lay out a lot of the detail of watergate in addition to other important activities of the nixon administration. and, of course, we have documents. it is estimated the nixon library has 42 million. and we have the documents of the watergate special prosecution forces in the national archives in washington, d.c. we wanted all of that material where relevant to be accessible to you as you make up your mind about watergate and its implications. so let's start with the timeline. it is divided up into five sections. as i thought about -- i'm director, but i was curator of this exhibit so i had to as a historian conceptualize how it would be. if you think about the evolution of what would become watergate, you have to understand why the president would make the decision to cover up a break-in that occurred at the democratic national headquarters in june of 1972. although there is no evidence that president nixon knew in advance that this break-in would occur, the operatives were paid by the committee to re-elect the president. he didn't know about it in advance but he did participate in a cover up th

but five months election, the nixon administration w ine daer, embroiled in the worst scandal sithe teapote in the 1920s. d eventua the first impe pross 100 yeare, in richardç1 nixon'satio in 1974, all because of that third rate burglary. now before getting to the of my book, i want to note another anniversary. last month was the 50th anniversary of a film called "the man who killed liberty valence." "the man who shot lerty what d movie to do with watergate even though it starred two of richard nixon's favorite actors -- jimmyohn w. in truth, this movie, i think, is onhe best movies about journalism, certainly on a par with "all of thpresint's to ca anu scenplay, let me brily describehat that movi abou it starts wi an esteemed u.s. senator ding a train w his , returning to a western town called shinbone to attend the funeral of arancher. a reporter's on e d wonders why the senator is making t long trip t aend a funeral of a rancher who was a drunk and, by all accounts, whose life didn't amount to very much. stewart wants tose thesion to s straight once and for l, gethe truth out and give

nixon administration and kissinger administration and roger porter and george w. bush administration. i also want to note that this discussion was not happening with the judicial backing. you look at the case from 1915 and curtis wright and youngstown, these cases are almost household names and they reflect the judicial recognition of the special role both domestic and international affairs. i will end by noting the passage of time matters and to the extend that presidential powers are changing in competition among different congressional committees to enlarge them in an executive branch that involves agencies with overhappening jurisdictions. they often place the president in a strong role where the role of the president is to deconflict and coordinate different agencies. submit that courts also face great constraints, some of these constraints are from standing constraints. should be in recognizing that the courts have an important role but further recognizing that the rule of law is in our own hands, and by that i mean in the hands of people who are appointed t

people like harry hopkins in the roosevelt administration, jack you are lackman in the nixon administration. kissinger, roger porter in the jovmt hw bush administration. this discussion was not happening with a judicial vacuum. if you look at the midwest oil case from 1915. curtis wright, youngstown and moore these cases are almost household names for law school. they reflected judicial recognition of the executive role of the executive affairs. the passage of time matters to the extent that presidential powers changing in nature i would argue that it's partly something that is being driven by congress. and in part it's being driven by a competition among different congressional committees to enlarge the jurisdictions of particular agencies and results in executive branch that often involves agencies with overlapping jurisdictions. these jurisdictions often place the president in a strange role where the role of the president is in part to deconflict and figure out how to coordinate different agencies. it's important for us to recognize that courts have a very important and central role in

i was asked when i was in the white house in 1972, we ran a campaign in the nixon administration called operation switch. which was designed to get democratic officeholders to switch parties, primarily in the south. and i remember a republican congressman coming to me and screaming at the top of his lungs that this was a terrible, terrible ideas. we don't want those people in our party because one, they're tacky, and secondly, he said -- he finally -- he said, if they come in, they're going to be running against us in primaries. eight years later he got beat in the primary by a former democrat. but the fact is we might like their votes, but we don't want them in the meetings. that's true no matter what the group is. now it's the ron paul people. these people are weird, these people are strange. my position to them was, yeah, and ron paul has gotten almost 50% of the 30-and-under vote in every single primary he's run in. and if you want to kick that away, feel free. but a party builder's job is not to kick people out, it's to bring people in. so, yes, you're going to get that, yes, you'r

they're joined by former nixon administration deputy counsel eagle crow. this is half an hour. >> fred thompson has led us perfectly into our next panel, so up next we're going to talk about the legacy of watergate. and please join me in welcoming our next guest, former defense secretary bill cohen, a former retired senator from maine who, when this picture was taken, had just come from maine. he was a freshman congressman, and he landed on the hot seat of the judiciary committee. [ applause ] >> and former massachusetts governor bill wells. he's the young blond on the left of your screen. and when that photo was taken, he was the associate minority counsel on the house watergate committee. [ applause ] >> and eagle bud kroge. no, he's not the guy in the middle. he's currently a senior fellow at the center for the study of the presidency and congress. and then when he was working in the white house for president nixon, he was the co-director of the special investigations unit that we know as the plumbers. welcome. [ applause [ applause ] >>> so we're going

