and gradually -- so when you first were out in the outer circle you saw the public nixon. the public nixon was very prim and proper, but as gradually you got closer in, you began to see this was something of a show. i had times when i would be with him and he'd come out of the oval office and go into a cabinet meeting and come out and be looking just hugely angry or terribly slumped over, despondent about something. he would be in a really bad mood, really bad place. just before he opened that door in the cabinet room, he'd straighten himself up, put a big smile on his face, on show. i would see him in the cabinet room. i thought, he's always that way. but gradually as you got to know him better, you began to see that side of him. then when i got closer in, i got to swearing. i remember to this day a time when we were working on a speech that was last minute. it was radio. zeigler was there and i was there. i forgot whether it was rosemary woods or who it was, we were working on a speech draft. i was running back and forth, everything getting typed up. we were running page

and, you know, nixon to china has now become obviously a metaphor in our life, our public life. but nixon could pull that off. and i've always admired that part of him, and i believe to this day that it came -- that his capacity for strategic thinking came from an extraordinary amount of discipline and hard work and a lot of reading. i've never known a president who took history as seriously as he did, who drew as much from it. i remember so well when he would ask -- ask pat moynihan for a list of books he could read late at night. he gave him this list. >> -- >> and that was even after -- i didn't know moynihan in those days. but i remember to this day when after moynihan left, the -- nixon would bring up the disraeli book. he recommended it to me to read, which i got a copy of and it was a biography. of course moynihan introduced -- wanted to talk about disraeli because he was the conservative prime minister who brought the welfare state to britain. just as bismarck had been a conservative bringing the welfare state to germany. and nixon was the only republican who has ever pro

public. i found richard nixon toward the end of his life to be a person who was always perceptive, you know, and once you came to accept who he was as a human being, and his human flaws and came to then appreciate that there were other sides to him and there was much about him that was also admirable, and i felt his assessments were really quite apt. i have one other story becau because -- i was one of those who stayed until the end in august of '74 and felt very betrayed at the time and quite angry, and then over time, and sort of the wounds healed and i tried to see nixon hole as he is, the more complete nixon and come to grips with that, and as years passed i went on to see him in 1970 -- late '75 and early '76 and the former treasury secretary and bill simon was one of my bosses and one of my mentors. we had a very, very good dinner with president nixon. he made his famous drinks. he made drinks for us. >> martinis. >> martinis, nixon martini. he slurred a few words after the martini, but it always helped him get off to a good start. in any event, yoeci don't want pretend to be close to

nixon. i think this is the last public appearance that mrs. nixon made before she died. and with lady bird. and then at the george bush library opening. this is hillary as first lady, and they were all watching the presidents up talking. and at the ford funeral, where president bush and those three first ladies. this was in palm desert. but thank you. >> great job. >> was that all right? >> great job. >> well, this is unfair that i have to follow you, david. clearly one of the most memorable events for mrs. bush was her commencement address at wellesley, aside from all the brouhaha and protests that were stirred up, it was a great success. i'm sure everybody remembers the quote that at the end of your life you'll never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, closing one more deal, but you will regret time not spent with a husband, child, or a parent. and i think this is a code that she lives by. there she is with mrs. gorbachev who came with her to the event and gave her own remarks. in the kremlin with mrs. yeltsin, the left. mrs. yeltsin t

over the next 90 minutes they discussed richard nixon's public language from minor statements to major speeches. >>> and i'm here 0 to welcome you on behalf of the nixon foundation to our tenth nixon legacy panel. we began these panels last year and have every expectation of continuing them through the centennial of richard nixon's birth in january of 2013. we sponsor these in conjunction with the national archives, and my counterpart the assistant archivist in charge of all presidential libraries will be here at the end to help us conclude today's panel. today's legacy panel is entitled "working with 37" without speech writers remember working with richard nixon. you see, soaring rhetoric alone cannot sustain a presidency. it takes substance. but substance without sizzle cannot persuade. every administration struggles with a combination of substance and sizzle to show presidential leadership. how that was worked out with our 37th president is the topic today. and we have an excellent moderator with us that i'd like to introduce right now. lee huebner. [ applause ] >> lee came to richa

