. >>> former first lady pat nixon's 100th birthday would have been this friday. to mark the occasion, the nixon library has released some letters from her husband. let's just say they give us a whole new picture of the man known forever in history for a whole lot of other things. our report tonight from nbc's mike taibbi. >> reporter: to describe richard nixon, who would use the words "playful, corny, romantic"? after all, his boldness and brilliance were matched and eventually overwhelmed by his political and personal ruthlessness that led to the watergate scandal and to these unprecedented words -- >> i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. >> reporter: now the letters between the ambitious young lawyer just moved to washington, d.c., and pretty thelma catherine ryan, known to all as pat, whom he'd asked to marry him on their first date. he writes to his irish gypsy, who radiates all that's happy and beautiful, pines to be with her every day and every night, dreams of long sunday rides, weekends in the mountains or just reading together in fron

president nixon and pat nixon were in the forefront. >> pat nixon, i'm glad you mentioned that, she wasvery eager to have a woman on the supreme court. >> yeah, she was. >> and/or to vacancies in 1971, and we scoured the landscape looking for when. of course, justice, the justice department has a lot to do with who gets into these judicial roles. there were not enough women in the pipeline anywhere. that was part of the problem. >> were the women who are upheld -- >> there were just a few. and the problem was that they were not self also friday compatible -- a woman surface who had been a local type judge in los angeles. state court. by the justice department and the american bar association just killed her. they also -- >> they said she was not qualified? >> they said she was not qualified. they did that also with a potential appointee. we think was the first time there was actually a serious discussion about women on the court, and i know i prepared a list. liz carpenter who was labor johnson's press secretary came with a list, represent a bunch of women script. so there was a lot of

and pat nixon was a much less controversial figure. she was a very loyal wife and she did all the sightseeing which nixon hated and she went to the model farms and approved of the model pigs and she looked at the model kindergartens and she did all that sort of stuff. mao's wife was very much more controversial and after mao's death, in fact, was blamed for a lot of his crimes and was put in prison. she was i think a terrifying personality. she'd been an actress in shanghai, very pretty in her youth, and had made her ways up to the hills of the communist in the late '30s and had attracted mao's attention and he had fallen for her and divorced his other wife, his wife at the time, and his senior colleagues had said to him, this was the nature of the chinese communist party, we'll only give you permission to divorce your wife and marry this pretty actress in shanghai as long as she stays out of politics, and mao accepted the deal, but his wife resented it bitterly. when mao wanted to start the cultural revolution, the bizarre event which

that pat nixon had asked earl if she could see -- she wanted to get some names in front of her husband as possible women candidates for the supreme court. >> if we -- got on the table but it took another ten years before sandra o'connor. i still think there's resistance in many quarters about women in leadership roles. we haven't totally cracked that. >> we're a long way. >> even on capitol hill. >> maybe especially on capitol hill. >> where women are now 17% of the congress, even though they're more than 50% of the electorate. only 17%. >> we need to crack that barrier, too. >> who has another question? right here. yes. >> actually, you kind of answered it there. i was curious what your hopes at that time were for where things could lead and where you would like to see things lead today, and you kind of elaborated a little bit on the percentages. maybe you can talk about other areas you would like to see women contribute. >> you mean in government or outside of government? >> in government. >> helen? >> repeat the question. >> he is asking, what else -- what other areas in government

pat and dick team. they spent 53 years together of. >> reporter: it began at a community theater audition in whittier california in 1938, a young lawyer, richard nixonmitten by the lovely schoolteacher pat ryan. he courted her with persistence and a series of romantic letters. >> you remember that funny guy who asked you to go to a ladies night about two years ago? >> reporter: some of that correspondence is going on display at the richard nixon presidential library as part of an exhibit commemorating the life of pat nixon. >> richard's letters are ardent, poetic even in points, very demonstrative in terms of how he feels about pat. >> reporter: after two years of courtship and dozens of letters back and the forth they finally got married. >> her letters are lighter in tone but clearly very affectionate. one of my favorite lines from one of the letters is when she says if you get done early, come buy and i'll burn a hamburger for you of. >> reporter: nixon calls his wife to be his irish gypsy and my dearest heart and refers to himself in the third person. >> and when the winds blow and the rains fall and the sun shines through the clouds as it is no

