haig tells ford in this meeting, he could hardly get rid of them haig tells ford that what is going to happen in the next 24 hours could possibly be the tipping point in the nixon presidency. he doesn't give a handout. haig knows that the tapes are going to come to the white house. haig absolutely knows that the tapes are going to come to the white house. ford thought that haig was holding something back. in a moment you'll see what haig was holding back. and he talks to hartman on the way out and he says well i kind of heard this before you know, no great problem. i'm going to keep my speeches today. and hartman goes to his office. ford then gets another phone call from al haig. he says mr. vice president, i need so see you and you can't bring bob hartman with you. ford goes back to haig's office and haig shares with gerald ford the contents of the smoking gun conversation from june 1972 where richard nixon tells bob haldeman on tape that's another story, tells haldeman on tape that haldeman is to stop the cia investigation of watergate. it was an obstruction of justice, nixon was gui

ford then gets another phone call from alexander haig, and he said, mr. ford, i need to see you, and you cannot bring bob hartman with you. ford goes back to hague's office, and hague shares with gerald ford the contents of the smoking gun conversation, from 1972, where richard nixon tells bob haldeman on the tape, another story, tells bob haldeman on tape that he is to stop the cia investigation of watergate. it is an obstruction of justice, and nixon was guilty of it. end of that story. ford sees the transcript and knows that nixon has to resign. both hague and ford, mr. vice president, are you willing and able to take over the office of presidency of the united states at a moments notice, and ford said, yes, i am, and then hague said, but wait a minute. i am prepared to talk to you about a list of options. these options can take place if you choose to add president. one of them is, as hague says to ford, the option of pardoning the president. ford does nothing. in fact, he leaves hague with the feeling that perhaps he is considering it. he leaves the m

call from haig on reactions to the tape.he read from the shorthand notes, it is about how we expected. i kind of went at some of the names that she read out -- left my support. looked back -- i have campaign for them, supported them. kind of tough. although i did understand it. then, she read out that the cabinet was standing firm for the most part. then, she left the room. and closed he light my eyes. mrs. nixon was very perceptive. i learned later that after that night in the sequoia, even though they had not been officially told that the she had was final, started packing. for three days, until we left, she did not sleep at all. packing 5 1/2 years of clothes. with a sometimes as it is were very close, you do not have to say anything publicly, or even privately. things unspoken say even more strongly. the cabinet well. i had heard what from haig aand others, some felt that they would like an opportunity to present their make a and lobby me to decision. -- respected the cabinet. i was not going to allow them to make me dec

went back down to the lincoln room, l hay -- al haig knocked on the door. it was perhaps for him, the most difficult meeting we had. for me it was not easy. he brought to me in peace of paper with one lie on it, and it had the statement, "i hereby resign the office of the president of the united states." so i signed it and he took it out. i worked on a speech until it was time to go down. very emotional speech. i recall speaking from the heart. tricia later in her diary, which she let me see, wrote that for the first time, she was glad that people were able to see daddy as he really was. spoke from the heart, thanked them for what they done, expressed my pride in the fact that this administration had never been an example from anybody profiting in this office. told them that they must not allow what had happened to me to discourage them. life is not over because you suffer defeat. just some of the philosophical guidelines that enriched and guided me in my life. i try to share them. i spoke to my parents, my old man, as i recall. my mother. my mother was a s

. >>> serbian war crime suspect says he won't return to the haig to hear the verdict on his case. he is using the chance to stage a return to politics. >> this is a gift which i received from my friend saddam hussein. >> reporter: now after being temporarily released by the hague to receive cancer treatment, he's back at work. >> in the last 12 years the hague tribunal failed to prove any link between me and any atrocities. >> this is seselj. at the place where there were hundreds of war crimes. the religion of seselj comes at a tentative time for serbia. there those here who are concerned that membership to the european union will lease to a loss for the country and it will be damaging for serbia's close ties to russia. seselj has made no secret of uniting russia and serbia. interrupting the interview se seslj's mobile phone--the russian national anthem, his ringtone of choice. >> all of our traditional members are members. e.u. countries bombed us. they grabbed kosovo from us. russia throughout history has never attacked us. >> from the start obstacles and delays have led to ses

