Our Nixon
-Where to begin?
Um, we've waited a long time
to chat with Bob Haldeman.
And now we have the opportunity,
and, uh, the
question is where to start.
Here you were, you worked four
years in Washington as Nixon's
number two man--
Nixon's SOB, as you
called yourself.
Dick Nixon never went to Key
Biscayne without you.
He never went anywhere
without you.
-Pretty close to right.
-What you're accusing yourself
That's hardly the mea culpa
that the American public
thinks it's entitled to.
That's the issue.
-Well, maybe the American
public's wrong.
I know in my own heart, and I
know in my own head, precisely
what I did.
I know precisely why I did it.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: OK.
-And I know that I made
some mistakes.
I deeply regret those
mistakes.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: As
Richard Nixon's right-hand
man, he was the one most often
recorded on the tapes, and
they destroyed him.
-I had the rare privilege for
White House staff under one of
America's greatest presidents.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:
Former White House
chief-of-staff HR Haldeman found
guilty today on five
counts in the Watergate
cover-up trial.
-Do you regret what happened,
and what you did?
-Oh, sure.
The country lost motion.
Uh, a lot of the good things we
were working on in the way
of domestic reforms, uh,
were lost in the mess.
Uh, you can't help but regret,
uh, an aftermath of that kind.
A lot of good people had their
lives spoiled in the process.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: John
Ehrlichman has finished his
statements.
He was then returned to
the holding room.
Rather a strange phrase, Nelson,
the holding room.
Give's you an ide-- idea that
a bacterium or something.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Former
White House domestic
affairs adviser, John
Ehrlichman, four counts--
guilty.
-Uh, the references to like an
era of criminality, or like
people there were trying
to rape the
country of its democracy.
I mean, I just don't
see it that way.
-Chapin was linked in several
reports to the Watergate case,
alleged sabotage of
the Democratic
presidential campaign.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Chapin
today was found guilty
of lying to the Watergate
grand jury.
-I don't think you can take that
little piece of history,
which may have been the darkest
days of Richard
Nixon's career, and construct
from that a mosaic that tells
you all about that man.
[film projector noise]
[crowds cheering]
[MUSIC - TRACY ULLMAN,
"THEY DON'T KNOW"]
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]: You,
Richard Milhous Nixon, do
solemnly swear--
-I, Richard Milhous Nixon,
do solemnly swear--
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]: --that
you'll faithfully
execute the office--
RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--that I will faithfully
execute the office--
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--of President
of the United States--
RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--of President
of the United States--
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--and will, to the
best of your ability--
RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--and will, to
the best of my ability--
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--preserve
protect, and defend--
RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--preserve,
protect, and defend--
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
--the Constitution
of the United States.
RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
--the Constitution of the
United States.
EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:
So help you, God.
RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:
So help me, God.
[applause]
[music - "hail to the chief"]
-The new president was in his
office here at the White House
at 7:
30 this morning, beforeanyone else on his staff, and
after only about four
hours sleep.
He's felt for sometime that he
could do this job pretty well,
and he was eager to get at it.
-President-elect Nixon today
named another long time aide,
HR Haldeman, to be a White
House assistant.
-Haldeman, a Los Angeles
advertising executive, served
as chief-of-staff for
the Nixon campaign.
DAN RATHER [OFFSCREEN]: Haldeman
is the closest thing
to an alter ego the president
has, noted for his
conservative views, his crewcut,
and his nonstop home
movie taking.
HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: It was
just an extremely exciting
time for all of us.
It was terribly hard work,
and very, very
long difficult hours.
But it was exciting because you
were building something.
There was no great ideological
thrust or, uh, noble ambition
involved in this, and no thought
at all of, of, uh,
becoming permanently involved
in either politics or
government.
It was, it was a thing where
I felt it would be an
interesting side experience,
where I could make a
contribution, and that something
would be a learning
experience, and an interesting
experience for me.
So that's, that's
why I did it.
evolves, I think you'll find
will be smaller than it's
been in the past.
I know you'll find it'll be
probably the youngest one in
history-- certainly one
of the youngest.
MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Also
named as a special assistant
was another ad man, 27-year-old
Dwight Chapin, who
served as Mr. Nixon's
personal aide.
DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]: You
got to keep in mind I was 27
years old at that point.
And we'd just gone through this
campaign, and I was just
waiting to see what unfolded.
The day that I went in and
interviewed for the job, and I
met this young 34-year-old
crewcut guy by
the name of Bob Haldeman.
And Bob Haldeman changed
my life.
I've never laughed as much as
when I worked in the Nixon
White House.
the leveling factor.
Things which'd--
messes we would find ourselves
-I think a lot of the younger
staff people here find that he
can far excel, uh, them in terms
of energy and stamina.
HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I
took a camera on all my
trips-- a super 8--
and I have quite a collection
of film.
-John Ehrlichman, a 43-year-old
Seattle lawyer,
who directed Nixon's campaign
tour, will have a broad
advisory role in the Nixon
administration.
will be seen as
basically a time of reform.
-Ehrlichman is the president's
chief aide for domestic
affairs, understudy of Haldeman,
whom he has known
since college.
JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I
was not a passionate Nixon
person, uh, going in.
Probably if, if some college
friend had invited me to go
and dance for John Kennedy,
I might have gone.
There were very few illusions
about Richard Nixon, I think,
among the senior staff--
particularly
as we got into things.
Uh, a good deal of kind of
wry humor about his, uh,
mannerisms, and his foibles,
and his prejudices.
Nevertheless, you're, you work
for the President of the
United States.
He's the only president
around.
Uh, you all elected him.
Uh, we all work for him, and
it's up to us to make it work.
HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]:
It was a very
unnatural kind of life.
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"Our Nixon" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/our_nixon_15414>.
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