Transition of Power: The Presidency Page #2

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that were going on,

or even the kind

of war planning

that had been happening

inside the White House.

He had no idea

that the United States

had been developing

an atomic bomb.

LICHTMAN:

Which left Truman

with maybe one of the most

monumental decisions

a president ever had to make--

was he going to use the bomb

to try to force

the Japanese to surrender?

NARRATOR:
Truman's decision

to drop the atomic bomb

comes just four months

into his presidency.

In two strategic attacks,

the most destructive weapon

ever unleashed annihilates

two cities

and kills more than

200,000 people.

DOYLE:

Because Franklin Roosevelt

had neglected to brief him

on the most important issue

facing the presidency

at that time,

Truman had to learn

on the job,

and Truman knew

how dangerous that was,

so going forward he said,

"I'm gonna make darn sure

that all my successors have

"knowledge of what's going on

before they're elected

president."

NARRATOR:
Seven years later,

Truman takes action

to ensure that

future presidents

are more prepared

to take office.

DOYLE:

Truman had the idea:

let's have

the Democratic candidate,

Adlai Stevenson,

and the Republican candidate,

Dwight Eisenhower,

receive intelligence briefings

many weeks ahead

of the election.

Intelligence briefings

are now tradition,

and it's a very good one.

NARRATOR:

Candidates who receive

these classified

intelligence briefings

are required

to keep them private

as a matter

of national security.

But what if a candidate

exploits the nation's secrets

for political gain?

DOYLE:
At virtually the last

minute of the 1968 campaign,

something happened

that was so bizarre

and so shocking that the

details of it remained secret

for the next 50 years.

NARRATOR:

In the late 1960s,

America is once again at war.

The conflict in Vietnam

is tearing the country apart

and is the leading issue

in the 1968 election.

We shall begin with Vietnam.

Never has so much military power

been used so ineffectively.

UPDEGROVE:
Outgoing president

Lyndon Johnson

opted to brief all of the viable

presidential candidates:

Hubert Humphrey,

his vice president--

the Democratic candidate--

Richard Nixon,

the Republican candidate,

and George Wallace,

the Independent candidate.

And he briefed them

on what was happening

in the war in Vietnam.

NARRATOR:
In that briefing,

President Johnson reveals

a bombshell.

His administration is

in secret talks to end the war.

After years

of careful persuasion,

top diplomats are

nearing an agreement

to bring both North

and South Vietnam

to the negotiating table.

If Johnson successfully

negotiates peace,

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