defense secretary haig nel afghanistan today says sade somers was shot by his captors. >> he was murder during an attempt by american forces to rescue him from terrorist groups in yemen. >> reporter: somers' death made his plea, record after his first failed attempt to rescue him, seem all the more poignant. >> i'm looking for any help that can get me out of this situation. i'm certain that my life is in danger. so as i sit here now, i ask if anything can be done, please let it be done. >> reporter: but the bitterest irony is that the other hostage, pierre korkie, was to have been released tomorrow in return for money paid by the charitable organization for which he worked. jim. >> axelrod: david martin at the pentagon, thank you. military officials in pakistan say they took out a senior al qaeda leader in a helicopter attack today. adnan shukrijumah was a saudi who grew up in the united states. he was indicted in a plot to bomb the new york city subway system in 2009. we turn next to the philippines where a huge and slow-moving typhoon is pounding the country tonight. seth doane has th

i never got much out of haig and kissinger. >> but you do say that you don't remember ever criticizing henry kissinger in a column. >> no, i did. i criticized him a lot. i was highly critical of henry. but all the criticism in the column of henry was from me, and not from rowlie. these little things were more complicated, because we were a partnership. >> and you said that bob haldeman, chief of staff to richard nixon, was treated more harshly, because he refused to contact you, he refused to talk with you. >> i think so, yes. but probably justifiably so. >> are you going to get criticized, in your opinion, do you think, by the journalism community for this kind of stuff? >> i think so. journalists are not supposed to tell these things and how journalists really function. >> you talk about your partner on "crossfire" from time to time, tom braden. you talk about his wife and her relationship with robert mcnamara. >> well, she talked about it. >> i know she did. but what was the tom braden thing? they let him go when he was 71. >> television can be very rough. of course, c-span is, i ho

he will replace chuck haig whole announced his resignation last month. >>> and an american hostage is pleading with his captors. they raided a cave and killed six al qaeda guards. troops saved eight hostages but somers was not in the group. his brother and mother have made a video to address his captors saying they had no knowledge of the attempt to rescue him. >> please show mercy and give us an opportunity to see our luke again. he is all that we have. >> al qaeda says the united states has two more days to meet unspecified demands or somers could be killed. >>> and police in abu dhabi have arrested a woman in connection with the murder of an american teacher. security officials think the attack could be the work of a lone wolf enspired by islamic militants to target western citizens. charlie d'agata reports from london. >> reporter: abu dhabi police released dramatic video showing the arrest of the woman suspe suspected of the fatal stabbing of an american school teacher. ee b ibolya ryan was murdered, the mother of twins. it's unclear why she was targeted but she it may have been

state with haig it jim said. i'm not sure i am a foreign policy guy.arah could see where my head was and bless your heart. you said to jim, leave him alone. mark wants to go to the white house. a day or two later, they offered jim the job and the rest is history. to tell the truth, none of us thought he would be a great press secretary. jim knew himself well enough and from an organizational standpoint, he might come up a little bit short. one look at that desk would prove it. it was always covered in multiple layers of paper. you could never see would. if he had a system, it was among the most great kept secrets. no one knew where anything was except jim. much of the time, it was all in his head. that is why he hired larry speaks to run the office. jim knew that his role was to be an advisor to the president and his spokesman. no one was better at either. speaking of larry, we lost him earlier this year. i would not be surprised if he and jim are up there right now drinking heineken and listing to elvis. who can forget his briefings. they are usually

her mentor was frank "i am the law" haig, a machine politician and comes in in 1925, the same year as edith nourse rogers. the interesting thing about her is she, like rogers and other women from this early general railings, really pursue a strategy of gaining power in the house by assimilating. they didn't push women's issues, per se. they really tried to minimize gender differences and norton was extremely successful moving up the committee leadership ladder. she chaired four congressional committees by the time she retired from the house in the early 1950s. and one of them was the labor committee of the new deal, the labor committee and her single piece of legislation was the fair labor standards act of 1938, which set a 40-hour workweek, outlawed child labor, set a minimum wage, and she later said that was the -- the crowning moment of my house experience. i'm prouder of getting that bill through the house than anything else i've ever done. but she was a no-nonsense legislator. very early on in her career, maybe even the year that this picture was snapped, she was on the house flo