so they met during the nixon administration, when rather covered the white house and they've just remained friends very close friends every since. >> you want facts? >> yes, sir. >> the facts are these. i didn't know dan rather. we were not close friends. our children went to school together in washington, d.c., and our wives were close friends, and dan and i became friends. i had -- i was -- it was not -- he was covering the white house. i was in government but i didn't deal with him, from a press standpoint at all. it was more of a neighborhood type thing. and at a certain point it was not taos, new mexico, it was -- i can remember the name of the town. it's over east of santa fe. and we owned a ranch there, there were five of us, i think, who owned the ranch. just different people, different relationships, and it was kind of a -- we never used it much. it was a -- an investment. and i -- i have known dan over the years. and i haven't seen him in ages. joyce, my wife joyce sees jean from time to time. >> do you still have an honorship at all? >> no, that was in the '70s and '80s. it's be

they got -- i worked in the nixon administration. you could not get up in the morning knowing what the heck it was the president wanted. because i don't know if he knew. he may have, but he didn't communicate it anybody. so people went to work. there were studies at the time how many political appointees went bad, bad in the sense they weren't pursuing any kind of a unified, you know, way of looking at things. if you worked for ronald reagan, you knew. i mean, you knew -- you might mistakes. you might go bad. you might be captured by your agency. all the things that always happened in a bureaucracy. but you didn't have to get up in the morning and say, you know, i wonder what the heck it is that this president is all about. and what you want is a movement that is led and run, and we're down through it, they know. they know what it is that they're about. that's why i say it's important that they know that rather than just, i like "x." you know? because "x" might change his mind. >> david, what holds together this political movement? i

but we were in the nixon administration together. >> and we were both blond. if i had gone brunette, i might have succeeded as well. secrets you learn only at the western conservative summit. there are microphones in some of the aisles. you need to come to those. it's hard to see you against the lights. we need you on mic because we have the honor that c-span is covering all day of summit saturday and it will be on the air nationally soon. >> and by the way you know who i and john are and we don't know you. so introduce yourselves. >> my name is joe ignat. do you think the financial crisis in europe will serve as a cautionary tale for us? >> i think it depends. i think what happened is when sarkozy was thrown out of france and the elections in germany when you had that summit in chicago, the g-20 summit and looked at each other and said what did austerity did. and what france elected is a socialist take the rubber band off the wall let big spender. i think the lesson that president obama has learned -- i'm not saying the american people but president obama lea

whergis puhasindaus onehst left arizona to work in the new nixon administration. e asks communityeade i niwret. k tehstad eec i arizona as being against civil rights. he opposed a 1964 anti-discrimination ordan esed astch griolas nisyee hee n t ece policies. vietnam is going on now. and he encouraged more use of wiretaps and other government surveiance but-'crs s o nings,sh i ofyit hiko k hn. he will be a champion for civil rights. so she is keeng track of everything and sending him pies ofng ae inilehstri t sdeeoon acin w done for me in connection with the nomination to the supreme court. i feel that a very effective organizati has been suddenly called io being largely as a re ooung w nhrec lawh ivihi juenq iis chrs dtemny of it. you know, i think that he was telling the truth. you figure he wasor tho of you who remember, he waseall oppodte kdy y kn hor i cht u sin and the real action was inashington. he ended up being approved after ducking sort of mini filistery ea8- hs sn jry - se, 68-26. when he was sworn in, jut o'connor was there. -- justice o'connor was th

mention, although the courts could not stop the "new york times" from publishing the papers, the nixon administration could prosecute them after the fact. >> so the state of the law now is what? >> you know, i think the best i can say the law is unclear. there's only been one case in the history of the act where the government has prosecuted a third party, that is a recipient of the information as opposed to the leaker. that was in virginia of 2005. there would be serious first amendment rights in such a case but they have not yet produced an opinion saying you cannot bring a prosecution. that's why i reference the quote about the uncertainty about the scope of the statute. >> if you're talking about the press generally, we've got new problems, who's a journalist and who isn't? >> is a blogger a journalist? >> the supreme court has resisted giving special con tte to the press clause because they don't want to draw the distinction that's only part of the murkiness here. >> the wikileaks, is he a blogger? >> if they would go after julian assange, i'm sure there would be a first amendment issue. >> can

