Nixon Page #14

HOOVER:

Thank you for coming, Dick.

NIXON:

Winning?

HOOVER:

Actually, I've just had a bit of luck.

ANNOUNCER (O.S.)

The management of Del Mar is saddened

to announce that Olly's Boy will have

to be destroyed ...

Groans from the crowd.

NIXON:

Oh, my goodness ...

HOOVER:

How about you? Are you going to win?

NIXON:

You should ask Bobby.

TOLSON:

(sarcastic)

... little Bobby.

HOOVER:

Would you walk with me down to the

paddock? I'd like to look at the

horses for the eighth.

NIXON:

Can't we just talk here? I've got the

police chiefs in San Diego.

HOOVER:

I'm trying to spare you an

embarrassment. Johnny Roselli is on

his way back here.

Nixon looks sick.

NIXON:

Roselli? Johnny Roselli?

HOOVER:

Yes. Your old friend from Cuba.

NIXON:

I never met the man.

HOOVER:

I know you've been very careful not

to. That's why I'm concerned.

Nixon glances at Hoover. Hoover smiles.

EXT. DEL MAR RACETRACK - PADDOCK - DAY (1968)

Moving with NIXON, HOOVER and TOLSON along the rail outside

the walking ring. FBI AGENTS have cleared a circle around

them. The HORSES for the next race are being saddled.

Nixon waves to PATRONS of the track.

HOOVER:

You'll win the nomination.

NIXON:

It could be '60 all over again, Edgar.

Bobby's got the magic, like a goddamn

rock star. They climb all over each

other just to touch his clothes!

He'll ride his brother's corpse right

into the White House.

TOLSON:

Ummm...

HOOVER:

(nods)

If things remain as they are ... He's

got the anti-war vote.

NIXON:

Or he'll steal it like his brother.

He's a mean little sonofabitch, Edgar

... He had the IRS audit my mother

when she was dying in a nursing home.

HOOVER:

I know ...

TOLSON:

(casually)

... Somebody should shoot the little

bastard.

NIXON:

I wanna fight just as dirty as he

does.

TOLSON:

... Use his women.

NIXON:

... Any information you have, Edgar.

The sonofabitch is not gonna steal

from me again! Can you back me up on

this? Can I count on your support?

HOOVER:

(amused)

I look at it from the point of view

that the system can only take so much

abuse. It adjusts itself eventually,

but at times there are ... savage

outbursts. The late "Doctor" King for

example. A moral hypocrite screwing

women like a degenerate tomcat,

stirring up the blacks, preaching

against our system ...

(shakes his head)

Sometimes the system comes close to

cracking.

Hoover stop in front of a huge GELDING, pats his muzzle.

HOOVER (CONT'D)

We've already had one radical in the

White House. I don't think we could

survive another.

Nixon feels uncomfortable. Images, vague, disturbing.

Even the nostrils on the horse seem to be emitting a

devil's fire, and the noises of the snorting animal magnify

...

NIXON:

(a beat)

Yeah, well, as I said, Edgar ...

HOOVER:

(precisely)

You asked if you could count on my

support ... As long as I can count on

yours.

NIXON (V.O., ON TAPE)

The old queen did it on purpose.

INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - LINCOLN SITTING ROOM - NIGHT (1973)

RESUME SCENE - NIXON listens as the tape rolls.

NIXON (ON TAPE)

He wasn't protecting me. He was

putting me on notice.

HALDEMAN (ON TAPE)

What? That he knew Johnny Roselli?

Hoover knew a lot of gangsters.

NIXON (ON TAPE)

Yeah, but Roselli wasn't just any

gangster. He was the gangster who set

up Track 2 in Cuba.

INT. EXEC OFFICE BLDG - NIXON OFFICE - NIGHT (1972)

NIXON and HALDEMAN are alone. The lights are on. Nixon's

had a couple of drinks. The talk is a little looser.

HALDEMAN:

(confused)

I don't understand. Track 2's Chile?

NIXON:

Chile, Congo, Guatemala, Cuba.

