Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words

I don't come

from a political family.

I didn't think about

the possibility

of being President

of the United States.

My mother didn't take me

into her arms and tell me

"Some day

you'll be president."

Nixon:

My mother was a Quaker

and she was a very devout

pacifist.

As... as a good Quaker

should be.

My mother was quite

well educated for those times.

My father only went through

the sixth grade.

And he worked

in every kind of a job.

As a matter of fact,

he built the house that I was born in.

Uh...

my father had

a small store

and my brothers and I

had worked in it.

We worked before

and after school

in order to help work

our way through school.

My mother was one

who had no enemies.

My father was argumentative;

he was combative;

he was competitive.

From him I got that arguing ability,

but from my mother,

more the dedication

to scholarship

at an early start.

And if it had not been for my mother,

it would have been very difficult.

My mother recalls

that I played by ear,

which I did, before I ever

took any lessons.

And I became

quite advanced.

But I think it really

came down to a choice:

would I concentrate on music

or should I move to debating

and other areas?

And I finally moved

in the other direction.

Sometimes I...

I rather regret it.

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Nixon:
I remember the headlines:

"Nixon Bugged Himself."

Taping was done

for the purpose

of having it

for the historical record.

It was voice activated.

Everything was taped,

which of course

was probably stupid.

There has been a new release

of White House audio tapes

and documents

just out tonight

from the Nixon Library

in California.

Say what you will about him,

Richard Nixon

is one of the most fascinating

figures in American history.

Just when we think we know everything

there is to know about him,

we find out something else.

The recordings Richard Nixon

intended for his own use

continue to tell history

his uncensored story.

The problem is

that historians

are going to grab

an hour of tape...

when these tapes come out...

and if you listen to

a snippet of tape,

you're going to form an impression of

this man that's going to be wrong.

So sometime, hopefully,

there will be a historian

or a committee of historians

who will listen to all the tapes

and go into all the archives,

and then come out and say

"Richard Nixon was

the strangest collection,

the strangest paradoxical

combination

of any man I ever heard of."

And they'll be right.

John Chancellor:

Mr. Nixon has always been a solitary figure,

protected by only a few

trusted associates.

Nixon:

We were obsessed with secrecy.

I was almost a basket case

with regard to secrecy.

We have to recognize

that this was wartime.

We were trying to prevent

a Communist takeover

of South Vietnam.

Nixon:

I wasn't thinking that much about

the tape system that we had.

My main concern was ending that war.

Harry Reasoner:

The Nixon Administration said today

that it has no intention

of permitting

a Communist military victory

in South Vietnam,

that the intensified American

bombing of North Vietnam

is an expression

of that determination.

Operator:

Mr. Haldeman, sir.

David Brinkley:

It is said the new bombing of North Vietnam

is only temporary,

and the policy still is

gradually to end the war.

Nobody says when,

and nobody gives any persuasive reasons

why it didn't end

long ago.

Brinkley:

It is hard to remember the time

when the American people

tended to believe

what their government said.

I can assure you tonight

with confidence

that American involvement

in this war

is coming to an end.

The day the South Vietnamese

can take over their own defense

is in sight.

Impeach Nixon now!

Man:

We're veterans of Vietnam

and we're telling the American

people that the war is wrong.

I want to ask you:

who are you going to believe,

the veterans of Vietnam

or Tricky Dick?

Operator:
Mr. President,

Dr. Kissinger, sir.

John Kerry:

Each day to facilitate the process by which

the United States washes

her hands of Vietnam

someone has to die so that

President Nixon won't be...

and these are his words...

"the first president to lose a war."

Colson:
This fellow Kerry...

Nixon:
Yeah.

Colson:

Hell, he turns out to be

really quite a phony.

Nixon:
Well,

he is sort of a phony, isn't he?

Nixon:

I realize in this room

there are many reporters

who disagree with my policy

to bring the war to an end in the way

that I believe it should be ended,

and who probably agree with the

views of the demonstrators.

I was insisting on

and worked for peace with honor.

And they wanted peace

at any price.

Impeach Nixon now,

impeach Nixon now!

Ted Kennedy:

Richard Nixon was elected to end a war.

Protestors:

Impeach Nixon now!

This bloodbath

started long ago

and we are a part of it.

And it will continue daily

as long as the war

continues.

Nixon:
Despite the fact that

many members of Congress

were making great noises

against the war,

and despite the fact that the media

was overwhelmingly against the war,

that was not the voice

of America.

The voice of America was

the Silent Majority.

Frank McGee:
Tricia Nixon and Edward

Cox will be married tomorrow.

Nixon:
The women of my life

have all been remarkable.

I have always

sort of prided myself

on self-control.

And I am emotional,

but I don't believe

you should share emotions.

I am a great believer

in privacy.

Nixon:
Hello.

Operator:
Secretary Rogers.

Nixon:
Hi, Bill.

Rogers:
Hey, that wedding was just great.

Nixon:
It was the...

you've got to give Pat and Tricia the credit.

They really worked. And that White

House staff, weren't they great?

Rogers:

It was absolutely superb.

Operator:
General Haig, sir.

Ready.

Nixon:
Hello?

Haig:
Yes sir.

Nixon:

Nothing else of interest in the world today?

Haig:
Yes sir.

This goddamn "New York Times"...

expose of the most highly-classified

documents of the war.

This is a devastating

security breach

of the greatest magnitude.

Nixon:

I was very surprised and shocked,

and of course Henry Kissinger

was just as surprised.

Operator:
Mr. President,

I have Dr. Kissinger calling you.

Nixon:

Thousands of pages of documents

secret documents

from the Pentagon

were published

in "The New York Times,"

the so-called

Pentagon Papers.

As a result of their

publications,

I know that it

encouraged the enemy.

Walter Cronkite:
Publication

of parts of the 47-volumed,

top secret history of American

involvement in Vietnam

has triggered a major

Constitutional legal battle

over government secrecy

and freedom of the press.

The Justice Department went

to court in New York today

and got a temporary order

restraining "The Times"

from publishing the next

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