Our Nixon

---

-Where to begin?

Um, we've waited a long time

to chat with Bob Haldeman.

And now we have the opportunity,

and, uh, the

question is where to start.

Here you were, you worked four

years in Washington as Nixon's

number two man--

Nixon's SOB, as you

called yourself.

Dick Nixon never went to Key

Biscayne without you.

He never went anywhere

without you.

-Pretty close to right.

-What you're accusing yourself

of is a cloudy crystal ball.

That's hardly the mea culpa

that the American public

thinks it's entitled to.

That's the issue.

-Well, maybe the American

public's wrong.

I know in my own heart, and I

know in my own head, precisely

what I did.

I know precisely why I did it.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: OK.

-And I know that I made

some mistakes.

I deeply regret those

mistakes.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: As

Richard Nixon's right-hand

man, he was the one most often

recorded on the tapes, and

they destroyed him.

-I had the rare privilege for

four years of serving on the

White House staff under one of

America's greatest presidents.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:

Former White House

chief-of-staff HR Haldeman found

guilty today on five

counts in the Watergate

cover-up trial.

-Do you regret what happened,

and what you did?

-Oh, sure.

The country lost motion.

Uh, a lot of the good things we

were working on in the way

of domestic reforms, uh,

were lost in the mess.

Uh, you can't help but regret,

uh, an aftermath of that kind.

A lot of good people had their

lives spoiled in the process.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: John

Ehrlichman has finished his

statements.

He was then returned to

the holding room.

Rather a strange phrase, Nelson,

the holding room.

Give's you an ide-- idea that

they're holding a chemical or

a bacterium or something.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Former

White House domestic

affairs adviser, John

Ehrlichman, four counts--

guilty.

-Uh, the references to like an

era of criminality, or like

people there were trying

to rape the

country of its democracy.

I mean, I just don't

see it that way.

-Chapin was linked in several

reports to the Watergate case,

alleged sabotage of

the Democratic

presidential campaign.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Chapin

today was found guilty

of lying to the Watergate

grand jury.

-I don't think you can take that

little piece of history,

which may have been the darkest

days of Richard

Nixon's career, and construct

from that a mosaic that tells

you all about that man.

[film projector noise]

[crowds cheering]

[MUSIC - TRACY ULLMAN,

"THEY DON'T KNOW"]

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]: You,

Richard Milhous Nixon, do

solemnly swear--

-I, Richard Milhous Nixon,

do solemnly swear--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]: --that

you'll faithfully

execute the office--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:

--that I will faithfully

execute the office--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:

--of President

of the United States--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:

--of President

of the United States--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:

--and will, to the

best of your ability--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:

--and will, to

the best of my ability--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:

--preserve

protect, and defend--

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:

--preserve,

protect, and defend--

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:

--the Constitution

of the United States.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:

--the Constitution of the

United States.

EARL WARREN [OFFSCREEN]:

So help you, God.

RICHARD NIXON [OFFSCREEN]:

So help me, God.

[applause]

[music - "hail to the chief"]

-The new president was in his

office here at the White House

at 7:
30 this morning, before

anyone else on his staff, and

after only about four

hours sleep.

He's felt for sometime that he

could do this job pretty well,

and he was eager to get at it.

-President-elect Nixon today

named another long time aide,

HR Haldeman, to be a White

House assistant.

-Haldeman, a Los Angeles

advertising executive, served

as chief-of-staff for

the Nixon campaign.

DAN RATHER [OFFSCREEN]: Haldeman

is the closest thing

to an alter ego the president

has, noted for his

conservative views, his crewcut,

and his nonstop home

movie taking.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: It was

just an extremely exciting

time for all of us.

It was terribly hard work,

and very, very

long difficult hours.

But it was exciting because you

were building something.

There was no great ideological

thrust or, uh, noble ambition

involved in this, and no thought

at all of, of, uh,

becoming permanently involved

in either politics or

government.

It was, it was a thing where

I felt it would be an

interesting side experience,

where I could make a

contribution, and that something

would be a learning

experience, and an interesting

experience for me.

So that's, that's

why I did it.

-The White House staff, as it

evolves, I think you'll find

will be smaller than it's

been in the past.

I know you'll find it'll be

probably the youngest one in

history-- certainly one

of the youngest.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Also

named as a special assistant

was another ad man, 27-year-old

Dwight Chapin, who

served as Mr. Nixon's

personal aide.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]: You

got to keep in mind I was 27

years old at that point.

And we'd just gone through this

campaign, and I was just

waiting to see what unfolded.

The day that I went in and

interviewed for the job, and I

met this young 34-year-old

crewcut guy by

the name of Bob Haldeman.

And Bob Haldeman changed

my life.

I've never laughed as much as

when I worked in the Nixon

White House.

The, the sense of humor was

the leveling factor.

Things which'd--

messes we would find ourselves

in, or whatever it might be.

-I think a lot of the younger

staff people here find that he

can far excel, uh, them in terms

of energy and stamina.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I

took a camera on all my

trips-- a super 8--

and I have quite a collection

of film.

-John Ehrlichman, a 43-year-old

Seattle lawyer,

who directed Nixon's campaign

tour, will have a broad

advisory role in the Nixon

administration.

-I think this first year

will be seen as

basically a time of reform.

-Ehrlichman is the president's

chief aide for domestic

affairs, understudy of Haldeman,

whom he has known

since college.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I

was not a passionate Nixon

person, uh, going in.

Probably if, if some college

friend had invited me to go

and dance for John Kennedy,

I might have gone.

There were very few illusions

about Richard Nixon, I think,

among the senior staff--

particularly

as we got into things.

Uh, a good deal of kind of

wry humor about his, uh,

mannerisms, and his foibles,

and his prejudices.

Nevertheless, you're, you work

for the President of the

United States.

He's the only president

around.

Uh, you all elected him.

Uh, we all work for him, and

it's up to us to make it work.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]:

It was a very

unnatural kind of life.

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