i told erlichman that. there's something putrid in your drinking water where you live. i said no, john, i'm just a realist. we've got problems. >> on march 21st, john dean walked into the oval office to give nixon a assessment of the damage watergate was doing to his presidency. >> he had had his feet on the desk, and as he often did, he was kind of looking around his shoes at me. >> i have the impression that you don't know everything i know, and it makes it very difficult for you to make judgments that only you can make. >> and after that remark, his feet were solidly on the floor. he had slid his chair up, and i had his full attention. i knew at that point he knew something, but i didn't know how much. >> there's no doubt about the seriousness of the problem we've got. >> i'm warning him he's got problems. this was not good news i was about to share, that there was a cancer on his presidency. >> we have a cancer within -- close to the presidency that's growing. it's growing daily. >> he kind of just abso