Our Nixon Page #2

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And, um, you had the feeling

you were in the middle of a

great big, brilliantly

lighted, badly

run television show.

I was taking a home movie

of this throughout.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:

I advanced the

first trip to Europe.

Uh, eight countries, and, and,

uh, I found myself hobnobbing

with the King of Belgium, and

the Pope, and all these folks,

and, and it got to be very

heady, very fast.

[speaking italian]

[speaking italian]

[applause]

[applause]

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]:

Hello.

Hello.

How are you?

BARBARA WALTERS [OFFSCREEN]:

Their critics call them the

Germans, and describe their

office as the Berlin Wall.

I'm speaking of President

Nixon's chief White House

advisers, Henry Kissinger,

John Ehrlichman, and HR--

for Harry Robbins--

Haldeman.

Everyone these days knows

who Henry Kissinger is.

John Ehrlichman is the

president's assistant for

domestic affairs.

But HR Haldeman's job is not an

easy, tidy one to describe.

And of the three men, he has,

been by his own choice, the

least visible to the public.

He's the only one of the three

never to have given a

television interview,

until now.

His friends talk of his

brilliance, his efficiency,

his total dedication to the

president, and his lack of

personal egotism or jealousy.

His critics call him cold,

arrogant, hostile to the

press, inaccessible.

This interview was filmed a

week ago in Mr. Haldeman's

office at the White House.

You have no calendar

of your own.

You, you really follow

the president's day.

You're available, as I

understand it, from 7:00 in

the morning on, and

on, and on.

What does this do to

your personal life?

-Well, it, uh, poses some

problems in it sometimes.

But, uh, I have, fortunately,

uh, a very understanding wife,

and, and four very interested

and understanding children.

BARBARA WALTERS [OFFSCREEN]: Do

your sons want you to grow

your hair longer?

-[LAUGHS] I was afraid you'd

probably ask that.

My--

you've probably seen the picture

of my sons that we

sent out for Christmas.

But, uh, because my older son

has, what I would call, very

long hair, and my younger son

has pretty long hair.

BARBARA WALTERS [OFFSCREEN]:

They don't look like daddy, if

that's what you mean.

-They don't.

But, uh, I've faced the fact

that, uh, they're the ones

that are in style, and I'm the

one that's out of step on, uh,

hair styling.

And, uh, I'm afraid they're

right and I'm wrong on that

one.

-You have said--

I'm using one of your

quotations again--

"I often find it fascinating

to ponder by what standards

history will judge Nixon when

all the partisan battles are

over." Well, how do you think

he will be judged?

-If he has the opportunity to

move ahead with what he's

trying to do, I think there

isn't any doubt he'll be

judged as one of the

great presidents.

WALTER CONKRITE [OFFSCREEN]:

Good morning.

Man is about to launch himself

on a trip to the moon, with

the expectation of

landing there.

Man going to the moon here

this morning, from this

Florida launch complex aboard

that Saturn rocket.

The rocket will go, will put the

men into orbit 115 miles

above the Earth for one

and a half orbits.

And then the third stage--

[music playing]

BRUCE MCCANDLESS [OFFSCREEN]:

Uh, go ahead, Mr. President.

This is Houston.

Out.

-Hello, Neil and Buzz.

I'm talking to you by telephone

from the Oval Room

at the White House.

And this certainly has to be

the most historic telephone

call ever made from

the White House.

And as you talk to us from the

Sea of Tranquility, it

inspires us to redouble our

efforts to bring peace and

tranquility to Earth.

For one priceless moment, in the

whole history of man, all

the people on this Earth

are truly one--

one in their pride in

what you have done.

WALTER CONKRITE [OFFSCREEN]:

Armstrong is on the moon--

Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old

American, standing on the

surface of the moon, on

this, July 20, 1969.

NEIL ARMSTRONG [OFFSCREEN]:

That's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

DWIGHT CHAPIN [OFFSCREEN]:

A typical day for me.

Haldeman would pick

me up around 7:
15.

He-- the car would get Bob.

Then it would get Larry

Higby, Bob's aide.

And then it would swing by my

house, and they'd end at the

White House.

I am responsible for the

scheduling, and also for the

president's daily activities.

Our thing was a machine,

and I knew my place.

A-- it really reflected a lot

about Richard Nixon, the

degree to which he wanted

things controlled.

JOHN EHRLICHMAN [OFFSCREEN]:

It literally was from 6

o'clock in the morning until

9 o'clock at night,

every day of the week--

and Saturdays and

Sundays, too.

And that pace was unremitting,

totally consuming, for

somebody like me.

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]: I was

very tough on people, feeling

that I had to be.

There's something about

the presidency that--

I've been ridiculed for my

picking up to Navy term of

zero defects.

But you do have to operate

as close to zero

defect as you can.

And I was not overly concerned

with whether people like me,

as a result of it or not.

I was only concerned with the

result the president wanted

got carried out.

-Why didn't you burn

the tapes?

Surely you talked about it.

-Well, I-- the question came up,

at one point, should the

tapes be destroyed?

And my strong recommendation

was that they

should not be destroyed.

-That was a mistake, wasn't

it, Mr. Haldeman?

HR HALDEMAN [OFFSCREEN]:

Yes, sir.

I would say that given what we

now know, and what's now

happened, that, that it was a

disastrous thing to have done.

But there was never a thought

that one word of those tapes

would be played in public, or

be played to other people.

And when it got to the point of

having to release them, or

of having even to consider the

possibility of releasing them,

they should have been, in my

opinion now, it should've have

been destroyed.

-I had no idea about

the taping system.

No.

No.

-No.

Never.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: John,

you didn't know about

the, uh, the tape maker--

the taping system in the

Oval Office, did you?

-No.

MALE SPEAKER [OFFSCREEN]: Did

it come as a surprise?

-It did.

Our White House staff was

essentially a dysfunctional

organization.

I think Nixon believed that he

didn't have to share every

piece of information

with everybody.

Listening to the tapes is very

revealing, because he's

talking to others about me,

and what I should know and

what he didn't want

me to know.

And he did the same thing with

Kissinger and the same thing

with a lot of people.

Um, several times I, I

recall his saying to

me, don't tell Henry.

He kept little water-tight

compartments of information,

and it didn't work very well.

-Dan Rather, who has closely

observed the Nixon presidency,

reports now on the first

year in office.

DAN RATHER [OFFSCREEN]: In 12

months, Richard Nixon proved

himself to have been

underestimated.

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