we don't look old enough to have been there together but in fact, we were in the nixon administration together. >> back in those days we were both blond. if i had gone brunette i might have succeeded as well. secrets you learn only at the western conservative summit. there are microphones in some of the aisles, friends, and you need to come to those. it's hard for me to see you against the lights but we need you on mike because we have the honor that c-span is covering all day of summit saturday and it will be on the air nationally very soon. is there a question -- how about over here, please. >> by the way, you know who i am, you know who john is. we don't know who you are. you have to identify yourself. >> my name is joe. i wonder if you might comment about whether or not you think the financial crisis in europe will serve as a sort of cautionary tale to us for us to get our house in order. >> you know, i think it depends. i think what happened was when sarkozy was thrown out of france and when angela merkel had the elections in germany, when you have that summit in chicago, the g-2

she was in the white house press office in the nixon administration. but, no, we never worked closely together at all. >> i want to run the opening to "night line." you work for for yours, the book goes into the hands of the media and all of this is is the introduction and i want your reaction. >> it must be bad or you wouldn't want to -- >> no, it's not. have you seen this? >> i have not. >> let's run it and get your reaction. >> okay. >> tonight on "nightline" world exclusive. diane sawyer goes head-to-head with donald rumsfeld in a tv first. the former secretary of defense opens up as never before. the controversies, the wars, the wmds and the big question what did he get wrong? plus, the man whose public face has been defiance, gets emotional for the first time during his private times at home dur his tenure at the pentagon. surprising interview starts right now. >> from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is "night line" february 7, 2011. >> so what's your reaction to the don ru

seeon t i ued softe ats eg mmonll t the document from 1970 that was sponsored by the nixon administrationaction highlights the waynns,cial otisoucty cosufn earf edor oders. so this id of an all volunteer force in the 1970 i think really exemplifs the consciousnesso maf e pnnuior prd t resr conflict. this kind of a stereotype, maybe it was born of too many hollywoodfilms ma ld d kwh hy gh res thnf. coan of the nation. the fact of the matter, i found again and again, evenin the early documents when individuals liteeyeepesas wereae otith often reflected a larger community based rspective on the struggles. anil tsuhais my be doy, ld r ndegily job quite wll. in fact, many soldiers are quite aware of what they're doing, and why, and t old phrase f t mentfrorar, nydialyw e ht tehed onseo mbeeven a pull that comes from their communities. oliver wendell holmes was a lieutenant colonel in the san ee n18toil war anda bee th, wa meg aough he said in his memorial day speech, that this is the fundamental aspect oal alig ou t iiwrws g th l lookgrward, this idea of believing and wanting something with al

something that i think everybody realizes the pretext if you go back and look at what the nixon administration said what anyone who has ever abused secrecy powers always said it's always been this idea well don't worry trust us because we're only doing this for your own good and all the evidence shows that when ever people human beings are able to spy on other people and eavesdrop on them in the dark in secrecy with no one watching over their shoulder no oversight inevitably not usually or probably but inevitably that power is severely abused and that's what happened in every single case where we've been able to discover what was being done. do you think that with the internet we're in a bit of a catch twenty two because on one hand it's made it so much easier for people to communicate to get social movements going right to access certain information but then because of that because of our dependence on the internet then the government is taking advantage of it but you know is it is it in inevitable thing that they will try to control and monitor all of that or could perhaps some of the privat

inthorhoi rvsotisacly inrntst sof rth gte isuothe document from 1970 that was sponsored byhe nixon administration high lhe nal hseld d troerilyff seffntar edorsd so this idea of an all-volunteer force in the 1970s example ied ssnesof oi it ry prta veawnea untag y on i ufoxpse ouereasons for conflict. there's a kind of stereo type maybe it's born oftoo many ywoo l at ieonnoyhy t. 'rtae hea nt, t el fully cognizant of the mission, the fact of the matter, i found again and again, even in the early documents when dial somas re te. eyeesa end a re hiobjectives that offer reflected a larger community based perspective on the struggles. wel this maybe ieyn ilirumat sorsa dlol. tho admes bui well. in fact many soldiers are quite aware of what they're doing and why. in the old phrase hs mererorar nysdi aekw re f. th n ed mes t tem. it's maybe even a fall in comes from the communities. >> who was a lieutenant cornel in the meran ir ad tecauceh sue t iasch gh yu lemegd want it with allyour mind. he said in this speech this is the fundamtal aspect of all wars smbiofcosehecl ra te ev hs li tooing forward, thi

