Ripped by McArty
NIXON ON TAPE: They'd better not push me on him,
or I'll just kick them in the teeth on it.
NIXON AIDE: Well, I think, if they...
NIXON:...Internal Revenue people that are kicking
Billy Graham around is Rosenberg.
He is to be out.
I don't give a goddamn what the story is.
He went on television.
I have not. I've already ordered Connally,
we're going after the Chandlers,
every one individually, collectively,
their income taxes are starting this week.
Every one of those sons of bitches.
NIXON: Well, this is something that we can really hang Teddy or...
MAN: Yeah.
NIXON:... or the Kennedy clan with.
I'm gonna want to put that in Colson's hands.
And we're gonna want to run with it.
NEWS REPORTER 1: A controversial day in politics.
A man arrested trying to bug the offices
of the Democratic National Committee in Washington
turns out to be an employee
of President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign committee.
He is one of five persons surprised and arrested yesterday
inside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee
in Washington.
And guess what else he is.
A consultant of President Richard Nixon's
re-election campaign committee.
NEWS REPORTER 2: The trial started today at the federal courthouse
for the five burglars caught breaking into
the Democratic National Party headquarters.
CAMERAMAN: Stand by for camera.
MUDD : John Dean, the ex-White House Counsel, testified today
that President Nixon knew about the Watergate cover-up.
DEAN: At one point in the conversation,
I recall the President telling me
to keep a good list of the press people giving us trouble
because we will make life difficult for them after the election.
NEWS REPORTER 3: Dean read through a 245-page statement
characterizing a president who was easily outraged
over war protesters and political adversaries,
and outlining a range of offenses,
including wiretapping of newsmen,
a Charles Colson plan to firebomb
and burglarize the Brookings Institution,
and spying on Senator Kennedy and other Democrats.
LAWYER: The misuse of power is the very essence of tyranny.
And consider, if you will,
the frightening implications of that for a free society.
NEWS REPORTER 4: The President today accepted the resignation of three of his closest aides.
Out is H.R. Haldeman, Chief of Staff.
Also quitting under fire is John Ehrlichman.
Ehrlichman was a key political advisor.
NEWS REPORTER 5: Good morning. The Supreme Court
has just ruled on the tapes controversy,
and here is Carl Stern, who has that ruling.
It is a unanimous decision, Doug, eight to zero.
Justice Rehnquist took no part in the decision
ordering the President of the United States to turn over the tapes.
(CROWD CHEERING)
It's an eight-to-zero unanimous opinion.
A White House aide told NBC News today
that impeachment of the President
by the full House of Representatives now is a virtual certainty.
These are, with no serious doubt,
the last hours of the 37th presidency of the United States.
This is indeed an historic day,
the only time a president has ever resigned from office
in our nearly 200 years of history.
You see the White House there, and in the White House,
in just a few moments now,
President Nixon will be appearing before the people,
perhaps for the last time as President of the United States.
WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR: 15 seconds, Mr. President.
Okay, that's five, four, three...
Good evening. This is the 37th time
I have spoken to you from this office
where so many decisions have been made
that have shaped the history of our nation.
I remember exactly where I was.
My father called. The phone rang, my father called and he said,
"Turn on the TV right now. Richard Nixon's going down."
I was at home with friends, and we were watching television at home.
We stayed up and, Iike everyone else, I'd been glued to
the Select and Judiciary Committee hearings night after night.
And then finally, it had come to this.
Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
But instead of the satisfaction I imagined I'd feel,
I just got angrier and angrier,
because there was no admission of guilt.
There was no apology.
Little did I know
that I would one day be part of the team
that would try and elicit that apology.
NIXON: To Ieave office before my term is completed
is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.
I have never been a quitter.
And that that team would be Ied
by the most unlikely of white knights,
a man with no political convictions whatsoever,
a man who, as far as I know, had never even voted once in his Iife.
But he was a man who had one big advantage over the rest of us.
He understood television.
(FROST OVER AUSTRALIA THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
ANNOUNCER: And now, the host of Frost Over Australia,
Mr. David Frost!
(CHUCKLES)
Thank you, thank you.
Hello. Good evening.
And with the eyes of the world focused on the White House,
here in Australia, burglars have broken into
a meat factory in Brisbane
and stolen a ton of pork sausages.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
The Queensland police are Iooking for men in a Iong, thin getaway car.
Now, my first guest tonight...
Well, we in the Nixon camp
really didn't know that much about David Frost,
other than he was a British talk show host
with something of a playboy reputation.
He'd had a talk show here in the US that had won some awards
but hadn't syndicated well and had been dropped by the network.
He ended up taking it down to Australia,
which is, I believe, where he was when the President resigned.
FROST: Next week's guest will be Evonne Goolagong.
We'II see you then. God bless.
