and i saw him drone on and on in that john dean monotone. for hours and hours and i listened to the content. i absolutely could not believe that richard nixon the arch strategist whether or not i had other opinions about him, i think that he would be the type of person to allow a young man, inexperienced as john dean was to have as much authority as john dean seemed to have according to his testimony. >> and certainly not to have richard nixon incriminate himself in the ways that john dean had suggested in his testimony rather explicitly that he had involved himself in a criminal cover up. so it was not until much later after i was pointed after we did our information and most importantly after we were able to hear richard knicksson and his closest advisors on tape. >> let me finish that thought. >> that john dean testimony became solidified as unimpeachable. >> there were people in this audience who think of fred thompson as a dramatic performer in law and order. for historians, fred thompson's greatest role was when he asked a particular q