a young lawyer, richard nixon, was quite schmidten by the lovely school teacher, pat ryan and courted her with dogged persistence and a series of letters. >> you remember the funny guy who asked to you go to a 20, 30 ladies night two years ago? >> reporter: some of the correspondence is going display at the richard nixon presidential library as part of a exhibit commemorating the life of pat nixon. >> richard's letters are ardent and poetic even, demon straightive of how he feels about pat. >> reporter: after two years of courtship and dozens of letters back and fort, they got married. >> her letters are lighter in tone and affectionate. one of my favorite lines from one of the letters is when he said -- she said if you get done early come, by and i'll burn a hamburger for you. >> he calls his wife to be his irish gencey and dearest heart and refers to himself in the third person. >> when the winds blow and the rains fall and the sunshines through the clouds as now, he still resolves as he did then and nothing so fine ever happened to him or anyone else and as falling in love with the

pat. >> yes. he signed some of them. he called her his dearest heart. >> reporter: president sandy quinn, a friend of nixons throughout, hasso fine ever happened to him or anyone else as falling in love with thee, my tkaefrt heart. ♪ >> reporter: when his beloved pat died in 1993, his grief was seering. >> you said remember the sunshine of her smile. >>reporter: the smile so captivated him for more than half a century. >> carl, do those letters surprise you at all? is that a side of president nixon you knew? >> absolutely. and eisenhower wrote a wonderful book. >> yes. >> it became a difficult marriage at one point because she wanted him to leave political life after he had lost the race for governor of california. but she was a wonderfully affectionate woman to both her husband and her children. nixon had demons. and those eventually overwhelmed him. pat nixon didn't have those demons and helped him struggle against the demons. perhaps not as successfully as some would have liked. but she was, first of all, she was -- hillary clinton was one of the first to recognize what a wonderful first lady she was in many regards and

pat and dick team. they spent 53 years together. >> it began at a community theater audition in whittier, california in 193. a young lawyer, richard nixon was quite smitten by the lovely school teacher, pat ryan. he courted her with dogged persistence and a series of romantic letters. >> remember that funny guy who asked to you go to 2030 ladies night just about two years ago? >> reporter: some of that the correspondent is going to display at the richard nixon presidential library as part of an exhibit commemmorating the life of pat nixon. >> richard's letters are ardent, poetic at point, very demonstrative in herms of how he feels about pat. >> reporter: they finally got married. >> her letters are a little lighter in tone but clearly very affectionate. one of my favorite lines from one of the letters is when she says if you get done early, come by and i'll burn a hamburger for you. >> nixon calls his wife to be his irish gypsy and refers to himself in the third person. >> when the winds blow and the rains fall and the sun ships through the clouds as it is now, he still resolves as he did then that nothing so fine ever happened to him

nixon took him on. pat his side when nixon reinvented himself,, the 112 time in 1966 and he was with him as well in 1968 when nixon won the incredibly close election to go on to become president. than pat was there at the heart of the nixon administration as a speechwriter at a time of extraordinary cultural conflict in america perhaps became the closest to civil war at a remarkable time. he is one of the very few people who emerged out of the nixon administration and out of watergate with a clean reputation and tom braden, your colleague on crossfire once remarked pat buchanan, the only former member of the nixon administration who didn't require a letter from his parole officer to go on tv. [laughter] pat then went on to become one of the nation's first professional tv pundits. he helped invent a show called crossfire which radically change the way in which right wing people appear on the media. in times past conservatives tended to be a bit like william f. buckley, very sophisticated, quite polite, quite

so for example, since pat nixon, every gop first lady has been pro choice. to come out to really go -- i am just so surprised by that policy discrepancy. >> even laura bush. >> not only with abortion, but gay marriage. it is indicvyt . ♪ ♪ [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. >>> any time my brothers and sisters for organization. it is time for resistance, and it is time for counter attacks and more victories at the polls. >> we just discussed the hidden power of american first ladies, but i don't want to leave you with the impression that the east wing is the closest a woman can get to the oval office. have you heard of shirley chisolm? if not, this is a teachable moment. shirley chisolm is a first woman to run for president in the democratic party. in 1972, shirley chisolm, the first black woman elected to the house of representatives announced her bid for t

this friday the nixon presidential library unveiling the new exhibit of love letters written while nix and his future wife patack when they were still dating. in the letters nixon calls his wife, dearest heart, saying, every day and night i want to see you and be with you. yet i have no feelings of selfish ownership or jealousy. let's really grow together and find the happiness we know is ours. i feel weird saying that but the guy as game according to the letters. library is including letters as an exhibit celebrating what would have been the 100th birthday of the former first lady? you heard of slush funds but how about flush funds? a stalemate kept the city from buying toilet paper and supplies for t.p. are running low. bloomberg news say most city buildings may run out next week. al of the bickering is over the paper budget. some members will not sign off on $4,000 for paper cups. they say the tab is too high. >> i don't think they're worried about the paper cups. >>> coming up, randy moss working out for the niners and a pro bowl quarterback who played for the colts will be throwing passes. should alex sm

