Part 1 of 2
Secret Honordirected by Robert Altman
© Sandcastle 5 Productions, Inc., 1984
© 2004 The Criterion Collection
[Transcribed from the movie by Tara Carreon]
NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHTYOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ
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This work is a fictional meditation concerning the character of and events in the history of Richard M. Nixon, who is impersonated in this film.
The dramatist’s imagination has created some fictional events in an effort to illuminate the character of President Nixon.
This film is not a work of history or a historical recreation. It is a work of fiction, using as a fictional character a real person, President Richard M. Nixon – in an attempt to understand.[Clock Chiming]
SANDCASTLE 5 PRODUCTIONS, INC.
in cooperation with
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION
and the
LOS ANGELES ACTORS’ THEATRE
presents
PHILIP BAKER HALL
in
SECRET HONOR
A Political Myth
[Door Lock Unlocking]
Musical Score by GEORGE BURT
Art Director STEPHEN ALTMAN
Editor JULIET WEBER
Director of Photography PIERRE MIGNOT
Associate Director ROBERT HARDERS
Executive Producer SCOTT BUSHNELL
Written by DONALD FREED and ARNOLD M. STONE
Produced and Directed by ROBERT ALTMAN
[President Richard Nixon] Um, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.
[Motor Winding, Click]
[President Richard Nixon] [Takes a tape out of his pocket, inserts it, and pushes the record button]
Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three.
Uh, uh, uh, four.
[Pushes buttons]
[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]
[President Richard Nixon] [Pushes button and turns music off]
[Pushes button]
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.
[Pushes buttons]
[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]
[President Richard Nixon] [Turns it off]
Cocksucker!
[Takes machine instructions out of his desk, reads them, pushes buttons]
Uh, testing. Uh, one, two, three, four.
Uh, Roberto, this is for, uh …
eyes only.
Um, our eyes.
Uh –
[Reads machines instructions and pushes more buttons]
[Tape: Classical, Harpsichord]
[President Richard Nixon] [Pushes button, music 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]
[President Richard Nixon] [Pushes button, music stops]
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, I-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. 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. Fuck 'em!
Son of a bitches. [Chuckles]
Your Honor...
my client has been driven almost mad...
because he has had to carry the most terrible secrets of all...
locked 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 -- Shit! 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, I --
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 --
Shit!
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 bitch wrote that I was a shill for a crooked card game!
That bastard! Son of a bitch! 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, shit!
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.
[Takes out book from bookcase: THE MEMOIRS OF RICHARD NIXON]
"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]
[President Richard Nixon]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.
Well, I ask you to help me make that dream come true...
for millions to whom it is an impossible dream today.
[Laughing]
[Clock Chimes Once]
[President Richard Nixon] Uh, Roberto?
Would you, uh, erase everything, please, back to, uh...
"I see the face of a...
child."
Oh, yes, um, would you also send Fernando's wife a, uh --
Shit!
Goddamn Kennedys!
They stole the 1960 election in Chicago.
Then they told me to go in there and blow it wide open.
And I would have! I could have -- Shit!
Um, yes, Roberto, would you, um...
send Fernando's wife a, uh --
a basket of fruit also.
Would you make that a big basket, please?
Poor woman. She, uh --
She had a, uh --
Because of the, uh -- She --
Your Honor, the Watergate was nothing more than a misdemeanor...
copping a plea, a third-rate burglary.
It was nothing more than a convenient hook...
upon which to hang my client's political body.
Because before anybody in the world ever heard the word "Watergate"...
the Nixon presidency was over.
Your Honor, my client had faced, as you know...
the acid test of six major crises.
But I -- See...
this is not like 1952...
when I could go to the public with my side of the story.
Oh, yes! [Chuckles]
You see, the whole country was waiting.
Ike had just dropped me like a, uh -- That bastard son of a --
Well, when the cameras came on, I was going to drop out of the race.