state with haig it jim said. i'm not sure i am a foreign policy guy. where my head was and bless your heart. you said to jim, leave him alone. mark wants to go to the white house. a day or two later, they offered jim the job and the rest is history. to tell the truth, none of us thought he would be a great press secretary. jim knew himself well enough and from an organizational standpoint, he might come up a little bit short. one look at that desk would prove it. it was always covered in multiple layers of paper. you could never see would. if he had a system, it was among the most great kept secrets. no one knew where anything was except jim. much of the time, it was all in his head. that is why he hired larry speaks to run the office. jim knew that his role was to be an advisor to the president and his spokesman. no one was better at either. speaking of larry, we lost him earlier this year. i would not be surprised if he and jim are up there right now drinking heineken and listing to elvis. who can forget his briefings. they are usually scheduled for

that has given cabinet members like secretary of state alexander haig the ability to ask president reagan for a simple green light. what he said, according to nancy reagan, is give me the word and i will turn that bleeping island into a parking lot. what would seem puzzling -- think of this will stop 16 -- six feet to 1500 feet relationship, what would seem puzzling to a visitor from another planet is why, when the cubans have refused to behave of way we want them to that the castro government was not thrown out of office and cuba wasn't turned into a parking lot. how did they manage to get away with it? we could squish them easily. how do we manage to get away with it? it's costly, especially in the currency that might matter most in the end, which is global opinion. so unless there is a crisis like the cuban missile crisis of 1962, which i would be happy to talk about, this is a crisis, why bother? we have so many other important things to do. you living right now in a week where more attention has been given to cuba than any time says they shoot down of the brothers to the rescue plane

and that has also given a cabinet members like secretary of state alexander haig the ability to ask president reagan for a simple green light. what he said according to nancy reagan is you just give me the word and i will turn that bleeping island into a parking lot. whatwould seem puzzling, would seem puzzling to a visitor from visitor from another planet is why when the cubans refused to behave the way we want them to the castro government was not thrown out of office. cuba was an turned into a parking lot, how they managed to get away with it. we could squish them easily. how have we managed to get away with it? first of all, it is costly especially in the currency that might matter the most in the end which is global opinion. so unless there is a crisis like the cuban missile crisis of 1962 which i would be happy to talk about later if you like, unless there is a crisis, why bother. we have so many other important things to do. you are living right now in the week where more attention has been given to cuba than any time since probably the shootdown of the rescue plan in 1996. this is an

and that has also given cabinet members like secretary of state alexander haig the ability to ask president reagan for a simple green light. what he said, according to nancy reagan, is you just give me the word and i will turn that bleeping island into a parking lot. what would seem puzzling to a visitor from another planet is why when the cubans refused to behave the way we want them to the castro government was not thrown out of office. cuba wasn't turned into a parking lot, how they managed to get away with it. we could squish them easily. how have we managed to get away with it? first of all, it is costly especially in the currency that might matter the most in the end which is global opinion. so unless there is a crisis like the cuban missile crisis of 1962, which i would be happy to talk about later if you like unless there is a crisis, why bother? we have so many other important things to do. you are living right now in the week where more attention has been given to cuba than any time since probably the shootdown of the rescue plan in 1996. this is an unusual moment. basically if so

would follow the outgoing pentagon chief chuck haig whole sources say resigned under pressure. ashton carter once they would the number two job at the pentagon. the shakeup comes as the united states faces all sorts of challenges around the world. the islamic state terrorists, russians.president putin's aggression, north korea, iran, the list goes on. in fact the former defense secretary william cohen said on this program on wednesday, that never in his life has he seen such a complex geopolitical landscape. today ashton carter says he is up to the challenge. >> i accepted the president's offer to be nominated for secretary of defense because of my regard for his leadership. i accepted it because of the seriousness of the strategic challenges we face. but also, the bright opportunities that exist for america. >> if confirmed he will be the first defense sect in three decades to have never served in the military and is not a politician. he has a reputation as a bookish policy expert, i'm told. he holds a ph.d in theoretical physics and also has a degree in medieval history and w

even al haig later became his chief of staff had no idea it was voice activated system and didn't learn about it until they had told about it by alex butterfield. and that was actually in response to my testimony in which was recorded. >> when did you leave the white house? >> i left with ehrlichman on april 30. i was very open with my colleagues and the fact that this isn't going to work in april of 1973 he removes all of us. and so it's very interesting to you can tell how frightened he is because he doesn't want anyone to turn on him. and at that point i have never talked about the president present to my lawyer or the prosecutors or anyone else. i didn't know if it was pillaged. we haven't worked that out yet. i started this process to find out how he could make a mix out of the presidency. that was the driving force. and he is not as coupler and as sharp as we thought he was and he leaves evidence that is conspicuous. and i'm wondering how many areas of his presidency when people and students and scholars go through they are wednesday where else to does this apply. was he useless a

