Secret Honor

[Clock Chiming]

[Door Lock Unlocking]

Um, testing.

Uh, one, two, three, four.

[Motor Winding, Click]

Uh, testing.

Uh, one, two, three.

Uh, uh, uh, four.

[Tape:
Classical, Harpsichord]

[Off]

Uh, testing.

Uh, one, two, three, four.

Uh, Roberto,

I told you before...

that this thing doesn't, uh -

because there's no -

because the, uh, uh -

You know.

[Tape:
Classical, Harpsichord]

Cocksucker!

Uh, testing.

Uh, one, two, three, four.

Uh, Roberto, this is for, uh...

eyes only.

Um, our eyes.

Uh -

[Tape:
Classical, Harpsichord]

[Stops]

[On Tape]

Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.

Uh, Roberto, this is for, uh...

eyes only.

Um, our eyes.

Uh-

[Tape:
Classical, Harpsichord]

[Continues]

[Off]

Okay, Roberto...

would you, uh -

would you send, uh -

Call Mr. Stein at my publishers...

to pick up that, uh, package

that I gave you.

Oh! Oh, yes.

Would you also tell Mrs. Nixon

that I, um -

Never mind.

Oh! Oh, yes.

I, uh, l-I hear that the gardener's wife -

that Fernando's wife is in the hospital.

Would you send her a, uh, u-uh -

Send her a new portable radio, please.

Uh, make it a good one.

And, oh, uh, don't-uh, don't -

don't tell her that it's from, uh -

I would - I would rather that she didn't, uh -

Just make it, uh, anonymous. I -

No! No, no, no, no, no, no.

Say that, um -

Uh, say that it is from

Friends of a Free Cuba.

[Chuckles]

Cuba libre.

Okay, uh, side one.

Um, day and date,

um, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I'll, um - I'll write the, um, um, uh -

the prayer f-

Uh, the, um, uh-the plea f-

the prologue -

You know. Um -

Okay, uh -

[Clears Throat]

Your Honor...

may we take the matter

of the, uh, pardon first?

Uh - [Scoffs]

It was a complete fake.

It solved nothing

because, uh, well...

if there had been a trial

and all the rest of it -

Well, you know, if I had gone to prison,

I would be a free man today.

A free man!

Now, the word "pardon"

has two definitions.

First, there is the legal aspect,

which is to...

excuse a convicted man

from punishment.

Then there is the general definition

of the word "pardon"...

which is to forgive.

[Hisses]

"Forgive."

[Laughs]

Forgive them

before they ever forgive me.

Bastards. F*** 'em!

Son of a b*tches.

[Chuckles]

Your Honor...

my client has been driven

almost mad...

because he has had to carry

the most terrible secrets of all...

Iocked up inside his, uh, uh,

breaking heart...

and, uh, uh, beating mind.

Now, you have read in the press...

the reasons for the Watergate affair.

Today my client is going

to reveal to you...

the reasons behind the reasons.

You, ladies and gentlemen

of the American jury...

shall look at the face

that is under the mask that is -

that is under the mask!

[Chuckling]

You alone shall judge his life.

Your Honor, my client has never

been convicted of anything...

therefore, technically,

he was not qualified for a pardon.

Now, as to the definition

of the word 'pardon"-

Look, there's been no forgiveness here.

The whole damn thing

has been a sham.

There's been no trial,

no legal conviction, no punishment.

Instead, Your Honor,

my client has had to suffer...

lifelong personal punishment

and, uh, torment...

for what has been called, the, uh -

[Scoffs] good of the nation.

Look, if the nation

knew the real truth...

why, I would be in the position of, uh,

of de Gaulle, for instance, because I -

Look, I had to withdraw becau -

De Gaulle and, uh-and, uh, Mao -

[Stammers]

Mao!

He was a kind of

a lone wolf too, you know.

As a matter of fact,

he said to me once, he said...

"I am alone with the people,

waiting."

I will never forget that moment.

It made the, uh, gooseflesh come out,

because I -

Look, if the American people

knew what really happened, I - I - I -

You see, Your Honor,

I know that the whole story...

could never be told

during my lifetime...

because the nation

could not have stood the whole story.

Take the, uh, killing of President Kennedy

and the Warren report and so forth.

The nation could not have stood

the whole story.

So it was a blessing when that, uh -

Sh*t! What's his, uh, uh - Ruby.

When he shot, uh, O - Uh, Oswald.

Look, I'm not saying

that two rights make a wrong.

But it was a godsend when that, uh -

that patriotic nightclub owner-

when he- when he shot-

Look, l-

I always understood

the Kennedy brothers. Oh, yeah.

The four boys? Well, see,

we were four brothers too, you know.

My brother, Harold, you know,

he had the same charisma.

[Chuckles]

The women, they all -

You know, he was

a big, brash redhead. I -

Sh*t!

Sh*t!

It was TB.

Goddamn TB.

Up and down

both sides of the family.

Got my little brother, Arthur,

in 1925.

And it got my brother, Harold...

in 1933.

[Stammering]

But in those days you went to, uh -

Well, actually, my mother,

she took us to, uh, Arizona for the dry air.

Then I came along

later in the summer too...

to work as a barker

at the carnival there...

at the, uh, uh, Slippery Gulch rodeo.

[Stammering]

Then, years later, that son of a b*tch wrote

that I was a shill for a crooked card game!

That bastard! Son of a b*tch!

I - I - But -

[Chuckling]

But my- My old man...

he-he-he called it a, uh -

a fat cat's lunger clinic.

My old man was very, uh -

He had a certain kind - He was -

[Chuckling]

Ah, sh*t!

Arthur was only seven years old.

He was the worst.

God, he was so cute.

Goddamn TB!

That's the reason that we came to California

in the first place-because of the climate.

And they all died anyway.

I used to lay awake at night

trying to figure out how the hell I got -

[Stammers]

When I was a child...

the sweetest sound I ever heard...

was the sound...

of the Santa Fe Railway.

"Tonight I see

the face of a child.

"He is black. He is white.

He is Mexican, Italian, Polish.

"None of that matters.

"What does matter is that

he is an American child.

"He is American.

"He sleeps the sleep of childhood...

"and dreams its dreams.

"But when he awakens...

"he awakens to a living nightmare

of poverty, neglect and despair.

"For him, the American system

is one that feeds his stomach...

and starves his soul."

[Chuckles]

That's very good!

That's -That's my favorite.

That's a -

"It breaks - It -

"It breaks his heart...

and in the end it may take his life

on some distant battlefield."

I see the face...

of another child.

He lies awake at night...

and he hears the train go by...

and he dreams...

of faraway places

that he would like to go.

Seems like an impossible dream.

But he is helped

on his journey through life...

by his father,

by a gentle Quaker mother...

by a great football coach...

courageous wife...

and loyal children.

- [Crowd Cheering, Faint]

- Tonight, ladies and gentlemen...

he stands before you...

nominated for president

of the United States.

You can see why I believe deeply

in the American dream.

For most of us,

the American revolution has been won.

The American dream has come true.

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