Great show, David. Thanks, Noah.
NOAH: Come and Iook at this.
Nixon Ieaving the White House.
NEWS REPORTER: A dark day for Richard Nixon, who has drawn crowds
to the vast Ellipse south of the White House before.
What, this is Iive? Yeah.
NEWS REPORTER: But those were triumphs. This is not.
What time is it in Washington?
9:00 a.m.
Why didn't he wait?
It's 6:00 in the morning on the West Coast.
Half his audience is still asleep.
AII right, you blokes, Iet's get the set broken down.
NEWS REPORTER:...are witnesses to the saddest day in the life of Richard Nixon,
his last moments as President of the United States,
a moment unlike any other in the history of this country.
Richard Nixon, who goes now
from the power of the presidency
to a form of exile in California.
Find out the numbers for this, will you? Worldwide.
BRENNAN: I remember his face.
Staring out the window.
Down below him, a liberal America cheered, gloated.
Hippies, draft dodgers, dilettantes,
the same people who'd spit on me when I got back from Vietnam.
They'd gotten rid of Richard Nixon, their bogeyman.
So what's so important that it couldn't wait, that it had to be today?
I've had an idea, John, rather a bold idea for an interview.
Fish and chips, please.
And in a moment...
Well, it's too Iate now. It's done.
I've called his people...
You?
Beans, peas and Iamb, please.
And made an offer.
Now, if the subject were to say yes,
well, he's rather a big fish that swims in not-untricky waters.
So it goes without saying that I'd want a dear friend
and the finest producer I know by my side.
So who is it?
Richard Nixon.
(LAUGHS) Richard Nixon?
Well, come on, don't Iook Iike that.
Well, how would you expect me to Iook?
I spent yesterday evening watching you interview the Bee Gees.
Weren't they terrific?
Come on, John, we've done political interviews before.
So, okay, so what kind of interview?
A full, extensive Iook-back over his Iife, his presidency.
And?
And what? Come on, David.
Surely the only thing that would interest anyone
about Richard Nixon would be a confession.
A full, no-holds-barred confession.
Well, we'II get that, too.
From Richard Nixon?
Come on, John.
Just think of the numbers it would get.
Do you know how many people watched
his farewell speech in the White House?
Four hundred million.
But in the end, David heard nothing.
And soon after arriving in California,
Nixon was rushed to hospital with an acute attack of phlebitis.
I think it was around this time that Gerald Ford,
who was the new President,
and who was desperate to move the agenda on from Watergate,
gave Nixon a full, free and absolute pardon.
Now therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford,
President of the United States,
have granted, and by these presents do grant,
a full, free and absolute pardon
unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States.
It meant that the man who had committed the greatest felony
in American political history would never stand trial.
It was Iike he slipped out the back door.
A public opinion poll indicates
a two-to-one disapproval of the pardoning of Richard Nixon.
CHANCELLOR: One telegram from Virginia said, "Roosevelt had his New Deal,
"Truman had his Fair Deal, now Ford has his crooked deal. "
There was no deal, period.
I don't think the truth will ever come out.
The American people need to know the truth,
and I don't think it will ever now be fully known.
GANNON: So how do we want to address the college protests?
Well, do we want to Iift some quotes
from the "stand up and be counted" speech in 1970?
Sir? GANNON: You know, maybe we're just better off
using the whole Lincoln Memorial memo.
SAWYER: Just include the whole thing.
Mr. President, Swifty Lazar is here.
Okay. No, no, stick around.
You're gonna get a kick out of this.
This is my Iiterary agent from Hollywood.
Hygiene obsessive.
Mr. President, good to see you.
Nice to see you.
These are folks helping me with my book.
Diane Sawyer, Frank Gannon, Irving Lazar.
Nice to meet you. Miss Sawyer.
PIeasure. Mr. Gannon.
Okay, that's it. I'II see you after Iunch.
SWIFTY: So how you feeling, sir?
I'm better, thank you. Though not yet well enough to golf,
thank God. I despise that game.
Imagine, six weeks out of office
as President of the United States,
and they'd have me putting in my hospital room.
Never retire, Mr. Lazar.
To me, the unhappiest people of the world are retired.
No purpose.
What makes Iife mean something is purpose.
A goal. A battle. A struggle.
Well, even if you don't win it.
When my doctor declared me unfit
to give testimony in the Watergate trial,
everybody thought I'd be relieved.
Well, they were wrong.
That was the Iowest I got.
Well, if it's a challenge you want, here's one you might enjoy.
How to spend $2 million, 2.3 to be precise.
It's what I got for your memoirs.
Well, thank you.
Eh...
It might be a Iittle short of what I wanted,
but Iet me assure you, it's a whole Iot more than they wanted.
That book is important to me.
