Real Richard Nixon: 28 DAYS (7) - Prayer with Henry Kissinger & Pat's actions

-Clip 7-
The Real Richard Nixon
Vol. 3: "28 Days"
Interview with Frank Gannon

In this interview/documentary segment, President Richard Nixon discusses his last night in the White House before announcing his resignation from the presidency. Specifically, he discusses his prayer in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House with his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (which was famously—though melodramatically—reported on in Woodward and Bernstein's The Final Days). He also talks about his wife Pat Nixon's encouragement, the frequently reproduced final photos of his family in White House, his friend and supporter Rabbi Korff's reactions, his personal friend and secretary Rose Mary Wood's conveyance of a message of support from a former Vietnam POW, and his late night tour of the White House with his press secretary Ron Ziegler.

The video clip comes from 38 hours of interviews that Nixon did with Frank Gannon in 1983 during eight days of interviews spread out over several months. Gannon used to work for Nixon and was well acquainted with the former president. Subsequently, Nixon is more at ease and open here than in most of his recorded interviews, including the more famous Frost/Nixon interviews, which were more confrontational.




This volume of the interview covers Richard Nixon's account of his final days in office.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• President
• Richard
• Nixon
• Interview
• documentary
• Frank
• Gannon
• Watergate
• Resignation
• Henry
• Kissinger
• Pat
• White
• House
• America

[C0NTR4B455]

God you can really see his hurt over Kissenger...

[mainsqueeze1977]

He was a perpetrator but he also was a victim. Sure, his personality took the reaction to all new depths but for the treachery of one Ellsberg, the corruption of one New York Times and the arrogance and delusion of a Supreme Court he never would have been going down there!

[CounterCultureLives]

@CounterCultureLives Another thing that people don't understand is that RMN'spredecessors from both sides of the political aisles, & their administrations had engaged in conduct and actions that were not so different from those RMN's Administration. But with the explosion of communications technology, accompanied by America's era of social revolution and change, the the "unwritten rules" of the imperial presidency had changed. Nixon was too isolated from society to be able to see it, though.

[CounterCultureLives]

@vivthefree What many people do not understand is that the stage for the Watergate saga was set by Dr. Daniel Ellsberg's (who was a military analyst) release of "The Pentagon Papers", which exposed the ineptitude of former Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson's handling of the Vietnam war. LBJ and RNM were diametrically opposed in terms of political beliefs, but they were also very close friends. Nixon was angry because the leaking of The Pentagon Papers" was an embarrassment to LBJ's legacy.

[CounterCultureLives]

@vivthefree Quite sadly, you are all so correct. :o( The art and science of thinking has been replaced with shallow platitudes and mindless rhetoric. I'm a former Conservative Republican - turned Left of Center Democrat. Much to my shame, there were all too many times times that I "drank the Kool-Aid" of rhetoric and shallowness. The past decade has done much to open my eyes to see the damage that such behavior causes.

[vivthefree]

@CounterCultureLives Thank you for a thoughtful, reasonable response. And thank you for not reaching for partisan politics, upon the first criticism of a president. I'm not from the US, but it seems clear to me that political dialogue has sunk into an awful grudge match.

[CounterCultureLives]

@vivthefree I remember the saga of Watergate quite well. Nixon was more petty than corrupt. Watergate was a tawdry spectacle, but Nixon's personal involvement was not that which many would have you believe. Nixon didn't order the breakin at DNC, and Watergate was a gnat in his ear. The problem was that his closest people, from Haldeman,& Erlichman, and John Mitchell, were involved, and Nixon was trying to protect them.

[Carollnn]

As much as I dislike Nixon's policies (for the most part, I like EPA and SALT), it's hard not to feel compassionate toward him. It was all of his own doing, but there is still tragedy here.

[mainsqueeze1977]

It's a good and beautiful word.

[mainsqueeze1977]

Or Carter and Clinton for that matter.

At light-years of light-years than Obama, who however shares the fake honesty.