professor at peking university and he is also editorial board members the foreign policy on analysis and haig general diplomatic studies. >> thank you for the introduction. so this is a very important talk. when i was asked to discuss the first idea came to my mind is a map. look at map and look at korea. korea was located in any other place in the world whether it is in europe or latin america or africa. it's a big power but unfortunately it was located in such a place surrounded by countries that, all powerful bigger than korea. so there is problem that korea has developed for relations with all big powers. and but, said that i think korea is also in very important position. if you look at that international structure in east asia korea has always been the vital place. first time that structure changed asia was in 1894, 95 after china-japanese war when china was defeated in the korean peninsula. and started japanese dominance of this area. the second time is asian international relations change and after the second world war when the cold war started. the cold war was frozen along the 38th

that they could be arrested on war crimes and brought before the international criminal court in the haigu have prosecutors who want to make a name for. they and even if a prosecution doesn't go forward, they can always get a lot of headlines. >> and certainly in this report there's extensive detail if they want, those countries want to pursue those kinds of criminal investigations and start picking up, arrests american officials from the bush administration. former justice department officials, cia officials, military personnel. they have a lot of evidence they can point to in this report released today. thanks for that report. defense secretary chuck hagel is saying there may be back lash that could put the united states on military at serious risk. >> how did it go? give us the reaction from the defense secretary. >> reporter: secretary hagel supremely focused on the safety of the many thousands of u.s. troops now deployed to this region. 11,000 troops in afghanistan. 1,500 just across the border in iraq with another 1,500 authorized on the way. a major navy base on the persian gulf in

had taped a few people principally me, but he did not know he'd had a voice-activated system, and haigjust can't believe the president of the united states let every word get recorded. so for this political history, as it happens i had probably the most remarkable primary source any author could ever have. i was able to -- let me kind of wrap up my session on a couple stories about the tapes. i'm able to hear things. i couldn't listen because of the volume to every single conversation. i could immediately tell from my transcriber's work if he or she was having any trouble. if it was a difficult conversation. if it was a good one, i trusted it unless something was particularly important, i would tend to look at that. just to make sure that i heard what they heard. but i often heard things that they could not hear because of my -- not because of my great hearing, but because i knew the players. a wonderful example is an incident that occurs with mark feldt, who as we later knew as deep throat, bob woodward's principal source. in october of 1972, i had gone over to the criminal division a

inthe the papers of individual statesmen that arein in the di manuscript division people like john haigeÑstewart or others, these men wrote about their interactions with the al nature eive people in the city. so there's really good material hat there. another body of sources that i think is crucial to this project is the collection of tourist guide books and customs manuals from the 19th and early 20th century. 2 my preliminary search for these libr turned up over 140 in the library. now obviously some of these are reprints, but there's a lot here.thes soe these tourist guide books were written in the 19th century for people coming to visit washington and essentially ntiall there's, you knowy a short section on all of the different ra federal buildings some of the hborho different neighborhoods and things like that. but they also contain amazing anecdotes, stories about -- to kind of give the potential tourist or the tourist a flavor of the city a lot of these anecdotes talk about nature ty people. they talk about nature ty people in the capitol rotunda in the murals and paintings, they

even al haig who later became his chief of staff has no idea it's a voice-activated system and does not learn and told the senators tell him of it. actually in response excuse me to my testimony. >> john dean when did you leave the white house? >> i leave on april 30. i i was very open with my colleagues when i broke rank in the fact that i was trying i was trying to convince them that this was not going to work to read we have to ended. >> april 30 30th 1973. >> april 301973 he removes all of us. as he as he says on the tapes, he fires us. he put a cover on it. he has accepted my resignation. but it is interesting you can tell from the conversations how frightened he is of all of us because he does not want anyone to turn on him. and at that.i had never talked about the president to prosecutors or anybody else. else. i did not know if it was privileged. you know peter i started this process to figure out how nixon could make such a mess out of this. i was very curious. the bottom the bottom line is he is just not as clever as we thought he was. he fumbles makes terrible decisions leave