nixon apparently had a sensitive side. love letters from the former president to his future wife pat are being made public. very day and every night i want to see you and be with you. one of her letters says, i'll see if i can burn a hamburger for you. >> maybe a little more to that story. >>> the huffington post reports a priest who denied communion to a lesbian has been suspended. he reported told her "i can't give you communion because living with another woman is a sin." . >>> and sorry guys. looks like oscar winner halle berry will soon be off the morkt. people.com says her fiance has confirmed that the two are engaged. that clears up a long-running rumor. no word on a wedding date. there's another example of never say never. >> true. >> halle berry said time and time again she's been married three times, she said i will never get married again. good for her. >> good for her. >> i know you love love. >> you know i do. >> we love this story. >> we do. >>> if you want to stay healthy, you eat right and you exercise but one doctor says you should listen to more than that advice. you also need to listen to

nixon. he wrote those letters to his future wife pat when they were dating.n one he says: "everyday and every night i want to see you and be with you yet i have no feeling of selfish ownership or jealousy." the letters will be unveiled friday at the nixon presidential library as part of an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of former first lady. >> fascinating. >> i wonder if those were 140 characters or less? >> no twittering. >> no tweeting. >> bad joke, sorry. >> you have a lot of work coming up. >> people have to have a lot of patience and be prepared for what has been an easy winter so far is not going to be soon. 11:20 good morning. some of the clouds, moisture returning ahead of our cold front well north today will be our only dry day in the seven day forecast. nice vertical development there that cumulus cloud over san francisco as we look west from emeryville this morning. from the top down scattered clouds, partly sunny today. if you are leaving the house now in san rafael 43, upper 40s santa rosa and oakland everybody else in the low to mid

nixon. he wrote those letters to his future wife pat when they were dating. in one he says: "everyday and every night i want to see you and be with you yet i have no feeling of selfish ownership or jealousy." the letters will be unveiled friday at the nixon presidential library as part of an exhibition celebrating the 100th birthday of former first lady. >> fascinating. >> i wonder if those were 140 characters or less? >> no twittering. >> no tweeting. >> bad joke, sorry. >> you have a lot of work coming up. >> people have to have a lot of patience and be prepared for what has been an easy winter so far is not going to be soon. 11:20 good morning. some of the clouds, moisture returning ahead of our cold front well north today will be our only dry day in the seven day forecast. nice vertical development there that cumulus cloud over san francisco as we look west from emeryville this morning. from the top down scattered clouds, partly sunny today. if you are leaving the house now in san rafael 43, upper 40s santa rosa and oakland everybody else in the low to mi

nixon a's sensitive side. they were britain while he and his future wife, pat, were still dating.reaper's -- he refers to her as "his dearest heart." we have some excerpts posted right now on our website wjla.com. >> a day at the opera for elementary school students in the area. washington national opera held its opera work in and it featured scenes from the mozart opera. >> the got to learn about the costumes and lighting. i was a host of the great event. >> ddi youid you sing an aria? >> no, but i heard a few. >> you could sing an aria. >> it would be one people would not sue forget. live from one of our age the rooftop camera is looking on to arlington boulevard through arlington county, a lot of high clouds moving in. there may be a brick around sunset. we have had so many lately, but tonight probably not so much. we will have a few good ones coming this week with warmer temperatures. 71 in burke after a high of 73. burtonsville high of 74. of tracking these areas of rain to the north and west. this is at the edge of a warm front. just ahead showers and if you were back to vir

richard nixon presidential library unveils a new exit bit of love letters written while nixon and his future wife pate still dating. in the letters he calls his wife dearest heart saying quote every day and night i want to see you and be with you yet i have no feelings of selfish ownership or jealousy. let's really grow together and find the happiness we know is ours. the presidential library in yorba linda including the letters in the present exhibit celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of the former first lady. >> nixon quite the romantic. let's check what's coming up at 7:00. >>> more reaction after the u.s. soldier opened fire on afghan citizens. we have a pair of experts to look at what may have triggered that attack and what it means for u.s./afghan relations plus two hot new tech companies. we take a look at the buzz around them and what it could mean for several other high tech companies. and what we learned from the japanese tsunami one year after it struck. the global and local warning system. we'll take a look to see how it's been impacted. that and more on comcast 186 in a co

