sometimes life is very strange. i was having breakfast this morning in the restaurant of the hamilton hotel thinking about this event and the anniversary which is today. and i looked up and said to my breakfast partner, that looks like carl bernstein and she said it is. and i said who's that guy next to him? it was bob woodward. so that is the way the day started out. i thought that was auspicious. i will get to questions. this is actually a very interesting great panel that we have. i will just mention that we do have an opportunity for audience questions. and that will happen at about a quarter to six. so that we wrap up by 6:00. and i would urge you -- there will be a microphone. if you raise your hand somebody will get you the mic and you can fire away. some of my colleagues from the washington post are here. so, i know that we will have some heavy-duty journalism happening. so, william golson of the working institution told my colleague dan both recently that we've been living for nearly half a century in the world that water make -- watergate made. as of today, the word watergate nearly goes away. it has been 50 years. so, with that, we want to understand just what that means. and i think you will forgive me if i have the first question go to linn downey. so land, -- with the benefit of hindsight, how much of what happened including nixon's ultimate resignation can be tied to investigative journalism in your view. >> it began with investigative journalism. it began with a break-in. a local story. it was with the -- we were assigned to. and we stayed on the washington post for the duration of the scandal. >> -- [inaudible] >> mary was brilliant. he was the third part of that team. he could tell them what they were telling him about what they were finding. he could give them an idea what that might mean. then that would push them onto the next story. he was very brilliant. when the movie came out -- he decided to write his own book and left the post. and the rest of the watergate coverage from then until the president's resignation -- to answer your question, investigative reporting had a lot to do with it because i don't think it would have had the attention that was eventually paid to it without their work. there are other people who deserve credit. who -- recorded and told him about the higher ups involved. until then, no one would believe it until the judge said so. obviously the watergate committee -- by the time the senate were gay committee was doing work there was less for bob and carl to do because i have many investigators doing a great job. but -- i just did not think we would have wound up without -- welled up where we wound up without bob and carl. -- other journalist didn't pick up on the story. our own political staff leg was not interested. david broder son told me afterwards we cover the stories between the lines like baseball. watergate was outside the line. we couldn't understand what was going on for a long time. eventually walter cronkite devoted the first 15 minutes of the show one night which was unheard of before then and probably since then to watergate to tell the american people the washington post is doing something you ought to know about. holding up diagrams of what happened. so that is what got it started. and then other people got involved for it was over. pretty much, 98 percent. right? >> that's a good pitcher. just kidding. i'm going to go down the road. to dwight. dry chapin, -- dwight chapin -- you are at president nixon side when he made his historic trip to china. you made note of that that in your memoir. a few years later, you were the first person to go on trial in the aftermath of the watergate and ultimately you did serve a prison term. >> yes. >> this past savvy -- past february -- i think was associated with your book being published you said there's no question i was heartbroken. there is no question i went help area -- i went through -- but so did president nixon. but now that you have five decades of perspective, do you have regrets about your own role or what you saw in countenance and were a part of in the white house? >> yes. thank you for having me here and for all of you being here. obviously, the bulk of audiences clicks you can pretty much feel it. i feel incredibly comfortable so thank you. >> in my book, the president's man, i make the point that serving president nixon and all of the privileges and everything else that came away -- it was an incredible experience. a wonderful experience that only problem was, there was a price tag called watergate. when that happened, and i went through it, it was traumatic for me. it was traumatic for my family. obviously, for the country. maybe most of all for president nixon. he was very proud man. he was a very good man. he had worked hard for the public. his whole life. for decades he had done public service. and he had to resign. and i say in my book, i think that is probably his own hello --hell and was probably as bad for me is going to prison. and i would make the point -- i think strategically you have to understand the atmosphere in which all of this happened. i agree with you. i think investigative reporting was key in this. i also look forward at the end of this meeting mr. broder son i too think he was on of the greatest reporters of all time. and i got to know him. but i want to make this point. nixon was writing so high. there was something about it and washington. i remember seeing the cover of newsweek magazine and it had michael beaver on the cover and a jack wire part of here on the other side of the capital with the capitol in the background. there was this thing on this great obvious and i was working in tokyo at the time and i called bryce harlow who is one of the great understand her's -- of wanting -- washington. i said brian what do you think of that cover on the magazine? and he says watch for the fall. and with nixon, we went to china. he came back. we went to russia. he came back. he goes to 10 -- the convention. and then he goes to that -- at a popularity level not to be believed. we had in this town and axis of democrats, the media, it turned out to be the prosecutors and to the degree due to initial -- the judicial system. that is what my friend is writing about. so, we, would weigh that against all the investigative reporting and everything else. we think this is a political event and it was. it had criminal aspects to it. no question. but richard nixon, at the end of his life, said he considered watergate his last campaign. and he lost. but, his definition of the last campaign is because he viewed this as a