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00:00It all started in the early morning hours of June 17th, when on the sixth floor of the
00:22building behind me, five men with electronic gear were caught in the offices of the Democratic
00:28National Committee. The building is called the Watergate. Arrested at gunpoint, the five
00:35suspects had with them bugs and microphones. Just who wanted to listen in to the chit-chat
00:43at the Democratic National Committee remains a mystery. Richard Nixon, a man America needs
00:50now more than ever. The shadowy trail of the Watergate paper veered closer to the White
01:01House today. The Washington Post said the Watergate break-in was no isolated event,
01:09but part of a broader effort to spy on Democrats and sabotage their presidential campaign.
01:16No reporter from the Washington Post should ever be in the White House again. You understand?
01:24The White House denied, and continues to deny, involvement in any wrongdoing.
01:30There are few signs that Watergate is stirring any concern in the electorate.
01:36Does a thing like the Watergate affair give you any second thoughts? No, no, it doesn't bother me at all.
01:43He's the most qualified man for the job. I'm going to vote for Nixon.
01:49This is your vote, and years from now, I just hope you can all look back and say
01:57it was one of your best votes. Thank you.
02:06President Nixon will be re-elected in a landslide.
02:12I, Richard Nixon, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the
02:42United States. So help me God. So help me God. And President Nixon has taken the oath of office for his second term.
02:55Well, it's turned out to be a rather cold, blustery day here in Washington.
02:59The wind chill factor is pretty low, coming in from the north as that wind is.
03:04Here comes the president's car.
03:09The president being preceded by a fife and drum corps.
03:15All the bandsmen in their colonial uniforms.
03:19If the weather were just a bit warmer, I suppose this would be a somewhat more
03:23festive occasion. Perhaps it's been the weather, but the crowds have been very, very light,
03:32somewhat sparse. Not the kind of crowd that one would have hoped for on a day like today.
03:39Here is a president who has just received the greatest popular election victory in the history
03:43of the country. This is his great moment, his great day. Must indicate, I suppose,
03:51what Vietnam has done to us.
03:54Good evening. President Nixon is about to address the nation on the status of the peace negotiations
03:59on Vietnam. That is the phrase the White House used when it announced the president's intention
04:05to speak. Now, here is the president. We're rolling, gentlemen.
04:11All right. Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time to
04:19Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of
04:25announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with
04:31honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia. The ceasefire will take effect at 2400 Greenwich
04:40Mean Time, January 27, 1973. Within 60 days, all American forces will be withdrawn from South
04:51Vietnam. It's over now. We're going to be reunited again. President Nixon said we
05:00got out of it with honor, and I'm happy with that.
05:31If everybody against you, then you've really done it.
05:38We bombed them back to the table, and they sunk. That's right. These damn liberals
05:46make me so mad. The fact is, Mr. President, this is a greater achievement than you thought
05:52possible.
06:08Seven men went on trial today, charged with the break-in and burglary of Democratic National
06:14Headquarters in the Watergate Building last June. Far more is involved here than the guilt or
06:19innocence of the seven defendants. If they are guilty, why did they do it? And who put them up to it?
06:35Evening, the jury in the Watergate case reached a quick verdict late today.
06:41Guilty on all counts in the break-in and bugging of Democratic National Committee Headquarters.
06:49This was supposed to be the finale for the seven Watergate defendants, the day of sentencing.
06:58But instead, the case broke wide open again. James W. McCord, the one-time security director
07:05for the Nixon re-election campaign, one of the men convicted in the Watergate affair,
07:10has apparently decided to tell what he knows about Watergate. Is your client doing this in hopes of
07:16getting a lighter sentence, or precisely why? I've advised Mr. McCord to be guided solely by
07:22his own conscience and convictions. He'll do just that. McCord says that the trial was marked by
07:28political pressure, by perjury, and that people not on trial were involved.
07:46There's no doubt about the seriousness of the problem we've got.
07:51There's the problem of the continued blackmail.
07:58It'll cost money. You can catch $80, and you can get it in cash. I don't worry if you got it.
08:08You know, there's always the possibility of any one of these individuals blowing.
08:23And McCord is not accepting any money, so he's not a bought man right now.
08:31He's playing hardball. He wouldn't play hardball unless he were pretty confident that he couldn't
08:35cause a lot of grief.