As a matter of fact, I had promised, uh, uh, uh, Pat...
that I was going to, uh --
Pat, of course, is my, uh -- [Stammers] Out of the race -- Wife.
Well, you know, it's true.
She did still believe in me in 1952.
When someone believes in you, someone to whom you've made a promise to --
I couldn't! I --
Well, then when I lost in California in '62...
I really was going to drop out of the race.
As a matter of fact, I wrote it -- Well, I wrote it down.
And I, uh, I carried it around in my, uh, uh, uh, uh --
The, uh, uh -- The promise...
to, uh, uh, uh -- to Pat.
"I promise not to run for public --"
Uh, uh -- In my, uh, wallet -- [Stammers]
I couldn't! I --
Well, even then, of course, you know, she -- she did believe in me.
And they spit on her down in South America.
My God, I'm so sorry for that. But I couldn't --
I couldn't quit...
with my tail between my, you know, legs like that!
My wife does not wear a mink coat!
My wife wears a good Republican cloth coat.
And my little dog, Checkers, he --
[Blows Raspberry, Laughing]
And I cried.
And the public cried with me.
And Ike -- The old man couldn't get rid of me! Yes!
I could always cry in public.
Dr. Birdsell, my dramatic coach in school...
always said that I...
was the most melancholy Dane that he had ever directed.
To be...
or not --
Yes.
That is the question, all right.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind...
to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...
or to take arms against --
Look, I am not your stinking caddy anymore.
Everyone used to say that Adlai Stevenson was Hamlet.
No, no, that is not true. It was me who was really Hamlet, and Ike was the king!
I never even got to see all the rooms in the White House...
until Johnson became president.
Shit! Ike -- Ike introduced me to a crowd one time...
as Nick Dixon, for Christ's sake!
See, what he would do -- He would drag his coattails, then he would pull them away...
and he would leave me standing there high and dry.
I was running. I-I was always running.
I was trying so hard to make the team that I was always offsides. Well --
Just like my old man.
He sold the lemon grove. Then they discovered oil on it.
Well, shit!
Not me. Not to the manor born.
You see, I had to pretend not to see all the snubs and the sniggers...
and the sneers.
I had to put up a front.
Welcome to Denmark! [Chuckling]My -- My first debate when I was in high school...
resolved, "Girls are no good," and I won!
[Continues Chuckling]
My second debate resolved, "Cows are better than horses."
You see, I --
I always hated girls. [Stammers]
Well, you know, in high school I couldn't -- I couldn't stay away from 'em.
You know how it is when you're -- You know what I did?
I founded the Orthogonian Society.
That's all boys, no girls. Just square shooters.
And our motto was, uh...
"Beans, Brains, Brawn and Bowels."
And we -- we -- we had this, uh -- [Chuckles]
We -- We all used to, uh -- [Clears Throat]
[Singing] All hail the mighty boar
Our patron beast is he
Ecrasons l'infame
Our battle cry will be
Brothers together
We'll travel on and on
Worthy the name
Of OrthogonianPlays a chord on the piano]
[Laughing]
Resolved -- Resolved to win, period...
because that is the American system.
You take either side -- It doesn't even matter which one --
and you go on the attack!
It's like, uh, football -- No! No, no, no, no. It's like poker.
The winners make jokes, but the loser says, "Deal! Deal! Deal! Deal! Deal!"
[Sputtering, Laughing]
Roberto, would you erase all that crap, please.
Back to, uh, uh, the lesser of two, uh, uh, evils.
No, no, no, no. Back about -- Before the, uh, uh, break-in.
[Softly] Thank you, Roberto.
Your Honor...
there were three charges...
of impeachment brought against me.
None of them could be proved. They all knew that.
Kennedy's hit man, John Doar --
And he had a hundred bloodhounds working for him.
They told him -- And we have ways of knowing this, Your Honor --
They told him, "There is no case against the president, period."
