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00:11F.B.I. Chief J. Edgar Hoover's death had a hidden side effect,
00:16unleashing Nixon's impulse to gather intelligence on his enemies illegally.
00:21And six weeks later, the Watergate break-in occurred.
00:26Congressman Wright Patman launched an investigation into the burglary.
00:30But the Nixon White House used blackmail and political pressure to thwart him.
00:35One more opponent sidelined.
00:48Okay.
00:49Put yourself back in time to the year 1972.
00:53Like a lot of people, you're watching Watergate unfold and trying to make sense of it.
00:58When do you think it would have hit you?
01:00That the whole thing could be a massive conspiracy.
01:07If you had a dark hunch that you were not being told the full story,
01:13I think December 8th, 1972 would have been a day when your ears perked up a little bit.
01:20Good evening.
01:21There's been a bad plane crash in Chicago near Midway Airport.
01:32On that snowy afternoon, United Airlines Flight 553 was a minute away from landing at Midway Airport in Chicago
01:40when it crashed on a residential street on the city's south side.
01:44We heard this jet and I looked and I saw the plane hit the garage and go through it.
01:52And then I saw it go up in flames and I ran over there and I could hear people screaming
01:57and people were trying to get in.
02:01I'm telling you about this plane crash because it happened about six months after the Watergate break-in.
02:07Because among the dead was Dorothy Hunt, the wife of E. Howard Hunt, one of the burglary's masterminds.
02:15Because when they found her body, she was carrying $10,000 in cash,
02:19which, seeing as Hunt was about to testify about his involvement in the burglary,
02:24looked like it may have been hush money.
02:26There was a lot of screaming and we opened that hatch to crawl out, but we're already inside somebody's house.
02:34And because an abnormally large number of FBI agents, around 50 or so, arrived at the site directly after the
02:41crash.
02:41You'll leave the investigation up to the federal authorities?
02:44Well, the men are doing everything they can.
02:47And finally, because the day after, Richard Nixon nominated the head of his infamous plumbers unit
02:54to the position of Undersecretary of Transportation,
02:57giving him direct control over the agency that would be investigating the crash.
03:02Any indication why the plane was there, Loser?
03:04No, but the investigating team will start its work tonight when they arrive.
03:12Now, do I think Nixon orchestrated a plane crash to eliminate Hunt's wife so that she wouldn't squeal?
03:18No. That's insane.
03:23But at the time of the crash, if you had said that Nixon was involved in Watergate,
03:28most Americans would have called you insane, too.
03:32If you want to know what it was like to try to understand Watergate as it was happening,
03:36to try to figure out what was actually true and what was a crackpot theory,
03:41I think the crash illustrates a tension that you would have felt back then,
03:45a tension that delayed Watergate in becoming a massive story.
03:49I think the people in this country have a right to know if the United Airlines is being used to
03:54get rid of a witness.
03:55Because Watergate was such uncharted territory, it presented a unique challenge for anyone trying to make sense of it.
04:04How do you tell the difference between a coincidence and a conspiracy?
04:09We shall try tonight to pull together the threads of this amazing story,
04:14quite unlike any in our modern American history.
04:17...responsibility to defend this great office against false charges.
04:23What was it like to live through Watergate without knowing how it was all going to end?
04:28...causing this nation to neglect matters of far greater importance.
04:35One way to find out is to look at that moment of American history
04:40as seen through the eyes of the people who lived it,
04:43back when they had no idea what was coming.
04:46If we learn the important lessons of Watergate,
04:48we can emerge from this experience a better and a stronger nation.
04:54I'm Leon Nafok.
04:56This is Slow Burn.
05:00Slow Burn
05:14The crash of United Airlines Flight 553 got a lot of coverage on both television and in the papers.
05:20And while most of the press focused on the death toll and what may have gone wrong with the plane,
05:24there was someone, a much less mainstream voice,
05:28who covered the crash from a very different angle.
05:32Her name was May Brussel.
05:38This is Dialogue Conspiracy,
05:41a public affairs presentation of KLRB News.
05:45Hello, and we'll get right into the events of the week, Dialogue Conspiracy.
05:50And we're going to start right off with the Watergate affair.
05:54Brussel's radio show was broadcast out of KLRB,
05:58a small left-wing FM rock station in California.
06:02She had been following the Watergate story closely from the beginning.
06:06But when Howard Hunt's wife Dorothy died,
06:09Brussel did not think it was just a coincidence.
06:11I just want to mention something which was shocking.
06:14If you've been following the Watergate story and listening to my program,
06:18we talk about Howard Hunt,
06:20and Mrs. Howard Hunt died on that plane crash in Chicago December the 8th,
06:25carrying money.
06:26She also had some ideas about the cash that Dorothy Hunt was carrying at the time of the incident.
06:31The money came from El Paso gas.
06:33It had something to do with John Mitchell.
06:35There were cyanide traces in the bloodstream of the pilot.
06:39I think you could kind of see where she was going with all this.
06:42The people in this country have a right to know
06:44if the United Airlines is being used
06:46to get rid of a witness of a conspiracy trial like the Watergate.
06:51For May Brussel,
06:53United Flight 553 was another dot that she could connect
06:56in the ever-expanding conspiracy of Watergate.
07:00And while she had some pretty far-fetched ideas about it,
07:03she was one of the only people at the time
07:05to really pay attention to Martha Mitchell.
07:07Martha Mitchell got on the telephone on Thursday from out in California.
07:11She said that if you could see me, you wouldn't believe me.
07:14I'm black and blue.
07:15I'm a political prisoner.
07:17They left me in California with absolutely no information,
07:21and they don't want me to talk.
07:23She's preparing for a show.
07:24Is anyone editing her?
07:26No.
07:28No.
07:29Yeah, editing.
07:29That's a good question about May Brussel.
07:31A lot of us suggested,
07:34May, talk slower.
07:35May, stop and explain a little bit about this.
07:40My name is David Bean,
07:41and I was program director at KLRB FM Radio
07:45while May Brussel was broadcasting her program.
07:48May felt an affinity with Martha Mitchell.
07:52And you can place all the blame right on the White House.
07:55Because she felt Martha Mitchell was being muzzled,
07:59and May knew she was right.
08:03And it wasn't just Martha.
08:05May Brussel was one of the first public voices to assert,
08:08as it was happening,
08:09that Watergate was a government cover-up.
08:11The way the government covers up things when they're caught
08:14and show the parallel to the way they covered up
08:16being caught in the office of the Democratic Party this week.
08:21May sourced her information from newspapers, primarily.
08:26She was cutting out clippings.
