Nixon

I just don't understand it, Bob. I've logged a lot of miles.

I've followed the sales textbook by the letter.

I've applied myself diligently.

I mean, I try and I try, and I just cannot get in the door.

- I mean... what am I doin' wrong? - Earl, sit down.

Sure, you've got a great product,

but you have to remember what you're really selling: yourself.

So it's not necessarily what I say as how I say it?

That's right, Earl. A good salesman can sell anything.

And I remember when you were a good salesman at the beginning.

Something's changed. I don't want to pry,

but is everything all right at home, with Margie?

- Will there be anything else? - Leave it.

- Just leave it. - Yes, sir.

- Thank you. - Thanks.

I watched you walking in front of my desk in an agitated manner,

smoking without having asked if you could smoke in my presence.

0121, mark.

OK, listen up. Fire team discipline in there at all times.

Keep your radios on at all times during the entire penetration.

Check yourselves. False IDs?

- Jim. - No wallets, no keys?

We rendezvous where? The Watergate, room 214. When?

At 0300 hours.

Jawohl, mein fartin' führer.

I swear, Frank, I'm gonna make you a new asshole.

Let's get the fuck out of here.

Years of decency and clean living are over.

If anything goes wrong, sit tight. You'll hear from me or Howard.

Personally, if anything goes wrong,

I'll be calling the President of the United States.

I'm not just gonna be a good salesman.

No, doggone it, I'm gonna be a great salesman.

- That's the spirit. - Thanks.

And remember, Earl, always look them in the eye.

Nothing sells like sincerity.

Five men wearing white surgical gloves, business suits,

carrying camera and electronic surveillance equipment

were arrested in the headquarters of the Democratic Committee.

They were unarmed. Nobody knows yet why they were there

or what they were looking for.

Good evening, General Haig.

Good evening, sir.

Judge John Sirica today sentenced the Watergate burglars

to terms ranging up to 40 years.

The White House continues to deny any involvement.

Presidential counsel, John Dean,

testified before the Senate Watergate committee

that the scandal reaches to the highest levels.

Presidential aides Haldeman and Ehrlichman

were ordered to resign today.

In a stunning announcement, White House aide Alexander Butterfield

revealed the existence of a secret taping system.

Vice President Agnew resigned today after pleading no contest

to a charge of income tax evasion.

The president has fired the Watergate special prosecutor,

Archibald Cox, provoking the greatest constitutional crisis in history.

Eight resolutions calling for the impeachment

of the president were referred to the judiciary committee by the House.

It was disclosed to Judge Sirica

that there is an 18-and-a-half-minute gap

in a June 20th, 1972 taped conversation

between the president and Bob Haldeman.

Shock and anger are coming from all sectors of the nation.

Sirica ordered the president to turn over tapes

to special prosecutor Leon Jaworski.

The tapes contain conversations between the president and his aides

and are believed to include discussions of the scandal.

The White House has not yet responded to Judge Sirica's order

and it is not yet known whether the president will comply.

Yeah.

These are the tapes you requested, Mr. President.

OK.

Cocksucker!

Nixon's never been good with these things, Al.

I'll take care of it, sir. Do you mind, sir?

- Sorry. - OK. Go on.

You know, Al,

if Hoover were alive,

these tapes would never have gotten out.

I want the little shit back.

- Mr. Hoover was a realist, sir. - Yeah. Not like the others.

Dean, McCord, the rest.

We never got our side of the story out, Al.

People have forgotten.

Such violence.

The tear gassing, the riots,

burning the draft cards,

the Black Panthers.

We fixed it, Al, and they hate me for it.

'Cause it's Nixon. They always hated Nixon.

You're all set, sir.

- OK. - Good night, Mr. President.

Good night, Al.

Hey, Al.

Men in your profession,

give 'em a pistol and then leave the room.

I don't have a pistol, Al.

Goddamn it.

Pause.

Start.

- They did what? - Install bugs, photo documents.

It was a fishing expedition. It was their fourth attempt at the DNC.

O'Brien doesn't use that office.

Possibly looking for an illegal Hughes donation to the Democrats,

so they couldn't make an issue of your Hughes money.

It was a legal contribution.

Not clear the burglars knew what they were looking for.

They were headed for McGovern's office later that same night.

- Christ, did Mitchell know? - I don't know.