Your Honor, the impeachment process itself was simply the grandest cover-up of all.
There can only be one -- And you know this -- one impeachment charge...
and that is, treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Well, so they brought a load of --
Well, shit, we gave them a load of chicken-shit charges against me...
and none of them stuck, and none of their theories either.
You see, I happen to know what was going on inside the committee.Shit, the theories, for Christ's sake!
[Laughs] Let's see, there was the, uh, tip-of-the-iceberg theory. Hmm?
Oh, yes, then there was the narrow-escape theory.
Oh, the robber baron baloney and all that crap -
Oh! We must not forget the higher-standard-of-conduct theory.
That's rich! [Chuckles]
The Founding Fathers caused the White House...
to be built in a swamp in the first place, for Christ's sake...
and Congress up on a goddamn hill!
The Founding Fathers were nothing more than a bunch of snotty English shits...
who never trusted any elected president to begin with!
So, why then, Your Honor, did my client resign voluntarily...
when the fact is that Richard Nixon not only need not have quit...
but in fact could have stayed on beyond the --
Your Honor, something happened to my client.
The year is 1945.Okay, Roberto...
that is the end of the, uh, prologue.
The next section will be, um...
1945...
through 1952.
So would you please make a separate, um, uh...
uh, you know, for each of the, uh -- You know.
Okay, Your Honor...
in 1939 I went to Cuba.
I -- [Snickers, Laughs]
A-A-After I almost got disbarred...
for signing some client's name to a --
[Continues Laughing]
Roberto, would you erase that, please?
Your Honor, I am trying to tell you...
about 1945.
I was just getting out of the navy.
An ad appeared in the Whittier Daily News.
I will never forget it.
It said...
"Wanted: Young man...
"interested in running for Congress.
Veteran preferred."
And then they listed the name of a, uh, committee...
to contact.
So, well, I-I took some of my, uh, poker winnings and I flew out there...
in my uniform, of course.
If the choice of this committee comes to me...
I promise to wage an aggressive and vigorous campaign...
based on a platform of practical liberalism.
Well, it was those men --
I-I did, Your Honor. I answered the ad.
They called themselves the, uh, Committee of 100.
But the name's changed many times over the years, oh, yes.
Uh, Committee for a Free Iran, a free Guatemala...
a free, uh, Congo...
uh, a free, uh --
But always Taiwan. Oh, yes.
Always for a free Taiwan.
So, they did, Your Honor. They selected me.
And they took my client up to Bohemian Grove.
Now, that is where the China plan was --
That's where I got the message.
Yes.
Up there in, uh, Bohemian Grove...
deep in the California Redwoods...
with the, uh -- the dogs and the guards...
and the prostitutes from Guerneville at the caveman camp -- I --
Your Honor, this young man, Richard Nixon...
this boy from a poor family...
a boy who never had a break, who never had a chance...
he was just overwhelmed by these big men...
on the Committee of 100...
because they showed him a vision...
of the riches and power of this world...
and he drank their words and their visions, he --
[Giggling] He had a little sip of their whiskey too...
this poor boy who couldn't drink.
Didn't know how to drink...
because of his strict Quaker background.
And so, he, uh --
I may have said and done some things up there that...
came back to haunt me...
25 years later...
when the real China card was played.I -- Your Honor, that first night up there in the Grove...
I couldn't sleep all night. I was awake -- Then --
Well, you know, the big German shepherd dogs...
they're howling all night, you know.
But it was way off, you know, in the, uh, in --
And the men, you know, they're -- they're laughing, singing, dancing.
You know, football songs mostly. Marches, you know.
So, naturally, I was unable to get any, uh -- All the --
But it was, you know -- It was way off there in the, uh...
distance.
It was very, uh...
[Solemnly: "Notre Dame Fight Song"] -- Far away.
[Strikes Dissonant Note Three Times]
Uh, it's a little out of, uh --
But you were my mother's piano...
and that fucking museum is not going to get you!