08:27She was filing the clippings in boxes.
08:31She'd say, you know,
08:32this newspaper just reported this,
08:34and this guy did this,
08:35and that means this guy,
08:37and they don't even know about the relationship
08:39to another guy that I've discovered.
08:42You know, I just filed up the newspaper articles
08:44when I cut the paper,
08:45even because I take eight papers a day
08:46and I have a section of things to read right away,
08:48and then things I can read later.
08:50And then the right-of-way I separate
08:52into whether I want to copy them and cross-file them
08:54or put them in particular categories.
08:57Her whole life became this research.
09:02Now, I feel compelled to say here
09:04that Brussel covered a lot of ground.
09:06And she espoused many theories
09:08that I just don't believe in.
09:10She thought the government
09:11was using chemical weapons as mind control.
09:14The CIA has a laboratory
09:15and facilities to spread germ warfare
09:18inside the USA,
09:19and I don't have any doubt
09:20that they will be doing this.
09:22Also, she was really fixated
09:24on dune buggies.
09:26Brussel believed that they were essential
09:28to the military-industrial complex
09:30and were being used to carry out
09:32all kinds of covert operations.
09:34He gave a lot of warning
09:36about the dune buggy scene
09:37in the last few months
09:38with plans in mind
09:40that one is to plow into the hippie communes
09:43and the other is to kill 63 million minority people.
09:46That's right, dune buggies.
09:49But for someone who hosted a show
09:51called Dialogue Conspiracy,
09:53her background was pretty conventional.
09:56My heart is always looking round.
10:01May Brussel grew up
10:03in a wealthy Los Angeles family
10:04descended from a California department store owner.
10:07It was a pretty comfortable upbringing
10:09with dinner parties and vacations.
10:12She studied philosophy at Stanford.
10:15Afterwards, she got married
10:17and settled into a quiet life
10:18as a stay-at-home mother in L.A.
10:20She said that during this period,
10:22she was just a housewife,
10:24interested in tennis courts,
10:25dancing lessons,
10:27and orthodonture for her children.
10:30That life ended
10:31on November 22, 1963.
10:42Put me on, Phil.
10:43Put me on.
10:45Phil, am I on?
10:47We understand there is a bit of shooting.
10:49We know it's the presidential car.
10:51You can see Mrs. Kennedy's pink suit.
10:52There's a secret service man
10:53spread eagle over the top of the car.
10:56Just a moment.
10:57Just a moment.
10:57We have a bulletin coming in.
10:59President Kennedy has been assassinated.
11:02It's official now.
11:03The president is dead.
11:07JFK's assassination transformed
11:09how May Brussel saw the world.
11:11And she no longer felt
11:12the government could be trusted.
11:14At the time that John Kennedy was killed,
11:16the answers were so pat in the news media.
11:18I wanted to know what kind of a world
11:20I was going to raise my family in.
11:22She disputed the Warren Commission's conclusion
11:25that Kennedy's killer, Lee Harvey Oswald,
11:27had acted alone.
11:28The trajectory of the bullet has been questioned.
11:30We want the undeveloped x-rays of the body.
11:34We want the names of the people involved.
11:36And to better understand what she suspected
11:38was a cover-up,
11:39for Christmas,
11:40she bought herself all 26 volumes
11:42of the Commission's findings.
11:43I really wanted to know
11:45if Oswald was a patsy.
11:47And your findings?
11:50Are Oswald was a patsy?
11:53It became a splitting point
11:55with her husband
11:56that he didn't like her
11:57doing this Kennedy research.
12:01But May was an incredibly strong,
12:04unique woman.
12:06She went out on her own.
12:08She took her life,
12:10her thoughts,
12:11her beliefs,
12:11and her research,
12:12moved to Carmel, California
12:14with her kids,
12:17and did what she was meant to do.
12:20She started to give lectures.
12:22And by 1971,
12:23she had a whole Sunday afternoon radio show
12:26on KLRB,
12:27devoted to her theories
12:28on the JFK assassination.
12:30Just like they tried to say
12:31that Oswald was a communist
12:35and killed John Kennedy
12:36when actually the anti-Castric Cubans
12:39were involved.
12:39Which meant that when Watergate
12:41happened the following year,
12:43May Brussels was primed
12:44and ready for it.
12:45History will prove
12:47that my research is accurate
12:48right down to the last sentence.
12:51Seven years,
12:52and now it's all coming to...
12:54It's all coming home.
12:55I never thought it was...
12:55On her first show
12:56after the break-in,
12:57she latched onto something
12:59that she firmly believed
13:00was not a coincidence.
13:01But it's interesting
13:02that the anti-Castro Cubans
13:04were in this office,
13:06and I wonder who they were
13:07because I have it all here
13:08and time's running out.
13:10As her research
13:11into the JFK assassination
13:12expanded,
13:13she began to notice
13:14a recurring subplot
13:15playing in the background,
13:17Cubans doing secret work
13:19for the American government.
13:20The cast of characters,
13:21all those people
13:22were involved
13:23with the Bay of Pigs invasion.
13:25It was a curious thread to pull,
13:27but she was right to.
13:29Because once you start
13:30putting together
13:31all the reasons
13:32those four Cuban expats
13:33were there that night,
13:35you start going
13:36to some pretty interesting places.
13:58and stuff like that,
14:01And the way
14:02you can see it
14:03as a local city
14:04as a local city
14:04as a local city
14:05for the people
14:06and the drawing
14:07of Israel.
14:08the children of the underground who were fighting against the Castro regime
14:13to the United States while their parents were fighting.
14:17Over 14,000 minors came that way.
14:21I was one of them.
14:24My name is Maria de los Ángeles Torres.
14:26I'm a political scientist, and I study and write about Cuban exiles.
14:30Cuba was a country that aspired to have its own independent government
14:33for democratic institutions.
14:36This is only the beginning.
14:38The last battle will be fought in the capital.
14:41You can be sure.
14:45I remember when Fidel came into Havana.
14:48My father picked me up, took me, and, you know, we went and greeted the rebels,
14:52and finally we're going to get a government that responds to the people.
15:01Fidel had promised elections, and he decided not to hold them.
15:07All of a sudden, everything that you were doing was subject to somebody listening and somebody
15:14reporting on you.
15:16So when Fidel starts using firing squads and killing some 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds who had just
15:26been supporters of him, but now we're demanding that he bring democracy in elections, that's where I think a lot
15:35of people turned.
15:43Turned and fled to America, where many landed in Miami.