08:50Today, James McCord Jr., headed for his appointment at the Capitol,
08:55now ready to testify against his co-conspirators
08:58and those who hired him in the politically explosive Watergate conspiracy.
09:05The Los Angeles Times reported today McCord implicated two Nixon aides,
09:13and White House Counsel John Dean had prior knowledge of the break-in.
09:21It's hard to put events of this magnitude in perspective.
09:24Nevertheless, the scandal has now moved right to the doorway of the Oval Office in the White House.
09:35The President has asked me to announce that he is today receiving...
09:52Sorry. The President has today requested and accepted the resignation of John Dean
09:59from his position of the White House Counsel. Okay.
10:05Good evening. In recent months, members of my administration and officials of the
10:21Committee for the Re-election of the President, including some of my closest friends and most
10:27trusted aides, have been charged with involvement in what has come to be known as the Watergate
10:33Affair. In any organization, the man at the top must bear the responsibility.
10:43That responsibility, therefore, belongs here, in this office. I accept it.
10:53And I pledge to you tonight, from this office, that I will do everything in my power to ensure
10:59that the guilty are brought to justice and that such abuses are purged from our political processes
11:06in the years to come, long after I have left this office.
11:16I don't think that he has anything to do with it. I really don't.
11:21Well, I don't blame the President. I think his associates fooled him quite a bit.
11:27Many more things are bothering America than Watergate,
11:31like the high price of meat, you know, and the high cost of living.
11:36As of now, we do not know many of the details of the Watergate story.
11:41Perhaps the answers will come in the Senate hearings which start this week,
11:45with witnesses telling what they know, under oath, before the public.
11:59Good morning. This is the Senate caucus room in Washington, D.C.
12:04As the Senate opens what is likely to become the most serious investigation it has ever made,
12:10investigation of the American political system and the presidency itself.
12:18The questions that have been raised in the wake of the June 17th break-in
12:21strike at the very undergirding of our democracy.
12:25My colleagues on the committee and I are determined to uncover all the relevant
12:28facts surrounding these matters. The nation and history itself are watching us.
12:34We cannot fail our mission.
12:36These, of course, are days where there's no shortage of controversy with the Watergate
12:39committee on Capitol Hill. But for a few hours tonight,
12:43attention will be shifted away from those problems here at the White House.
12:50It isn't that we're trying to keep anything from the American people that the American people
12:54should know. But had we not had secrecy, you men would still be in annoy rather than Washington
13:04today.
13:35That's what the goddamn New York Times and the Washington Post ought to be writing.
13:41I'm going to kick their ass around the block.
13:50All this crap we're taking, this crap about Watergate.
13:55I'm so wound up in this son-of-a-bitching thing, you know.
13:59Dean out there, you know, ready to scream about this and that and all that harsh shit.
14:07It's going to be rough.
14:12Good morning. Although this is not ABC's scheduled day to provide live continuous coverage,
14:18we are going on now with the hearings because the witness will be John Dean.
14:23You see him here with his wife at his right.
14:26The committee will come to halt.
14:28Yes, Mr. Dean, could you please take the microphone and put it closer to you so we can all hear?
14:34Certainly. The Watergate matter was an inevitable outgrowth of a climate of excessive concern over
14:41leaks, an insatiable appetite for political intelligence, all coupled with a do-it-yourself
14:49White House staff, regardless of the law. These elements culminated with the creation
14:57of a covert intelligence operation as part of the president's re-election committee.
15:03I shall now turn to the meetings I had with the president in February and March of this year
15:09of Watergate matters specifically. I told the president about the fact that there were money
15:16demands being made by the seven convicted defendants. He asked me how much it would cost.
15:22I told him that it might be as high as a million dollars or more. He told me that that was no
15:28problem. I concluded by saying that this is going to take continued perjury and continued support
15:36of these individuals to perpetuate the cover-up, and I did not believe it was possible to so
15:41continue it. I told him that there was a cancer growing on the presidency,
15:48and if the cancer was not removed, the president himself would be killed by it,
15:53and he said that it would be handled properly.
15:58Now it is on the public record, John Dean's damning if largely unsubstantiated testimony,
16:04that the president knowingly participated in the Watergate cover-up.
16:09Nothing less than Richard Nixon's presidency may ride on whether the public believes John Dean or
16:14not. Today, John Dean ended five days of testimony still insisting that the president knew of the
16:29Watergate cover-up last year. Not in this century has anyone made such accusations under oath
16:36against a president. The White House is seeking protection from the Dean testimony behind a wall
16:44of silence. The president's spokesman would not reply except with no comment to any of the charges.