[Continues]
[Striking Chords]
[Stammering] Your Honor, I forgot to tell you about the whores.
Now, look, these guys were not homos from Westchester County or Cambridge.
You know, this is not old money or "the better sort."
I mean, these guys were Armenians and, uh, Italians and Irish.
You know, assorted white trash. Men!
And what they wanted was a political laboratory...
and that is what they made California into --
a kind of a, uh, proving ground for later on.
You understand why all this was music to my ears?[Up-tempo: "Notre Dame Fight Song"]
[Humming Along]
[Music stops]
-- Your Honor, it was the words.
That was the real music to my ears, because I-I --
You know what Coach said?
Coach said if you could run -- me, number 23 --
if you could run the ball the way you run your mouth...
winning the big prizes, why -- [Laughs]
I'm gonna be a winner -- Yes! Because I've always been --
Now, these guys dancing with the hookers, these guys were real winners!
I couldn't dance, not worth a goddamn. My old man, he wouldn't dance.
He said it gave him a, uh -- You know, it aroused him. You know?
Me too! So now, you can imagine I took a hell of a kidding on that.
But... you know what I did when I ran for student council president?
I promised a liberal dress and dance code. And you know something? I won!
[Chuckling]
My old man hated politicians.
So there's me saying, "Daddy, when I grow up I'm gonna be an old-fashioned man.
I'm gonna be an honest lawyer. I'm not gonna take any bribes."
Shit! If he'd gone beyond the sixth grade, poor bastard would know that we were all crooks![Chuckles]
Well, shit!
I had the last laugh on that son of a bitch!
When I won that scholarship to Duke -- I -- You see --
I still was not a winner yet.
A winner does not have to break into the dean's office the way I did...
to find out what his grades are.
But I did graduate third in my class, though.
But then, when we all went to New York to interview for some big-time law firms...
I was a little out of my league, and I knew that.
But I also knew this -- I knew that New York was the big time. Oh, yeah.
The big, big money!
I mean, New York, with the clubs and the fast track!
I'll tell you this -- in New York, money talks!
Oh, yeah. Money talks, talks, talks, talks, talks.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Anyway, Your Honor, what I wanted to do --
I wanted to join the Dulles brothers' law firm.
That's Sullivan and Cromwell. You know, thick, plush carpeting and --
[Scoffs] East Coast shits is what they really were.
Well, my two friends, they, um --
they did get taken on by one of the big law firms.
I did not. Well, then I tried to join the FBI.
I got turned down again.
I mean, Hoover -- I worshipped Hoover! See?
Then years later that son of a bitch Hoover, he tried to stab me in the back!
Fuck him! Your Honor -- [Stammers]
What I'm trying to say here is that the Committee of 100 had a plan...
and that was it.
In 1946, '48, '50, right on through.
I -- Look.
I was very young.
I was a kid.
And they gave me the blueprint...
for my life.
You understand that?
Well, tha -- that's when, uh, Murray Chotiner came into the picture.
Well, because Murray, he was the link to Lansky...
and Ratner and, uh -- and the Mob and --You see, what Hiss and the Kennedys, all those East Coast pricks, never understood was...
that I would be a winner because I was a loser.
That's right. I dream of failure every night of my life, and that is my secret.
To make it in this rat race, you have to dream of failing every day. I mean, that is reality.
Jews, niggers, Reds, kikes...
old Nixons, new Nixons.
Because I am an American. A real American -- that's me!
I'm not some rich Ivy League prince that thinks that he is a winner.
See? What the big guys thought was, is that I was a dogcatcher.
Yeah, I was. I am! And a, uh, used-car salesman too.
Oh, s -- sure, fine!
And a siding and a shingle man.
Because I knew that today the dogcatcher is king!
And all those crooks and those shysters...
and those mobsters and those lobsters -- I mean, lobbyists --
I mean, all the well-fed -- all the welfare bums and tramps in this country...
that is your palace guard![Laughing]
Shit.