Mitchell's out of his mind. Martha put her head through a window.

- Jesus. Through a window? - Yeah, they're taking her to Bellevue.

- Maybe she'll stay this time. - Martha's an idiot.

She'll do anything to get Mitchell's attention.

If Mitchell had been minding the store instead of Martha,

we wouldn't have Magruder running some third-rate burglary.

We feel the bigger concern is Gordon Liddy.

- Liddy? That fruitcake? What about him? - That's just it, sir. He is a nut.

Used to work with the plumbers, turns up running this Watergate caper.

Remember his plan to firebomb Brookings using Cubans as firemen?

- What's Liddy got? - He was using some campaign cash

that was laundered for us through Mexico, the FBI's onto it.

- We could have a problem with that. - That's a campaign finance violation.

- So if... - Liddy takes the rap for Watergate,

we can take care of him and that lets us off the hook.

I don't have time for this. Just handle it, Bob.

Keep it out of the White House. I gotta see Kissinger.

He's throwing a tantrum, threatening to quit. Again.

What else?

Well, sir, one of the people implicated is still on the White House payroll.

Who? Not another goddamn Cuban.

Uh, no, sir. A guy named Hunt.

Howard Hunt, sir.

Hunt? Howard Hunt?

Left his White House phone number in his hotel room.

He works for Colson. He used him on the Pentagon Papers.

After arrest, he dumps his wiretapping stuff into his White House safe.

We're trying to figure out when he stopped being a White House consultant.

Howard Hunt is working for the White House? Jesus Christ.

This is goddamn Disneyland. Since when?

Since Chappaquiddick. He wanted dirt on Kennedy.

- Colson brought him in. - You know Hunt, sir?

Yeah, on the list of horribles.

I know what he is and I know what he tracks back to.

- He was involved in the plumbers? - Definitely.

Colson had him break into Bremer's apartment after Bremer shot Wallace

to plant McGovern's campaign literature.

I had nothing to do with that.

- He was in this Ellsberg thing? - Yes. You approved it.

- I did? - Right after the Pentagon Papers broke.

They went in to get his psychiatric records. We were working on China.

Fuck.

What the fuck?! You're not supposed to take pictures of me!

Take pictures of the files! Give me the fuckin' film!

Howard Hunt.

Jesus Christ. You open up that scab, you'll uncover a lot of pus.

What do you mean?

- Where's Hunt now? - He's in hiding.

- He sent Liddy in to talk to Dean. - And?

- He wants money. - Pay him.

Pay him? I told him get out of the country. It's crazy to start...

What the hell are you doing, John, screwing with the CIA?

I don't care how much he wants. Pay him.

- What are we paying him for, sir? - Silence.

But you're covered. It's only this Ellsberg thing,

and if that comes out, it's national security.

Cut ourselves loose from these clowns, and that's all there is to it.

No, it's more than that. I want Hunt paid.

We've never done that before, sir. How do we do it?

We should set up a Cuban defense fund on this and take care of all of 'em.

- Should we talk to Trini about paying? - Keep Trini out.

And for God's sake, keep Colson out.

It's time to baptize our young counsel here, Mr. Dean.

That means John can never talk about it. Attorney-client privilege.

So get to it. John, you stay close to this, OK?

- Don't worry, sir. - Good.

- - OK.

Did I approve the Ellsberg thing?

Huh?

I'm glad we tape all these conversations,

but I never approved the break-in at the Ellsbergs'.

Maybe I approved it after the fact.

Someday we gotta start transcribing these tapes.

You approved that before the fact because I went over it with you. But...

- No one's gonna see these tapes. - Right.

It's more of a problem for Ehrlichman. He fixed Hunt up with the phony CIA IDs.

But... what else does Hunt have on us?

We gotta turn off the FBI, Bob.

You go to the CIA and tell Helms that Hunt is blackmailing the president.

Tell him Hunt and his Cuban friends know too damn much,

and, uh, if he goes public, if Hunt goes public,

it will be a fiasco for the CIA. He'll know what I'm talking about.

- All right. - Play it tough.

That's the way they play it, that's the way we're gonna play it.

Don't lie to Helms and say there's no involvement.

Just say this is, uh, a sort of comedy of errors,

bizarre, without getting into it. And, uh...

Say the president believes

it's gonna open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again.

And tell Helms he should call the FBI, call Pat Gray,