16:53You know, there has been talk about your father's being a very, a great deal of talk, being very
16:57secluded, that when he is faced with a problem like some of the Watergate developments, that
17:02there is this wall. Well, I think that there's been a lot of secondhand, you know, hearsay,
17:12and it's been printed as if it's fact, and he hasn't done any wrong. You know, I feel almost
17:17uncomfortable asking you these questions, and yet one must at this time. How is your father,
17:23Mrs. Eisenhower? Some people have said that he's aged 10 to 15 years. I haven't seen a dramatic
17:31change, but I think he, you know, he gets more gray hairs every day, that's for sure.
17:41President Nixon is resting tonight at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.
17:47My appraisal of President Nixon is that he has a very severe illness
17:53with pneumonia and has the kind of illness that ought to be treated in the hospital.
17:58Asked if the recent stress of his office may have contributed to the illness,
18:02the doctor responded, maybe yes, maybe no.
18:19Programs regularly scheduled for this time will not be seen today in order that we might bring
18:24you the following special report. Watergate Senate hearings.
18:38State your name. My name is Alexander Porter Butterfield.
18:45What were your duties at the White House, Mr. Butterfield?
18:48Uh, I was responsible for
18:53the management and ultimate supervision of the Office of Special Files.
19:01Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any devices,
19:07listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?
19:10I was aware of listening devices. Yes, sir.
19:19On whose authority were they installed, Mr. Butterfield?
19:23On the President's authority for posterity.
19:26All right. Mr. Butterfield, as far as you know, from your own personal knowledge,
19:31all of the President's conversations and meetings with the President have been
19:36recorded, as far as you know. That's correct.
19:44Mr. Butterfield, if one were to reconstruct the conversations,
19:49what would be the best way to reconstruct those conversations?
19:53Well, in the obvious manner, Mr. Dash, to obtain the tape and play it.
20:02Thank you very much, sir. A startling development.
20:06Certainly critical in regard to Dean's testimony and,
20:11in essence, the case against the President of the United States.
20:17Ron, can you tell us how the President was informed about Mr. Butterfield's testimony
20:23and what his reaction to it was?
20:26Oh, well, he was informed by members of the staff when we were informed about it.
20:32I won't give you his reaction to it.
20:34Ron, how is the President going to release the tapes?
20:38Gentlemen, I understand your interest in this subject, but this is not the time.
20:44Questions on another subject, I'll take those if not...
20:47Tell us this, whether these tapes are considered presidential documents.
20:51I've already told you that I'm not prepared to talk about this beyond this.
20:57Can you assure us that the tapes are safe?
21:01Where are they physically?
21:03I thought I had been quite clear earlier
21:05when I said that I have nothing further to say on this particular matter at this point.
21:10At some point, are you ever going to be able to talk about it?
21:14Well, we haven't determined that yet.
21:33Well, thank you very much for your very warm welcome.
21:50I do want you to know that there is one bit of advice that I'm not going to take,
21:56and it will be of interest to our friends in the press.
22:03Some people thought that perhaps the burdens of the office and
22:07the rather rough assaults that this office gets from time to time brings on an illness.
22:16And that I might get so tired that I would consider either slowing down or
22:22even, some suggested, resigning.
22:27Well, now, just so we set that to rest,
22:30any suggestion that this president's ever going to slow down while he's president
22:37or is ever going to leave this office until he finishes the job he was elected to do,
22:43anyone who suggests that, that's just plain poppycock.
22:49Let others wallow in Watergate. We're going to do our job.
22:59It seems a lot longer, but it was only last week that the Senate Watergate Committee learned of
23:15the existence of tape recordings of President Nixon's conversations,
23:19including conversations bearing on Watergate.
23:22I would urge that the tapes be furnished for use in my investigation without restriction.
23:37The request is part of an investigation into serious criminal misconduct,
23:42the obstruction of justice. It therefore becomes my duty promptly to seek subpoenas.
23:48The tapes are material and important evidence pursuant to a conspiracy and as part of a cover-up.
24:05Good evening. The time has come for me to speak out about the charges made
24:11and to provide a perspective on the issue for the American people.
24:15I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in.
24:20I neither took part in nor knew about any of the subsequent cover-up activities.
24:28That was, and that is, the simple truth.