Ehh...
let 'em suck on that for a while.
[Chuckles]
[Sighs]
[Wheezes]
Shit!
I could have beaten Kennedy.
I could have won...
in 1960.
But, see...
goddamn C.I.A., they went and they told Kennedy all about the --
the track-two operation against Castro...
and then Jack, he out-red-baited me by attacking Castro...
and that made me look soft.
I mean, they promised me that the invasion would --
the "executive action" against Castro...
would take place before the election.
I mean, God, how they screwed me!
I could have won. I could have won. I could have beaten Kennedy.
Look, it was me with the 54-12 Special Group...
who'd planned the whole damn thing in the first place.
Yeah, I would have bombed 'em. Oh, how I would have bombed 'em!
But, you see, Castro, he was very smart. Oh, boy. Oh, boy, oh, boy.
When Eisenhower refused to meet with Castro...
when he came to this country before the election --
And then that son of a bitch Castro...
he went up there and he had lunch with the goddamn colored waiters...
at the Theresa Hotel in Harlem!
I would have got him! We already had the poison, for Christ's sake!
We had tested it on some monkeys -- Shit! Where's my fucking drink?H-H-Hey, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack.
I mean, shit, nobody coulda beaten Kennedy, for Christ's sake.
He was a big, good-lookin' Irishman, and he had that shock of hair.
Just like my brother Harold. They had the same charisma, you know.
The women, they all jump up and down -- Shit! His wife was a goddamn clotheshorse.
Shit! Pat was 48 years old, for Christ's sake! What was Jackie, thir --
What the fuck is this, for Christ's sake?
And, uh -- And -- I went to the wedding. Did you know that?
And Jack, he liked me. Oh, no, he did. Jack liked me.
He congratulated me when I beat Helen Gahagan Douglas.
His old man even contributed money to my campaign.
Well, it's true, of course, you know, that we were black Irish...
and they were -- [Blowing Raspberries]Look, we both had our tragedies.
Brothers.
Four boys.
And the Catholic thing --
I never used that.
I didn't!
Shit. See, then the debates came along.
And everybody said that I was like Cicero. They said --
They said, "How well he speaks!"
And then when Demosthenes spoke, everybody said, "How smart! Yes!"
[Chuckling]
Goddamn Jack, he was something else. I'll tell you that.
Then -- Then I got rattled...
when the press got ahold of that Howard Hughes loan to my brother...
for that wacko scheme of his...
to sell Nixonburgers!
[Laughing]
And then Haldeman, he goes and calls Martin Luther King a nigger...
on the teleph -- [Chuckles]
But the worst was, three days before the election...
when I slipped and called for peace and surrender.
That was the dumbest thing I ever did!
[Continues Laughing]
My poor goddamn dumb brothers.
Did you know that I had to put all my brothers under surveillance...
because of that -- [Chuckles]
Then my brother Don's kid, he goes and runs off and joins...
some dirty hippie commune.
Then they have to get some investigator to wade through all that crap...
drag him back by the ears, put him to work for -
[Laughing]
I -- I -- I mean, my goddamn family alone...
could have ruined me!
Shit.
I still couldn't sleep.
Right up to the election. Shit.
I couldn't neutralize the Hughes thing...
because
the Committee of 100, they were tapping her -- Uh, Marilyn Monroe.
[Sputters] You know, the Kennedy boys, you know, they were all big studs...
like their old man.
Like my brother, Harold.
And you know something else? That is what killed him too. That's right!
No women allowed up at Bohemian Grove. No, sir, not real women!
We were a different type from that Kennedy crowd.I was sure as hell a different type.
You know, in all those years, I never -- I didn't – I – I – I - I -- Not one time, I didn't --
But I didn't quit! That's right!
Not even in '74! I could have! I sh --
I could have burned the tapes and stonewalled it. Mm-hmm.