secretary of defense under nixon and has a lot of -- can't take a lot of credit for that because he had political instincts and had been a congressman and he knew that the public just wasn't going to permit. nixon wanted to get the ground troops off and continue to supply air cover for the south vietnamese and hope that somehow the south vietnam could still stand. the paris peace talks later told the principal communist negotiators said to the american delegation you couldn't win with 550,000 of your men. how do you possibly think you are going to win without them, which of course was the unanswerable question. >> how about ford when he came in after -- >> she had no role. we were out on the ground. conagra's had made it very clear they were not going to back any sort of substantial support any further. ford could just preside over the final collapse and then martin, the ambassador in saigon was blind and about the eminence of the collapse and so we didn't do the preparing that we could have done that would have led to an orderly withdrawal. the communists had no desire to see us flee out of there and panic we estimate we have a picture from the u.s. embassy i

and the public turned to richard nixon.n, anti-war protests rocked campus as they did on college campuses across the nation. the day after i was born, martin luther king, jr. was assassinated, riots began in cities, including washington, d.c. bob did i kennedy died at the hands of an assassin, a day after winning the reelection for president. the year after i was born, the united states teetered on an ill- ill-begotten war, racial stresses. we continue to fight in the war in afghanistan, our parliament is in division, and we have shot people by the thousands. our economy favors 1% over 99%. i take a look around and conclude that not much has changed in my lifetime, but i don't. i'm an optimist. i see war ending in iraq and the defense budget coming down compared to the last decade. i see increasing political consensus that a whole group of americans, gays and lesbians, get equal rights under the law. instead of race riots, i could be the first candidate in history poised to win a second term. and with economic indicators in

marshall proposed the marshall plan and it was 1947, and then tried to muster public support for the marshall plan and as nixon recalled, and it was in its original conception at 18% in the first gallup poll that came out, but truman as the democrat, with the republican congress, then started calling in republicans to help put together the plan itself. so arthur vandenberg, for example, of michigan, and the republican chairman of the relations committee was called in to help write the marshal plan and nexton got enlisted in this cause and it became a bipartisan effort and what nixon said to me one of the proudest moments of his life, political life came when the marshal plan was put to a vote in the house of representatives. a plan from a democratic president and that he stood on his side of the aisle in the house of representatives and there on the other side of the aisle stood up another freshman member of the house of representatives, jack kennedy, and nixon said, when the chips are down in this country we try to stand up together and that's been the great tradition and it was proud of the vote. as i recall

public stage. and they then conclude that that's all there is to that person. nixon was a very complicated personality. he's characterized, for history, as the evil emperor who punished his enemies, was vindictive and mean and vicious. he's actually a very kind, decent man and there were many, many, many times when we would have discussions even though i was the guy with the political portfol portfolio, and i was the guy with the task of mobilizing outside groups. he would just talk about, you know, we have to do this because this is the right thing. in 1964, riding in the back of his limousine with him, up to his apartment on the upper east side, he had said, you know, we have to do this because the kind of world our children and grandchildren are going to live in depends on it. he could be a -- he could have an incredible idealist. and people don't see him that way. unfortunately, they won't because he's got the cartoon with the 5:00 shadow. and he was anything but. he was a very decent human being, brilliant human being. morally flawed like all human beings are in

. >> "the washington post" had gone public right at that point, and the nixon administration had decided on a strategy of going after the tv licenses of "the washington post," to gut the basic economic health of the company. this is you know, a huge undertaking of courage on the part of "the washington post." >> you look at the stock had just gone public and it was in the toilet because of the challenge. >> the daily attacks. >> could i ask you to do something for me just an exercise. you were 29 years old when this happened, you stayed in the news business, you got lots more experience, you are certainly aware of the climate, of the existing political climate, the existing news climate. you have a long distinguished journalistic career. it's a beautiful day out there and marcus has the staff of "the washington post" home, they are gone, the phone call has come in that says there has been a break-in. and you two are the only people on earth who can cover it. what do you do today? tell me today, given everything you know, what are you going to do, what's your first thing you're going to d

. >> pat nixon didn't show affection in the public but it there is love letters. >> i look in the starsave two people. she was practical and down to earth. and he was a romantic. >> some of the lasting images of pat nixon are sad ones of political defeats. but the real woman was a fighter. >> she was battered what happened . felt the election was stole yen she hated pictures of that night. it was the first time she lost her self control. and yes, the resignation was dev sphating. she wanted my father to fight. in her eyes he hadn't done anything wrong. but i remember she was always layoffing. >> i have you know, pandemonium is going to break out here. >> and pat nixon was an active first lady. she visited more than 80 countries including china and sent two pandas to the u.s. . credited to do more to fill the white house with american treasures than any first lady except dolly madison. in public there was a sense of reserve. >> my father said that the interview he most wanted and never got was pat nixon. why did she never tell her story? >> you can go on the -- air. she was not focused o