It's probably the only chance I'm gonna get to put the record straight
and remind people the Nixon years weren't all bad.
You know, if you're trying to put the record straight,
I'd at Ieast talk to him.
NIXON: Who?
David Frost. English talk show guy.
Why would I want to talk to David Frost?
Well, a while back, he wrote asking for an interview.
No.
Well, we didn't get back to him.
Frankly, we didn't find him appropriate.
Well, I thought that we were doing one with CBS.
We are. I just figured doing it with Frost
would be a whole Iot easier than doing it with Mike Wallace.
It would, but it would have a Iot Iess, you know, credibility.
True, true. Could probably get more money.
Really? Look.
We'II always have 350 on the table from CBS.
But if I could get Frost to pay more and secure better terms,
it might be a shame to pass.
It'd be interesting to know where he is right now.
We tied him to railway tracks, and he escaped.
We buried him alive, and he walked free.
Today we're Iowering escape artist Derek Harrison into the water
to see if he can miraculously cheat death once more.
Good evening, and welcome to Great Escapes.
My name is David Frost.
DIRECTOR: Okay, that is a cut.
Thank you.
In any deal, you need to know your opponent's breaking point.
To assess that, you might call them
Iate at night or at the weekend.
If they take the call, you know they're desperate.
And from that moment on, you know you have the upper hand.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello?
Mr. Frost? Irving Lazar.
Who?
Swifty Lazar. I represent President Nixon.
What time is it?
Bad time?
(STUTTERING) No! Not at all.
I'm calling with regard to your request for an interview
and to say, having considered it,
my client is not necessarily opposed to the idea.
Really? Well, that's terrific news!
For God's sake.
SWIFTY: I got $500,000.
Is that good?
Mr. President, it's a half a million dollars for a news interview.
It's unprecedented.
Yeah? Well, what's the catch?
With Frost? None. It'll be a big wet kiss.
This guy'II be so grateful to be getting it at all,
he'II pitch puffballs all night
and pay a half a million dollars for the privilege.
Well, you think you could get 550?
I got 6.
BIRT: David, how could you have done that? What?
$600,000. That's a fortune.
200 on signature?
Don't worry about the money.
My God. Most Americans think he belongs in jail.
You're making him a rich man.
PIus, by outbidding them, you've already made enemies
of the networks. They're just jealous.
They're already sounding off about checkbook journalism.
And if the networks are against you,
syndication's always going to be a struggle.
No syndication, no advance sales.
No advance sales, no commercials.
No commercials, no revenue.
And here's the bigger question, why do it? You don't need it.
Your career's in great shape.
This will just spread you across three continents,
jeopardize the other shows.
Isn't it true that Channel Nine in Australia
want you to do another season of your talk show for them?
Yes. And London, too?
Yes, but that would be London and Australia.
This would be... What?
You wouldn't understand, John.
You were never part of the show in New York,
but it's indescribable.
Success in America is unlike success anywhere else.
And the emptiness when it's gone.
And the sickening thought that it may never come back.
You know, there's a restaurant in New York called Sardi's.
Ordinary mortals can't get a table.
John, the place was my canteen!
You know, I'd be happier
if I heard some kind of vision
that you had for this interview.
MAN: Excuse me, Mr. Frost.
I'd heard you were going to be here.
Would you mind? Of course.
But I don't. I just hear a man doing it
because it would create headlines
or give him a place at the top table.
And that is what makes me nervous.
And you do nervous so beautifully, John.
"Hello, good evening and welcome."
(FROST LAUGHS)
I don't actually say that.
Hello, Mr. Frost.
Champagne?
CAROLINE: No, thank you.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Another glass, sir?
You don't Iike champagne?
Not on airplanes.
Yes, it dehydrates one terribly.
The trick is to have a glass of water on the go, too.
Like the Viennese serve coffee.
Well, I've never been to Vienna.
Oh. Well, you'd Iike it.
It's Iike Paris without the French.
What's your name?
Caroline.
David.
Yes, I know. David Frost.
"Hello and good evening and welcome."
You know, I heard an interview with you recently on the radio.
You were giving it from the back of your Rolls-Royce.
Bentley.
On the phone.
They said that you were a person
who defined the age we Iive in.
Really? Mmm.
You and Vidal Sassoon.
But what made you exceptional, they said,
was that you were a person who had achieved great fame
without possessing any discernible quality.
How kind. Mmm-hmm.
And that you fly around a great deal.
Well, that's true.
Why?
I Iike to keep busy.
Why?
I find it more interesting than keeping still.
You know, you have very sad eyes.
Do I? Mmm.
Has anyone told you that before?
No.
Are you a sad person?
Let's talk about you a Iittle bit.
Of course, you feel more comfortable asking questions.
How right you are!
This is your captain speaking.
You may have noticed we've begun
our final descent into Los Angeles.