24:32Many have urged that in order to help prove the truth of what I have said,
24:37I should turn over to the special prosecutor recordings of conversation that I held in
24:43my office or on my telephone. However, these conversations are privileged
24:50and their disclosure cannot be compelled. I pledge to you tonight that those who would
24:58exploit Watergate in order to keep us from doing what we were elected to do will not succeed.
25:07This is Virginia Sherwood at a Ford Motor Company plant near Detroit.
25:10Factory workers here had their own reaction to the president's Watergate speech.
25:15Well, I thought the president, uh, was kind of evasive in some of the, uh, matters that he said.
25:22You want a real literal answer? Yes, sir.
25:24I thought it was a bunch of bananas. Well, I think he's wrong.
25:28What do you mean? Well, he should bring them tapes out and let the public see what's going on.
25:40The number for United Press International, please.
25:54This is Jim Doyle from Archibald Cox's office. I have a statement that I'm going to read as
26:00fast as you can take it. It's from Special Prosecutor Cox. You ready?
26:06The president is refusing to comply with the court decrees to turn over tapes, comma,
26:16and other documents. I shall bring this to the attention of the court, period.
26:36Ladies and gentlemen, uh, some things I feel very deeply about, uh, are at stake.
26:45There has been and is evidence of serious wrongdoing on the part of the president of
26:54the United States, uh, wrongdoing involving, uh, an effort to cover up other wrongdoing.
27:02The show will not be seen tonight, so that we may bring you the following special report.
27:12President Nixon has discharged Watergate Special Prosecutor, uh, Archibald Cox.
27:18Are they seizing files? I can make no further comment now,
27:34other than that our offices have been sealed by the FBI. This is nuts.
27:38Good evening. The president has abolished Special Watergate Prosecutor Cox's office and duties.
27:45In my career as a correspondent, I never thought I'd be announcing these things.
27:51Because of the president's action, the attorney general has resigned.
27:55At the same time, the deputy attorney general has been fired.
28:02All of this adds up to a totally unprecedented situation, a grave and profound crisis in which
28:09the president has set himself against his own attorney general and the Department of Justice.
28:15Is everybody ready? Mr. Cox's, uh, comment when he was about to be fired was
28:25whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men
28:30is now for Congress and ultimately the American people.
28:53In firing the special prosecutor and abolishing his entire office,
28:58Mr. Nixon has made it abundantly clear that he does not intend to obey the law of the land.
29:05The people are beginning to respond. The anger and outrage reflected in these telegrams,
29:11all of them demanding that the Congress act and impeach the president.
29:21Good evening. The president agreed to do just what he had always said he would not do.
29:28Turn over certain tape recordings of his conversations about Watergate.
29:37I wonder if you could share with us your thoughts when you hear people say perhaps you should
29:44resign or be impeached. Well, I'm glad we don't take the vote of this room, they say.
29:49At the risk of reopening an obvious wound, what is it about television coverage of you
30:03that has so aroused your anger? Gentlemen of the press, one can only be angry with those he respects.
30:13As a matter of fact, I have never heard such outrageous,
30:17vicious reporting in 27 years of public life. But regardless of what people see and hear
30:26on television night after night, the tougher it gets, the cooler I get. I have what it takes.
30:35Interesting. Well, as you can see, the president has decided to end this news conference himself.
30:41Good evening. The matter of the president's White House tape recordings took an unexpected turn
30:47today. It is now said by the president's lawyer that two of the requested tape recordings do not
30:54exist. Do you think the public will believe this story? I don't know.
31:04Last night, I read a thing on the air about the tapes vanishing, and the audience thought it was
31:08a sick joke. Can't you hear the dialogue in the White House? Pat, now you know I put those tapes
31:14in that drawer. Just every day he does something that interests, it's sort of like a rat going
31:20around, you keep trying to kill it and he gets away. But I have to have my Watergate fixed
31:27every single morning in the paper? I get like this if I haven't got my Watergate fixed.
31:34Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.
31:41Mr. President, when did you discover that two of the subpoenaed White House tapes did not exist?
31:48Let me just respond if I could, sir, before going to your question. I'll turn left and
31:53then come back to the right. I don't want to tilt either way at the moment, as you can be sure.
31:57Well, today, another bomb exploded. More trouble about those subpoenaed tapes.
32:06An 18-minute segment of another of the subpoenaed Watergate tapes is missing.
32:11You can be sure that this kind of a subject is one that is a difficult one to explain.
