The president s dirty dealings. But it wasnt coulson in the long runful he was not uninvolved run. He was not uninvolved but he was not directly involved. I did have a sinking feeling, and it took me only nanoseconds to put together once i found out a few more facts what had gone on and that it had been gordon liddys operation over at the Reelection Committee. Host john dean your books called the nixon defense what he knew and when he knew it. What did the president know and when did he know it . Guest wow, thats a [laughter] to do that book, peter i had to go through and transcribe all the nixon watergate conversations. I pulled all the conversations out, i cataloged them first which nobody had ever done, and then i had a team of transcribers help me so i could go through and really follow from daytoday to day what nixon knew when he knew it and what he did about it. One of the surprises, there are lots of surprises, in fact, theres not a page of that book that i dont learn something
What group might be willing, or against to vote impeachment, who might come that morning. Met jim mann and talked to him for the first time. Waldon flowers and talked to him time. E first and Caldwell Butler and we met at that point and said is there we really allthat of us could agree on. Either an constitute process, abuse of say, and we went through all of the evidence that pretty convincing knew think at that point i who was voting for and who least their inclination and we went public respectivey with our speeches. You were a 34yearold from maine and a republican so a member of your by party facing impeachment a committee you served on. It was not a happy moment. Distressed through the. I knew it would be the most beortant decision i would called upon to make. I tried to be as well prepared as i could. The previous six years, three as a prosecutor, three as a defense attorney so my focus and analyzinge the evidence without regard to oritical affiliation hadisan affiliation and i s
Although lincoln is hard to read emotionally, what was so fascinating was that they spoke about loving lincoln. Over and over again people right we loved him. They loved him as a father. People most often spoke of him as a brother and son. That speaks to his emotional distance. I have some questions on psychohistory. I am a licensed psychiatrist. I am bound not to speculate. You can look at what information is available and put into some context. I caution against trying to utilize information on someone who has been dead since 1865, trying to put that into a category that is 150 years later in terms of that. I think at times with a figure as large as Abraham Lincoln, what would have not have been as large is made larger in that extent. I do have some concern about that. Having said that, it was not clinical depression. It would be classified as this fine mia dysfimia. One of the most astute psychological assessments of lincoln, it depends on what you are trying to find. I would make a
Left the position to become chief domestic advisor. Coming up next, part two of a twopart interview with mr. Dean. He talks about the fallout from the breakin and how it became in his words a cancer on the presidency. He discusses why he began to cooperate with federal investigators, and his sentencing after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice. The Richard Nixon president ial library conducted this interview as part of a project to document the 37th president s administration. This is 90 minutes. Moderator tell us your reaction when you hear about the breakin. John i had been in manila giving a speech for the bureau of narcotics. The Drug Enforcement agency becomes later. It was a graduation speech for a bunch of agents who had been trained by dea. I was crossing the dateline. I was lying back and i arrived in San Francisco feeling jetlagged badly. I call my deputy and said im going to stay in San Francisco just rest today and come back tomorrow. He said i thi
Guys would have loved to be drugged and taken below the border. That was the ilk of this plan he envisioned that included everything from using prostitutes to gather information to wiretapping. It was a whole illegal plan. I did not think mitchell would give it a second look. Liddy did revise it down to, i think, a quarter of a million dollars. It was a half a million the next time. I went back and i was not planning to attend any more meetings. I have now realized that i went to haldeman. I was able to document from haldemans calendar years after the fact and long after this was available i went to haldeman twice on this, once after the first meeting and said it was absurd and went to him the second meeting and said this thing has to be cut off. I only testified to going to him the second time because that was the only one clear in my mind. Haldeman knew i had been in there twice to talk about this plan. I was invited back by mcgruder the second time, went up the elevator. Have been b