this is quite reminiscent of the nixon administration and the enemies list. ey are checking their enemies list twice, making sure who has been naughty and nice. the people who are not our anyone opposed to the obama administration critics out senator mitch mcconnell. peter stone, your comments? >> mitch mcconnell is taking this slightly exaggerated view here, at the least. the proposed bill, the bill that was filibustered in the senate would impact democratic groups as well as republican groups. certainly, there are more republican groups this year since citizens united that have benefited from large donations, multimillion-dollar donations. studies have shown republican c4 groups have a raised democratic ones. but the bill would impact both equally. >> and the bill has been defeated? >> it has been blocked at this stage, right. i don't think there's any comparison for the nixon enemies list. i think what drives the bill's sponsor -- >> fascinating that mcconnell is raising it about nixon critics and he is a longtime advocate for greater transparency in campai

somewhat similar to what was done under george schultz in the nixon administration when they did the setaside. they did all of the things they did to make it possible for african-americans to go into business. he obviously didn't have the perspective of that, had not been told that and didn't do it. >> why is the president not coming to attend and speak to this group? >> he said his schedule -- he just couldn't make it work. look, we understand that a man who is running for president, isn't president, has one job. is that's to become president. one who is president has two. that's running for president and running the country. we understand many of us what it is like to have two jobs. i think he gets a bye on that. especially because he sent his vice president and a.g. and sent his apologies. we worked with him right up until last week to figure out how to make this work. >> it will be interesting what kind of speech the vice president delivers tomorrow. you know the role of a vice president in a campaign like this. it is often to bring the lumber and it will be interesting to see wh

although the courts could not stop the new times from publishing the pentagon papers, the nixon administration could prosecute him after the fact. >> so the state of the law now is what? >> i think the best i can say is the law is unclear. i think there's only been one case in history of the espionage act with the government has prosecuted a third party, that is the recipient of information as opposed to the leader. that case fell apart. it was the impact he's in virginia in 2005. i think it would be serious first amendment concerns in such a case but those concerns have not yet produced an opinion saying that you cannot print. that's what i had that quote about the insurgent of the scope of the statute. >> you talk about the press generally. we have no problems with who is a journalist and it was an. is a blogger a journalist? >> the supreme court for that reason has resisted giving special context of the press clause of the first amendment because they don't want to draw the distinction between "the new york times" and a blog but i think that's only part of the murkiness. >> then wikileaks,

there were discussions about trying to do this by in the nixon administration, so the concept is not novel. as someone who has worked with these agencies for nearly 40 years, the relationship between the coast guard, fema, emigration, and customs have never been better. fema is a better organization because they are in coordination with the coast guard. i was also asked one time what was the best part about leaving and moving to homeland security. i said we were appropriations. there was a bureaucratic war. it was ugly. that does not happen, and while there are overlaps and ways to talk about how we can coordinate more effort, some of the bureaucratic struggles i saw throughout my career have gone away. >> out of those agencies, it was five you were originally thinking of? >> that has been a discussion that has gone on for years. >> out of the 22, how many of those? but the organization has already had a physical presence, but it has been discussed for quite awhile. >> whole concept of homeland security predates 9-11. there was a bill that got introduced for a couple of years prior t

the ed meese justice department in the '80s and a house conservative and liberal administration, witnessed the nixon impeachment. and i don't like either one. would rather be right in the middle of the road administration. had to get my own administration. >> tell us about working with hillary rodham. >> very close relationship. very decent. she's just a very decent person. and if i recall correctly on the occasion when i got in the middle and john dohr himself got frowney faced with me, which he shouldn't have, by the way. i was doing my duty. i think hillary intervened and defended me on that, and i've never forgotten that. >> frowny face? he got frowny faced? >> yeah, he did. he said, i should have known about this. how did this happen? >> tell us about what happens -- you were -- you were going to tell us the story of what happened after this experience. years later. >> well, you know, this was the beginning of a lifelong career in litigation and politics from me. i went back to my law firm, transferred from the corporate department to litigation. ran for state attorney general in 1978 because i