political event. >> ok. i have more questions for you about your views of mark phelps. we will get to that. we will get to that. so, dr., your 2016 book if i have a date right is titled the loneliness of the back -- black republican. i know in writing that he relied on the papers of senator edward. republican of massachusetts who had been -- a nixon supporter and who -- withdraw a support was so notable that it was the lead story in the new york times on november 5, 1973. almost exactly a year after the landslide reelection victory. so, give us some perspective on what you learned about brooke's involvement and his change of heart and what that has done to your overall thesis about black republicans. >> sure. thank you all for having me here today. part of this retrospective is actually wonderful and it is an honor to be on stage to talk to all of you. one of the things that defines him in the majority of his political career is he is known as a politician with integrity. he -- it seems like no small feat but is what makes of who he is. and is not for the people of massachusetts believe he longer has integrity and that he actually loses his reelection in 1978. there is data on that. you can find it. and it comes into his relationship with richard nixon. it was complicated relationship. nixon originally asked him to be a member of the cabinet. in 1968 when he was assembling the cabinet. there were no black members and that's because the two black people he had turned him down. of those people was broke. -- the election on the table was for attorney general. i think what is that look like if ever looks former senator edward brooks his attorney general as watergate is happening. but it doesn't happen. he remain the senate. he is part of a group that goes to -- that travels overseas and southeast asia to answer questions. and to bring back to nixon. he pulled in time and time again on race, economics, in particular, urban housing questions. questions of urban housing. he is constantly pulled in. he is very vocal and what he thinks nixon should be doing and what nixon is doing wrong. there is one point in the story that brooke tells in his paper where he is sitting on the plane with richard nixon and he says you can't run a complaint -- a campaign that's called law and order law and order law and order and people are going to see that as races. and he says it's races. i'm every time i go out i get called all of these things and as soon as the plane lands i'm going to quit. and nixon says how do i change this? a lot of cynical things go into that. and brooke said add justice to law order and justice. that changes the meaning of it. so i think as we think about this complicated relationship that is going on back and forth will looks says he can not feel but be honest with nixon. he also had a view of nixon that was very calculated and -- very how do i wrangle this person. watergate happened, brooks has to have his staff do you diligence around it. he is convinced the president has to step down. when the president remaining in office and as this mountain grows, he is doing a disservice not just to his country, but in fact he is damaging the promise of what the republican party can be. so he comes out and becomes the first republican to say mr. president to resign. it is a huge moment. and it is not -- i wouldn't necessarily say it is a huge moment for black america. because if you look at journalism, media surrounding black america in the moment, they say what took at brick so long? they already have a vision of richard nixon that is one in -- it's steven anti-blackness and corruption. it is complicated of course. but ebony magazine list the two predominant -- running pieces as early as watergate's -- saying the president is somehow involved. so when brooks steps out and says we have to do this, all these black newspapers, media, journalists, writers are saying finally. finally you are saying what needs to be said. and of course, it is a big moment. it is a big moment for white house staffers for talk about -- if he is going back to his condo in d.c.. but the president's secretary, but it is also a moment for brooks that reinforces the idea of him being a politician with integrity. and one that is also willing to step out against his party in a moment of crisis. it is also incredibly important as you are looking through the papers and you see the private correspondent from other politicians including other republicans. it's incredibly him for them to also take steps to say you know what mr. president you do need to resign. they are, when this group of politicians and senators and go to nixon they say now is the time. the polling data is there. you are going to be -- you if you stay in office he will be impeached. if this happens you will go to jail. they point to -- one of the things they point to and one of the things that shows up in brooks paper as they say they've been deeply influenced by brooke doing this first. and i think that matters. think it is part of a larger orbit of both what broke represents is a politician and then what it allows the rest of the party to do in a moment of crisis. >> thank you. so brick crossing. you've written a lot about richard nixon and about the trajectory of the republican party over time. in your great book. but i want to ask you about a short piece that you wrote in the washington post in 2017 which was debunking some of the myths of watergate. so, you're number one myth that you debunked was -- there wasn't a logical motive behind the burglary. and you say that is not true. can you talk to us about why that myth has been endured and what you see is the clear motive. and what business this brings up. i should have told you i was -- i should've told you guys what essay he has forgotten more about the subject than most know. directly to using there was a clear motive now as you look at it. >> obviously it depends on what you mean by clear motive. i would say the clearest part of the watergate break-in has to do with a break-in that was attempted on the same day that no one remembers because it was never accomplished. that was an attempt -- maybe a similar -- around the same time where lady was scouting out campaign headquarters. and around the same time, there was a burglary at one of the -- offices also in watergate. to understand the particular man on this particular day he would need to and have a whole conundrum of what -- the white house and what it was -- the white house horrors and what he was afraid would be revealed if watergate was investigated. one of the white house horrors conspicuously was