boston.com says love letters from the former president to his future wife pat are being made public. nixonevery night i want to see you and be with you. one of her letters says i'll see if i can burn a hamburger for you. skbl there may be a little more to that story. >> has been suspended. the woman approached the priest during her mother's funeral. he said i can't give you communion because living with another woman is a sin. >> and sorry, guys, looks like halle berry will soon be off the market. people.com says her fiance has confirmed that the two are engaged. that clears up a long-running rumor. no word on a wedding date. and that's long story short. erica, there's another example of never say never. because halle berry said time and time again, she's been married three times, she's sed i will never get married again. so good for her. >> good for her. so we love this story. >> yes, we do. we do. >> if you want to stay healthy, you eat right and you exercise. but one doctor says you should look for more than just that advice. you also need to listen to your body. you'll hear his take on

richard nixon's library released letters he wrote while courting his then future wife pat. who was a much sought after beauty in their town. it turns out the man who was famously awkward was a romantic, calling her his dearest, and writing, every day and every night i want to see you and be with you. let's really grow together and find the happiness we know is ours. and in another letter, he calls her an irish gypsy who radiates all that is happy and beautiful. they would be married 53 years. and when she died, richard nixon sobbed at her funeral. his dearest was gone. >>> and here's to friendship and consolation wherever you find it. samantha, a 47-year-old gorilla, has a cuddly new pet with long ears. a rabbit named panda. they have become roommates at the erie pennsylvania zoo. the zoo put them together because samantha seemed lonely after her last gorilla companion died. and zoo officials say she is old and kind and would never want to hurt the rabbit. even scratches the rabbit under the chin. they say they're just positive that panda's not in danger. as you see, there'

and six love letters between former president richard nixon and his future wife pat going on display hard nicks con presidential library and museum. they are dated 1938 and go until before their marriage in june of 1940. in their letters nixon recalls their first meeting, day dreams about their future and uses nicknames like dearest heart, and my irish gypsy, jon, sounds like pretty racy stuff. jon: i bet you he wasn't daydreaming about being president one day, or maybe he was. the latest polling for tomorrow's primaries shows an extremely tight race in alabama and mississippi. one of the problems engage the level of support for any one candidate is that voters in the deep south are highly unpredictable these days. let's talk about why with bret baier the anchor of the special report. pretty much a three-way race, pretty evenly split in the southern primaries tomorrow. >> reporter: that's right, jon, mississippi and alabama is an important test for all of these candidates. if mitt romney could pull off the win in one of these states he would make the case that he has a win in the deep

writing in the nixon white house that we have to be a little bit careful about drawing too many inferences from that. we know for example that three senior speechwriters, which included pat buchanan, ray price, bill sapphire, were assigned to speeches based on a specific policy topic and the ideological intensity that the president wanted in that speech. so that would be an "a" in terms of management though we may want to question how that was used. >> lbj's speech before congress, we give him credit and not richard goodwin even though he was one of the people who wrote that. >> that's we as scholars and the public make but we might want to be careful carrying it that far. >> thank you all but the conversation can certainly continue. >> you're watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span3. for more information, follow us on twitter at c-span history. >> august weekend long american history tv is in shreveport, louisiana, to explore the rich history of the southern city founded in 1836. you're watching american history tv, 48 hours of people and events, telling the american history. >> the louisiana hayride! ♪ ♪ we're gonna have a wonderful time at t

writing in the nixon white house that we have to be a little bit careful about drawing too many inferences from that. we know for example that three senior speechwriters, which included pat buchanan, ray price, bill sapphire, were assigned to speeches based on a specific policy topic and the ideological intensity that the president wanted in that speech. so that would be an "a" in terms of management though we may want to question the purpose to which it was used. >> i'm thinking about lbj's speech before congress, about voting rights. we give him credit for that. we don't give richard goodwin credit for that even though he was one of the people who -- >> i'm arguing that's a mistake we as scholars make. we ought to be careful about extending that very far. >> thank you all. i'm afraid we have to end it there, but the conversation can certainly continue. >> throughout the weekend here on american history tv on c-span3, watch personal interviews boo historic events on oral histories. our history bookshelf features some of the best-known history writers. revisit key figures, battles and events during the 150th anniversary of the civil war. visit college classrooms across t