. >> "the washington post" had gone public credit that point. the nixon administration decided on the strategy of going after the tv licenses of the washington post to get the basic economic health of the company. this was a huge undertaking of courage on the part of the "washington post." >> the stock had just gone public and it was in the toilet. >> could i ask you to do something for me? you were 29 years old when this happened, he stayed in the news business and have got lots more experience. you are aware of the existing political climate and news climate. you have had a long, distinguished career since that moment. it's a beautiful day out there and markets has sent the entire staff home. the phone call has just come in that says there's a break in and your the only people on earth who can cover it. what do you do today? what is the first thing you are going to do today and what's the next thing? >> hopefully we would be smarter and more organized and quite frankly work harder and more focused on that. maybe it's not the sort of story like watergate

the public historically has viewed the court favorably. richard nixon, of course, campaigned against the court in 1968, but the last time a democrat made it a campaign issue was william jennings bryan, back in 1896. and he lost. >> pelley: jan, remind us, when do you think the court is going to make a ruling on the health care law? >> reporter: oh, i don't think we'll have a ruling in this case before the end of june so they've got a couple of more months of squirmishing before the court finally gets to have its say. scott, it's important to remember no matter what the president says about this case or what the republicans say, it's the supreme court that gets the last word. >> pelley: thanks, jan. we've never seen an election year like this one. because of the influence of billionaires and millionaires. you already know that the supreme court cleared the way for so-called super political action committees, which can take in unlimited donations. super pac donors in both parties have been shy about the role they play but tonight, wyatt andrews has a rare

the public historically has viewed the court favorably. now, richard nixon campaigned against the court in 1968, but the last time a democratic candidate has campaigned against the court was william jennings brian back in 1896. and he lost. jan crawford, cbs news, the supreme court. >>> in politics now, rick santorum met privately in virginia yesterday with gop conservative leaders who oppose mitt romney. a santorum campaign official says they agree to press newt gingrich to withdraw, hoping his supporters would switch to santorum. >>> after the alleged murder of 17 afghan civilians by a u.s. army sergeant, military investigators have finally visited the crime scene. staff sergeant robert bales is accused of gunning down 17. the pentagon says they waited until this week to avoid tensions with villagers. >>> kofi annan says syria has agreed to a cease-fire. the latest amateur video posted online appears to show army shells falling on the battered city of homs. an opposition group says 33 people were killed there yesterday. >>> for christians around the world

while nixon's visit was well publicized, johnson's forbade humphrey to tell the press.ys at the opportunity to present johnson with his own proposal to end the war and unite the party. >> i presented reducing forces, reducing bonding and medina struck in vietnam and negotiating our way out of it. he was furious with me. i remember he said that to son-in-law's in your proposal would leave them at the mercy of the enemy. he became very personal about it. >> working against the clock, humphrey wrote a compromise peace plank that was agreed to by all sides, including the president's closest advisers. >> been hubert b. and vice president bean vice president as well as the presidential candidate had declared with the white house and the president squashed it. and he insisted that the resolution we had replaced by a very pro-vietnam war resolution. >> by then we knew that hubert wanted a peace plank and the platform to end the war and we knew that and we knew why it didn't happen. >> i don't know i talking about it was so painful. >> the footage we saw at the ranch come you sa

christopher nixon in an interview decades later mcgovern responding to the nixon strategy saying i tried to convince the public that we needed to take a more critical look at spending in the pentagon and that got me labeled as weak on defense now withstanding the fact that i was a decorated bomber pilot from world war two and i think nixon was a clerk at some kind far away from any guns but the lies worked and nixon won in the biggest presidential landslide in american history so republicans did it again in two thousand and four against another war hero this time john kerry you might remember these ads run by the organization swift boat veterans for truth. do you did personally rate cut or you cut off the accusations that john kerry made against the better interests or. was just devastated randomly shot at civilians and it hurt me more than a physical forms i had to cut off liam blown up body use that was part of the torture was a to sign a statement that you committed war crimes raised villages reminiscent com john kerry gave him for free or die many of my comrades in. the prison camps torturing the butcher t