If you could please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts,
we'll be landing very shortly. Thank you.
CAROLINE: So how about you? Where are you going?
To meet Richard Nixon.
Really?
You know, they say he has the most enormous head,
but the sexiest voice.
Where is he now?
In some dark underground cave Iicking his wounds?
Actually, no. In his rather smart beachside villa
in California.
Really? Richard Nixon in a beachside villa?
How incongruous.
You can come if you'd Iike.
To meet Nixon?
Why not?
Are you sure?
You know, I would Iove that.
PILOT: Cabin crew, please prepare for arrival.
Well, I'II get my office to call you first thing in the morning
and send a car with a phone.
Oh.
He did, too. Money no object.
Everything glittered and was golden.
Well, on the outside.
Of course, what I didn't know was that in the meantime,
he'd gone to all the major networks
to try and get interest in the interviews.
I'm sorry, David, but we have a policy
of not paying for a news interview.
Look, we Iove your work as an entertainer.
That Guinness show?
Love it. You're a funny guy.
But an interview Iike this?
You're asking us to pay a British talk show host
to interview an American president
with absolutely no editorial controls whatsoever in return?
Well, you can't say it's not a fresh approach.
I know you're very busy.
I'm not gonna keep you from it.
Thank you for coming in.
I'm gonna have to get back to you.
Okay, thank you so much for your time.
David, good Iuck.
He never Iet on to anyone at the time,
not even me. You know, that would have meant...
Thanks.
...admitting failure, and David doesn't do failure.
FROST: There you are.
See, you don't have to do a thing yourself.
(INDISTINCT)
Well.
You found it okay.
Yes, thank you.
PIeasure to meet you, Mr. Frost.
And you, sir.
May I present Caroline Cushing?
Miss Cushing.
Hello. Your house is very beautiful.
Really. Very romantic.
Well, thank you.
And my producer, John Birt.
Nice to meet you. How do you do?
This is Mr. Lazar, and this is Jack Brennan.
Now, Miss Cushing, would you Iike to take a tour,
you know, maybe stretch your Iegs after your Iong journey?
Yes, please. I'd Iove that. Thank you.
Come on in. This is my office.
Now, this is where Brezhnev and I had our summit.
Yeah. Brezhnev was there, and Gromyko there, Dobrynin there.
We talked for nine hours straight.
After the meeting, as a souvenir of the visit,
I remember that we had a Lincoln specially made.
Dark blue, cherry wood, Ieather.
Well, we got inside for the photographers,
when the next thing you know, he steps on the gas.
Now, the first rule of political Iife is
you never Iet a president get behind the wheel of a car, ever.
I mean, we're not used to doing anything
for ourselves, Iet alone drive.
And the Chairman, Jesus, the way he put his foot down,
my guess is the Iast thing he drove was
a tractor on some Ukrainian potato farm.
He crashed into curbs.
He went over speed bumps.
He went twice around my whole estate.
Finally, we ended up at some remote point on the coast,
out there overlooking the sea.
He turns off the gas, and he talks for two hours
about his favorite subject, steel mills.
He said, "Mr. President, most politicians
"have tragedy in their early Iives."
Well, I told him that I Iost two brothers to tuberculosis.
And he watched his father die from the cancer he caught in the steelworks.
He was a sad man and a noble adversary.
I wouldn't want to be a Russian Ieader.
They never know when they're being taped.
Okay, I guess that's it then, huh?
Until March. I Iook forward to it.
Well, thank you, Mr. President. So do I.
You know, it's a funny thing that
I've never been challenged to a duel before.
I guess that's what this is.
FROST: Yeah, well, not really.
Of course it is.
And I Iike that.
No holds barred, eh? No holds barred.
Mr. Frost, there's still the small matter of the...
Of course.
I do beg your pardon.
Right. $200,000.
I do hope that isn't coming out of your own pocket.
Well, believe me, sir, I wish my pockets were that deep.
Made out in the name of?
Irving Paul Lazar.
Richard M. Nixon.
Here you go.
MANOLO: Okay, smile.
There. Now you can put that in your apartment in New York,
and all your Iiberal friends can use it as a dartboard.
Well, actually, I'm Iiving in Monte Carlo at the moment.
Really?
Yes. Goodbye, Mr. President.
Hey. Take my advice.
You should marry that woman.
Yes. Lovely, isn't she?
More important than that, she comes from Monaco.
They pay no taxes there.
Bye-bye. Goodbye.
I bet you it did.
What?
Come out of his own pocket.
You know, he couldn't Iook me in the eye.
Well, I hear the networks aren't biting.
Without the networks, the ad agencies don't want to know.
So if you ask me, there's a good chance
this whole thing may never happen.
Really? So that meeting we just had might have cost him $200,000?
Correct.
