>> this is dick nixon. >> yes, dick? in a call secretly recorded by the white house, president lyndon johnson draws a line in the sand for his old adversary, richard nixon, the republican candidate for president. >> lyndon johnson is desperate before his term runs out to get the north vietnamese and the south vietnamese at the peace table. >> we all want them to come, and hope they'll come, and really believe they'll come. >> it's really a question of when they'll come. >> nixon was trying sabotage those peace talks. if peace talks were announced before the election day, that would help his opponent and it would destroy nixon's very last chance to become president. >> u.s. troops were mired in a brutal conflict between the forces of communist north vietnam and our allies, south vietnam. johnson had escalated the war, but now with the death toll soaring, with protests and riots tearing the nation apart, president johnson had staked his legacy on getting america out of vietnam. >> i told -- >> johnson is talking to nixon,

new york to see dick nixon with ambassador bui d i -- diem. chennault who first proposed this get-together to nixon. but it's dick nixon who turns their private meeting into a cloak-and-dagger campaign operation. >> nixon is eager to meet, but wants to keep it secret even from his own secret service detail, which is suspicious all by itself. >> secret meetings, middle men and women. foreign ambassadors, and a tower in new york city. >> exactly what is said is not really recorded anywhere. but the clear message from nixon to the ambassador was, if you want to communicate anything to me, use mrs. chennault as a way to talk to me. >> the intrigue begins. the goal is to undermine the peace talks that president johnson believes will end the war, sabotage any negotiations that might get u.s. troops out of vietnam. point man for the operation or point woman is mrs. anna chennault. okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. quiet. i'm blasting my quads. janice, look. i'm in a mee

new york to see dick nixon with ambassador bui diem. chennault who first proposed this get-together to nixon. but it's dick nixon who turns their private meeting into a cloak-and-dagger campaign operation. >> nixon is eager to meet, but woonts to keep it secret. even from his own secret service detail. >> which is suspicious all by itself. >> secret meetings, middle men and women. foreign ambassadors, and a tower in new york city. >> exactly what is said is not really recorded anywhere. but the clear message from nixon to the ambassador was -- if you want to communicate anything to me, use mrs. chennault as a way to talk to me. >> the intrigue begins. the goal is to undermine the peace talks that president johnson believes will end the war. sabotage any negotiations that might get u.s. troops out of vietnam. point man for the operation? is mrs. anna chennault. nothing worth losing sleep over, because we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

new york to see dick nixon with ambassador bui diem. chennault who first proposed this get-together to nixon. but it's dick nixon who turns their private meeting into a cloak-and-dagger campaign operation. >> nixon is eager to meet, but wants to keep it secret even from his own secret service detail, which is suspicious all by itself. >> secret meetings, middle men and women. foreign ambassadors, and a tower in new york city. >> exactly what is said is not really recorded anywhere. but the clear message from nixon to the ambassador was -- if you want to communicate anything to me, use mrs. chennault as a way to talk to me. >> the intrigue begins. the goal is to undermine the peace talks that president johnson believes will end the war. sabotage any negotiations that might get u.s. troops out of vietnam. point man for the operation? or point woman is mrs. ana chennault. chennault. [ telephone ringing ] -whoa. [ indistinct talking ] -deductible? -definitely speaking insurance. -additional interest on umbrella policy? -can you translate? -

the president calls senate's top republican, everett dirkson with a message for dick nixon. he says are treading on dangerous ground and the president has the goods to burn agent anna chennault. >> and here the latest information we got, the agent says that she's just talked to the boss and he says just hold on until after the election. >> when you hear johnson talking to dirkson, you hear in johnson this master politician who's used threatening tactics throughout the course of his political career to achieve his political ends. >> it's classic johnson. it's classic, you know, get ahead of the republican party to try and get nixon to do this. >> i'm reading everett, i don't want to get this in the campaign, and they ought not to be doing this. this is treason. they're contacting a foreign power in the middle of a war. and it's a damn bad mistake. you just tell them their people are messing around in this thing, if they don't want it on the front pages they better quit it. >> he's holding out the prospect of going public with this explosive story, at the same time, you can hea

that never happened when dick nixon was in the white house. >> it was counter television.. >> no problem. >> every one of their episodes became worthy of talmudic study, if that's the word. >> when i hosted, loren called me into his office and said, "you realize the kids are the stars." the host wasn't nearly as impactful. >> that's not quite it. uh -- >> because the thing was all the rage. >> they called themselves the not ready for primetime players. not because they felt they weren't good enough, but because they felt they were too good. >> good evening, i'm chevy chase. and you're not. >> chevy chase became an instant star. >> our top story tonight. >> our top story tonight -- [ indiscernible ] >> chevy chase was on the show for one year. >> are you sorry you left "saturday night live"? >> i'm deeply, deeply sorry. >> chevy decided he was too big for the show. so he left. in some ways, chevy leaving after the first year was a blessing. because it showed that "saturday night live" was going to do much more than survive. ♪ there are some things that just aren't explainab

