Nixon, Cox & Haig on Watergate scandal and POW dinner

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Hello?

General Hague's on the line.

Oh, well, just a moment, please.

Hello?

Oh, well...

I don't think the White House has ever had a greater evening, sir.

I just think it was outstanding.

Ziggard wouldn't see this, but my daughters did.

They said they've never seen the press so furious and frustrated.

You know what I did?

I went around table-hopped, and

shook hands with these people and so forth.

And my God, they were just blue beyond belief.

And how'd you like what they said when I said, by God, I was so proud of those guys that went in with those B-52s?

Well, I'll tell you, sir, I don't think the White House ever had a night like it had tonight.

You think you're doing the good?

These guys, of course, they know exactly what it was that did it.

Everyone I talked to said that that September bombing is what got them home.

Yeah.

Every one of them.

And, of course, having seen this afternoon's demonstration, my God, the press is just—they're reeling.

They're reeling from it.

Yeah.

What's Henry doing, Mody?

He was very moved.

I walked back with him from the thing, and he said he's never been so moved in his life.

He said these are the greatest people.

And, you know, he wants to fight.

He said, boy, I'll tell you, the time has come to take all of these monkeys on.

He's in very good fettle, sir.

I think he saw something tonight.

He doesn't know, though, if I take him on to fight to the death and he'll probably kill me.

But by God, if I do, I'm going to kick their ass around the block.

I really am.

Because we cannot allow this crap about Watergate and trying to cover up the rest destroy the greatest foreign policy this country's ever had.

And good God,

wasn't Jimmy Stewart nice and old John Wayne, you know.

He says, just thank you, boss, for—just not for something, but for everything.

I'll tell you, I'm so proud tonight.

It made everything—all the fighting that we've done—worthwhile to see what it's accomplished.

And by God, sir, it makes you want to just stand up and

as we're doing, and we're going to wipe them out.

Well, all this crap, you know, good God, you know, what they're really trying to do is tell Patricia and Julie is that I can now see it so clear.

The Democrats basically are just trying to destroy the president because they realize that that'll destroy the Republican Party, and they don't give a damn about what happens in the world.

You know, the thing about my speech today—

which Henry wouldn't understand because he thinks in more sophisticated ways.

But I was really saying, look, fellas, we got where we are by being strong and respected.

And now there's a chance, the greatest chance in the world to go forth and do more.

Now goddamn it, let's do it.

That's what the goddamn New York Times and the Washington Post ought to be writing.

Exactly.

Yeah.

They never will, but it doesn't make any difference because they're not with the country and the country's not with them.

You saw the country out there tonight with those fine young men.

Well, I'm not sure.

They're a part of the country that are grateful to me to bring them back.

Well, it's a special part.

You should have seen the women.

Of course, I'd met all the men.

My God, you know, I'd table hop because I wanted to be sure the people didn't feel that they were out.

My God, Negro girls and others, good God, they threw their arms around me, kissed me, had pictures taken.

It was the damnedest thing I ever saw.

I think it's the greatest night the White House ever had.

I really do.

They tell me, though, that the press girls, you know, the

Helen Thomas, they said, was utterly furious.

So what do you do about that?

I'm not so sure.

I think that they were just right down to their knees where they belonged to be.

They just can't cope with it.

What they saw there was real truth.

Coming right down to it.

When you look at it, you know, and all this crap we're taking and the Congress being Democratic and the Republicans being weak and all the rest, wouldn't it really be better for the country, you know, to just check out?

Uh-huh.

No, no, seriously.

I don't—I mean that.

And because I—you see, I'm not at my best.

I've got to be at my best, and that means fighting this damn battle.

fighting it all out.

And I can't fight the damn battle, you know, with the people running in with their little tidbits and their rumors and all that crap, and that the president, you know, make a deal to, you know, to pay off this one and that and the other thing.

Huh?

I'll tell you, sir, if you ever even conceived of leaving

I think what it would have done to those people we were with tonight.

Yeah, but they are such a small group.

No, sir, they're not.

Not at all.

I saw two groups.

One at noon today, last night.

And I tell you, it's just not so.

They're all with us.

And they're with you.

It would be the greatest shock this country ever had.

My God, look, you just put out that paper that the stock market's soaring.

Did the stock market go up?

Twenty-nine points today, sir.

Oh, what was that?

Oh, the balance of payments?

No.

The Wall Street people think it was a combination of your statement, which renewed confidence, the balance of payments, and the

It's a lousy show yesterday on television which proved that these bastards don't even know what they're talking about.

Well, Al, we've got to take a hard look at it because I'm—you see, the thing is, what really counts is the man.

And goddammit, the man's got to be doing the job, and I'm not really doing the job because I'm so wound up in this son-of-a-bitching thing, you know.

know, people at Bazaar comes in with this scare story and this one and that and the other one and so forth.

And, you know, you got Dean out there, you know, ready to scream about this and that.

Well, we'll have that, sir, but we're— Richardson is sort of a weak breed.