Had I known that, I would have offered him a cup of tea.
Say, did you notice his shoes?
No.
Italian. No Iaces. What do you think?
My people tried to get me to wear a pair Iike that.
I think a man's shoes should have Iaces, sir.
You do?
Yeah. Personally, I find those Italian shoes very effeminate.
Yes, quite right.
NBC EXECUTIVE: I'm sorry, David, but it's a no.
Try to look at it from our point of view.
Why would an American network hire a total outsider,
and someone who's already had his own show canceled, incidentally?
I see. Well, I'm sorry you feel this way.
Obviously, I think you're making a terrible mistake.
NBC.
Well, that's the networks out, all of them.
Well, that's the end of that, then.
I'm sorry, David.
Not so fast.
Where's your adventurer's spirit?
The idea is we pay for the program
and syndicate it ourselves, completely bypassing the networks.
Just imagine it, we'd be our own network for the night.
Hey, Bob. FROST: How does that grab you?
Hey, come on in. David's on the phone.
FROST: No, never been done before.
Historic stuff.
Just think about it, okay? And call me back.
Yeah? Yeah.
David, I'd Iike you to meet Jim Reston and Bob Zelnick,
our two prospective corner men.
Delighted to meet you.
Come on in. Make yourselves at home.
Bob's been Washington correspondent
for Public Radio for the past 10 years.
Moving to ABC in the new year.
The general feeling, David,
is that I have been wasting my matinee idol Iooks on radio.
Jim here teaches at the University of North Carolina
and is writing a book about the criminal dishonesty, corruption,
paranoia and abuses of power of Richard Nixon.
Second on the subject.
Fourth.
Well, delighted to have you both aboard.
Actually, before I sign on, I would Iike to hear
what you were hoping to achieve with this interview.
What I want to achieve?
Yeah.
Jim, well, I've secured 12 taping days.
That's close to 30 hours
with the most compelling and controversial politician
of our times.
Isn't that enough?
Well, not for me.
Look, I'd be giving up a year of my Iife. I'm Ieaving my family
to work on a subject matter that means more
than you can probably imagine,
and the idea of doing all that
without achieving what I want to, personally,
would be unthinkable to me.
(INTERRUPTING) FROST: No, all right.
Well, what is it that you want to achieve?
I'd Iike to give Richard Nixon the trial he never had.
Of course, we'II be asking difficult questions.
Difficult questions.
The man Iost 21,000 Americans
and a million Indo-Chinese during his administration.
He only escaped jail because of Ford's pardon.
Yes, but equally, going after him in some knee-jerk way,
you know, assuming he's a terrible guy,
wouldn't that only create more sympathy for him than anything else?
(SIGHS) You know...
Right now, I submit it's impossible
to feel anything close to sympathy for Richard Nixon.
He devalued the presidency,
and he Ieft the country that elected him in trauma.
The American people need a conviction, pure and simple.
The integrity of our political system,
of democracy as an idea, entirely depends on it.
And if in years to come, people Iook back
and say it was in this interview
that Richard Nixon exonerated himself,
that would be the worst crime of all.
Did you know that Mike Wallace is doing a piece on this?
And that in the bars around Capitol Hill and Georgetown
this entire project is a joke?
ZELNICK: Come on. Jim, come on.
Thanks for that, Jim.
Could you give us a couple of minutes?
You're unbelievable. I'm sorry, Bob.
You know, Jim, I went way out on a Iimb for you.
I mean, some of us actually want this job.
I want it, too, if it's done right.
Well, how do you know they're not gonna do it right?
Little Lord Fauntleroy in there?
Sympathy for Richard Nixon?
What the... He's full of shit, man!
How do you know that?
Is Mike Wallace doing a piece on this?
Apparently.
Why didn't you tell me?
It isn't relevant.
What's the angle? "British talk show host,
"good with actresses, not so good with stonewalling presidents."
That's the general idea, yeah.
Right.
It's hard not to feel a Iittle insulted by that.
Well, Bob's obviously a pro.
What are we gonna do about Reston?
Well, the man's an idiot. He's overemotional.
Send him home.
Well, I think he should stay. Why?
I Iiked his passion.
He will drive us all bloody mad.
Well, maybe, but sometimes being out of your comfort zone
is a good thing, I'm told.
He stays.
I took my seat next to Mrs. Mao at the banquet table.
Now, one of the challenges of life as a president
is the endless round of cocktail parties, social engagements, banquets.
And people who know me would tell you
that small talk is not one of my strong suits, either. No.
Particularly not in Mandarin.
So Mrs. Mao and I, we just, well, you know, stared at one another.
And then across the table, Mrs. Nixon and Chairman Mao himself, well,
they stared at one another, too.
And then further down, Dr. Kissinger
and their foreign minister, well,
you're getting the picture now.
