nixon reelected. in prison he became an evangelical christian and spend the rest of his life helping prison inmates. he died of complications from brain surgery at the age of 80. now that mitt romney is the near certain republican presidential nominee. the attention is turning to the presidential election. according to recent reports, this year's election is shaping up to be the most expensive in history. anthony mason is here with what could be a billion dollar campaign. >> the mitt romney campaign has spent $77 million to win the republican presidential nomination. that is not all. " restore our future " the supertax supporting him, chicken another $45 million for advertisements taking down his opponents. >> following a supreme court decision two years ago, the super pak can receive and spend unlimited amounts of money. so far 17 billionaires' have donated to the pro mitt romney group. charles schwab is the latest. the brokerage house president and his wife steered $500,000 t

that coincidentally, the antiwar group had been regarded in almost exactly the same way by the nixon white house. these two things came together. there was this huge retributive mechanism at the white house that really defined the press and in. [inaudible] >> i would like to know what you see -- [inaudible] >> i am one of the people in the room who was sitting here because of you. what do you see about what watergate is what you think is good and what is bad? >> everyone here that? >> i'm going to shout. everybody here in the grand this year because of you. we all chose because i wanted their perception of what watergate did as a practice of journalism and what they think is good about it and what is bad about it. >> well, what it was is and death persistence reporting. we've often talked about coverage. we were told to stay on this story. sometimes we stories on the 36. one of them i just thought those that there is a $3000 receive her at the watergate hurlers had which was affixed and expensive procedure. we did know exactly what it meant. it finally showed they had virtually unlimited amounts

white house has dismissed any evidence of the scandal. >> the president pretty much continued the secret service both in terms of personnel structure and procedures. >> wbal-tv 11 news. >> a prominent member of the nixon white house who became a key figure in the watergate scandal has died. he served as special counsel to the president. nixon died at the age of 80. but he later served time in prison and became an advocate of prison reform. he died of complications from a brain hemorrhage. the men travel the distance around the earth's a quitter. he hardly seemed worse for the where. -- wear. >> the time he arrived at the annapolis harbor, his boat was without an engine, or gps. that is what happens of 25,000 moss certain net -- circumvented the americas. bebop -- miles circumventing the americas. >> this was the very first time that the 31-year-old president stepped ashore in three and 14 days. before this, -- 314 days. >> the hardest part was the northwest package. the combination of ice and fog is incredibly dangerous and, as you can imagine. there were times with very close mrs. that i had. when you mix it altogether, i was nearly killed by a giant iceberg at one point. >> he left annapolis last ju

. >>> a prominent member of the nixon white house who became a key figure in the watergate scandal died. charles colson served time in prison and became an advocate of reform. >> reporter: his life was marked by a profound met more physician. he was a hard driving hatchet man for nixon and said he'd walk over his own grandmother to get nixon re-elected. he was never charged with anything directly connected to that year's watergate break-in that led to nixon's downfall. instead he pleaded guilty to block an investigation of another break-in at the office of a psychiatrist treating daniel elsburg who leaked the pentagon papers. after serves seven months he came out a man changed by the scandal and punishment >> in my own life i look at it with gratitude. by going to prison god has used my life and my life is transformed and i work p in prisons. >> he founlded prison fellowship in 1976 reaching out to prisoners, ex-cons in their families here in the u.s. and eventually around the world. >> those nonviolent offenders should be out of prison and working and paying back victims instead of sit

you authorize the tapping of some of the reporters and the national security officials in the nixon white house. his answer was almost never. >> yes. >> my question is, what went through your minds on november 8th, 1972, when the election results came in with 61% of the popular vote, every state going for nixon except massachusetts, and where we are today, after that great reporting effort that you made. was there an oh, shit moment? how did you feel? >> it didn't surprise us and i don't think it affected us one bit. you know, we knew that the story hadn't gotten that much traction by then and there was a lot of reporting left to do. i think, we had a real moment in september of 1972. we found out that john mitchell, while attorney general of the united states, had controlled the secret fund among other people that paid for the bugging at watergate and some of these other undercover activities. and woodward and i would meet in the vending machine room off the newsroom floor, get our good cop bad cop routine 18 row to take to bradley. >> guess who was the good cop and who was the bad cop. >> so,