and just today, dick nixon came roaring back into the news after an unexpected development. almost 45 years after the watergate controversy, documents have been made public by our national archives, including a would-be indictment against richard nixon. and the grand jury was prepared to indict nixon on four criminal counts. instead, they ultimately wrote a final report that was sent to the house judiciary committee. nixon resigned before the impeachment hearings started. the documents are being made public today after lawsuits were filed asking that they be unsealed and released from grand jury secrecy rules. the legal experts say they could serve as a road map for robert mueller. at the time, the evidence against nixon was sent straight to the house judiciary committee. members used the information to draft articles of impeachment. >> the procedure now will be when robert mueller finishes his report, he has to give his report to the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, assuming he still has his office in a couple of weeks, if that's when the report is delivered. rudy g

involvement in special prosecutor investigations and just today, dick nixon came roaring back into the news after an unexpected development. almost 45 years after the watergate controversy, confidential documents related to the scandal have been made public by our national archives, including a would-be indictment from a d.c. grand jury against richard nixon. and the grand jury was prepared to indict nixon on four criminal counts. instead, they ultimately wrote a final report that was sent to the house judiciary committee. to do with as they chose. nixon resigned before the house impeachment hearings started, hearings that would have revealed this information. the documents are being made public today after members of nixon's defense team and legal analysts filed lawsuits asking that they be unsealed and released from grand jury secrecy rules. the legal experts say they could serve as a road map loosely for the current special counsel robert mueller. they argued this could be a benchmark on how to publicly release findings that might directly involve a president. at the time, the evide

convention will be launched on monday, and on sunday night, dyck and pat nixon -- dyck and pat nixon -- dick and pat nixon had a thank you for all of that delegates. the line went down the stairs and out the front door. every delegate came, and the phenomenal thing, and i had the privilege of standing right there with them through this whole thing, they knew everybody. this was one of richard nixon's hallmark things is that he knew everybody in that party, and all of these delegates. what he wanted to do was reestablish contact with them. they wanted to thank him, but it kind of set up a premise that we follow through on not only in 1964 when he went all over the country for goldwater, but in 1966 in the election. >> we go to 1966, and we talked about the midterms, when you recover nicely, anything else to add on this? >> nixon made a number of strategic moves, and one was endorsing goldwater in 1964, and he came after the disaster of 1962 when he lost for second time to pat brown. everybody wrote him off, but the key thing and the key moments there was the endorsement of goldwater, and not

nixon's worst fear. >> who is that speaking? dick, is that you?n a conference call lbj updates the presidential candidates confidentially on a big breakthrough in the negotiations. north vietnam at last is willing to talk with south vietnam. >> this is in absolute confidence because any speeches or any comments referring to the substance of these matters will be injurious to your country. >> after all this work all year johnson finally had a package that the north vietnamese would accept, and he was selling it to the south vietnamese. >> nixon gets a top secret briefing from the commander in chief on his progress towards peace. and what does nixon do? he betrays the president and the nation. >> what nixon did with that information, how he got away with what president johnson called treason and what his actions cost, thousands of americans and vietnamese, are the subjects of a special report called betrayal. you can catch it this friday at 9:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. that does it for us tonight. now it's time for the "last word" with ali velshi. hi

nixon to get himself in the white house. almost unimaginable. at least it used to be. >> now, that's the story, dick. it is a sordid story. >> their moms. >> me and my 18 months old jumping hotels. >> i lost my mom and my wife. >> we don't have a room, like a real room. >> somebody got evicted and people are falling through the cracks. >> you get used to this? >> people sleeping on the streets? >> do i get use to snit? >> there are angels offering help and home and a second chance. >> we have not had a home feel this good. >> i was in a desperate situation. they gave me a place to sleep. >> i was in those shoes and i rose out of it. tonight "dateline" takes you on a different kind of rescue mission. >> what is that? >> she was living in that. >> that's what they had to call home. heroes searching for the loss. >> when i could not find her, i would leave her messages. changing lives with kindness. respect. >> when it comes to the homeless, what do we not see? >> do we appreciate classical mus music? >> what's appreciated is someone showed up and say i am here for you right now. "homeless in america."

nixon, carter, then in 1977, ronald reagan is a former governor, he has not declared for president yet, they are talking about foreign policy, and ronald reagan says to dick allen, would you like to hear my theory of the cold war? my theory is simple. we win and they lose. the question is, what gave him whatever it was, the courage, the insight, how did he so self confidently place himself in opposition to the entire mindset? >> he was not just being facetious as some people accused him of the time. what he was saying is, i have a strategy which is not just giving in or allowing a moral equivalency between marxism and freedom. it is a matter of knowing their vulnerability, both from an ideological standpoint and from a economic standpoint. it was his feeling that they can be beaten and that freedom can win. in other words, it was a belief in the system that had been the foundation for american thought and political thought since the 1780's. he felt that what we knew in this country, our sense of freedom, ultimately that can overcome even the tyranny of the soviet union. >> you write in "with reagan," you describe the elements of the president's thinking,