15:49These newly arrived exiles left their homeland because they had been living in fear, because in some cases, they'd seen
15:56loved ones killed in the streets, all because of a communist dictator.
16:00So in the early 1960s, all of a sudden, there was a growing army of very motivated men looking to
16:06do all they could to fight communism, this time on American soil.
16:11It created a geopolitical match made in heaven, or so it seemed at the time.
16:19On April 17th, 1961, a newly formed military group of Cuban exiles, trained and funded by the CIA, invaded Cuba
16:28and tried to overthrow Fidel Castro.
16:31Here on the beaches around the Bay of Pigs, the invasion floundered.
16:35Those able to move beyond the beaches were trapped in swamp for high growth, which was burned up.
16:40Communication disappeared with the sinking of a liberty ship, which carried all the signal equipment and much ammunition.
16:46The Bay of Pigs invasion failed miserably, and most of the hundreds of Cubans who fought were either killed or
16:53taken prisoner.
16:53It is not the first time that communist tanks have rolled over gallant men and women, fighting to redeem the
17:01independence of their homeland.
17:04Right after the failure of Bay of Pigs, there are people who continue to have an aspiration of overthrowing the
17:12government.
17:13And indeed, the Kennedy administration continues with its plans to overthrow the government.
17:19This time, it's more covert. It is entitled Operation Mongoose.
17:25From its headquarters in Miami, Operation Mongoose launched hundreds of covert CIA operations deploying Cuban exiles.
17:34Like this man.
17:36Oye, me, tú. Toda la entrevista.
17:38Quem es responsable, que sean buenos malas, es el entrevistador.
17:42Bay of Pigs veteran and future Watergate burglar Eugenio Martinez.
17:47I was recruited by a member of the CIA.
17:53I did not know what CIA really, what it means.
17:57They said that they were rich men with some other money, and they want to help us to fight castles.
18:07They were killing people, and we were against those who were killing our people.
18:14We were taking weapons to our people in Cuba, and we were establishing connections, you know, so we could contact
18:24the people inside.
18:27That was a very dangerous work.
18:37One of the jobs that I did was to sunk a pity vote that was given to Castro as a
18:48present.
18:50This went on all throughout the 1960s.
18:53Hundreds of little jobs like this, denting communist Cuba whenever possible, with the backdrop of the Cold War providing just
18:59cause.
19:09One of the grim realities of American foreign policy was a communist state 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
19:15The rhetorics of anti-communism were alive and well in the United States, and maybe felt a little bit more
19:22personally in the Cuban exile community.
19:26These are soldiers, freedom fighters, who take very seriously their tasks of combating communism.
19:34I think there's a certain vulnerability that allows for the CIA and people like Howard Hunt to then prey on
19:43their sentiments.
19:46It was Hunt who employed a handful of Cubans, Martinez among them, to provide extra security for J. Edgar Hoover's
19:53memorial service.
20:12It was an unusual service in several ways.
20:16For one thing, security was unusually heavy around the National Presbyterian Center,
20:20apparently on the theory that someone might try to disrupt today's solemn ceremony, but no one did.
20:26By June of 1972, the Cubans had built a reputation for pulling off a unique brand of not exactly official
20:33political work.
20:33If you were invited by the President of the United States for a job, it's very difficult to not accept
20:40it.
20:41I mean, for me it was an honor and a pleasure.
20:45We were trying to be a good citizen,
20:50by giving a good job for the American government.
20:56That was all.
21:01I can imagine all the Watergate burglars looking back on that night felt the same way.
21:05It was technically wrong, but they were the good guys, fighting the good fight.
21:11But I think if there's one guy in this whole story who took that most to heart,
21:15it was the one who designed the break-in.
21:25Howard Hunt certainly styled himself as this sort of James Bond figure.
21:29He was a CIA operative who had been one of the people in charge of the Bay of Pigs operation.
21:35Eduardo, he was a strange individual.
21:40By the way, Martinez knew Howard Hunt by his Bay of Pigs known to Gare.
21:44Eduardo.
21:45He did not impress me as an agent of the CIA or whatever.
21:50He was dedicated to make movies.
21:54Rolling.
21:56Action.
21:57Eduardo era un escritor.
22:00Y vivía la historia de él en esto.
22:05Yes, one of the architects of the Watergate break-in also wrote spy novels.
22:12The Violent Ones, Where Murder Waits.
22:15The Venus Probe.
22:17These are just a few that he wrote under various pseudonyms.
22:20And if you read my personal favorite, The Coven, published the very same year that Hunt orchestrated Watergate,
22:26you might come away with a better idea for why this whole thing happened.
22:29The plot was basically our indefatigable sort of stalwart investigator, who's clearly a doppelganger for the real Howard Hunt,
22:41discovers that a figure who very closely resembles Edward Kennedy, Senator Kennedy,
22:48was actually running a literal, satanic death cult.
23:02You almost see an allegory of that way of seeing the world.
23:09People who believed to the core of their being that politics was a battle between the forces of good
23:15and the forces of evil, and therefore, basically, the ends justified any means.
23:45There were actually a few attempts made before June 17th
23:48to break into the DNC headquarters at Watergate.
23:54That was a banquet that gave us to say that it was Ameritas,
23:59a company that we had, a friend of mine, in Miami.
24:08There was a food there in the restaurant of Watergate.
24:13But we did it to go to Watergate and search the documents,
24:18because they said that the Demógrada Party was helping Castro and the legislators.
24:32But on that particular night, the DNC staffers worked late,
24:36preventing any opportunity to break into their office.
24:48A few weeks later, though, after another failed attempt,
24:51they got their chance.
24:54Operación fue tardía.
24:56Y yo fui después, llegué tarde.
25:01Figurante, nosotros estábamos bien vestidos,
25:03todos con traje y con todas esas cosas.
25:07Eduardo llevó unos pantalones muy raros,
25:10y es allí Gordon Lee lo mandó para la casa a cambiarse de ropa.
25:16Lo mandó a cambiarse de ropa y ponerse más.
25:22Available.
25:25Nosotros estábamos allí,
25:29no necesitamos poner los tapes en las puertas,
25:32porque teníamos un hombre que abría las puertas,
25:34sin necesidad, Virgilio González.
25:37Era un cerrajero.
25:39Pero mientras tanto, ellos ponían un tape,
25:41salían al frente y ponían un tape en las puertas.
25:45Y los tapes, esos fueron los que nos denunciaron a nosotros.
25:49I'm making security check.
25:50I found that the latch on the basement door had been taped.
25:56I turned later to found that the same door had been re-taped again, the latch.
26:02At that time, I proceeded upstairs to make a call to the police police.