32:19Technical experts report that the 18-minute gap was caused by erasing and re-recording.
32:24Impeach him now! Impeach Nixon now! Impeach Nixon now!
32:30Let me just say this, and I want to say this to the television audience,
32:34because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook.
32:40Nixon is a crook! Nixon is a crook! Nixon is a crook! Nixon is a crook! Nixon is a crook!
32:50Well, now, there's another battle for White House tapes.
32:54Today's subpoena is for 64 conversations covering more than 45 hours.
33:02The president and his lawyers pursue their hard line
33:07on not giving another inch on the Watergate scandal.
33:11It was like trench warfare, charge after charge over the top.
33:16President Nixon will fight the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
33:20Only a few yards gained and then lost.
33:25There wasn't going to be a miracle. We couldn't make one happen.
33:30History was made today as a unanimous Supreme Court told the president of the United States
33:37that he has no right to withhold White House tapes subpoenaed for the Watergate cover-up trial.
33:47The meeting will come to order. Make no mistake about it.
34:00This is a turning point, whatever we decide.
34:08Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The president has engaged in a series of actions designed to thwart
34:15the lawful investigation by government prosecutors. And I am not going to sit here
34:21and be an idle spectator to the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.
34:30Ladies and gentlemen, the law requires that we decide the case on the evidence.
34:37Nobody doubts that. On the evidence.
34:45There's not a word of presidential knowledge or awareness or involvement
34:53in obstruction of justice. Now, ladies and gentlemen,
34:57I do ask you to judge the proof, which is the law of this case. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
35:15On the investigation of the Democratic breaking thing, we're back at the top of our game against
35:31the FBI. Their investigation is now in these productive areas. All right, fine.
35:38Look, without going into detail, call the FBI instead. You've got to go any further in this case.
35:55With great reluctance and deep personal sorrow,
36:00I am prepared to support those portions of Article One of the Bill of Impeachment.
36:08The magnificent career of Richard Dixon must be terminated.
36:14Yes, well, it's so good to you to call so many times, sir, to make certain that the president will not resign.
36:35Although resignation appears certain, the staff assistant in charge of the phone bank said,
36:47we're refusing to believe it until we hear it with our own ears.
36:51Good morning. According to United Press International, President Nixon will go on the air
36:57to address the nation tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
37:01It's been a day of incredible suspense, but the hard fact is that no one really knows what's going on in the president's mind.
37:16It was a painful day. Tears were brimming in virtually everybody's eyes.
37:25But the essence of every great leader I have known is that he was a lonely man.
37:31He was a lonely man.
37:41Only the CBS crew now is to be in this room. Only the crew. That's it. You got it?
37:49All secret service, any secret service in the room?
37:53Out.
37:55Fifteen seconds to air, please.
37:57President Richard Milhouse Nixon.
38:01Good evening. This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office.
38:11Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere.
38:17I have never been a quitter.
38:21To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.
38:27But as president, I must put the interests of America first.
38:37Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
38:43I do so with this prayer. May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.
38:59This is the culminating act, the final act of his administration, of course.
39:07First president in American history to be forced to leave office before the end of his term.
39:15Mr. Nixon resigning effective at noon tomorrow.
39:25This is the south side of the White House where later this morning President Nixon and his family will be leaving.
39:35Mr. Nixon will make farewell remarks to members of the White House staff, personal friends, all of whom have gathered here this morning.
39:45Now the president, Mrs. Nixon, coming into the East Room.
39:51This will be the last time that we will do it as president of the United States.
39:59We think sometimes when things happen that don't go the right way.
40:09We think that when we lose an election, we think that when we suffer a defeat, that all is ended.
40:21Not true. It's only a beginning, always.
40:27And so I say to you on this occasion, never get discouraged, never be petty, always remember, others may hate you.
40:39But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them.
40:45And then you destroy yourself.
40:51We come to the end of the Nixon years, years which saw America's greatest political comeback turn into America's greatest political disgrace.
41:03For those who say, will you apologize? Are you sorry?
41:10There's no way that you could apologize which would exceed resigning the presidency of the United States.
41:22That said it all, and I don't intend to say any more.
41:31This will be viewed as a great watersheds of history.
41:36Sometimes these watersheds last for about a generation.
41:39Do you think that as the lessons of say Watergate are forgotten, we might have to go through something like this again?
42:06For more UN videos visit www.un.org