j. edgar hoover objecting. don't know if that made it into the clint eastwood movie. he objected to this, disclosure of illegal activities and discrediting of the fbi, the plan was formally abandoned. imformally, however, these options continued to percolate at the white house. if the intelligence agencies would not take suitable action, the white house itself would go operational and conduct illegal break-ins and wire taps in pursuit of information that would discredit its political enemies. so this was, therefore, clearly a principle origin of what later became to be called watergate. the diplomatic efforts that were ongoing in vietnam meant that nixon and kissinger prefer aid wall of secrecy around their efforts. it was all the worse if a breach occurred and could be traced to someone that was part of the anti-war movement, a movement that was inspired by communists and terrorists. now we're up to 1971, june. to daniel elsburg's leaking of the pentagon papers to major newspapers, including "the new york times." ordered by robert mcnamara during the johnson administ

j. edgar hoover, being j. edgar hoover, used this ans an opportunity basically to spy on the mitchells. everything that john mitchell says who took him to the justice department. or something that martha mitchell said and men that surrounded her was sent up the chain. hoor was right in the margins and initially. unfortunately, martha mitchell was a sick lady. in the spring of 1970 ooh's, to be alive is to be inundated in a very short time period she went from complete anonymity to being one of the 10 most reporters around the woorled. a list that included the first lady mixson. should have won the top 10 lists. he was on the cover of look, life, times. he was on 60 minutes. he had a hen den si -- tendency. while they're water would be sleeping in their direction. she would drink whiskey and get on the phone on their bathroom right off their master bedroom and she would call the u.p.i. and just let rip the kinds of things one says when once had a few pops. he should be crucified for the vote over the certain nom

j. edgar hoover, secretaries had to live in approved housing and this was one of them. imagine that today. my family and i spent a couple days meeting with percy's staff, tried to do some sight seeing. and on the appointed day, my parents and i were marched down to sergeant dunphy's office along with the paperwork from mark tryce that certified i was qualified to be sworn in as a page. we were accompanied by percy's top aide and said here we are. dunphy shook my hand and said which was like shaking hands with a bluegill. and he said in a very soft voice that he could not, would not swear me in. and it was kind of like a relationship that breaks up before it even starts. it felt like, ellen, we can't date. but don't worry about it. it's not you, it's me. the percy's aide seemed genuinely surprised. my parents and i were dumbstruck to the point where we didn't think to ask was this a political miscalculation? some sometime later, maybe weeks, percy told a reporter that the strategy was confrontational. and the thinking was, since there was no explicit rule expressly prohi

j. edgar hoover refused to do. that may be the standard. >> you know the reason for that because hoover was a practical man and he had sense enough to know it was dangerous and wouldn't work. >> and with that, i want to welcome back mary jordan and thank our panelists for a great discussion. thank you. [ applause ] >> this is american history tv on c-span3. 48 hours of people and events that helped document the american story. few we continue with the watergate conference that took place monday. the second panel discusses the legacy of watergate with william cohen. associate minority counsel to the judicial area william well and former nixon administration deputy counsel eagle bud crow. this portion is about 30 minutes. >> up next we're going to talk about the legacy of watergate. please join me in welcoming our next guests. he had just come from maine. he was a freshman congressman and landed on the hot seat of the house judiciary committee. and former massachusetts governor bill weld. he's the young blonde on the

j. edgar hoover was director of the fbi for as long as he was. and one of the reasons why i have been so skeptical about the reliance of the executive types on arguments about removal power. i do want to raise one point related to this that goes back to professor rotunda's comment about the gramm-rudman case. i won't if nixon made the argument about removal how receptive the press would have been even as a matter of technical legal doctrine it's a powerful argument. it seems to me that if the court had faced that argument, it might well have found some way to reject it. and depending on how that argument was rejected, perhaps the graham rudman case would have come out somewhat differently, because that was a situation where no one was threatening to go after the controller general and, indeed, no president had ever wanted to go after a controller general in the entire history of the office, as far as i know. >> it does help, though, when you have the political support. peter fitzgerald -- it's peter, right? >> patrick. >> peter was the former sen

j. edgar hoover was in drag he was no beauty.ou weren't sitting there going this is head of the f.b.i.? >> no, no. no. >> reporter: judge scotty bowerss' behavior, if you will. but he never judges his clients in his memoir. what are you trying to say with this? >> nothing really. i wasn't trying to gain anything. i didn't have anything in mind at all. i just thought i'm going to do it even if i don't make a dime. just do it. people kept trying to talk me into it >> you want another beer, don't you, leonard >> reporter: scotty bowers still works bar tending jobs a few times a week. >> thank you you're welcome reporter: the man who kept hollywood secrets for so long will turn 89 next month. any regrets? >> no. oh, no. if i had to do it over again, i would probably do it over again. ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels s