Yeah, but he can come along.

I spent about an hour and a half with him today.

He's at the work and he's doing it and

proud as hell he got through.

I think the cabinet has never been in better shape.

I was worried about Rogers Morton because of that fellow shooting himself today.

I called him a nice hell.

Would you say what fellow?

The fellow who took his seat, you know.

Yeah.

Committed suicide.

Committed suicide?

Yeah.

Who did?

What could

Why did he commit suicide?

Oh, he had a problem right on the way.

He's in good shape.

There isn't anybody that isn't ready to go and isn't going.

We've got to do a little work in the house now, but we have to do the other things first.

You see, we don't have the big guns fighting, though.

Scott did a superb job.

He really did.

Aaron, who I saw tonight, told me that the Republican Congress, who he saw this week, he said they'd never been hired.

That business last night, he said those men left there, they were so proud.

that I would like you to do with Henry, you know, because Henry is under great pressures with all these jackasses.

You've got to see that he doesn't come in emoting about this and that because Henry is not capable of making this kind of decision.

Well, I tell you, sir, he's ready to go out there on Tuesday.

I thought we were going to have a problem there.

He said, hell, I'll go out and preach.

I'd love to get a question on the wiretap and the national security.

You'll take it on.

Well, you should take the line, that line that Henry ought to really read and assimilate that damn speech I made this afternoon.

Because that was a goddamn effective speech.

That's the finest speech I've heard.

But how did we get it around?

The press, they all said, oh, I'm the son of a bitch's defensive unison.

It played beautifully on the television.

You think so?

Oh, boy.

Everybody has been raving about it.

And the line on Ellsberg, by God, you drew the line.

The hell with it.

That needed to be said.

I think you had a great magnetic advantage there, I really do.

I just think, uh...

If only you'd had a little earlier so it could have been on television, but...

I mean, you see, uh, he's worked his ass off and the television won't run it because they said they couldn't because they had too much Ellsberg stuff.

Yeah.

Well, that's... That awful?

That's one of the greatest shows, I think.

I've seen.

There was such talent there.

Talent.

You must say that, my God, wasn't that Flynn great?

And Jimmy Stewart and the rest, and Dick DeMone, they were all, you know, they spoke from the heart.

They all did.

That's right.

Well, the White House has never seen a party like this, believe me.

Never?

Never.

But I tell you, those men, those women, you know, posting the women was a good thing, because one of the guys asked me to do that, and I thought it was good.

I thought you handled it.

We stuck it through with that December bombing, in a way, too, didn't you?

Huh?

I thought you stuck it through, but you handled yourself so well, Mr. President.

You know, everyone felt, God, there was a warmth for you.

And I don't know whether you felt it or not, but you certainly felt it.

And I've never just—that was just a great death to me.

All the way through the Sabbath, the speech, the reception.

Men just raved about Mrs. Nixon.

the women did, raved about the afternoon, your speech, and then to come into that White House affair and be treated like that, to have that spirit of patriotism, just really, just moving with patriotism.

Well, you know, one thing you've got to figure, though,

You've got to say, let's assume that none of it's true, but all this crap's going to fly and this son-of-a-bitch Cox and the rest will try to, I mean, they're all saying they're going to try the president and all that horse shit.

It's going to be rough.

I'm not so sure.

It'll be rough for a while, but I think we've turned the corner.

I think we've passed our low point.

I think it's going to go up.

get better each day.

We'll get a few jokes, but we've got momentum behind us.

Well, we may have to do something that Ron, of course, is not too keen on, and that is to take on—believe me, we may have to take the press on, because basically the press is going so far here.

Henry told me he took one on today that

time magazine guy, Schechter, he said he's into these second-pattern, god-damned, front-beating whales.

Who said that?

Henry said it, or Schechter?

Henry said it to Schechter.

But you see, now the Schechters and all the rest are desperately wanting us to win, to lose.

That's our problem.

They want us to lose, but you know why, sir?

It's a hell of a lot deeper than...

than Watergate, or the Republican Party, or you.

It goes even beyond that.

They don't want the country.

They don't want the right principles to survive in this country.

You have to understand that, and it's just too much water.

It's not all that way.

Is your wife there?

Yes, sir.

What'd she think?

God, she's coming at it better.

She's just as proud as punch.

You know, I went around and table hopped deliberately so that people didn't feel that we were, you know, just talking to the big shots.

It was, I must say, the most emotional damn thing.

All those tore me apart.

these kids and their wives and so forth, they're all crying and kissing and ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.

But they're just so few, so few.

I'm not sure of that, sir.

I really don't believe it.

I think the trouble is that we've got this sick Washington environment, and it's not the rest of the country.

My family came down here from New

Last night they said, my God, the people are always present.

It's just not the way it was right here or in the New York Times.

Well, we'll talk about the plane.

We'll see.

Fine.

But we've got to take a hard look, you know, because basically they're two big stakes.

I mean, good God, we—

We cannot allow the Russian summit to fail.

