Nixon by Nixon: In His Own Words Page #3

that you would not see Reston.

Nixon:
That's right, that's right.

I want you to tell Henry

he should not talk to Reston.

Nixon:
I invite the press in

because I feel very honored

to make this presentation. Reasoner:

The president's relations with the press

are more restricted

and controlled in his behalf

than those of any other

modern-day president.

If you already have one,

that makes two.

We just give you little

trinkets for coming in.

Operator:
Mr. Colson, sir.

Yeah.

Chancellor:

Daniel Schorr is a correspondent for CBS News

in Washington, who is,

like many reporters,

occasionally at odds

with the White House.

It was disclosed today

that the White House ordered

an FBI investigation

of Schorr just after

he had written a story

unflattering to the president.

To a great many citizens

of this country

it is no longer an honorable

thing to be a news broadcaster.

The administration has

set the country against us,

apparently by some design.

Because if you can

discredit the press

then it doesn't matter

much more what they say.

Mr. President, as you

enter this election year,

public-opinion polls indicated

that the American people...

about 50%...

said that you lacked

personal warmth

and compassion.

Why do you suppose

that is?

Without trying to psychoanalyze myself,

because that's your job,

I would simply answer

the question by saying that...

my strong point

is not rhetoric,

it isn't showmanship,

it isn't big promises.

My strong point,

if I have a strong point, is performance.

Nixon:
Rather is just a son of a b*tch,

don't you think?

Colson:

He's going to always be a son of a b*tch.

He's just a bastard period.

Nixon:
Be sure Rather gets a few

nasty notes on his reporting.

I don't know

whether it helps or not.

Colson:
Yeah,

he's very sensitive to that.

Nixon:
Well, have you...

have you arranged that?

Colson:
Yes, sir. And...

Nixon:
I'd hit him hard.

I have a temper.

I control it publicly

rather well.

Reasoner:

He's a very complicated man.

His confidence results from an

intellectual analysis of himself

in relation to all

the factors of his life.

This explains his ability

to make quick accommodations

and dramatic changes in his policies,

which is good.

But it also explains

the sometime periods

of brooding retreat

and dissociation,

when the image of self

apparently becomes

an image of a strong man

beleaguered by fools.

Nixon:

Most of our media "friends"

just can't resist

psychoanalyzing

because they think

I'm a very complex

and therefore

interesting person.

Vital to the President's

hopes for re-election

are the events

now taking place in Vietnam.

Operator:

General Haig, sir.

Nixon:
Yeah.

Haig:
Yes sir.

Nixon:
Al, I wanted to ask you,

how about that...

B-3 strike?

Is it going to get off?

Or did we hear yet?

Or what?

Haig:
Yes sir.

As of now, it's on schedule

and the weather is favorable. And that

would be the only thing that would...

Nixon:
Stop it. Right.

Haig:
...cause it to be postponed.

Nixon:
And that would be starting

tonight then, or today? Yes sir.

6:
00 our time.

We have as

our special guests tonight

the very famous choral group,

the Ray Conniff singers.

And if the music is square,

it's because I like it square.

Woman:

President Nixon,

stop bombing human beings,

animals and vegetation.

You go to church on Sundays

and pray to Jesus Christ.

If Jesus Christ

were here tonight,

you would not dare

drop another bomb.

Bless the Berrigans,

and bless Daniel Ellsberg.

Conductor:

Two three four.

Mom!

Doo-doo-doo doo

He's making

eyes at me...

Nixon:
Wasn't that the

goddamnedest thing you ever saw?

Nixon:

Without secrecy,

we would not have had

the opening to China.

Sam Donaldson:
It was gloomy and cold,

with snow threatening.

But an arctic blizzard couldnt have dampened

President Nixons high spirits on this morning.

And, shunning a topcoat,

he said goodbye

to the notables who had come

to see him off to China.

Nixon:
China was an unknown land.

I'd read about it all my life.

It was a land of mystery,

and the fact that we

hadn't had communication

with them for 25 years

built up that mystery.

My problem is that

I don't want to be

too close

to that many newsmen.

I've seen Jarriel.

I didn't see you.

Good morning.

Man:
Are you working without a hat?

Jarriel work for you,

work for him?

Uh, we are all equal

workers in America.

ABC, American

Broadcasting Company...

...Mr. Reasoner

and Mr. Jarriel.

NBC, Mr. Kaplow,

National Broadcasting.

CBS, they only have a cameraman.

Howard K Smith:

A year ago the possibility

that we'd ever see

anything like this picture

seemed more remote

than Neil Armstrong's

first footstep on the moon.

Mr. Nixon deserves credit

for a masterstroke

that is both opportune

and statesmanlike.

Nixon:

We knew that we were at a watershed event

in human history.

If it had not been undertaken

and if China had been forced

back under the Soviet umbrella,

the geopolitical relationship

and balance in the world

would be almost hopelessly

against us at this time.

Rather:
The question of what

city gets the gift panda bears

from mainland China

has been settled.

President and Mrs. Nixon

decided today

they should be displayed

in the Washington Zoo.

Nixon:
Just checking to see

how the panda thing went.

I've been in a meeting

and so I wasn't able to check.

Pat:

Oh, they were just darling.

Nixon:
Yeah, did they...

Everybody raved about 'em.

Nixon:

How did it... how did it work?

Were you able to get up to them?

Do you pet them

or anything like that?

Or they don't allow that or how does it work?

Pat:
No, they're glass-caged.

Yeah, mm-hmm.

But did they get a good

picture of it, I hope?

Pat:
Boy, it was well-covered.

Good good.

Nixon:
She was called "Plastic Pat"

because she was my wife.

The people that give

that kind of image

are basically

the women reporters.

You know, we talk about

men reporters,

but the women reporters are

more bitchy than the men.

You're very hard on female reporters,

Mr. President.

Oh, I'm hard on all reporters,

but only in a friendly way.

I would like to broaden

the subject, Mr. President.

There are the problems

of drugs,

of disaffection with the war,

of a general alienation.

What do you see as

the greatest problem

facing the American family

today?

Well, you've put your finger,

of course, on two problems.

But I think they

tend to be more

symptoms than causes.

I think the fundamental cause

must be a sense of insecurity.

A sense of insecurity

that comes

from the old values

being torn away.

The United States is assembling

one of the largest

naval strike forces in the history

of the war off the Vietnamese coast.

Marvin Kalb:

Officials say the president will not

withdraw American air power

until he gets a deal he likes.

Operator:

Mr. Mitchell, sir.

Rather:

Within the past week there have been reports

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