white house has dismissed any implication of boerse involvement in the scandal. efforts -- >> the white house has dismissed any implication of their involvement in the scandal. >> a prominent member of the nixon white house has died. he served as special counsel to richard nixon and died yesterday at the age of 80. he served time in prison and bitter became an advocate of prison reform. they try to help inmates. he died of complications from a brain hemorrhage. a man completed a non-stop, record-setting voyage across the americas. he hardly seemed worse for the wear. >> welcome home. >> by the time he arrives, at his boat was without an engine, built pump, and gps. that is what happened after 25,000 miles, circumnavigating the americas. a remarkable journey deserving a remarkable welcome. >> it was a great adventure. i'm happy to be added to welcome him home. >> this was the first time the 31-year-old residence stepped ashore in three of 14 days. before this, he never dropped anchor from his 27 foot, secondhand sailboat. >> the hardest part was the passage. the combination of ice and fog was dangerous. there were times i had close mrs. of icebergs coming out of fog at the last second. i had n

and there are a lot of factors involved in that, and one of the turning points was the nixon white house and the way it responded to the press. spiro agnew was on the attack. they made the press the issue successfully. the conduct of the press became the issue rather than the conduct of the president of the united states. why was that such an effective strategy? because it works and because it appeal-- again, that-- unless the--you know, until things become really hairy in this country, people identify with criticism of the press and usually for some pretty good reasons. you know, we don't do our-- you know, we're like doctors, you know? you go to the doctor's office, and 10% of the doctors in this country are great, and they, you know, save your life. another 20% of them, you might be a little better off by the time you leave the office. another 20%, you're about the same, 30% a little worse, 20% of them, you'll be in pretty rough shape. 10% of them will kill you. i'm not at all sure that we're different. people want their children to marry doctors. well, that's because they make more m

david cameron takes questions at the british house of commons pyridine an oral history of the nixon white house by charles colson who died yesterday at the age of 80. it's been a another chance to see "q & a" douglas wissing off their to talk about his book "funding the enemy." tomorrow, former staff director and general counsel for the house a homeland security could come before congress this week. investigative reporters talks about his theories on the history of errors in

. >>> a prominent member of the nixon white house that became a key figure in the watergate scandal has died. colson spent seven months in prison for trying to discredit the man behind the pentagon papers. after his release he founded prison fellowship. colson spent the remaining years of his life helping ex-immates. he died yesterday after surgery trying to fix a blood caught. charles colson was 80 years old. >>> and a pastor fired from his family's historic church will begin services at a different location. the dispute stems over money in one of the largest churches in our area. derrick has the story. >> reporter: we are outside the metro points hotel just off of 450 and the beltway, and there's an old adage that says the church is not the building, but the people inside. joe pebbles considered the heir, he was ousted by church leadership on wednesday. the board was created by decree by his mother's will. she died in 2010, and since then there has been a disagreement about the management of the assets of the church. this has been characterized by lawsuits and even claims leveled by e

through the alumni association he would meet howard hunt he would recruit to the nixon white house andupervise the watergate break-in. colson joined the nixon white house as special counsel. his chief task was to get nixon re-elected by identifying blue collar workers and other voters later dubbed reagan democrats. he had a role in smearing damp yell elsberg. >> it was the worst of my life to be indicted because i had been so proud as a marine officer and proud to serve my country and flag waving patriot and i end up in courtroom and it's the united states of america versus charles colson. that was like a hot knife. >> reporter: small town of weston, massachusetts outside of boston 1932 that colson after visiting a friend had his own i pif any. >> i drove up and this white house hatchetman, tough guy was crying so hard i couldn't drive any further. i spent probably half an hour on that night, maybe an hour talking to god for the first time seriously in my life. >> intense skepticism greeted with his announcement of his conversion. in 1976 he published his first book, a memoir of the ni

