Q a in 2009. Another photo people might recognize. Washat is in 1974 when i special counsel for the House Judiciary Committee investigating the conduct of president nixon. Hillary clinton is standing next next to her is joseph woods of oakland, california, who was my associate as counsel of the committee, counsel to the committee. We were at law school. Counsel youo Service Counsel to peter rodino for how long . First of january 1973, and 48 or nine months in 1974. The conclusion that articles passed by the committee, when you read about your role in that, some say you convinced some of the republicans to come vote with the democrats against president nixon. I dont think that is accurate. I think the way the evidence was presented by the lawyers that , the for me persuaded Committee Members to vote yes. We set for ourselves a standard to conduct a standard of the investigation, that we would not be satisfied unless we got a two thirds vote. Peter rodino did not want to get a bear majority with a bare majority with democrats voting one way and republicans the other. We wanted to convince 37 people there was grounds for recommending that the president be impeached. 2710 . First bill was i cant remember but it was two thirds. He required a number of republicans. Yes it did. What was the impact of the vote on the presidency . I cannot tell you what the impact was. Ofthat vote came in july 1974 and he quit on august 8. Do you remember that moment as being the thing that tipped the scales for him . I dont. I dont know what tipped the scales for him. Have you written anything about that . I have not. Have you done any oral histories about that time . I dont think so. Because when you use the word oral histories, do you mean every interview . Thisent sat down and said is going to be your history of that period. How may lawyers work for you . 35. I know it was another time, but do you remember how much money was devoted to the investigation . Not a lot. That ited early on didnt make good sense for us to further, a new investigation of the president s saw our job to pull together all of the investigations that had occurred to date and try to bring them together and sharpen them in a way that was as persuasive as possible if the facts warranted. Why did you take the job as counsel to the Watergate Committee at the time . What motivated you . Brooklyn toe up to work on a problem a program Robert Kennedy had started. Robert kennedy had been killed and i felt i wanted to carry on that product as best i could. I was there for six years. I got a phone call one day from the dean of Yale Law School and the conversation went like this, i have one question to ask you, if you were offered a job to work for peter rodino, would you take it . I said yes and he said thats all the questions i have any hung up. I got a call from peter rodino to come down to washington and be interviewed. We got along and he seemed to like me. At the end of the interview, he said there is one other thing, i have some speeches to write and i understand you can write and i want to know if you would be willing to help me draft speeches. I said forget about it. I cannot write. He said you are being modest and he hired me. Why did you take it . Because it is the kind of job that to try and do it fairly was a great opportunity for a lawyer. I have had the luckiest professional experience of any lawyer in the country, bar none, to to have the opportunity serve in the capacity i did, any lawyer would want that. I am very thankful and lucky. This is American History tv on cspan3, where each weekend we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. The house will be in order. For 40 years, cspan has provided america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events from washington, d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1970 nine, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films, and programs on the presidency, the civil war, and more. Here is a clip from a recent program. Nation will remain a neutral nation, but i cannot ask that every american remain neutral in thought as well. Right toutral has a take account of facts. Asked neutral cannot be to close his mind or close his conscience. There is a right and wrong side in this war and we all know it. We should not be neutral about this, and i am not asking you to be neutral about this. He knew where the public was and expressed where the public was. What do you do about that in terms of policy . It is one thing to talk about not being neutral in thought, what do you do in terms of policy . ,he policy he crafted again closely resembles American Public opinion. He comes up with something called cash and carry. Americans should be allowed to sell goods to great britain, but the british have to come and get it, they have to pay cash, and they have to take it away on their own ships. That fits exactly in the polling data i was showing you. Yes we will sell goods, will not under any circumstances give them loans and we will not put our ships or people at risk. If they want to come pay cash and carry it away themselves, they can do that. It is the safest possible policy. Aid tosfies the desired england and france but does not put america at risk. Once they take the goods from our ports, it is not our problem. Its a ships get attacked, they are not our ships, if lives are lost, they are not our lives. In his beautifully crafted to perfectly capture what the American People were willing to do and i dont think that is coincidence. I think that is fdr understanding what the public was willing to tolerate. I think that is what we will see through the entire debate. Fdr is able to do that over and over again. Of 1939, it seemed like americans were done. They have cash and carry, Congress Approved it, fdr signed it. We have our policy, we are good to go. You know what happens next. The fall of france. That changed everything. Announcer you can watch this and other American History programs on our website, where all of our video is archived. That is cspan. Org history. In the first of a threepart program, we look back to the 19981999 impeachment of president bill clinton. Alexis simendinger covered the impeachment for the National Journal and is now National Political correspondent for the hill. We show a po