richard nixon had a dark side but also had a real eye for good talent on the bright side and he brought a huge number of good people into public service who went on to serve with distinction in the ford administration. many of them wanted to work for richard nixon and a great many went on to work for george w. bush. but they went on and did very good things in life. we didn't turn into -- and so a lot of those associates i'm very proud of. but i thought nixon left a legacy that republicans should be proud of. i believe that environmental protection was positive. i think his ideas on health care, trying get universal coverage are right. i happen to be more for a private system than some of the democrats. but he is -- i think there is much there that in that legacy that people can look back upon and say deeply tragic, flawed president did enormous damage to the presidency but let's remember the whole of richard nixon and who he was. >> which is what president clinton said. >> yeah. >> and perhaps now we know who helped inspire that. i'm not sure if -- i don't know if you hadn't been on that plane with him, whether the president

maybe nixon wanted to use the young democratic president to bring him back to public life the way a youngsident couldn't do it. i think of the hoover commission we re-organized to form the federal government. there was something human. nixon had two great daughters and didn't have a son. maybe bill clinton was the kind of political star he imagined having for a son and maybe bill clinton who had his own imperfections didn't see him as a holier than how to that is judgmental. i love to see how they get along, at least after the day-to-day politics are over with. wouldn't it be great if they can show the same humanity playing the political game? wouldn't it be good for the country to let their human side show, showing the human compromises to get to that of the challenges facing this country like our growing debt and this chaotic immigration situation we have? wouldn't that be something? that's hardball for now. thanks for being with us. the ed show starts right now. >> good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" tonight from new york. republicans are waging a full-scale assault on mi

maybe nixon wanted to use the young democratic president to bring him back to public life the way a youngsident couldn't do it. i think of the hoover commission we re-organized to form the federal government. there was something human. nixon had two great daughters and didn't have a son. maybe bill clinton was the kind of political star he imagined having for a son and maybe bill clinton who had his own imperfections didn't see him as a holier than how to that is judgmental. i love to see how they get along, at least after the day-to-day politics are over with. wouldn't it be great if they can show the same humanity playing the political game? wouldn't it be good for the country to let their human side show, showing the human compromises to get to that of

nixon. julie is also a best-selling author, editor, and a recognized public speaker on such subjects as the presidency, women in polit politics, and life in the white house. she began her career as a writer for and then assistant managing editor of "the saturday evening post." julie eisenhower's books include "pat nixon, the untold story" as well as special people, and jew "julie eisenhower's cookbook for children." julie eisenhower has served on many special boards and has served as a special trustee for the nixon center and the eisen here medical center. after graduating from smith college she earned a master of arts from catholic university of america. when david's book "eisenhower at war" and julie's book "pat nixon the untold story" with published in 1986, it was the first time a husband and wife each had a book appearing simultaneously on "the new york times" nonfiction best sellers his. please join me in welcoming mark updegrove and david and julie eisenhower. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. >> well, julie and david, welcome. we are delighted to have you here tonight. i should say w

i'd always been in the public policy arena at one way or another. >> as you look back at richard nixon from all these years, how would you describe him politically? was he a conservative, a middle of the roader? >> i would describe him as a moderate conservative. but it depended on the circumstances and the situation. and a very far-seeing internationalist. he was much more conservative -- international relations than with domestic and he really had very large ambitions for reshaping the way the great powers dealt with one another and the way the world maintained or tried to maintain peace. >> what were the biggest speeches that you wrote for him? >> well, i guess i suppose the two inaugurals. i don't say wrote for. i would say wrote with. i know a lot of speech writers talk about writing for and even brag about sneaking in things without the president's knowledge. when i ran the writing staff, i saw it as one of my principal duties to make sure that did not happen, that what he said was what he wanted to say, the way he wanted to say it. and because i say i didn't write for as much as

nixon. it's very public. what all the''s reelection campaign is pointing out to the people of this country, people that are putting unless of -- millions of dollars into mitt romney's campaign, if you look at them, most are from the oil industry, many of them are lobbyists for the oil industry, and the oil industry feels threatened by the reelection of this president because he's protesting alternative fuels, he's gotten the amount of oil, we import down, these guys have a lot in common with saudi arabia, iran and others. they want to keep oil prices high. keep us hooked on it. megyn: you're fine with it. >> absolutely. not only am i not okay with t. i think this is transparency. mitt, where are you getting your money? it's from the oil industry and that's healthy, good, and lets people know how to vote in november. megyn: brad, there's an opinion piece in the "wall street journal" from kimberly strasen that talks about this and says presidents hold a unique trust unlike senators or congressmen, presidents al