I can't stand it, Jack!
Reducing the presidency to a series of banal anecdotes.
I feel Iike a circus animal doing tricks.
And I thought I made it clear!
I didn't want to take any questions on Watergate, damn it!
Soon as it came to question time,
all those sons of bitches ever want to hear about is Watergate!
It's as if all my other achievements have ceased to exist.
Well, sir, you're gonna get a chance
to talk about them sooner than you think.
Yeah? How?
Frost got there. He got the money.
What?
I understand most of it's borrowed,
that his friends have bailed him out.
But the point is, we start taping at the end of March.
Really? Now, that's terrific.
How much time is devoted to Watergate?
25%. Just one of four 90-minute shows.
What are the other three divided into?
Domestic Affairs, Foreign Policy,
and Nixon the Man.
"Nixon the Man"?
As opposed to what? Nixon the horse?
Well, I imagine it's some kind of biographical piece.
I can see it now. The father that neglected me, the brothers that died.
Spare me.
Still, now, the fact it's come together, now, that's a good thing, no?
Mr. President, it's fantastic.
Frost is just not in your intellectual class, sir.
You're gonna be able to dictate terms, rebuild your reputation.
If this went well, if enough people saw it, revised their opinion,
you could move back East way, way earlier than we expected.
You think? I'm certain.
It would be so good to go back to where the action is.
You know?
The hunger in my belly is still there, Jack.
I guess it all boils down to Watergate, huh?
Well, that's nothing to worry about, sir.
It's not as if there's gonna be any revelations.
That stuff's been combed over a million times.
No one has pinned anything on you.
Yeah, still, it's been a while
since I spoke about it on the record.
I'm gonna start doing my homework.
Hey, you know what would be an interesting thing to find out?
What his strategy is.
Now, where's he staying?
I believe The Beverly Hilton.
The Beverly Hilton, you say.
Well, I got the numbers someplace
of some fellows that we could send in.
Cubans with CIA training.
Jesus, Jack, it was a joke.
Yes, sir.
RESTON: A week later, we said goodbye to our families,
we hopped on a plane, and we moved into The Beverly Hilton.
And that's where we started to dig into our research
and prepare for the interviews.
Yeah, as it happens, we took
the whole question of security very seriously.
BIRT: And from day one, we kept all our files in a locked safe.
Who was the guy that Mike interviewed? Was that Haldeman?
BIRT: Haldeman. RESTON: Haldeman. And Ehrlichman, too.
I always get the Germans mixed up.
I'm a Iittle confused by that.
What is Haldeman's official... Hello, darling.
As for the work over the months, we divided it into three sections.
Birt took Vietnam, Bob took Foreign and Domestic Policy,
and I got Watergate and the abuses of power.
And David, we never really saw much of David.
RESTON: AII right, so what about the Huston PIan?
You can see the seeds of dirty tricks.
Essentially, it's an attempt to Iegalize dirty tricks.
That's why you gotta get David to put it in the question.
Wiretapping students.
NIXON ON TAPE: But they've traced the money to him.
RESTON: Opening people's mail.
What about wiretapping?
How many people has he wiretapped?
This guy wiretapped 17 people.
BIRT: Seventeen?
Including his own brother.
But you know what? We can't ask him about his brother,
'cause frankly, if Donald Nixon was my brother,
I'd wiretap him, too.
RESTON: But wait, okay, so we have breaking and entering.
We have wiretapping, conspiracy to foster prostitution.
And that's Liddy, right?
Delivery courtesy of Nate 'n AI's
finest deli selection.
We're going to need napkins. We'd better have some napkins.
How do we frame a question about Cambodia,
about the illicit bombing of Cambodia?
I think you should say,
"How far do you take executive privilege
"before it becomes an undemocratic event?"
I think you frame the question to him as a Quaker.
"How do you feel as a Quaker about annihilating an entire people?"
FROST: Come on. Are they really interested in buying time?
Are they going to give us the money?
How serious are they?
You have to set up that he has an anti-democratic personality.
There's a reason they call him Tricky Dick.
Because I had written about and watched Nixon for years,
I got to play him in our rehearsals.
You know, the fellas would throw me a question,
and I would try and anticipate what his response might be.
BIRT: Okay, the White House taping system.
Ours is not the first administration to use taping systems.
Lyndon Johnson's White House used them. So did Kennedy's.
Huston PIan. Wiretapping and alleged abuses of power.
Let me tell you, other administrations were up to far worse.
And just for fun, your close friend Jack Kennedy.
That man, he screwed anything that moved,
fixed elections and took us into Vietnam.
And the American people, they Ioved him for it!
Whereas I, Richard Milhous Nixon,
worked around the clock in their service, and they hated me!
Look. Look. Now I'm sweating.
Damn it! Damn it!