26:20They could have solved the problem, as Gordon Liddy and Howard the Hunt.
26:29I removed the sack and put it on the shoulder.
26:31So I said to the boys, this is going to be long.
26:35I had the experience that it was going to be complicated.
26:44We had no need to go there that night.
26:51On that same night, just a few blocks away, Roger Stone was house-sitting for Creep Scheduling Director Bart Porter
26:57when he heard the telephone ring.
27:04Jim McCord was on the line.
27:07And he said, this is Jim McCord. Is Porter there?
27:10I said, no, sir, he's away from the weekend. Could I take a message?
27:14And he said, damn.
27:17All right, you expect to hear from him?
27:19I said, well, I really don't.
27:20But if I do, I'll be happy to relay a message.
27:23He said, no, never mind.
27:25And he hung up.
27:29About an hour later, Gordon Liddy called.
27:34I'm looking for Porter.
27:35I said, he's not here.
27:36Where is he?
27:37He said, he's on the West Coast.
27:38I'm just house-sitting.
27:40He said, do you expect to hear from him?
27:41I said, no.
27:42He said, well, if you do, tell him Liddy's looking for him.
27:45I said, yes, sir.
27:47The next morning, of course, I saw the Washington Post headlines that men had broken into the Watergate.
27:57A spokesman for the committee to re-elect the president said that this had no connection to the committee and
28:03they knew nothing about it.
28:05I immediately began to suspect, because of those two calls, that was not the case.
28:10Five men were arrested early Saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment at the Democratic National Committee.
28:17And it turns out that one of them has an office in the headquarters of the committee for the re
28:23-election of the president.
28:27This is a very big story, just breaking at the Watergate.
28:30Another man that was arrested was Eugene Martinez.
28:33He's listed as a real estate agent and a soldier of fortune.
28:38When the first Washington Post stories about what happened at the Watergate landed in American living rooms,
28:43they barely registered as a blip.
28:45Snow detergent gets out every stain.
28:47Cotton?
28:48How, Sheila?
28:49Punched with nothing.
28:51Clean as cotton.
28:55It was the height of the primary season for the 72 Nixon re-election campaign.
29:01So most of the bureau was assigned to different candidates out there.
29:05So the bureau was pretty empty.
29:07They had very little choice but to send me.
29:11I'm Leslie Stahl.
29:12First story I covered for CBS was Watergate.
29:16I was just sent to cover the arraignment of the burglars.
29:20There was only one other reporter in the whole courtroom.
29:25And it just so happened that it was Bob Woodward, who was the other reporter, covering for the Metro page
29:32of the Washington Post, not even for their main section.
29:36That's how insignificant all the news outlets thought it was.
29:41Hello, sir.
29:42How come you're all here today?
29:44The deposition is being taken.
29:46How come all these people are here to take the deposition?
29:50But with each tick, it got a little more and a little more suspicious.
29:55Bob, particularly, had the feeling almost immediately.
30:00We knew we were on to quite a story that very first day.
30:05My name is Barry Sussman.
30:07I was the editor in charge of Watergate coverage for the Washington Post.
30:11Our police reporter was told in advance that he might be allowed to look at some of the belongings of
30:18the arrested men.
30:21And he sought address books.
30:23One of them had in it the name, Howard Hunt, W.H.
30:28They also found a check for $6.36 that Howard Hunt had left behind in one of their hotel rooms.
30:40Woodward called the White House, asked to speak to Howard Hunt.
30:47And Hunt answered the phone, and Woodward said, do you mind telling me why was your name in the address
30:54of these men who were arrested at the Watergate?
30:58And Hunt said something like, oh, as shit, saying, this matter is under adjudication, and I can't speak to you.
31:08The break-in was Saturday.
31:10This is now Monday afternoon, and we had the links to the White House, the links to the re-election
31:16committee, down cold.
31:19This set the stage for the most consequential cat-and-mouse game probably ever played in American politics.
31:25On one side were the journalists tasked with uncovering what really happened.
31:29And on the other was the White House, where the staff was doing all they could to make sure they
31:34failed.
31:35It was really just the company line.
31:36We don't know anything about this.
31:38We're not involved in this.
31:40Go back to your surrogate scheduling and don't worry about it.
31:42But neither the president, obviously, or anybody in the White House or anybody in authority and any of the committees
31:48working for the re-election of the president have any responsibility for it.
31:53And therefore, there's no reason why it should be a matter of concern to the American public.
31:58The White House today simply refused to comment.
32:01Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler refused comment a total of 23 times.
32:06The president's press secretary said of this incident, I'm not going to comment from the White House on a third
32:11-rate burglary attempt.
32:13When Ron Ziegler said it was just a third-rate burglary, it became one of those great Watergate phrases.
32:20A third-rate burglary, that's all it was.
32:24I'm Connie Chung.
32:25I covered Watergate for CBS News.
32:28It's sort of like no collusion.
32:30It kept getting repeated and repeated and repeated, and that was the White House line.
32:36Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler called the bugging a third-rate burglary attempt.
32:41I think the American public has a better perspective on the relative insignificance of the Watergate matter.
32:47The Post said the Republicans had a secret fund to pay for political spying and sabotage.
32:52The White House denied it.
32:53The Post has maliciously sought to give the appearance of a direct connection between the White House and the Watergate.
32:59The administration fought it, tried to come down hard on the Washington Post, make it seem like we were an
33:05instrument of the Democratic campaign.
33:08I don't respect the type of journalism, the shabby journalism that is being practiced by the Washington Post.
33:15Spokesman for the committee to re-elect the president called the Washington Post's story fiction and absurdity.
33:22These stories have been based on hearsay and unidentifiable people who say they heard someone say or say that someone
33:29said something that's just gone too far.
33:33It was a deft media strategy that paid off, especially since, if you were wondering just how far up the
33:39chain Watergate went,
33:41the man at the top was doing all he could to keep his distance.
33:44The reporters couldn't get to Nixon, but one day I walked into the West Gate, and all of a sudden
33:52I see Nixon standing there.
33:56And he's been in the bunker.
33:57You have not been able to either see or hear from him at all.
34:01And here he was, standing in his normal, you know, sort of position, and Secret Service around.
34:08They swarmed around me, but I kept walking directly up to him, and they didn't rustle me down or anything.
34:14So I began to talk to him, and I began asking him questions.
34:19I was afraid to take out my notebook because I was afraid he wouldn't talk to me if I wrote
34:25things down.
34:26So I was trying to remember what he was saying.
34:29Well, he didn't really say very much.