nixon in his administration with secretary of state george schultz when he was head at that time, i think, of the department of labor, it was interesting because they fashioned the means by which we ultimately got affirmative action. the set aside and programs of that nature for small businesses in this country came out of the bowels of the republicans. democrats eventually grabbed on to it, i'm sure that there was an appreciation and a reflection by black americans showing that they loved that idea and they pushed that idea and it makes good sense for all america. >> bill: today in our political economy one big party democrats big spending and the republic party the opposite. the polls say that mitt romney has 2% of the african-american vote right now. okay. black unemployment is 15%. black youth unemployment is 40%. so president obama has not done the job for the black community and the stats are the stats. yet, mitt romney is 2%. how you can explain that? >> and, bill, let me assure you that there are black persons who are regularly pounding the president for a greater program directed

administration, gsa. and congress and many people in -- in the united states were very upset when they learned that president nixon at the end of his administration had tried to regain control over his papers and the tapes by a secret agreement with the head of the general services administration who was then overseeing the national archives. and this agreement would have allowed the president within five years of leaving office to destroy the tapes. so congress intervened. the presidential -- accordance of presidential materials act, passed in 1984, signed by gerald ford, governs how we operate this library. and i am as the representative of the director of the united states library, it's my mandate to make accessible to the public as soon as possible when we find it materials relating to governmental abuses of power. this lays out the information for you to see how watergate

there were discussions about trying to do something like this clear back in the nixon administration regarding order patrol othe southwes borde e coepislftvl. orromdao coast guard and someone who's worked with these agencies for nearly 40 years before i retired, the relationships between the coast guard, fema, immigration and customs have never been better. fema is a tter organization because they ar t--e co ar r. std hate rre katrina. i think it has also asked by senator lautenberg want to most of us think about leaving qt beuse user chairman. at the time i said we got o appropriions on time. m no seboan y e aal out bureaucratic war in the mid 1980s over who would do there in tradition and maritime interdiction in this country. it was ugly. that does not happen anymore. while there were overlaps and think to talk bt hw ecod oforome he auicruggles that i saw throughout my great have gone away. >> that was how many agencies, about five your talking about? >> the original border secury, that's been a discussion that's someorfo fo ea >> a h ho any? >> i think there be talk about immigra

republican president dwight eisenhower kept that tax rate at ninety one percent during his administration and even richard nixon embraced a seventy percent tax rate on the billionaires today at thirty five percent and we know where that's got us. our nation does not thrive on the goodwill of billionaires we thrive on the hard work of average americans who wake up every day go to work care for their families raise their children to believe that america is a wee society a place where we all work together not a place where we wait for scraps to fall off the billionaires dynasty billionaires are not job creators they're not smarter than the rest of us and they're not harder workers of the rest of us they are hoarders plain and simple if they had to convert their wealth into actual cash they would be able to move around their lavish mansions we need to bring back common sense taxes on wealth including an absolute tax above one billion dollars that once and for all prevents the ascendency a predatory billionaires in america time to join the no billionaires campaign that's it for the big picture and i don't forget dem

we do not look old enough to have been that together, but we were in the nixon administration togetherh blond. if i had gone brunet i might have succeeded as well. [laughter] secrets he learned only at the western conservative summit. there are microphones and some of the aisles. it is hard for me to see you against a light. we need to because we have the honor that c-span is covering the summit and it will be on the air nationally very soon. is there a question? >> we do not know who you are so you have to identify yourself. >> i wonder if he might comment if you think that the financial crisis will serve as a cautionary tale for us to get our house in order? >> it depends. what happened was when sarkozy was thrown out of france when you have that summit in chicago, they all looked at each other and said let's see what austerity did. that was the budget in france. what france has elected is a socialist big spender. the lesson that president obama has learned is that what ever you do, don't start cutting back. in fact, it may have had an opposite reaction in washington. i think the ame

nixon. turning the clock back '50 year ostransparency. >> anti-small business administration than the carterrs. >> carter and nixon, inflammatory names to throw around trying to define the other person. >> axelrod attempt to make secrecy the big issue, an issue in this campaign is ridiculous. this is a glass house. he just had his attorney general for the first time in american history receive rebuke from congress we have never seen. criminal con step for concealing documents in an operation that ended in the death of american law enforcement officials. i wouldn't be talking about open government and transparency. romney problem is not just he doesn't know how to deliver a message or not charismatic. i think the way to put it, he simply hasn't been ide log call enough. this is a center right country. two years ago threw out the democrat or any leadership of any charismatic speeches or obamacare and increasing the size of the debt is sitting out there. the american people do not want expansion of government. we know that. we just saw it. romney has to make the case not just i know how to do j