was the star he imagined having for a son, and maybe bill clinton saw in nixon a guy that was not as judgmental as so many publicng is, i love to see they can get along after all of the games of day-to-day politics are over. wouldn't it be great if they could show the same humanity when they were playing the game. showing the country their human de

was the star he imagined having for a son, and maybe bill clinton saw in nixon a guy that was not as judgmental as so many publicng is, i love to see they can get along after all of the games of day-to-day politics are over. wouldn't it be great if they could show the same humanity when they were playing the game. showing the country their human side? get to the heart of the challenges facing our country like our growing debt and the chaotic immigration situation we have. wouldn't that be something? this is "hardball," and this has been "hardball," thanks for being with us, "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. >>> welcome to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton, tonight's lead, times are

nixon loved it. >>> hear more online at the c-span video library. with a quarter century of politics and public affairs, available on your computer anytime. > the center nor global development hosted a summit last week paper mong the speakers, former senator tim wirth and william riley, head of the environment protection agency under the first president bush. this is almost two hours. >>> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i'm nancy birdsall, a warm welcome to all of you. i'm the president of the center for global development. we're very pleased to have all of you here. i know that for many of you you're here because of rio plus 20. our point today. what can be done? this is a huge opportunity for the global community to worry over and put together some serious recommendations to deal with the poverty, energy, climate nexus. this is absolutely crucial for our center for global development, because we are concerned with the risk that greenhouse gas emissions pose for the development community, for the development project, for the great success of reducing poverty over many years, and at the sam

most important thing about a public man is not whether he is loved or disliked but whether he is respected and i hope to restore respect to the presidency. >> what richard nixon couldn't do for the presidency, mike wallace did for journalism. >> he could ruin a politician's career and bring the power of cbs to bear on any story. and by doing that, he could right wrongs and bring justice and an amazing power that he had and used it for good. >> he was in declining health in recent years and died at the age of 93. reporting live for abc 7 news. >> on tonight's "60 minutes" news, they said they will have a tribute for the newsman. he never shied away from controversy or asking the tough questions that the public wanted answers to. and shelly wrote, he set the bar high for all those who followed. may he rest in peace. if you would like to share your thoughts, go to our facebook page. >> and other news tonight, a man dressed as the easter bunny was arrested at a mall in danville. they arrested him on friday and charged him with illegally possessing prescription narcotics and he was reportedly in costume at the time. mall management noticed what they call suspiciou

public history. while we're waiting for the program in milwaukee to begin, some news. charles colson, the special counsel to president nixon indicted in the watergate cover up and can later founded 9 non-profit prison fellowship died today. in 2007 and 2008 he sat down for extended oral history interviews. in this excerpt he recalls the day that president nixon resigned and a three-hour meeting between the two men soon after charles colson got out of prison. >> where were you the day that nixon resigned? >> in prison. >> how did you feel? >> well, i was relieved that it was over. disappointed because i would have thought he would have taken his own troops with him if he was going to resign, pardon or commute the sentences, hopeful that probably jerry ford would do that. sad for nixon, personally. i really felt empathe ti c because i knew what an incredibly difficult thing it was for him to do to stand and look at people in shame and how hard that would be for a man that proud. >> did he ever talk to you about a pardon for you? >> nope. >> did you see him afterwards? >> oh, yeah. the first week i was home from prison i got

. >> "the washington post" had gone public credit that point. the nixon administration decided on the strategy of going after the tv licenses of the washington post to get the basic economic health of the company. this was a huge undertaking of courage on the part of the "washington post." >> the stock had just gone public and it was in the toilet. >> could i ask you to do something for me? you were 29 years old when this happened, he stayed in the news business and have got lots more experience. you are aware of the existing political climate and news climate. you have had a long, distinguished career since that moment. it's a beautiful day out there and markets has sent the entire staff home. the phone call has just come in that says there's a break in and your the only people on earth who can cover it. what do you do today? what is the first thing you are going to do today and what's the next thing? >> hopefully we would be smarter and more organized and quite frankly work harder and more focused on that. hyatmaybe it's not the sort of y like watergate