Nixon Page #2

HAIG:

Do you mind?

Nixon gestures awkwardly. Haig turns on the lamp. For the

first time we can see Nixon's face: he hasn't slept in

days, dark circles, sagging jowls, five-o'-clock shadow.

He hates the light, slurs a strange growl -- the effect of

sleeping pills.

HAIG (CONT'D)

Sorry ...

NIXON:

(gestures)

... go on.

Haig threads the tape. Nixon, looking at it, remembers.

NIXON (CONT'D)

... Y'know Al, if Hoover was alive

none of this would've happened. He

would've protected the President.

HAIG:

Mr. Hoover was a realist.

NIXON:

I trusted Mitchell. It was that damn

big mouth wife of his.

HAIG:

At least Mitchell stood up to it.

NIXON:

Not like the others -- Dean, McCord,

the rest ... We never got our side of

the story out, Al. People've

forgotten. I mean: "F*** you, Mr.

President, f*** you Tricia, f*** you

Julie!" and all that sh*t, just words,

but what violence! The tear gassing,

the riots, burning the draft cards,

Black Panthers -- we fixed it, Al, and

they hate me for it -- the double

dealing bastards. They lionize that

traitor, Ellsberg, for stealing

secrets, but they jump all over me

'cause it's Nixon.

(repeats)

... They've always hated Nixon.

Haig finishes threading.

HAIG:

May I say something, Mr. President?

NIXON:

There's no secrets here, Al.

HAIG:

You've never been a greater example to

the country than you are now, sir, but

... but you need to get out more, sir,

and talk to the people. No one I know

feels ... close to you.

Nixon looks at him, moved by his concern.

NIXON:

I was never the buddy-buddy type, Al.

You know, "Oh I couldn't sleep last

night, I was thinking of my mother who

beat me" -- all that kind of crap, you

know the psychoanalysis bag ... My

mother ... The more I'd spill my guts,

the more they'd hate me. I'd be what

... pathetic! If I'd bugged out of

Vietnam when they wanted, do you think

Watergate would've ever happened? You

think the Establishment would've given

a sh*t about a third-rate burglary?

But did I? Quit? Did I pull out?

He stares, waits.

HAIG:

No, sir, you did not.

NIXON:

Damn right. And there's still a

helluva lotta people out there who

wanna believe ... That's the point,

isn't it? They wanna believe in the

President.

He suddenly tires of talking, rubs his hands over his face.

HAIG:

You're all set, sir. Just push this

button. Good night, Mr. President.

NIXON:

You know, Al, men in your profession

... you give 'em a pistol and you

leave the room.

HAIG:

I don't have a pistol.

NIXON:

'Night, Al.

Haig quietly closes the door. Nixon takes a generous slug

of Scotch. Then he looks down at the tape recorder. He

puts on the Uher headset, and hits the fast-forward button:

high-speed VOICES.

NIXON (CONT'D)

Goddamn!

He hits stop, puts on his eyeglasses, studies the recorder

for a moment. Pushes the "play" button. VOICES. Barely

audible at first. Nixon leans closer, listening.

NIXON (ON TAPE) (CONT'D)

They did what?! I don't understand.

Why'd they go into O'Brien's office in

the first place?

HALDEMAN (ON TAPE)

Evidently to install bugs and

photograph documents.

FLASHBACK TO:

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

SUBTITLE READS:
"JUNE 1972."

Nixon's hideaway office in the Executive Office Building.

BOB HALDEMAN, his crew-cut, hard-edged chief of staff, sits

across the desk, a folder open on his lap. Nixon, at his

desk, seems a healthier man than in the previous scene.

Also there are JOHN EHRLICHMAN, portly domestic advisor,

and JOHN DEAN, blond, gentrified, legal counsel.

NIXON:

But O'Brien doesn't even use that

office. The Democrats've moved to

Miami. There's nothing there!

HALDEMAN:

It was just a fishing expedition.

Apparently it was their fourth attempt

at the DNC.

NIXON:

Their fourth!

HALDEMAN:

It's possible they were looking for

evidence of an illegal Howard Hughes

donation to the Democrats, so the

Democrats couldn't make an issue of

your Hughes money.

NIXON:

Contributions! It was a legal

contribution. Who the hell authorized

this? Colson?

EHRLICHMAN:

(shakes his head)

Colson doesn't know about it; he's

pure as a virgin on this one. It's

just not clear the burglars knew what

they were looking for. They were

heading to McGovern's office later

that night.

NIXON:

Jesus! Did Mitchell know?

EHRLICHMAN:

Mitchell's out of his mind now.

Martha just put her head through a

plate-glass window.

NIXON:

Jesus! Through a window?

HALDEMAN:

It was her wrist. And it was through

a plate-glass door.

EHRLICHMAN:

Anyway, they had to take her to

Bellevue. Maybe she'll stay this

time.

A beat.

NIXON:

Martha's an idiot, she'll do anything

to get John's attention. If

Mitchell'd been minding the store

instead of that nut Martha we wouldn't

have that kid Magruder runnin' some

third-rate burglary! Was he smoking

pot?

EHRLICHMAN:

Mitchell?

NIXON:

No! Magruder! That sonofabitch tests

my Quaker patience to the breaking

point.

DEAN:

The bigger problem I see is this guy

who was arrested, McCord -- James

McCord -- he headed up security for

the Committee to Re-Elect. He turns

out to be ex-CIA.

NIXON:

"Ex-CIA"? There's no such thing as

"ex-CIA," John -- they're all Ivy

League Establishment. Is he one of

these guys with a beef against us?

EHRLICHMAN:

McCord? ...

NIXON:

Find out what the hell he was doing at

"CREEP." This could be trouble.

These CIA guys don't miss a trick.

This could be a set-up.

INTERCUTS of all of these people arise as the scene runs --

McCord, Liddy, Magruder, Mitchell, Martha, Hunt, etc.

HALDEMAN:

(with a look to Ehrlichman)

We feel the bigger concern is Gordon

Liddy ...

NIXON:

That fruitcake! What about him?

HALDEMAN:

Well, you know, sir, he's a nut. He

used to work here with the "Plumbers"

and now he's running this Watergate

caper. You remember his plan to

firebomb the Brookings using Cubans as

firemen? He wanted to buy a damned

fire truck! Magruder thinks he's just

nutty enough to go off the

reservation.

NIXON:

What's Liddy got?

HALDEMAN:

Apparently he was using some campaign

cash that was laundered for us through

Mexico. The FBI's onto it. We could

have a problem with that.

DEAN:

... But it'll just be a campaign

finance violation ...

HALDEMAN:

... And if Liddy takes the rap for

Watergate, we can take care of him ...

NIXON:

I don't have time for all this sh*t!

(to Haldeman)

Just handle it, Bob! Keep it out of

the White House. What else?

Kissinger's waiting -- he's gonna

throw a tantrum again if I don't see

him, threatening to quit ... again.

(sighs)

EHRLICHMAN:

Well, sir ... it turns out -- one of

the people implicated is still, you

see, on our White House payroll.

NIXON:

Who? Not another goddamn Cuban?

HALDEMAN:

No, sir. A guy named Hunt.

Nixon stops, stunned.

NIXON:

Hunt? Howard Hunt?

EHRLICHMAN:

He left his White House phone number

in his hotel room.

HALDEMAN:

He works for Colson. He used him on

the Pentagon Papers. We're trying to

figure out when he officially stopped

being a White House consultant. After

the arrest he dumped his wiretapping

stuff into his White House safe.

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