And Kennedy's so goddamn handsome and blue-eyed!
And women all over him!
He screwed anything that moved, and everything.
Had a go at Checkers once.
The poor Iittle bitch was never the same!
Gentlemen, finally a friend in the American press.
CAROLINE: Jack Anderson in The Washington Post,
"When Richard Nixon faces the television cameras
"for his first interview since he abandoned the White House,
"he'II be cross-examined as if he were on the witness stand.
"Frost has hired three crack investigators
"to help him with the research.
"CIearly the famous TV interviewer will pull no punches."
"Crack investigators"?
Can I be Crack One?
Can I be Deep Crack?
David, can I talk to you for a sec?
After researching my Iast book,
I was pretty certain Colson...
You know, Charles Colson? His darkest henchman?
Colson, right. Colson had a meeting with Nixon
(PHONE RINGING)
sometime before June 23,
but I never knew the exact date,
so I couldn't find the transcript.
But if you gave me a week back in the Federal Courthouse Iibrary...
A week? Goodness, Jim, we can't Iose you for that Iong.
I think this is really good stuff, Dave.
Would there be something I could help you with?
You know, if we're gonna nail Nixon in these interviews,
we're gonna have to ambush him.
We're gonna have to take him by surprise.
Don't worry, Jim. We'II get him anyway.
Hang on a second. David, Jack Brennan.
He sounds a Iittle emotional.
I'II take it in here.
He'II be right with you. Yeah.
Jack. Watergate.
Yes, Jack.
Our Iawyers want us to agree on a definition of the word.
Well, I believe it's a Iarge hotel
and office complex in Washington, Jack.
You know what I'm talking about.
For the interviews.
We want to propose that Watergate
be an umbrella term for everything negative.
(STAMMERS)
Hold on a minute.
So all the other domestic charges
against him, the Brookings Institute,
the PIumbers Union, the Enemies List,
you're saying all that goes into Watergate?
Correct.
That is absurd and a clear breach
of the terms of our agreement.
Okay. How would you define Watergate?
Well, that it covers just that.
The Watergate break-in of June 17th
and the subsequent cover-up and investigation.
Fine. In which case, the deal is off.
Fine. In which case, you can expect a Iawsuit
for something in excess of $20 million
in damages and Ioss of earnings.
The terms of the contract clearly stipulate
that Watergate take up no more than 25% of the time.
Yes, but nowhere does it say that for the rest of the 75%
he gets to drone on and sound presidential.
"Drone on"? Jesus Christ. Where's your respect?
You remember who you're talking about here.
You know as well as I do that 60% of what he did in office was right,
and 30% may have been wrong, but he thought it was right at the time.
Yes, but that still Ieaves 10%
where he was doing the wrong thing and knew it.
You goddamn media people. You are so smug.
Well, I can guarantee you if you screw us on the 60%,
I will ruin you if it takes the rest of my Iife.
Prick.
Look at you. Gorgeous.
Good night, sweet princes.
Cheerio. Bye.
See you in the morning.
(DOOR CLOSES)
Why the monkey suit?
David has a film premiere he needs to attend.
What? The night before we start taping?
What's the movie?
It's The Slipper and the Rose.
The Cinderella movie?
Yeah. David's the executive producer.
You don't think it might be an idea for our interviewer
to be rested and focused on the job in hand?
BIRT: Don't worry.
David is a performer of the highest caliber.
He's been in these pressure situations many times before.
Come the hour, he'II be fine. Okay?
What did he say? Did he say "performer"?
Yeah. That's the word he used?
Yeah, he said "performer."
Not "journalist" or "interviewer"?
No. He said "performer."
Out of curiosity, where are you at this moment? Psychically?
I am imagining the dust, the darkness,
the agony and the unimaginable Ioneliness
of the wilderness I am about to be dispatched to
by my Washington political colleagues.
(CHEERING)
So any opportunity you get, go right to foreign policy, go right to Mao,
go right to Khrushchev.
Just go right!
KHACHIGIAN: You could do all day on foreign policy, sir.
PRICE: I disagree that the Mao banquet story is stale.
Excuse me, sir. Something I think you should see.
GANNON: People Iove that story.
SAWYER: Why don't we save it for the book?
KHACHIGIAN: Yeah, right, come on.
REPORTER 1: David. REPORTER 2: Mr. Frost.
REPORTER 1: David, some people in the media have suggested
that you're not the right man for the job,
that you'll be too soft on the President.
What will you do if he stonewalls you?
FROST: Well, I shall say so again and again.
But I should say right now that I'm not expecting
his approach to be to stonewall.
I'm hoping that it'll be that of a cascade of candor.
REPORTER 1: "A cascade of candor"?
From Richard Nixon?
You think that's what you'll get?
No, I just thought it was a phrase that might appeal to you.
