Secret Honor Page #6

goddamn it!

I'm sorry, Mother.

I'm sorry.

My mother always used to say...

that there is no path to peace.

Peace is...

the path.

That's what my mother said.

Roberto...

would you erase everything, please...

back to, uh -

uh, the, uh, Committee of 100, please?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Your Honor...

the Committee of 100,

they were, uh... winners.

They were real winners.

[Stammers] Not me. Not yet. I was not -

But, look- I was not a quitter.

See, the Hiss case was the key...

because the Hiss case proved that I could

manage a crisis, that I could save the -

Well, sh*t, I could save the Committee if I -

I could save the goddamn country-

Your Honor, I would like

to talk for a minute, if I may...

about the Hiss case.

If Alger Hiss could look down

his Ivy League snoot...

at the House Un-American Activities

Committee and get away with it...

then HUAC was through,

the Committee was through -

[Stammers]

I was sure as hell through!

So what do I do?

I have ten days to prove that Alger Hiss

is a high Communist agent...

in our State Department...

or else everybody is going to say

that we've been made into a laughingstock...

by a clever psychopath

named Whittaker Chambers...

who has set the Committee up to -

[Stammers] Sh*t.

"Psychopath," for Christ's sake.

Whittaker wasn't a psychopath.

He was a goddamn genius. That's what he was.

As a matter of fact, Whittaker was

the only one that I could even -

I think of the two of us,

underneath the -

Just...

rocking...

rocking.

Yes? Whittaker?

[Chuckles]

You have been what?

A disciple of the devil?

And what are you now?

Now you are on God's side?

[Stammers]

No, no, no, no. I'm not laughing at you.

Whittaker, I know

that you're serious.

Because I told you about my mother...

and the Quakers and everything.

Look, Whittaker, I'm going to

come over to see you -

[Snickers]

Because misery loves company, that's why.

Whittaker, look,

we all get low sometimes.

And then we need cheering up.

We need to talk to somebody.

You know, man to, uh, uh, uh -

[Stammering]

Straight from the, uh, uh -

I -Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yes.

I feel that way about you... too.

No, no, look, Whittaker,

we are going to use your plan...

because there is no way

that we can prove...

that you and Alger Hiss were in

the Communist Party at the same time.

But we can prove this: I know I can

prove that you and Hiss knew each other.

In fact, that you were very close.

That you -

You were both creatures of the Party?

And what are you now?

Both creatures of the government.

[Laughing, Stammering]

Okay.

Whittaker, look,

I think you should get some sleep.

No, no, no, no, listen, listen.

This'll help.

"Now I lay me down to sleep -"

Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Yes.

Pleasant dreams.

Your Honor...

the Hiss case

brought my client national fame.

However, in politics

victory is never total.

And as an aftermath to the Hiss case...

I mean, for years afterwards...

my client was subjected to a vicious

and utterly unprincipled smear campaign...

in which he was accused of being

a liar and a cheat and a thief...

and a pervert -

But the Committee of 100 saw

that I had saved the day- I had.

Alger Hiss? He was in jail for perjury.

Whittaker Chambers? He was, uh -

Whittaker was dead.

But I was on top.

I was.

I was on top.

I was on top.

[Stammering]

The, uh, strain -

It was because of the strain...

that I had to, uh, get away.

So I went down to, uh, Bebe's boat

in Key Biscayne...

and we talked about it down there,

Bebe and I...

and that is where we decided

that I should go after Helen Gahagan Douglas...

in the 1950 senate campaign

in California.

I - Helen Douglas, she -

[Chuckles] Remarkable woman.

Strong woman.

Uh, noble-looking.

She was, uh -There was a -There was a -

There was a quality of, uh -

There was kind of an aura -

Sh-She had a -Th - Uh -

She was beautiful...

is what she was.

[Whispers]

She was very beautiful.

[Stammers]

She was the, uh, kind of woman

that I, uh -

Well, I thought that she -

Well, you see, I always felt

that Helen-that she -

I liked her.

I liked Helen.

Sh*t.

See, I could have beaten

Helen Gahagan Douglas...

without any dirty tricks.

But, see, Chotiner and the Committee...

they already had the money

coming in from Florida and everywhere.

It's those same jackasses from USC -

the USC rat-f***ers

or whatever the hell they called themselves.

Then they paid those students

to throw the rotten eggs at her...

and to plant the rumors

that she was a Red...

to say that she wore pink panties -

Oh, yes, and that her husband's

real name was Hesselstein or Braun or-

Look, I was only 37 years old,

for Christ's sake!

I had nothing against

Helen Gahagan Douglas.

As a matter of fact,

I thought that she was -To me she was -

But look...

Helen was the leader in the drive...

to take the offshore oil rights

away from the big companies, period.

Chotiner and the Committee wanted her dead.

I was to be the hatchet man, period.

Okay, Your Honor,

so, my idea then, in that campaign...

was to run as, uh, above party.

You know, as a kind of a, uh,

Republicrat.

Oh! Yes, yes, yes.

A Republicrat and-

[Chuckling]

Yes!

[Tune:
"Happy Days Are Here Again"]

The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds

Atheistic, godless, spying Reds

Hiding under Democratic beds

Ohh

The

Reds

The Reds, the Reds, the Reds

The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds

The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds

That's what the country believed then,

and I believed it too.

As a matter of fact,

my platform was...

"I believe in America,

and I believe in real estate and...

the Reds, the Reds,

the Reds, the Reds -"

The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds

The Reds, the Reds, the Reds, the Reds

[Laughing]

[Clock Chimes Once]

[Scoffs]

I got soft, is what I did.

I let Alger Hiss's wife get away from me

because she was a Quaker and everyth -

I learned my lesson, though.

Oh, yeah.

You gotta be hard-on.

I mean, these women are the worst type -

Dump Nixon. Never-

That's when the goddamn L.A. Times

started calling me "Tricky Dick."

And then the cartoons

with the stubble and the jowls.

Look, I had feelings too.

My wife, my children, my family,

they had to stomach all that crap!

I mean, can you imagine?

Making me look like a goddamn tramp!

All right, yes!

That's what I am! I'm a tramp!

There I am down in the sewer

waiting for my turn...

just like every-f***ing-body else!

A slimy slug

crawling toward the White House...

down there in the swamp...

where the goddamn Founding Fathers

put the White House in the first f***ing place.

The goddamn L.A. Times

and the Post.

We will get those bastards

because they deserve it!

I mean, lording it over

the whole country like that.

Look, I was not dumped.

Oh, no, no, no, no.

I walked away, but I didn't quit.

That's right.

Because I have got the patience.

Mm-hmm.

They did not call me Iron Butt

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes