You have joined us on an historic night. This week marks the 40th anniversary of the resignation of Richard Milhous jowlsworth nixon. laughter we were going to have a balloon drop in his honor, but, instead, we just decided to secretly drop them over cambodia. laughter this is a solemn day for me because nixon is my alltime favorite nonreagan president , noncheney Vice President , and nonoats quaker. laughter to this day, nixons 1972 Campaign Poster hangs in my office. It reminds me of a simpler time in america, when my parents seemed very tall and youd get a gold star just for using the toilet. laughter folks, before we delve into the socalled scandal that cost us this great leader, lets get to know the man. Richard nixon was born in 1913 in yorba linda, california. Even at an early age, he refused to wear makeup, which is why even his mother preferred kennedys baby pictures. laughter after serving in the navy, nixon was elected to congress and rose to political prominence as a member of the house in the house unamerican activities committee, where he accused state Department Official alger hiss of being a soviet spy. It was a dark time in our nations history, when it was considered wrong for government workers to spy on americans. laughter in 1952, while campaigning as Dwight Eisenhowers runningmate, nixon wins gulfed in scandal when the media reported he received improper gifts from wealthy donors. So nixon took to the air waves and saved his reputation with what became known as the checkers speech. We did get something, a gift after the election. You know what it was . It was a little cocker spaniel dog, and our little girl, tricia, the 6yearold, named it checkers. And you know, the kids, like all kids, love the dog, and i just want to say this right now that regardless of what they say about it, were gonna keep it. laughter stephen this speech was the most skillful political deflection since stalins infamous yes, i have work camps, but theyre filled with kittens. laughter a tender message. Nixons lost the 1960 election to john f. Kennedy. In part due to a poor performance in the first televised president ial debate. Kennedy chose to wear makeup, while nixon chose to be in black and white. laughter a rookie mistake. But eight years later, nixon pulled off the greatest political comeback in history, when he swept into the oval office. As president , his achievements were many. He founded the e. P. A. , ended school segregation, lowered the voting age to 18 and endorsed the equal rights amendment. But his greatest achievement was restoring diplomatic relations with china. For which we owe nixon a lasting debt and china 1. 3 trillion. laughter but this good man was forced applause yes. Yes. But this good man was forced from office by his bloodthirsty enemies who, according to a partial list prepared by nixon, were everyone. laughter it was called watergate, a scandal so explosive some call it watergategate. laughter not many. Just me, so far. But after tonights show. laughter join me now for tonights retrospectacular a, the colbert special report scandal in the white house, a nation betrayed. A fond look back, 74 74 applause chanting cheers and applause stephen on june 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National committees headquarters at the watergate hotel. Even worse, they ate a tobeleron from the minibar, sticking the democrats with a 22 service charge. laughter an f. B. I. Investigation connected the watergate breakin to an elite white house dirty tricks group known as the plumbers because they were tasked with plugging leaks. And because of their ample ass cracks. laughter the plumbers were part of nixons political operation, the committee to reelect the president , or creep. A name that somehow escaped the scrutiny of nixons undercommittee for terminating selfindicting acronym choices, or nutsac. laughter soon, Washington Post reporters bob woodward and carl bernstein, seen here as attractive people, began receiving and publishing leaks about the plot from an anonymous f. B. I. Source known only as dee deep throat. Later portrayed by Linda Lovelace in the documentary. On may 17, 1973, the senate launched the watergate hearings, in which the president s former appointments secretary Alexander Butterfield revealed that nixon had recorded every conversation in his office since 1971, creating a vital historical record. Just listen to this actual conversation. The problem with, uh the problem, however, with pandas is that they dont know how to mate. The only way they learn how is to watch other pandas mate. You see . laughter stephen yes, for pandas to mate, they have to watch other pandas doing it. Although, for mail pandas, its just as effective to watch two females mating. laughter applause but the most famous passage m the recordings wasnt on them. It was the missing 18 1 2 minutes. Nixons secretary Rose Mary Woods claimed she accidentally pressed erase with her foot on the tape recorders pedal while reaching for the phone, a position now known in yoga as downward facing ass cover. laughter so what was on those 18 1 2 minutes . Did those two pandas ever do it . We may never know. laughter sorry, we seem to be having a slight technical difficulty. Could someone adjust the vertical hold . Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. applause now, on august 8, 1974, days after the House Judiciary Committee had passed articles of impeachment, Richard Nixon became the first u. S. President to resign since William Henry harrison cowardly left office after one month to spend more time with his coffin. laughter when we return, we will be joined by former nixon speechwriter patrick j. Buchanan. Please join us after these important messages from our sponsors. applause space food sticks, the energy snack from u. S. Aerospace research and pillsbury. laughter [ man ] cortana, when my wife calls remind me to tell her happy anniversary. [ cortana ] next time you talk to caroline, ill remind you. [ siri ] oh no, i cannot do that. Oh, and remind me to get roses when im near any flower shop. Sure thing. Remind you when you get to flower shop. I cant do that either. Cortana, its gonna be a great night. [ beep ] oh wow thanks for the traffic alert. I better get going. Now that is a smart phone. Oh, wait its cause you make me smile our most stretchable sheer bandage ever. Theyre 50 more stretchable, so they fit snug to protect even tough spots from dirt and germs. cause bandaid stretches with me [ female announcer ] new from bandaid brand. Buy 3 Johnson Johnson first aid products and get a free bag. Real good the cheese is baked right into the bun. You know, in this case it really is whats on the outside that counts. Maybe that phrase its whats on the inside that counts isnt true yeah. I mean, ive only been judging books by their covers. Really . Well i only read the cover. Oh, you dont read whats inside . No. I could read two, three covers huh. Cover to cover. Cover and cover. sizzle announcer count on the cheesy goodness of the new cheesy bread dogs. The Perfect Match for any of our 25 shakes clicks phone beeps stephen welcome back welcome back to our nixon resignation special. To truly know an historical figure like nixon, it helps to actually know him. My next guest did. Please welcome former nixon speechwriter and author of the greatest comeback how Richard Nixon rose from defeat to create the new majority, pat buchanan. Pat, good to see you again always good to have you on the report thank you applause stephen pat, you knew Richard Nixon. You were one of his speechwriters. People see him as a tragic figure in many ways. Right. Stephen who was the nixon you knew . What is he a tragic figure . Yeah, he was, in a way. Nixon had some flaws, and when the president of the United States flaws are magnified as in many cases, its a tragedy, and he was indecisive in watergate, too loyal to his friends, and he didnt act and if he did, he would have gone down as one of the greatest 79s. Arms control, opened up china, saved israel in the war, brought troops home from vietnam, brought p. O. W. s home, an extraordinary success but watergate erased it all. Stephen 40 years ago today the smoking gun was released. I was at camp david and we found it. Stephen tell the people what that was. A tape of june 3, 1972 where Richard Nixon was talking about containing the investigation of watergate. It was a couple of days after it and nixon had seen the tapes and said he had not talked, had basically not been discussing the socalled coverup then. What happened was when we found it at camp david we released it the next day and dropped the bottom out of stephen the tape said he knew there was a coverup and he was encouraging the coverup . The tape said there was a coverup and he knew about it. The problem was he had not spoken the truth. Stephen did he destroy the tapes . He never should have made the tapes. Stephen but thats different. Thats like saying, okay, should you have destroyed the murder weapon . Well, better not to murder someone. laughter did you advise him to destroy the tapes . Yes, i did. Stephen i agree with you. If youre going to obstruct justice, go all the way laughter applause no, no heres where youre dead wrong. Heres where youre wrong. When the tapes were revealed, not a single one had been subpoenaed. They were not evidence of anything. He had taken tapes of individuals who had not known it, the tapes operated automatically and what he should have done is kept the tapes of brezhnev and the Foreign Policy and john dean and tick the rest and get rid of them. Stephen because they had evidence of his obstruction of justice. After burning him he could have said go ahead and impeach and be damned. Stephen why didnt he stick out the impeachment. Hes my president. I was a kid when he resigned and i always felt he was my president. He didnt stick it out because the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach. If we didnt have to t votes in the house, it would have been sent to the senate and then would have been convicted after five or six months. Those at camp david said we cannot put the country through this when we know the end is not in doubt. Barry goldwater and others came down, but richard already said dont put the country through it, end it and put gerald ford in office, which was the right thing to do. Stephen theres an image of nixon as a paranoid, unhappy person. What was happy nixon like . What made him happy . Ill tell you a story. I was 14 years old when i met him. He was Vice President of the United States. I was on the caddy bench of the burning tree country club, all mens club, eisenhower golf there. He came out there and was with the guys out there on the golf course and he was in his made 40s. He was a generally happy man. He loved the battle, the it mr. The battle. When i went to work for him up there at his law firm, he called me in and we talked for hours every day and he said if i had to practice law for a living, i would be mentally dead in two years and physically in four. What he loved was the battle, bringing the Republican Party back from that horrendous defeat in 64, his own ruined career and marching up the hill to where he won the presidency with the greatest landslide in american political history. Stephen what i love about the greatest comeback this is between 62 and 68 when hes in the wilderness from california and becomes the president of the United States, not only did he rebill at a time himself after watergate but he rehabilitated himself before he became president. This man resurrected his career twice. Only jesus dieven jeez only didt once. He resurrected three times. Stephen hes the father, son and the holy ghost applause pat buchanan the greatest comeback. Kfc 5 buck fill up. Couple pieces of chicken, gigantic mashed potatoes. A biscuit, and a cookie. And a drink [chuckles] you can eat the cookie first, if you want. If you want, if you feel that way. Its your choice its amazing. Yeah. Every summer, my nana sends me a check for 5. Its a pain to cash, but when