Let the big guys fight it out up there at Bohemian Grove. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And let the country go fascist by 1980.
Oh, that's right, Your Honor. I am talking shooting it out in the streets.
I mean civil war in this country by 1977 --
You understand why I had to withdraw?
Why I had to lay my life on the line to stop fascism and communism?
Fuck! The goddamn Yankees, Ford -- They get the fuckin' presidency anyway!
And the goddamn cowboys, Bush -- They get the C.I.A.
And what the hell do I get for following orders for 30 goddamn years?
Is this it? A fuckin' pardon? And disgrace? Shit!
Look, I tried to give them their dirty little war in Chile.
[Chuckling]
Did you know...
that that Allende...
was a worse whoremonger...
than you-know-who?
[Chuckling]
[Henry Kissinger]
[President Richard Nixon] You see...
they didn't have to kill him like that.
Not like that, they didn't.But, look, I could have hung tough.
I could have called on my political base like de Gaulle.
I could have called out Main Street against Wall Street, but I didn't.
I said, "I'll go!" I did it for ev -- For Christ's --
I did it for the little people, for Maggie and Jiggs...
for my people...
for all the failed ranchers and farmers -- people just like my old man.
I did it for the goddamn cab drivers and the fuckin' grocery store clerks...
and the cockroach capitalists and the traveling salesmen, I --
For the forgotten American. For the silent majority.
In their name I said, screw all the wise men...
all the tough guys who've sold us out and stabbed us in the --Look, I was not elected president on some other planet.
I'm America!
I am a winner who lost every battle up to and including the war.
I am not the American nightmare!
I am the American dream. Period!
And that is why the system works --
because I am the system.
Period!
So what I did was, I talked and I stalled...
and then I finally unleashed Haig...
and that provoked the Saturday Night Massacre.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. You see? This --
This is before I went crazy...
and they had to bring in the army...
to shoot me down on the floor of the Oval Office because I was nuts.
Oh, yeah. They would've done that, all right.
You see, there was a sinister force loose in the White House, all right...
but it sure as hell was not me.Look, in the end, I was just a --
I was just an unindicted coconspirator...
like everybody else...
in the United States of America.
[Muttering] Yes, that's right, goddamn it!
[Slams Mother’s piano]
[Dissonant Chord]
Yes... Mother.
You were right.
There never was...
a "new Nixon."
I am a square...
and I always have been.
But I believed in the system.
And that's all I did.
I got out to protect the system.
And look, I did not invent the system, Mother.
I did. I got out to protect the presidency.
[Wheezing Laughter]
My God, my God, my God, my God...
how I used to love being president!
[Continues Laughing] I used to enjoy that so much.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it.
I used to love to sit in the Lincoln study...
with the fireplace going...
and the air conditioning on.
I used to love to sit in there and think about...
Lincoln and, uh, Washington.
[Chuckling]
What a liar he was, huh? That fuckin' Washington!
[Chuckles]
I had -- The Rose Garden was so fragrant.
Oh! The yacht.
Sequoia.
I used to love to sit topside on the fantail of the Sequoia.
Down the Potomac, back to the navy yard...
sipping drinks with a friend...
[Charles Gregory Bebe Rebozo]
and talking geopolitics.
[Chuckling]
Oh, yes, and the, uh -- the jiga -- jiga – th – th -- the nigger --
t-t-t-t -- the colored waiters bringing up steaks from the galley.
[Laughing]
You know what I really used to enjoy?
I used to get a kick out of calling in coaching plays...
to the Redskin coaching staff on the white phone...
and going over the bombing targets in Cambodia with Henry on the red phone...
at the same time!
That's fun! [Laughing]
Oh, we were just rolling along up there, you know.
Everything was just going along so --
But you know what happened? The goddamn press and the liberals, they had --
[TV Monitors: Static]
[President Richard Nixon]Shit! Fuck!
[Clock Chiming 11:00]