Transition of Power: The Presidency Page #2

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DOYLE:
At virtually the last

minute of the 1968 campaign,

something happened

that was so bizarre

and so shocking that the

details of it remained secret

for the next 50 years.

NARRATOR:

In the late 1960s,

America is once again at war.

The conflict in Vietnam

is tearing the country apart

and is the leading issue

in the 1968 election.

We shall begin with Vietnam.

Never has so much military power

been used so ineffectively.

UPDEGROVE:
Outgoing president

Lyndon Johnson

opted to brief all of the viable

presidential candidates:

Hubert Humphrey,

his vice president--

the Democratic candidate--

Richard Nixon,

the Republican candidate,

and George Wallace,

the Independent candidate.

And he briefed them

on what was happening

in the war in Vietnam.

NARRATOR:
In that briefing,

President Johnson reveals

a bombshell.

His administration is

in secret talks to end the war.

After years

of careful persuasion,

top diplomats are

nearing an agreement

to bring both North

and South Vietnam

to the negotiating table.

If Johnson successfully

negotiates peace,

it could help secure

the election

for his vice president,

Hubert Humphrey.

DOYLE:

Richard Nixon was desperate.

He saw a very,

very close election.

Hubert Humphrey

and he were polling

just about even

in all the polls.

This time we're gonna win!

(cheers and applause)

DOYLE:
To checkmate Humphrey,

what the Nixon campaign did

in secret

was an act

of political sabotage.

LICHTMAN:

Candidate Nixon acted

to try to scuttle

the peace talks.

He sent his representative

to the South Vietnamese

to say, "Don't cooperate.

Wait till I'm elected

and you will get a better deal."

NARRATOR:
Audio recordings,

declassified in 2008,

reveal that just days

before the election,

President Johnson learns

about Nixon's scheme

to derail the peace process.

DOYLE:
In a desperate attempt

to get the Nixon campaign

to stop these secret

backdoor negotiations

with South Vietnam,

President Johnson calls up

Republican leader

Everett Dirksen,

and accuses Republican

Richard Nixon

of the ultimate crime.

DIRKSEN:
Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a mistake.

Oh, it is.

Yeah.

JOHNSON:
All right.

(phone hangs up)

(telephone ringing)

NARRATOR:

Less than 24 hours later,

a call is patched through

to President Johnson.

JOHNSON:
Yes.

NARRATOR:

The peaceful transfer of power

from one president to the next

is a complex process

that begins

long before America chooses

its next leader.

To prepare the candidates

to govern

on day one, they receive

intelligence briefings

that are supposed

to remain top secret.

But in 1968,

at the height

of the Vietnam War,

candidate Richard Nixon

secretly uses

intelligence

from those briefings

to interfere with

President Johnson's efforts

to set up peace talks.

DOYLE:

Nixon campaign operatives

told the South Vietnamese

government

to pull out of the negotiations.

Don't negotiate now,

through the Johnson-Humphrey

administration, hang on,

you'll get

a better deal with us.

NARRATOR:
In recently

declassified recordings,

an adamant Nixon can be heard

assuring

President Lyndon Johnson

that he has made

no attempts to interfere

with the peace process.

JOHNSON:
Yes.

Yes, Dick.

Dick...

Well, that's good, Dick, I...

And if we can get it

done now, fine.

NARRATOR:
Nixon is lying,

and President Johnson knows it.

But there is nothing

he can do about it,

because his proof that

the Nixon campaign is tampering

with the peace process comes

from a secret

government wiretap

of the South Vietnamese embassy

in Washington, D.C.

In the political game of chess,

it's a stalemate

of king versus king.

LICHTMAN:

And as a result,

the South Vietnamese

did not cooperate

in the peace talks, a ceasefire

was not brokered,

Richard Nixon was elected,

and the war dragged on

and on for many years.

(chanting indistinctly)

You would think that the

transition from Johnson to Nixon

would be a bitter

and chaotic one.

Ironically, it turns out

to be one of the smoothest

in history.

I don't think Johnson wanted

to see the transition

become a point of contention.

And you're dealing with two

incredibly astute politicians.

You know, probably

the most astute politicians

of the last hundred years,

one could argue.

NARRATOR:

Before you can transfer power

to a new president,

the country first has

to choose one.

(bell tolling)

The 2016 election

between Hillary Clinton

and Donald Trump

marks only the fifth time

that the winner

of the popular vote

loses the presidency,

a result

that has renewed debate

about the Electoral College.

The peaceful transition

of power depends on a free

and fair electoral system,

a process that can be thrown

into a tailspin

when the margin is too slim.

In 1800,

the election

is as close as it gets.

Four men, including the sitting

president, John Adams,

are battling

to claim a majority

of the electoral votes.

LICHTMAN:

Two candidates tied.

Thomas Jefferson

and Aaron Burr.

And so the House

had to pick the president.

NARRATOR:

The Constitution mandates

that in the event of a tie

in the Electoral College,

the House of Representatives

must break the tie by a vote.

The House is deadlocked

for a week.

Finally, on the 36th round

of voting,

Vice President Thomas Jefferson

is elected

the third president

of the United States

just 15 days

before the inauguration.

BRANDS:

That transition

could have gone badly.

If there had been resistance,

then the American experiment

itself

would have taken

a different route.

When that one went peacefully,

it set the model for everything

that followed.

NARRATOR:
200 years later,

another divided election result

and a closely contested race

ends with the most

controversial transfer of power

in recent history.

ANCHOR:

It's been a nerve-racking night

for both candidates.

NARRATOR:

November 7, 2000.

As the returns

begin to roll in,

America learns a new

Election Night catch phrase:

"Too close to call."

Vice President Al Gore

is narrowly ahead

of George W. Bush

in the popular vote,

but the two are tied

in the Electoral College.

It all comes down

to Florida, where 25 electoral

votes will decide the election.

-ANCHOR:
We are now

projecting... -After 2:00 a.m.,

network projections

call Florida

a win for George W. Bush.

SECRETARY ANDREW CARD:

Bush won Florida,

and then Al Gore conceded,

and then Al Gore didn't concede

because maybe Bush

didn't win Florida.

NARRATOR:
Bush's margin

is just 1,784 votes,

less than 1/2 of one percent,

which, under Florida law,

triggers an automatic recount.

After 24 hours

of recounting ballots,

Bush's lead drops

to only 362 votes.

The Gore campaign petitions

for a manual recount

in four Florida counties.

It is even more important

that every vote is counted.

NARRATOR:

But the process takes time,

putting the transition of power

into a state of limbo.

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