i do, i can buy all of this for 5. I need to write her a thank you letter. Yeah, you probably shouldve done that way long ago. Lets chow down. Spork [ male announcer ] give extra. Get extra. Its the ultimate joy ride. Test drive tmobiles network free for 7 days on the oneandonly iphone 5s. Use the ultimate phone to see how much you can download, post, and stream on the Network Designed Data strong. Get the thrill of iphone 5s with the power of the Tmobile Network free for 7 days. Sign up for your free tmobile test drive at tmobile. Com testdrive these wifi hotspots we get with our Xfinity Internet Service are all over the place. Hey you can stop looking. I found one. See . What do you think a wifi hotspot smells like . Im thinking roast beef. Want to get lunch . Get the fastest wifi hotspots and more coverage on the go than any other provider. Xfinity, the future of awesome. Stephen welcome back to our breaking coverage of something that happened 40 years ago. laughter of course, at the center of the watergate scandal was former White House Council john dean. Joining me now is a man who knew john dean very well. Please welcome john dean. John, thank you so much for joining us, good to have you here applause you are the author of a book called the nixon defense what he knew and when he knew it. Was watergate that big of a deal . laughter pat believes the tapes had been destroyed. Youre on the tapes. I am. Stephen do you believe they should have been destroyed . I dont think so. It clearly would have been an obstruction of justice to destroy the tapes. When the tapes were refield by alex pet butterfield, it was on friday 13th, white house learns it over the weekend. Nixon is in the hospital with pneumonia. Hes told the options, one is destroyed, the other is keep them. He has one lawyer arguing obstruction of justice if you destroy them, the other says, well, they havent subpoenaed yet, you might get away with destroying them. Stephen you actually served four months in prison, and what was the charge . I pleaded to obstruction of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Stephen in return for pleading your guilt, you testified against the president. When did you make the calculus and when did you make the calculus to turn on this good man . laughter i informed my colleagues early exactly what i was doing. First, i was going to hire a lawyer. When i break rank, i make it no secret. I said, im not going to lie for anybody, im going to the prosecutors. They thought it was a good idea, go to the grand jury. They didnt believe i would either remember or testify in an incriminating fashion about myself, but that was the only way i felt to really resolve the matter was to be very truthful about it, explain what happened and lay it out. Stephen you famously said to the president that there was a cancer on the presidency. What did you mean at the time . Well, what i was trying to do . I was trying to get his attention. Stephen that would do it. It is. Stephen that is a fatal diagnosis. What did you mean by that . I meant watergate was metastasizing. It was consuming his time and the people who were part of the administration. Stephen why didnt nixon just cut the chaff away from him, cut everybody louis . You have to be tough to be in politics. Why didnt he say harolderman, ehrlichman, dean, why didnt he just turn you guys to the feds and walked away . Should have. Did he ever try to turn on you . Not till i break ranks. Hes very worried about the others and me. I have too much knowledge. He doesnt know what to do. He wants to figure out how to ease everybody out and hopefully that will be enough for the public. It was just a start. I advised him we should all go. You knew the president as well, you heard pat out here i didnt know the president as well as pat. You know, pat is somebody, in all those tapes i was just telling pat before we came on, in all those tapes i listened to, nixon has something nasty to say on almost everybody who worked for him but not about pat. He really liked pat. Stephen nixon liked him. Thats excellent for the tombstone. laughter applause stephen all right, what did the president know and when did he know it and did and do you know what was on the 18 1 2 minutes of the missing tapes . I do. What did he know and when . He was deeply involved in the coverup from the beginning. Hes not as active until after the march 21 conversation. Stephen did he order he did not order interest breakin. Theres no evidence he ordered the breakin. Stephen dhid he order any breakin . Oh, yes, he did. He ordered a breakin at the Bookings Institute during the pentagon papers. He thought they should not have a copy of that 1970 study that showed the origins of the war in vietnam so he gave instructions on three different taped conversations to break in and get those out. Stephen so he couldnt have known about the watergate breakin because he was too busy planning other breakins laughter what was on the 18 missing minutes . Its very clear when you put the sequence together in fact i put an appendix in the book for that reason so people could follow it and what it was is hes discussing the coverup very early in the first days. He discusses it that evening, the next day, two days later is the smoking gun tape that really causes his presidency to end because he has set up a defense, he knew nothing about watergate till i had told him in march of 73. Stephen that proves he already knew. Yes. Stephen were you there when this happened . No, but i was aware of it that morning. It was a major event. Bud crow called me and said elvis wants to come in. What do you think about that . I said why . He said he wants to get a badge from the bureau of narcotics and dangerous drugs so he can be a Drug Enforcement officer. I said, thats kind of unusual. Stephen he certainly looks like an expert in this photo. John, thanks so much for joining me. Thank you. applause stephen john dean, the nixon defense. Well be no, no, no, no, no ooh and i pick you ill name you. Cornelius pumper