34:31I was asking him all kinds of Watergate questions, and he would dance around.
34:36And finally, he said to me,
34:38How much money do you make?
34:42And I said,
34:44What?
34:44And he said,
34:46How much money do you make?
34:48Well, I make $27,000 a year,
34:51but if I do a Cronkite news report,
34:55I get an extra $35.
34:56So if I turn the radio spots out,
34:59I can get my salary up to maybe $29,000 a year,
35:03almost $30,000 a year.
35:05And he listened to this ridiculous rendition of how much I made,
35:09and he said,
35:11You know what?
35:11You have to make more money.
35:18And then he walked away.
35:21With an election coming up,
35:23Nixon was working hard to beat back the story of Watergate.
35:26And it was working.
35:28I think Nixon has done a good job with us so far.
35:31What about the Watergate incident?
35:33I don't know what that means.
35:36What was frustrating mainly
35:38was that the public interest in this wasn't heightened.
35:43What were those men after at the Watergate?
35:45Who sent them?
35:46How were they paid?
35:48And I guess we were more curious than frustrated.
35:52Why aren't the American people
35:55as upset and affected by this as we are?
36:01We do live in a little fishbowl in Washington,
36:04and what was going on right outside the environs frustrated us.
36:11Or what wasn't going on.
36:17One evening,
36:18there was a knock on my door,
36:21and it was Carl Bernstein.
36:23He literally put his foot in the door
36:25so I couldn't close it.
36:27And he said,
36:27I want to ask you about the committee to re-elect the president.
36:31And I said,
36:32I have nothing to say.
36:33I then realized that Watergate was not over
36:36and that they were going to continue to dig.
36:42Carl Bernstein called John Mitchell
36:45to question Mitchell's involvement.
36:48And he apparently woke Mitchell up.
36:50Mitchell said,
36:51what time is it?
36:53And Bernstein said,
36:54it's 11 o'clock.
36:57Bernstein told him then why he was calling.
37:00And Mitchell said,
37:01you guys are doing some story on us, huh?
37:03Well, we're going to do one story on you
37:05when all this is over.
37:07He said,
37:08Katie Graham is going to get her tit cord in a ringer.
37:18Hello.
37:18Mr. Ziegler, sir.
37:19Hi.
37:20How are you on?
37:21Hi, Ron.
37:21Yes, Mr. President.
37:23I want it clearly understood
37:24that from now on,
37:27ever,
37:27no reporter from the Washington Post
37:30is ever to be in the White House.
37:32Is that clear?
37:32Absolutely.
37:33Unless it's a press conference.
37:34Yes, sir.
37:35Never.
37:36Never in the White House.
37:37No church service.
37:38And no photographer either.
37:40No photographer.
37:41Is that clear?
37:42Yes, sir.
37:42None.
37:43Now, that is a total order.
37:45And if necessary,
37:47I'll fire you.
37:48Do you understand?
37:48I do understand.
37:50Okay.
37:50All right.
37:51Good.
37:55It was around that time
37:57that I remember looking back
37:59and saying,
38:01uh-oh,
38:02we're way out on a limb,
38:04aren't we?
38:04And we'll never get back.
38:06And from that period on,
38:08I began to think of the story
38:10as not a story about a break-in,
38:13about campaign contributions,
38:15but about Nixon.
38:21We're way out on a limb
38:22is a great way to understand the stakes.
38:25Because at that time,
38:26the idea that the president
38:27could be involved
38:28in a criminal conspiracy
38:29was just unimaginable.
38:32In two centuries,
38:33only 36 tenants
38:34have occupied the White House
38:35on temporary lease
38:37from that most demanding
38:38and generous of landlords,
38:40the people of the United States.
38:42The man who occupies
38:44this historic office
38:45must fulfill many roles,
38:47statesman, strategist,
38:48ceremonial leader,
38:50guardian of the nation's spirit
38:51and honor.
38:52This compulsion to believe
38:53that we are led by honorable men,
38:55that our nation is honorable,
38:57very much drove
38:59an almost willful inability
39:02for Americans
39:03to accept that this might have had
39:05anything to do
39:06with Richard Nixon.
39:10Now, that might sound
39:11like a lofty interpretation
39:12of Nixon,
39:14but that's because we think of him
39:15through the lens of Watergate
39:16and everything that it revealed.
39:18When he was first elected,
39:20Americans saw him
39:21in a much different light.
39:23The night is long
39:24and it is still dark
39:26as far as civilization goes,
39:29but we will never be perfect,
39:31for man is not perfect.
39:34But we are on the way.
39:36On the day Nixon was sworn
39:38into office in January of 1969,
39:41a rabbi named Edgar F. Magnin
39:43offered this blessing.
39:44Our father's God,
39:46to thee, author of liberty,
39:47to thee we sing.
39:49Long may our land be bright
39:51with freedom's holy light.
39:53Protect us by thy might.
39:56I think it's a good window
39:58into the expectations
39:58that people had for Nixon
40:00as an American president.
40:01There are few faint streets
40:02of pink in the sky.
40:06We await the dawn.
40:08Almighty God bless our country
40:10and him who will be our leader
40:12and our guide in the coming years.
40:15Amen.
40:16By the way,
40:17this rabbi who offered
40:19the stirring prayer for Nixon
40:20was actually May Brussels' father.
40:27Now, if on that day,
40:29Brussels shared her father's hopes
40:30for the president,
40:31four years later,
40:33they had been thoroughly dashed.
40:35Mr. Nixon,
40:36President Nixon,
40:37I call him Mr.
40:38because I do not recognize him
40:40as my president.
40:42He may be yours,
40:43but I call him Mr. Nixon.
40:47Despite her insistence
40:49that a conspiracy was afoot,
40:50there was every indication
40:52that Richard Nixon
40:53would stand on that same podium
40:54and be sworn in
40:55for a second term.
40:57But there was someone else,
40:59someone with a much bigger audience
41:00than May Brussels,
41:01who was also trying to get in the way.
41:06At first,
41:07it was called
41:08The Watergate Caper.
41:09Five men,
41:10apparently caught
41:11in the act of burglarizing
41:13and bugging
41:14Democratic headquarters
41:15in Washington.
41:16But the episode
41:17grew steadily more sinister.
41:19No longer a caper,
41:20but The Watergate Affair.
41:22At first,
41:23it was called
41:24The Watergate Caper.
41:25Five men,
41:27apparently caught
41:28in the act of burglarizing
41:29and bugging
41:30Democratic headquarters
41:31in Washington.
41:33Cronkite was the man
41:34that everybody watched
41:36on television.
