Wife of our president newly elected hugh hewitt. [applause] our distinguished speaker was to dr. Kissinger as dr. Kissinger was to president nixon. He joined kissingers security staff in 1969 as special assistant traveling the world on virtually every Major Initiative in the greater cold war. He was with dr. Kissinger during the talks with go she ate her in purse that culminated in the paris peace accords. He was with president nixon in moscow in during his first trip there in 1972 and he was therefore kissingers shuttles between the arabs and israelis after the yom kippur war. He was a key actor in nixons trip to china in 1972 known as the week that changed the world. Was president of the council on formal relations and assistant secretary of state for Southeast Asian and pacific affairs. From until 2016 he conducted oral histories of Henry Kissinger on behalf of the foundation. They cover a variety of subject , andr china, vietnam statesmanship and are and now adable book is availabl
And what the tapes did and did not reveal. This is an hour and a half. Were not talking about current events. And were not really focusing on the chronology of watergate because what im trying to tell you is what went on behind the scenes, the back story, both of developments at the white house itself where i worked and the special prosecutors office, where ive done a tremendous amount of research in finding out what their thinking was and what the documents show. So its an insider ceas view, im the insider. So im responsible for all of the views. Lets take a quick review of the preceding nine presentations. So i can try to convince you this has all made sense. The first week we introduced some people and then we ended with three surprising revelations. There were secret meetings going on between the judges and the prosecutors, a lot of them. And you dont know which is the bigger surprise, that they were meeting in secret or writing memos about their agreements. I have the memos. John
Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. So nixon was wrong on that one. Bill clinton talked to him a lot, which was strange, considering no two politiciansing hapoliticians could have ever been more opposite. And hillary had been on the staff of the Judiciary Committee that had voted to impeach him. But clinton respected him and listened to him. And nixon was sort of he wasnt he didnt despair about the fact he didnt have a great influence in his exile years. But he was a realist enough to know that he was not like at that point, he didnt even reach the class of kissinger who really did have all their ears and probably had much more influential input. Yes, sir . In light of all youve learned in all the research, if you could interview Richard Nixon, what one question would you most like to ask him . What one question would i like to ask Richard Nixon if i could interview, other than why didnt you burn the tapes. Im fascinated about the formative years. People say i write too much abou
jeff, remind us where you were on this day in 1972. i was in the middle of a five term i was the youngest lawyer on the staff, and i knew everybody involved. i did not know anybody in the break, and it was not of particular concern with me. i had a full-time job, i was working domestic policy issues, law and order. life moved on. it was a very busy and happy time, i could not have been prouder than to work on nixon s white house staff. and where were you on this day 50 years ago? i was a prosecutor at the national i lived in washington, near dupont circle. i read about the break-in in the washington post. and it was bob woodward who was one of the writers on that piece. and bob woodward back in 2011 talked about this day 50 years ago, here it is from his perspective. recount for us that moment, that also was captured in the film. you are at the courtroom, with you here in the courtroom? what is interesting on this wonderful saturday, they sent me down to the a
watergate break in, a conversation on two individuals who played a key role when it came to the prosecution and defense of watergate. joe joins us. a former special prosecutor. more recently, the author of the book watergate girl, a fight for truth and justice against the criminal president. jeff shepard joins us. he was a chief deputy to nixon s lead lawyer during watergate. his most recent book, titled the nixon conspiracy. watergate and the plot to remove the president. good morning to you both. thank you for the time. good morning. so, remind us where you were on this date in 1972. june 17th. i was in the middle of a five-year term of office at nixon s white house staff. i was the youngest lawyer on the staff. i knew everybody involved, although i didn t know people in the break-in. the break-in was not of particular concern to me. i had a full-time job, i was working on domestic policy issues, law and order. and life moved on. it was a very busy and very happy time