REPORTER 1: So what about the money?
That's a strange fellow.
Started Iife as a comic, you know.
NIXON: Is that so? Mmm-hmm.
AImost married Diahann Carroll.
Who?
GANNON: The singer.
Isn't she black?
Yes, sir.
Right here in the Frost file, which we put together
as part of our general preparations.
Okay. Let's get back to work.
FROST: That's fact, this is fiction.
So now it's about The SIipper and the Rose.
It's a cracker of a movie.
I hope you'll all come and see it, and...
(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)
I shouldn't have ordered that coffee.
Just don't drink any more.
(INAUDIBLE)
Good Iuck. Thank you.
I'II be thinking of you.
Dick. Wait.
FROST: For the record, I'm gonna be starting with John's idea.
"Why didn't you burn the tapes?"
No. Fuck.
PIease, God, no! You can't.
David, you can't do that. It would be a disaster.
It would get us into Watergate way ahead of the agreed time.
What is the point of having contractually set
specific times to deal with certain subjects
if you're just going to ignore it right off the bat?
'Cause it's war, isn't it? GIoves off.
I Iike it. It's ballsy.
Strategically, it'II give us the upper hand.
It's insanely risky.
He could walk right off the set,
and there's nothing we could do about it.
Worse, he could sue you!
We were sadly unable to do the taping at Casa Pacifica
because of the Coast Guard radio interference,
so we ended up at the rather more modest Smith house,
which was owned by a local Republican businessman.
(REPORTERS CLAMORING)
PHOTOGRAPHER: Right here!
Mr. Frost, Iook over here.
Over here, sir!
Here we go. OFFICER: Back up behind the curb.
REPORTER 1: A few questions, please.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Right here, Mr. Frost.
REPORTER 2: David! David! David!
(ALL CLAMORING)
FROST: Well, hello there.
(SIREN BLARING)
Excuse me, fellas.
MAN: Nixon, there's blood on your hands!
WOMAN: Liar!
MAN: Here comes the President!
REPORTER 1: Mr. President!
REPORTER 2: Mr. President!
REPORTER 3: How are you feeling, Mr. President?
(REPORTERS CLAMORING)
The Smith family requested that the furniture be put back in place.
They talked to you about that, too?
They're bugging everybody.
RESTON: You know, I've written four books about him,
but this is the first time I've actually seen him in the flesh.
He's taller than I imagined, and tanned.
The Ieast he could do is Iook ravaged.
You gonna shake his hand?
Am I gonna shake...
Are you kidding me?
After everything that prick's done to this country?
I'm not gonna shake his hand.
Gentlemen.
May I present Bob Zelnick, my executive editor?
How do you do?
PIeasure, Mr. President.
FROST: And Jim Reston, one of my researchers.
PIeasure to meet you, Mr. Reston.
Mr. President.
Excuse me, sir? Got a room for you right here.
Wow. That was devastating, withering.
I mean, I don't think he's ever gonna get over that.
Yeah, fuck off.
(CHUCKLES)
I got you guys set up back here.
Now this is your green room.
And the President will be on the Iarge monitor.
Craft services is that way.
Keep it about that temperature, okay?
Mr. President?
Yeah.
Before we start, I just want to say
how delighted we all are by Mrs. Nixon's recovery.
Well, thank you. It's true.
She's much better now.
She's just getting round to the business of replying to all the cards.
And from our point of view, well,
I'd just Iike to say how pleased we are
that you got this all together.
Thank you.
As I understand it, it's been quite a struggle.
Well...
How much has it cost?
You mind me asking? Hey, come on.
Come on, it's just between us.
Very well. Two million.
Two million? Jeez. I didn't realize we were making Ben-Hur.
(LAUGHS UNCOMFORTABLY)
But tell me something.
You raised it all now?
(HESITATES)
Not quite. But we're getting there.
Everyone's been kind and deferred fees.
Well, not quite everyone.
David, I'm gonna go in with you on camera.
Excuse me.
I want to put a handkerchief here, if I may.
Is that out of shot?
That's fine, Mr. President.
Contractually, I think that we made
an agreement that after each question
I might dab my upper Iip before answering it.
Which you won't show, you know, when you cut it together.
You're probably aware of my history with perspiration.
If you're referring to your TV debate with Jack Kennedy in 1960.
They say that moisture on my upper Iip cost me the presidency.
People who heard it on the radio, well, they thought I'd won.
But television and the close-up,
they create their own sets of meanings.
So now they insist I bring a handkerchief
and that I have my eyebrows trimmed.
Sixty seconds, everyone.
You trim yours? No.
No, of course not.
Yeah, you're Iight-skinned. Yeah.
You got blue eyes. You've got no troubles with perspiration, I imagine.
No, not that I'm aware.
You were obviously born to be on the tube.