41:37My family used to sit around
41:39and watch Walter Cronkite.
41:41We were CBS News devotees.
41:43We gathered together
41:45and watched Uncle Walter
41:46every night.
41:48Good evening,
41:48this is Walter Cronkite
41:49at CBS News headquarters
41:51in New York.
41:52And at the end,
41:52he would say,
41:53and that's the way it is.
41:54And that's the way it is.
41:56Monday, September 11, 1972.
41:59He was incredible.
42:00We loved Walter.
42:02America loved Walter Cronkite.
42:06As weeks and months passed
42:08and television had no coverage
42:10of Watergate,
42:11Walter Cronkite
42:13kind of got fed up.
42:14Most of what is known
42:15of the Watergate affair
42:16has emerged
42:17in puzzling bits and pieces
42:19through digging
42:20by the nation's press
42:21and television newsmen.
42:22And on a Friday night,
42:24not long before the election,
42:26Walter Cronkite spent
42:27maybe 20 minutes
42:28of his half-hour show
42:29reporting Watergate.
42:31Watergate was only part of,
42:33in the Washington Post words,
42:34a broad campaign
42:36of political espionage
42:37and sabotage
42:38against the Democratic Party.
42:40There were individuals
42:42with 20 years experience
42:44in the CIA
42:44and several years
42:46with the FBI
42:46and we were working
42:47for the former attorney general.
42:49So I couldn't question
42:50the legality
42:50of what was going on.
42:51I just took my orders
42:52and did what I was instructed to do.
42:54There was no news in it.
42:55It was all stuff
42:57that we'd had
42:57in the Washington Post.
42:58But to many of the viewers
43:00nationwide,
43:01it was news.
43:02In our next report,
43:03the money behind
43:04the Watergate affair.
43:06Cronkite announced
43:07on that Friday night
43:08that he was going to have
43:09a follow-up story
43:10on Monday.
43:12Cronkite's first report
43:13on Watergate
43:14terrified Nixon.
43:17This was a man,
43:18after all,
43:19who once said,
43:20the American people
43:21don't believe anything's real
43:22until they see it
43:23on television.
43:24Shadows,
43:25as usual.
43:27And I think
43:27he really bent that.
43:29Yeah,
43:29but it is.
43:31It's hard to see it.
43:32I see the page as well.
43:35I'm moving around.
43:38See,
43:39the shadow comes
43:40directly on the page.
43:42See what I mean?
43:43If you just knock it
43:43off the page,
43:45I can read
43:46a little bit easier.
43:47Nixon was very much
43:48like our current president
43:49in that respect.
43:52He understood
43:52the impact of television,
43:54and so does
43:55our current president.
43:59Well,
43:59I'll just put it,
44:00I'll move it over
44:00to the side here a little.
44:01That's all right.
44:03I'll sit and read it
44:04from this way.
44:04That's all right.
44:05You can get a good picture,
44:05can't you?
44:06The thing that's
44:07really striking
44:07about Richard Nixon's
44:09relationship
44:10to the medium
44:10of television
44:11is that
44:12it really
44:13created him
44:14as a national hero
44:16during the
44:16Checkers speech
44:17in 1952.
44:18Ladies and gentlemen,
44:20Senator Richard Nixon.
44:21When she looked
44:22the American people
44:22in the eye
44:23and convinced them
44:24that he had not
44:25committed financial
44:27improprieties.
44:28We did get something,
44:29a gift,
44:30after the election.
44:32It was a little
44:33cocker spaniel dog,
44:35and our little girl
44:36Tricia,
44:36the six-year-old,
44:37named it Checkers.
44:38And I just want
44:39to say this right now,
44:40that regardless
44:41of what they say
44:42about it,
44:43we're going to keep him.
44:45It probably undid
44:46his presidential campaign
44:48in 1960.
44:50I costed out
44:50the cost
44:51of the Democratic platform.
44:52His infamous debate,
44:54in which he kind of
44:55broke out in a sweat
44:56and was kind of
44:57stammering compared
44:57to this confident,
44:59handsome,
45:00young John F. Kennedy.
45:02This was the week
45:03that changed the world.
45:05It made him a hero again
45:07when he was in China,
45:09and people saw
45:10these glorious,
45:11sumptuous images
45:12of him, you know,
45:13making peace
45:14with America's
45:15ancient enemy.
45:16The president
45:17departs for home
45:18after his historic
45:19week in China.
45:20He thought very deliberately
45:22and very consciously
45:23and very obsessively
45:24about how he came
45:25across on television.
45:30Okay.
45:33All right.
45:34All set.
45:37And so,
45:38with the prospect
45:39of another Cronkite report
45:40on Watergate,
45:42Nixon launched
45:42a behind-the-scenes
45:43counterattack
45:44that at the time,
45:45I think only a conspiracy
45:46theorist could have conjured.
46:08The second part
46:09was ready to air.
46:11Walter Cronkite was ready
46:13to deliver it.
46:14All of a sudden,
46:15the White House
46:16apparently called
46:17William Paley,
46:19the owner of CBS.
46:22We got a call
46:23saying,
46:24we need to cut it down
46:25for time.
46:27It was very suspicious.
46:31Why did Paley stop him?
46:33I don't know
46:34why Paley stopped him.
46:35I think if Paley
46:37were alive today
46:37and somebody asked him,
46:38why did you stop him?
46:39He would most likely say,
46:41I made a mistake.
46:45And that was it.
46:46That was the extent
46:47of the television coverage
46:48of Watergate
46:49before the election.
46:53It was so smoothly handled,
46:55no one really noticed.
46:56Not even Mae Brussel.
46:58Walter Cronkite did
46:5915 minutes this week
47:01on the funding
47:01of the Watergate.
47:02And I think
47:03one or two years from now,
47:05people are going to be sorry
47:06that they didn't
47:07take those allegations seriously.
47:10And just a few weeks later,
47:12Richard Nixon
47:13was re-elected president
47:14in one of the biggest
47:15landslides
47:16in American history.
47:17I simply want to say
47:19from the bottom
47:19of my heart,
47:21thanks for making
47:23our last campaign
47:25the very best one
47:26of all.
47:29When Nixon was re-elected
47:31after all this,
47:33it was hard to believe.
47:35Yeah,
47:35it was frustrating
47:37to those people
47:38who saw
47:40that he was involved
47:41with a lot of this.
47:43How about that?
47:44The election's over
47:45and we made it.
47:47We've survived
47:47a couple of days,
47:48almost a week.
47:49For Mae,
47:50she never felt
47:51like she was finished.