j. edgar hoover had placed a call and simply said the president has been shot and gave some information.hen i talked to him he was curious what the situation was. so how serious is it? i didn't want to tell him that his brother was dead so i said it is as bad as it can get and i hung up. that is how he found out. >> in very young man in the eisenhower detail. how did you get recruited? >> when i came in there was an intelligence agent so i had the background of investigative experience. that gave me the opportunity. during my first -- first year i was inspired to go back to the white house for a 30 day evaluation period the personal through various jobs of the white house detail and see what they want. told me there after -- i never left. >> in the back. [inaudible] >> we never discussed it. he never asked me about my sex life and i never asked about his. we did not have those kinds of conversations. i was not aware of anything that was going on. >> president kennedy wanted to integrate, there were no african-americans. >> there were african-americans. we didn't have very many i will be

j. edgar hoover. we talked about it a little bit. i said, jim, maybe we ought to think about a watergate cle. i was kind of raising it not thinking jim, who is an extremely busy trial lawyer, very successful partner at thompson hein in cleveland, a multi-state firm but just kind of throwing it out there. sure enough he said to me, let's do it. this was december of last year. we put together -- spent six months assembling a cle that we didn't know quite what we were going to do. we did it yesterday for ron and some of the people here. we tested it 15 times last year to rave reviews everywhere we went. so we're trying to take this information also as a teaching tool. we're doing what we call watergate one right now. the watergate anniversary, the 40th anniversary, really runs -- it's a rolling anniversary. it runs from the break-in of june 17th of 1972, which will be 2012, to the resignation of nixon, which was august 8th of '74. so august 8th of 2014. it's a long anniversary period, and we've been having a lot of fun by using this inf

j. edgar hoover being j. edgar hoover used this as an opportunity to basically spy on the mitchells and everything that john mitchell said that the f.b.i. driver who took him to the justice department every morning or to the -- everything that martha mitchell said to the f.b.i. men that surrounded her was beautifully typed up and sent up the chain to j. edgar hoover. we know this because hoover would actually write in the margins and initial it & unfortunately, martha mitchell was a sick lady. in the spring of 1970 to be alive and to be an american citizen was to be inundated with news and gossip, as you said, about martha mitchell. in a very short time period, she went from complete anonymity, if you will, to being one of the 10 most reported on women around the world of a list that also included the first lady pat nixon, the former first lady jacqueline onassis, indira gandhi and others. she was on the top 10 list of the most reported and most admired sort of women in america. she was on the cover of "life"

j. edgar hoover died before the first watergate break in that he would become fbi director.ixon knew that the fbi and hoover had the secrets that he did not want exposed in 1972 which was an election year. so instead of mark felt who would be the logical successor, practically been groomed to be the next fbi director, nixon chose a political guy that he could trust, patrick gray instead. mark felt was very, very resentful. in the summer, he starts leaking to bob woodward. then the amazing thing is four months after the watergate breaks in, after the active leaking as deep throat to woodward, nixon is told that mark felt, associate fbi director, is leaking to reporters from "the washington post." >> could they have done it without mark felt? could woodward and bernstein did it? he said they said you're going in the wrong direction or confirming things. >> you're exactly right. in other words, he was necessary. what was important at the time, most of the press was behind nixon. watergate was not a factor in the '72 election. the "post" is one of the few media outlets willing t

j. edgar hoover died a few weeks before the break-in that he would become fbi director.that the fbi and hoover had these secrets that he did not want exposed in 1972, an election year. instead of mark felt, who would be the logical successor, who had practically been groomed to be the next find director, nixon chose a political guy that he could trust, l. patrick gray, instead. mark felt was very, very resentful. so in the summer he starts leaking to bob woodward. >> lamar waldron's research is in a new book called "watergate: the hidden history" that's just out this week. >>> a bond between father and son made stronger after a tour of duty in afghanistan. how one dad is dedicating his life to his child's recovery from a devastating blast. >>> hi, i'm captain dominique henry with the first i.d. at bagram field in afghanistan. i want to wish my father and best friend ozi henry in haymarket, virginia, a very happy father's day. >>> major efrem here at bagram, afghanistan. i want to say hello to my lovely children in kansas city, missouri. i love you very much and am honore

j. edgar hoover added her to the fbi's most wanted list. gardenias of billie holiday, many consider her the greatest jazz artist whoever lived and black moments of black hair wouldn't be complete without diana ross and someone who has dedicated his life by working with social justice by working to stay fabulous, my fellow msnpbc host and friend of the show, the reverend al sharpton. my guests are still here. i wanted to add one last great hair moment, and it's one that is much more personal. the images we're coming across, talking about racial divide, how difficult it can be to walk with white friends, family, colleagues and we found these terrific photos of professor greene of emory university, an adopted daughter from africa and taken the responsibility of being her main hair care person and all these gorgeous pictures of him braiding her hair. and she's sitting between his legs in exact that will moment that so many of us had with our mothers over the years, we were doing a cheer that went something like go, white daddy, go. a beautiful