the same guys that broke into watergate. they broke into a psychiatrist office to try to discredit a administrative enemy. so i need to thank you guys for having me here. i want to acknowledge one of my guests. my uncle and aunt who have their anniversary today. and until then i have a thing. a watergate panel. it is a romantic moment to enjoy. and seriously, uncle david was of a certain generation that sounds like a great way to spend a day. and i think what that speaks to is that for people who came of age watching these things unfold and watching the investigations unfold, watergate itself was a moment of high citizenship. it was something that was very profound and meaningful. we talk about the consequences of watergate and people losing trust in government. my argument is that that is not all a bad thing. the former senators said -- love their country like children with their mommy. uncritically. salute the flag. during this -- period in which elvis was being investigated liberals were establishing a new kind of patriotism where we love our country by trying to make it better. >> your mother tells you she loves you. check it out. >> check it out. we should all act like investigative journalist because we love our country not because we hate it or we are out against the event. if you look at the train of events that leads up to august 1974 we are talking about a president in his first year of office had a wiretapped reporter. the president in 1972 who came up with a hundred of fake communities to find his favorite candidate in an election. we are talking about -- having bombed the brooklyn institution yet. the people who went after him were not, as my friend said, out to get the president. in fact, the media establishment in washington was quite political. if you look at the cover of the inauguration. look at the fact when the door white came out with the first wrap of the president in 1972 he didn't even have a paragraph on watergate. he begged at the end of a court letter for an extension so he can add a chapter. then he added another whole book. because he realized he had fallen for this idea that trusting institutions of the country was too much. if you look at someone like sam hermon who was the leader of the senate investigation and drilled down to the absolute bedrock core of what was happening to our country. he was the democrat who voted was richard nixon the most in the senate. you cannot tell me there are good guys and bad guys on the bad guys were out to get this innocent man who wanted to serve his country. this is a guy much pain was caused to him, there were caused things that were present in his career, since the beginning and you can even argue, since his childhood. when he rode -- wrote a prize-winning essay, that the religious freedom does not mean you can practice religion that is damaging to society. this is not an authoritarian mindset. of we love our country -- if we love to bash if we try to rooted out. >> how was i going? -- how is that going? we will come back to that. i don't want to start any kind of physical fight here. it is a bit unfortunate that i have -- dwight how sat next to each other's because i want to ask -- given time. i want to ask about deep throat. i want ask about it. i know, do you think he was very wrong in what he did? you said that in interviews and i think written it. why don't you tell us what your objection is to the use of a source like that to get to the truth. >> let's not use -- let's look at it this way, i was raised in kansas and then california to respect the fbi i was respectful of the fbi. i never lied to the fbi. i told him the absolute truth from day one. my issue, as a grand jury, is to see which is different than the other. but when someone takes an of to uphold the laws of the constitution of the united states and they are the second ranking person in the fbi, is mark felt was, if it is true and i doubt seriously that it is only one person who is deep throat i think al haig is there too. i become more convinced every day that he was in there. but, mark felt by -- because of his own selfishness, you have to understand this is a political war, he wanted -- when hoover died, felt was furious he did not get that job and that it went to pat gray. he decides he's going to leak this information to bob woodward and that he is going to embarrass nixon and nixon is going to get pissed off and he's going to fire pat gray and he's going to take mark felt and make him fed -- head of the fbi. that is the strategy. i look at mark felt and i have nothing but contempt for that, as an american citizen. forget that i'm a republican, nixon person, to me that is just outrageous. >> how do you really feel though? [laughter] and i would like, len, if you would talk about the role of mar k felt. fair warning, because i do want to take audience questions. i'm going to do a lightning round in which ask everyone what, in your particular area of interest, what is the most lasting legacy of watergate? >> well, bob woodward, let mark felt it -- met mark in the white house when they both in the navy. they got to know each other well. they liked each other. bob contacted mark on a couple of other occasions for a couple of stories which he gave him. felt was reluctant to talk to him about watergate. the famous underground scene in the movie was accurate. back at the newspaper, we were concerned about making sure we knew who all of the sources were, except for that particular one. we want to know what their sources had told them and under what circumstances. . every time they conducted interviews with the source it was not named in the newspaper. to whom they gave confidentiality for, unless the source was released from that confidentiality. they had to write out all of their notes and they had to put the name of the source at the top of it. alexander was one of the names by the way. it went all the way to the top of the white house. many other parts of the government and politicians and someone. but, not mark felt. bob had promised him he would not tell anyone who he was. ben did not know who he was, i did not know who he was. catherine graham did not know who you was. as a result of that, we did not publish anything directly from mark felt, except in one small instance where it was adding onto something else. >> it was guidance. >> he would tell bob, when he was on the right track or the wrong track. he sometimes told bob things that turn out to be true which is why we did not publish anything that he said. we used him for guidance. so, quick anecdote. i was always wondering who mark -- who deep thro