47:53It wasn't over.
47:54She still needed
47:55to do more.
47:57It was almost
47:57business as usual
47:58the day after
47:59at the White House,
48:00but not quite.
48:01News Secretary Ron Ziegler
48:03described the mood here
48:04as one of satisfaction.
48:05For anyone
48:07who believed
48:07that Nixon
48:08had something
48:08to do with Watergate,
48:10his re-election
48:11made the burden
48:12of proof
48:12that much heavier.
48:14And as 1972
48:15turned to 1973,
48:18most people
48:18just seemed
48:19to move on.
48:21Rousing America
48:22from its national
48:23indifference
48:23to Watergate
48:24was going to require
48:25a serious jolt.
48:29seven men
48:30went on trial
48:30today
48:31in a Washington
48:31federal court
48:32charged with
48:33the break-in
48:33and burglary
48:34of Democratic
48:35National Headquarters
48:36in the Watergate
48:37building last June.
48:39Two are
48:39former White House
48:40aides.
48:41The other five
48:42were caught
48:42in the burglary.
48:43In January
48:44of 1973,
48:46the grand jury
48:47trial for the
48:47Watergate burglary
48:48began.
48:49The five men
48:50caught breaking in,
48:52plus the two men
48:53who orchestrated it,
48:54Gordon Liddy
48:54and Howard Hunt
48:55were all charged
48:56with burglary
48:57and conspiracy.
48:58But seeing as no one
49:00higher up
49:00was brought to trial,
49:02interest in the story
49:03continued to lag.
49:06If you watch
49:07the Watergate trial,
49:08they call
49:0960 witnesses here,
49:10but they're calling
49:1160 people
49:12that had nothing
49:13to do with the case.
49:14They're not calling
49:14Martha Mitchell,
49:15they're not calling
49:16John Mitchell.
49:17In these early
49:18court hearings,
49:19each time a new
49:20bit of information
49:21would come out,
49:22I would run
49:24to a payphone.
49:25This is the way
49:25we did our reporting
49:27in those days.
49:28I would run
49:29to a payphone
49:30and put a dime in
49:35and do my radio report
49:37on the phone.
49:38And by the time
49:39I got to the payphone
49:40on the third floor
49:41of the courthouse,
49:43I was out of breath.
49:44So all my reports
49:46sounded as if it was
49:48a five-alarm fire,
49:50like that.
49:53And I learned
49:55that not one
49:56of those reports
49:57was ever put
49:58on radio.
49:59They would take
50:00them in
50:00and not use them.
50:03After 16 days
50:05and more than
50:06100 pieces of evidence,
50:07the seven men
50:08charged were convicted
50:09of conspiracy,
50:11burglary,
50:11and wiretapping
50:12the Democratic Party's
50:13Watergate headquarters.
50:14I think when
50:15the record
50:16in this case
50:17becomes known,
50:19anybody who
50:20has a fair mind
50:21about it
50:21and is looking
50:22at it objectively
50:24would be able
50:25to conclude
50:25that this has been
50:27the most comprehensive,
50:29deep,
50:30thorough investigation
50:31that the FBI
50:32has ever made.
50:34And were it not
50:35for Judge John Sirica,
50:36that story
50:37might have stuck.
50:39Judge John Sirica
50:40indicated he was
50:41going to be tough
50:42to avoid any accusations
50:44of whitewash.
50:45When Hunt's lawyers
50:46objected,
50:47he said,
50:47I don't want to hear you.
50:48You can argue
50:49till doomsday.
50:50He set a sentencing date
50:51for March 23rd.
50:52And given his demeanor
50:54throughout the trial,
50:55it seemed to be
50:56a safe bet
50:56that he was going
50:57to throw the book
50:58at them.
50:59He was known
51:00as a hard-nosed judge
51:01who liked to take
51:03the big ones
51:03on his own.
51:05In the court,
51:07the criminal
51:08Sirica
51:08was terrible.
51:10He said
51:10that he was
51:11still wanting
51:12to have a juicio
51:13like that.
51:15He was basically
51:16chastising
51:17the prosecutor
51:18for not asking
51:20more pointed questions
51:21and continuing
51:23to ask these burglars.
51:24I remember this,
51:25who were the higher-ups?
51:27You weren't
51:28the top of this
51:28pyramid.
51:30Who were the higher-ups?
51:31And it was
51:32as if Sirica knew
51:33it went into
51:34the White House.
51:37And he was insistent,
51:38and I thought,
51:39this is inappropriate.
51:40A judge shouldn't
51:41be doing that.
51:43I was kind of
51:44appalled at it,
51:45but it did the trick.
51:47Up until the trial,
51:49Howard Hunt
51:50had been willing
51:50to keep quiet
51:51for Nixon.
51:52But facing
51:53what could be
51:54extended jail time,
51:55the cost of his silence
51:57skyrocketed.
51:59Hunt sent a threat
52:00to me directly
52:01through one of
52:02the re-election
52:03committee lawyers.
52:05He said,
52:05you just tell
52:06Dean this.
52:07If he isn't
52:08paid $120,000,
52:11like yesterday,
52:13he's going to have
52:14seamy things
52:15to say
52:16about what he did
52:17for John Ehrlichman.
52:20We don't know
52:21exactly what happened,
52:22but Hunt
52:23did not break.
52:25Believer in the law,
52:27I understood then
52:29and understand now
52:30the consequences
52:31of breaking it.
52:48Another one
52:49of the men on trial,
52:50James McCord,
52:51who had been in charge
52:52of the bugging portion
52:53of the job,
52:54likely received
52:55a similar offer.
52:56He had been
52:57sort of an electronics
52:58janitor
52:59at the CIA
53:01where he was
53:02responsible that
53:03nobody was bugging
53:04the Langley headquarters.
53:07When he retired,
53:09he was going to
53:10set up a private
53:11consulting and
53:12security firm.
53:15Those plans
53:16were in jeopardy
53:17now that he'd been
53:18found guilty
53:18of a federal crime.
53:19Although he was
53:20hoping for the best,
53:22he as well as I
53:23was not shocked
53:25at the verdict.
53:26And with a full
53:27two months
53:27before the sentencing
53:28date,
53:29McCord had ample
53:30time to remember
53:31how he got there
53:32in the first place.
53:33All he knew
53:33was what Liddy
53:34told him
53:36and a lot
53:37of it was false.
53:38Liddy needed
53:39a wire man
53:40as he called it,
53:42somebody who knew
53:43how to conduct
53:43electronic surveillance
53:45and it appears
53:47he got McCord
53:47to do it
53:48by in essence
53:49lying to him
53:50about,
53:51you know,
53:51what the authority
53:52was and paying him,
53:54paying him
53:55a lot of money.