We cannot allow, you know, these great things that we're doing to go down the tube simply because of the fact that people lose confidence in the president now.

Well, there's no loss of confidence in the president.

I just don't believe that at all.

In fact, I know it's not so.

And I think what you did this week is...

Yeah, but you see we've got so many weak people in our cabinet.

You see you've got

I don't remember that he ever did otherwise.

He's got certain strong points, but one is not his backbone.

But we're going to fight.

I don't know.

The rest of them, I haven't seen any signs.

We've got one guy in transportation.

The rest of them are just solid as a rock.

Oh, he's just first class.

He's solid.

See, Richardson's in the spot where, as you know, he's going to have to prove that he's the white knight and all that bull.

And so he's going to try to—he and Archie Cox will try to try the president, you know, all that crap.

How do you handle that?

I don't think there's any boys on that.

Well, what if he came by that?

He's going to have to keep that guy under control, that Cox.

But Cox is, he's not much.

You don't think so?

No.

I've checked on him.

He's not an effective guy.

In fact, I'm not sure those things will ever even come to trial if they circle.

Well, it was stuff they were going to throw.

You know, it was rough.

It was going to be rough.

We didn't have an easy first four years, but look what we've done.

It was uphill every inch of the way.

Well, okay, bye.

You go down to Florida tomorrow and get a little rest.

I'm going to take the family down.

I think it's best for them to go with me.

Well, I want them to go because it's a good—I just think it's important to show that everybody's fighting together.

You see, the real problem, though, is me because the goddamn thing has gotten to me, you see.

because of the personal factors.

And you get to the point, you know, that, well, if you can't do the goddamn job, you better put somebody in there that can.

There's no one that can.

No one can do it.

Well, Agnew's just patting to get at it.

Well, sir.

Huh?

He might be, but that's out of the question.

There's just no alternative.

There couldn't be.

I think just the very act of not doing what you're doing would tear the country apart.

Why?

I think that just the very fact that you didn't stay would tear the country apart.

There's just no way.

But put yourself in the position of the other side.

They control the Congress, they control the committees, and they're going to try to do everything to get the presidents to testify, to turn over newspapers and all that.

How do you answer that?

I don't think they can do it.

And I think there are too many important things.

We're going into a period now with the Iceland and the Soviet summit, the Vietnam problem,

That's just how the thing is going to slip out of most people's consciousness.

No, they've dug up all they can dig.

They've done all they can.

Oh, they've got more.

You know what I mean?

They've got all they've got.

Dean, he's going to have to come out to save his ass.

But I think he said most of it he has to say.

I really do believe that.

It doesn't make any difference.

What the heck?

What do you think of the press then?

They were sitting around there.

People told me, except for Betty Beale, that they've never seen them so unhappy.

at this event, you know, grinding their teeth and, oh, shit, all that.

Well, that just means that it was a very good evening.

They're never happy unless something's wrong.

Well, Betty Beale is a great person.

Come back?

Pardon, sir?

Well, in any event, I don't know.

We'll have to take a hard look.

Hard look.

No, we've done that, sir.

We're past that point.

We're going ahead.

We're going to win this thing.

Well, too bad the POWs aren't the country.

I think they are the country, Mr. President.

They are the country.

We've had people from every walk of life there.

Some that could barely speak English, blacks, just

And I was most proud of the enlisted men.

What?

The enlisted men were great.

Oh, I know they were.

Blacks and Puerto Ricans and Mexicans.

That fellow Flynn did a good job, didn't he?

Oh, he's a superb fellow.

Boy, he's a man of iron.

Well, anyway, we'll see.

But you see, you're going to have to see.

Because we've got to—the troops have either got to fight or they've got to—or we've got to make a very command decision, Tom, Chuck, the whole thing.

They're going to fight.

We're going to fight.

That I can assure you.

The cabinet's already fighting.

They're—they're doing well.

They crawl at night and they're getting what they want.

They—they have a sense of pride.

I tell you, I'm just convinced that the—

We're not having any problem with the fight.

Well, we shall see.

See you tomorrow in the bow.

Thank God we don't have the damn gap that's 11, do we?

No, you can cut it to 11.

You're going to need it after today.

It's a great strain.

You know, I table hopped.

I went over.

Did you notice that?

Yes, sir, I did.

I went in just to be sure they all felt they were part of the team.

I've never seen people like the way these young people came out of there.

Their eyes were so bright.

They were just great.

And it was you.

You did it.

You started with that speech today.

That speech will get about two lines tomorrow in the Washington Post.

Well, I wouldn't be surprised, but it got on television, and it got on at its best point.

And you were just superb at it on television.

Better than Norfolk, huh?

Yes.

And Norfolk was outstanding.

But, you know, tonight was there.

The television, the applause coming through.

And you're moving around.

You were a little more dynamic tonight than this afternoon.

Just really, I don't know.

Okay.

Good, Mr. President.

Nixon, Cox & Haig on Watergate scandal and POW dinner

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Also recorded on May 25, 1973

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