Secret Honor Page #7

in law school for nothing.

Oh, yeah, laugh, laugh,

laugh, laugh, laugh.

Sure. Sure, I drove Pat to her dates

with other men before we were married.

And what of it?

Nobody dumps Nixon!

And the Times and the Post

and the rest of the goddamn country...

they tried to shaft Nixon

and the rest of the forgotten Amer-

Even Ike. Ike!

Ike tried to get rid of me in '56.

And I said to him, I said,

"Sh*t or get off of the godda -"

Because you listen to this - Finally, Nixon -

only Nixon could dump Nixon.

Yeah! Hmph.

F***ing tapes! Sh*t!

The tapes were an invasion of the public's privacy.

Not mine! The goddamn public's.

[Chuckles]

"Expletive deleted."

For Christ's sake!

The whole goddamn public mind

is one great big, fat "expletive deleted"...

as far as the Eastern establishment

is concerned.

And, you see,

that's why they hated me -

because they hate the ordinary American

who lives down there...

in the armpit of this country

between New York and L.A.

And the tapes are just one more

goddamn set of lies!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

[Scoffs]

Me, a liar?

That's rich, coming from you.

Oh, yeah.

Very easy for you...

to take the high road.

But, you see,

I couldn't do that.

You delegated. I had to do all the dirty work

right from the beginning.

You sat up there and you said, "Can't somebody

do something about that Castro fella?"

Look, I heard you say that.

But you understand that it was me that had to

go out there and pull the goddamn trigger!

I mean...

you are a hypocrite!

[Scoffs]

Then I answered that goddamn ad...

in that goddamn paper

for congressman.

See, from that point on I couldn't even -

I was not even able - I couldn't -

F***. I couldn't do anything.

Well, Your Honor...

they called the tune...

the Committee of 100.

They took me back up there, you know.

Oh, yeah. Back up to the Grove.

[Scoffs]

No drinks this time.

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

This was strictly business.

"The American future

lies to the East.

"The great free markets

of the Pacific Rim...

"are the American destiny.

"Dick, you are going to be president

of the United States.

"It is only a matter of time.

"President of the Pacific Rim.

And Taiwan will be yours."

[Chuckles]

I - I will never forget

Arnold Smith's voice.

"Taiwan will be your trigger finger.

Your trigger finger!"

And then somebody- I forget -

Oh, yes, Chotiner.

He said something in Yiddish,

and all those jerks from Miami laughed.

Oh, then Haldeman's father-

the old man -

he whispered in my ear...

"Taiwan is the China plan -

"the shaft, the arrow...

that will plunge into

the body of the East."

Well, I was drawing a long bow

that night.

I found that out later.

But that night I just...

wandered...

in that redwood forest...

all by myself.

You understand what they told me?

They told me that the China plan

would be my Excalibur.

A plan for peace is what they told me,

a plan for good, for greatness.

My Camelot!

I could hear those guys

out there in the woods...

laughing and singing.

Yes, I knew they were using me.

Of course I knew that.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

My life ended that night.

God forgive me.

I mean -

I mean...

there were so many dirty tricks!

I had no one to talk to.

I was getting pressure from above,

pressure from below.

[Stammering]

Where's Deep Throat when I need him?

I need to leak how they made me do it!

Look, I am not a fool.

I knew that this was the crossroads.

I knew it was either go all the way

with the China plan people...

or suffer the consequences.

That's right. I did know that I was signing

a pact with the devil out in that wilderness.

Yes, I knew that!

Sh*t!

See, I can feel Mother's eyes right now

beaming down on me.

Stop it, Mother!

Searchlights of truth burning into

each crisis in my miserable life!

Mother, do you remember

when Harold lay dying in Arizona...

and we fought together, you and I?

Remember, you were by his bedside

and I was out barking- Arf,, arf,, arf,, arf!

I was trying to bring in

a little money to help out.

Remember I used to say, "Step right in!

Step right in! Win your fortune on the ins -"

And then I'd come home, Mother...

and you would tell me

what a good boy I was...

and I would tell you how I wanted

to grow up to be Abraham Lincoln.

Mother?

Mother?

Step right in. Step right in.

Meet real men and riches...

and heart's desire...

on the inside!

Mother, have mercy

on your little dog. Please.

Do you remember...

your little dog?

Arf?

Arf?

[Guttural]

Arf.

[Softly]

Arf, arf, arf.

[Stifled Sobs]

I wish you...

would come home right now...

Mama.

[Grunts]

Your Honor, I, uh -

Sh*t!

All right, goddamn it!

You wanted to hear it.

This is it.

Your Honor...

I did not have a choice.

I mean...

I had to get out.

I had to resign right after the election,

get the pardon...

or follow the Committee of 100's orders

to prepare for a public mandate.

Now, that is a constitutional amendment.

T-That's right, Your Honor.

A third term for my client.

And whatever happened to me after that,

that would've been my problem.

It would've all come out in the end anyway

because the Patman Committee -

Congressman Wright Patman and his -

[Stammering]

The American people must understand why

I could not level with my lawyers...

and burn the -

They were stabbing me in the back anyway.

F*** 'em!

Patman and his committee...

they were following all this cash that was coming

into the Committee to Re-elect the President.

Now, CREEP - The committee -

had money in, uh -

Well, sh*t, Taiwan, of course,

and, uh-and Hong Kong...

and, uh-and Singapore

and Rangoon, l-I -

Millions! Millions of dollars.

All right, Patman, he's a Texas radical,

you know, and he is very bright.

He is onto something here

and he knows it.

I mean, Your Honor, that money...

was flooding into

the Committee to Re-elect the President...

after the president had already

been re-elected, for Christ's sake!

I mean, after the biggest landslide

in American history in 1972.

And Patman, he's saying, "Why is all this

money still coming in to the committee?"

And especially he wants to know,

Your Honor...

why all that money

is coming in from, uh-from Asia.

[Stammering]

That money was to be used, Your Honor...

to re-elect Nixon in '76.

You know, "Stick with Dick in '76"

and all that sh*t, for Christ's -

All right, the Saigon government

is sending back millions of dollars.

L-In the meantime, ol' Henry,

he's out there talking about -

I - [Stammers]

"Peace is at hand," some sh*t.

Even I don't know what the hell

he's talking about, for Christ's sake.

Okay, the Saigon government is kicking back

millions of dollars in U.S. Aid.

Now, understand this-this is money

that we had originally sent to them.

They're sending it back to me

and to CREEP.

Now, the Committee of 100

said to me...

that they didn't give a sh*t if I went to China

and got in bed with Chairman Mao.

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