53:57McCord needed
53:58the extra money
53:59because he had
54:00a handicapped
54:02child
54:03and
54:05so I think
54:06that's how
54:06McCord
54:06got sucked
54:07into it.
54:18everything came
54:19to a head
54:20on the day
54:20of sentencing,
54:22March 23rd,
54:231973.
54:24Judge Sirica
54:25was ill that day.
54:27The court
54:27started late.
54:28The judge
54:29was going
54:29into his offices
54:31to take
54:31Pepto-Bismol
54:32or something.
54:33His stomach
54:33was really bothering him
54:35and he said
54:36I'm going
54:36to have something
54:37for you
54:37in 10 minutes.
54:39So we had
54:40no idea
54:41what it was.
54:45What would happen
54:46transformed Watergate
54:48from something
54:48history probably
54:49would have remembered
54:50as a third-rate
54:50burglary
54:51and turned it
54:52into the rich
54:53political epic
54:54that we now
54:54know it to be.
54:56Good morning,
54:57Mr. McCoy.
55:01Judge Sirica
55:02revealed
55:03that one
55:04of the defendants,
55:05James McCord,
55:07had written
55:07him a letter.
55:09Judge John Sirica
55:10opened by saying
55:11he had received
55:12the letter
55:12from McCord.
55:13McCord wrote
55:14that several
55:15members of his
55:15family expressed
55:16fear for his
55:17life for disclosing
55:18what he knows.
55:19Then came
55:19the bombshells.
55:20There was
55:21political pressure
55:22on the defendants
55:23to plead guilty
55:23and to remain
55:24silent,
55:25wrote McCord.
55:26Perjury occurred
55:27during the trial.
55:28Others involved
55:29in the Watergate
55:30operation were not
55:31identified during
55:32the trial.
55:33When he read
55:34James McCord's
55:35letter,
55:35it was,
55:36it broke
55:37a big dam.
55:38There was a
55:39sensational development
55:40in the Watergate
55:41trial today.
55:42One of the key
55:43defendants says
55:44there was
55:44political pressure
55:45and perjury
55:46involved in the
55:47trial.
55:48Reporters were
55:49stunned.
55:49Nobody knew
55:49this was coming
55:50and they ran
55:51out of the
55:52courtroom to
55:52make phone calls.
55:53This was
55:54supposed to be
55:54the finale
55:55for the seven
55:56Watergate
55:56defendants
55:57the day of
55:57sentencing.
55:58But instead,
55:59the case broke
56:00wide open again.
56:01Mr. McCord,
56:02you did say
56:03in your letter
56:03that your family
56:04had been afraid
56:05for your life
56:06and that you
56:07too had feared
56:07retaliation.
56:08What did you
56:09mean by that?
56:10Sorry,
56:10I have no further
56:11comments.
56:11The man who
56:12had a special
56:13Senate investigation,
56:14North Carolina's
56:15Sam Irvin,
56:16said he hopes
56:16the White House
56:17will now be
56:18more cooperative
56:18in bringing out
56:19all the facts.
56:20The McCord
56:21letter was the
56:22tipping point
56:22of the Watergate
56:23saga.
56:24But apart from
56:25lighting the fuse
56:25that would
56:26eventually burn
56:27down Nixon's
56:27administration,
56:29it did something
56:30else pretty
56:30extraordinary.
56:31At least for
56:32one day,
56:33it aligned the
56:34May Brussels
56:34of the world
56:35with the
56:36Woodwards and
56:36Bernsteins.
56:37It was a very
56:38important day
56:39for the Watergate
56:40group because
56:40now we're in
56:41a different
56:41ballgame.
56:42The McCord
56:42letter made
56:43Watergate a
56:44conspiracy,
56:45officially.
56:46This has
56:46caused shock
56:47waves in
56:48Washington and
56:48we'll have
56:49detailed coverage.
56:50And all of a
56:51sudden,
56:51everyone who
56:52disregarded the
56:53odd coincidences
56:54of the flight
56:55553 crash in
56:56Chicago,
56:56and in the
56:57end,
56:58that's all
56:58they proved
56:58to be,
56:59mere coincidences.
57:00They had to
57:01now start
57:02paying closer
57:02attention to
57:03the widening
57:04scope of
57:04this story
57:06because Watergate
57:07now had
57:07legs.
57:08We're right
57:09in the middle
57:09of a very
57:10important time
57:11in American
57:11history and
57:13I tried to
57:14turn people
57:14on to the
57:14history of
57:15their times.
57:15That's what
57:16this is all
57:16about.
57:19I have
57:20mixed feelings
57:21about May
57:21Brussels.
57:22I think she
57:23was looking
57:23for answers to
57:24better understand
57:25a world that
57:25she didn't
57:26trust.
57:27Answers that
57:27she believed
57:28would protect
57:28her children.
57:30But that
57:30effort led
57:31her and her
57:32listeners to
57:32some dark
57:33and unlikely
57:34conclusions.
57:35In this
57:36instance,
57:36though,
57:37Watergate
57:38proved her
57:38right.
57:39The
57:39government
57:40really did
57:40lie and
57:41cheat and
57:42steal.
57:43And it
57:44abandoned its
57:45people to
57:46maintain power.
57:48water.
58:13The stage was
58:15now set for the
58:15next chapter of
58:16Watergate.
58:17And, much to
58:18the horror of
58:19Richard Nixon,
58:20it would all
58:21play out on
58:22live television.
58:23The Senate
58:24Watergate hearings,
58:25just weeks away,
58:26were about to
58:27become the
58:28greatest show
58:29on earth.
58:32Programs
58:32regularly scheduled
58:33for this time
58:34will not be seen
58:35today in order
58:36that we might
58:36bring you the
58:36following NBC
58:37News special report.
58:44Good morning.
58:45This is the
58:46Senate caucus
58:46room in
58:47Washington, D.C.
58:48And it's
58:48jammed this
58:49morning, jammed
58:50with spectators,
58:51newsmen, senators,
58:52and their aides.
58:53And the scene
58:54adds to the
58:54sense of drama
58:56as the Senate
58:56opens what is
58:57likely to become
58:58the most serious
58:59investigation it
59:00has ever made.
59:01An investigation
59:01of the American
59:02political system
59:03and the
59:04presidency itself.
59:05first military
59:06to East
59:06Nevada,
59:07the
59:11Nation
59:11of
59:13awaiting
59:13this
59:13rebellion.
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