. >>> steven hess worked in the eisenhower and nixon white house. >> they are very tough they know what their job is, to protect the president of the united states i can't -- it is hard to believe that they could be distracted this way. >> meantime army general martin dempsey the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said he is embarrassed by the scandal which the pentagon initially said involved five members of the military who were in colombia to support the secret service spokesman now said that number could be higher laura. >> thank you. >>> hillary clinton photographed letting loose in colombia, clinton made headlines over the weekend for dancing and drinking at a club in cartegena they were there, toasting the end of the summit of americas according to reports they were ordering a dozen beers a couple glasses overwise key and bottles of water. >> i can confirm she indeed did have a very good time, and was just enjoying some of the night life with colleagues, and it is kind of a dog bite man story, there is no -- nothing to it. >>> clinton called it an early night saying the improm

he was troubled by what was going on in the nixon white house. he was also trying to protect the fbi and people forget about this. he was not a volunteer. he did not come to us, we went to him. you used the term a stalker. i stopped him to get him to talk. >> maybe bubble be as forthright about this as i am but it's the idea that somehow felt played us. that he tricked us into something. nonsense. we obtained information all over the lot. it was rare he would volunteer information. he would occasionally confirm that that the idea he played us is utter nonsense because the stories turned out to be true. the people who got played or the prosecutors. they've really got played. partly because the assistant attorney general and attorney general of the united states were in on the play. they wrote it. >> the panel is called how would this story unfold in the digital age. we could spend the whole panel talking about watergate, but i want to bring other people in as well. josh, where does watergate into your life and how to use the investigative reportin

. >> reporter: veteran washington insider steven hess worked in the eisenhower and nixon white houses>> i have a good sense of these people and they're very good and they're very disciplined and they're very tough and they know what their job is and their job is to protect the president of the united states and i can't -- it's hard to believe that they could be distracted this way. >> reporter: bob barnard, fox 5 news. >>> top officials from the gsa today got drilled today on capitol hill during the first of several hearings on the gsa's wasteful spending. the gsa is accused of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lavish conference in las vegas and a week long trip in hawaii. the organizer responser is jeff neeley and today he pleaded the fifth. >> was this fear of retaliation by mr. neeley a significant factor enabling him to continue his inappropriate actions for years? >> congressman, it is a significant factor. they apparently had a very hostile environment and when someone spoke up, they were according to a witness squashed like a bug. >> the gsa inspector general says

. >>> the man whoo compiled the enemy list for the nixon white houseç died today.r the watergate scandal, and later on in life he founded an evangelical prison ministry. now back to "lockup." >> due to mature subject matter, viewer discretion is advised. >>> its location on the florida panhandle exposes the santa rosa correctional institution to tropical weather and thunderstorms with little warning. the climate between correctional staff and the 2,800 inmates here can be equally as turbulent. so the prison leaves little to chance. >> we're constantly adding more security procedures to assure that we are providing the best and safest environment for our staff, inmates and the general public. santa rosa is surrounded by two secure, 10-foot perimeter fence. it has razor wire on the internal and external fences. and we provide armed security, roving posts and stationary posts outside the secure perimeter. >> other forms of security utilize a much lower degree of technology. >> all ties inside the facility are clip-on ties. it's a security issue. if an inmate was to ge

after that, a history of the nixon white house by

coincidentally, thament anti-war movement had been regarded in almost exactly the same way by the nixon white house. these two things came together. and there was this huge retributive mechanism of the white house that defined the president. >> i would like to know -- i am one of the people that is sitting here because of you. i think many of us here are here because of you. what did you see -- >> can everyone hear that? >> what did watergate do to the process of journalism? what they think is good about it and what was not. >> we talk about the implemental coverage. we were told to stay on the stories. sometimes we had stories on page b-36. one of them i just thought of. there was a $3,000 receiver that the watergate burglars had, which was a very expensive receiver at that point. we wrote a story about it. we didn't know zpactly what it meant. we thought they had virtually unlimited amounts of money to conduct these operations. the unlimited amount of money demonstrated that it wasn't just somebody at the middle level who authorized it, who said we can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on th

. >>> a prominent member of the nixon white house who became a key figure in the watergate scandal hasven months in prison for trying to discredit the man hide the pentagon papers. after his released he founded prison fellowship. he died yesterday after surgery to fix a blood clot. he was 80 years old. >>> and the time right now is 7:38. it was caught on tape. a man gets out of his car and then opens fire. what he was shooting at that got him so fired up. >>> it could be one of the best days in recent d.c. sports history. highlights of the caps, the nats >>> tomorrow opening statements begin in two high profile cases. a retrail in the district for roger clemens. he is accused of lying about using performance enhancing drugs. he faces perjury and obstruction of congress charges. the government wants to keep one recorded exchange out of court between clemens and a congress man. clemens denies he told a teammate he took a human growth hormo hormone. clemens could get a 30-year prison sentence if convicted. >>> tomorrow, john edwards will face a federal jury. the two-time senator is accuse

white house carpentry shop to be blown up. turned out the daughters of the american revolution were coming to the white house the next day, and president nixon, not knowing what was going on, had run into the secretary general of the der and said oh, listen, why don't you come early. you can come upstairs to the second floor. we'll show you around the private quarters. so cut to the picture of mrs. nixon and her social secretary getting off the elevator on the second floor, walking down the hall striding with the belowup doll between them trying to find the best place to -- to put it. they finally decided that the queen's room would be ideal, and it was stashed in the bathtub, and they left, and -- and that's the end of the story. we don't know -- we don't know what happened, but needless to say, that's the kind of history you don't read in the textbooks. and every one of these women, i'm not sure they have stories about blowup dolls, but they certainly do have uniquely personal history. bess abell, can you tell us something about lady bird johnson that's surprising or unknown as pat nixon's sense of humor. >> well, i don't want to -- i want

house, i have to make a phone call, don't ask any questions. it is 2:00 in the morning, i need to get a telephone so i could get disconnected from nixon, call the white house switchboard. called the switchboard, got minola, the valet, i said something happened to the president. i am connected to him on the phone, but i think he is passed out. get in, see him quick. he was at camp david. she called me back in 20 minutes said he is fine, he is asleep. the next day, the president called me, said he was on heavy doses of sleeping pills, that jet lag had gotten to him, could well be. but there were times when he would call me in the middle of the night, 2:00 in the morning. hope i'm not bothering you, this was awful. is it all right to talk? he would sleep two hours, would wake up, want to do some work. and he would call me. and he did not sound like he had been drinking. but he wasn't as clear with it as he normally was. times he would get up in the night couldn't sleep, i recognized the phone call was just handling him. >> these were the times when you would not do what he asked you to do? >> yeah, absolutely. >> you've said, i've read it, you said ther

hatchet man who kept a running tally of politicians, journalists and activists who opposed the nixon white house he was 80. >>> in today's office politics, rachel maddow and a side of her you haven't seen. plus what really matters to voters when they get to the booth. we begin with the gop's identity crisis. >> talking about what's happened in republican party politics. i think it's still the greatest show on earth in terms of american politics. who is the new leader of the republican party, post george w. bush? they pick john mccain in 2008. he did not emerge in that role. they picked sarah palin. a lot of national discussion about whether she would be the new national leader of the party. it seems very clear that she's not. mitt romney has kept on everybody from karl rove down through the george w. bush foreign policy advisers and has taken on the bush structure. but is not trying to run as a george w. bush guy. he doesn't have a "w" endorsement. there was that awkward moment when poppy bush asked mitt romney on tape, hey, did our son endorse you yet and it was like no, no. it looms over the c

nixon back. went to the white house. >> a republican couldn't do it, a democratic president could. and when he died, clinton actually says, i miss him the same way i missed my mother. chris: i wonder if nixon said, you are the kind of son i wanted. i wonder. >> at some point, bill clinton felt like an outsider himself because of the legal problems he had to deal with and there was a strange kinship between the two. chris: what about obama today, he getting any interesting uncles coming? [laughter] >> he met with all of them in the oval office in 2009 and you know, he has been very grateful with how gracious the bushes have been to him over the course of this. prarb has stayed largely on the sidelines and said i don't need to play the critic and he struck up a good friendship with josh h.w. bush. the relationship with clinton is more prickly. chris: it is an interesting friendship. the close relationship between the ex-presidents. al gore was keeping him at a distance but the big guy couldn't resist spouting off. clinton gave his best bush impression. how bad can it be. i'm a governo