Wherever's there's a need for an

Executive Action capability, there's a

Track 2. In Cuba, Track 1 was the Bay

of Pigs invasion. Track 2 ... it was

our idea.

(stands)

We felt the invasion wouldn't work

unless we got rid of Castro. So we

asked ourselves -- who else wants

Castro dead? The Mafia, the money

people. So we put together Track 2

...

CUBA MONTAGE:

Images begin to project from that long-ago time. A YOUNGER

NIXON. Macho Cuban "Freedom Fighters" in the Keys and

Guatemala. The CIA, the MOB -- including JOHNNY ROSELLI.

FAT CATS and CASINO BOSSES shaking hands with young Nixon

on his visit in the 40's. A Rum and Coca-Cola SONG plays.

NIXON (CONT'D)

(softly)

The first assassination attempt was in

'60, just before the election.

HALDEMAN:

(stunned)

Before?! Eisenhower approved that?

NIXON:

He didn't veto it.

(then)

I ran the White House side. The mob

contact was Johnny Roselli.

(then)

One of the CIA guys was that jackass,

Howard Hunt.

HALDEMAN:

Jesus!

NIXON:

And not just Hunt. Frank Sturgis, all

those Cubans. All of them in the

Watergate. They were involved in

Track 2 in Cuba.

(then)

Hunt reported to my military aide.

But I met with him several times as

Vice President. That's what worries

the sh*t out of me. I don't know how

much Hunt knows. Or the Cubans.

HALDEMAN:

So? You wanted Castro dead.

Everybody wanted Castro dead. If Hunt

and the others are CIA, why don't we

just throw this back in the CIA's lap?

Let Richard Helms take the fall?

NIXON:

(pause)

Because ... because Dick Helms knows

too much ... If anyone in this country

knows more than I do, it's Hoover and

Helms! You don't f*** with Dick

Helms! Period.

Pause.

HALDEMAN:

Alright. But why, if Kennedy is so

clean in all this, didn't he cancel

Track 2?

NIXON:

Because he didn't even know about it.

The CIA never told him, they just kept

it going. It was like ... it had a

life of its own. Like ... a kind of

"beast" that doesn't even know it

exists. It just eats people when it

doesn't need 'em anymore.

(drops back in his chair)

Two days after the Bay of Pigs,

Kennedy called me in. He reamed my

ass ...

DOCUMENTARY INTERCUT: Brief, moving, live-action image of

JOHN KENNEDY.

NIXON (CONT'D)

... he'd just found out about Track 2.

HALDEMAN:

You never told him?

NIXON:

(softly)

I didn't want him to get the credit.

He said I'd stabbed him in the back.

Called me a two-bit grocery clerk from

Whittier.

Nixon's face expresses the deep hurt of that insult.

NIXON (CONT'D)

That was the last time I ever saw him.

IMAGE - the "Beast" - an image of Kennedy perverted, his

head blown off ...

HALDEMAN:

If they didn't tell Kennedy about

Track 2, how did Hoover find out?

NIXON:

They had us bugged. Christ, he had

everybody bugged. Yeah, he was gonna

support me in '68, but he was also

threatening me.

(then)

That was Hoover:
he'd give you the

carrot, but he'd make damn sure the

stick went right up your ass.

INT. AMBASSADOR HOTEL - PANTRY - 1968

DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE of chaos in the pantry. The camera is

jostled. Women screaming. A man is being wrestled to the

floor.

ROBERT KENNEDY lies there, mortally wounded.

NIXON (V.O.)

When I saw Bobby lying there on the

floor, his arm outstretched like that

...

INT. EXEC OFFICE BLDG - NIXON OFFICE - NIGHT (1973)

RESUME SCENE - NIXON and HALDEMAN

NIXON:

... his eyes staring ...

(then)

I knew I'd be president.

(beat)

Death paved the way, didn't it?

Vietnam. The Kennedys.

It cleared a path through the

wilderness for me. Over the bodies

... Four bodies.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote