Biography of Richard M. Nixon
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=591
General Information
Source:
Creator:
NBC Today Show
Bryant Gumbel
Resource Type:
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
06/17/1972
06/15/1992
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video News Report
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
1992
00:07:14
Description
Twenty years after the infamous Watergate break-in, NBC's Bryant Gumbel profiles President Richard
Nixon.
Keywords
Richard Nixon, Biography, California, Quaker, Navy, Lawyer, Alger Hiss, Pumpkin Papers, Communism
, Nikita Kruschev, Soviet Union, Senate, Congress, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Checkers Speech, Vice
President, Latin America, 1960 Election, Campaign, Debates, John F. Kennedy, Governor, 1968 Election,
Vietnam, Silent Majority, Environment, Foreign Policy, Re-Election, Watergate, Tapes, "I'm Not a
Crook", Resignation, Gerald R. Ford, Jerry Ford, Presidency, Executive Branch
Citation
© 2008-2015 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 4
MLA
"Biography of Richard M. Nixon." Bryant Gumbel, correspondent. NBC Today Show. NBCUniversal
Media. 15 June 1992. NBC Learn. Web. 2 April 2016
APA
Gumbel, B. (Reporter). 1992, June 15. Biography of Richard M. Nixon. [Television series episode]. NBC
Today Show. Retrieved from https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=591
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"Biography of Richard M. Nixon" NBC Today Show, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 06/15/1992.
Accessed Sat Apr 2 2016 from NBC Learn:
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=591
Transcript
Biography of Richard M. Nixon
BRYANT GUMBEL, reporting:
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Watergate break in, a bungled burglary that threw the United
States government into a constitutional crisis, and forced the resignation of a president. This morning we
begin a week-long Watergate retrospective with a look at the man whose name will always be
synonymous with Watergate: Richard Nixon. After he resigned the presidency most observers thought
Nixon would live out his life in seclusion and disgrace, but as he has throughout his career Nixon has
shown amazing resiliency. Since the day he was first elected to Congress in 1946, Nixon has arguably
been the most enigmatic politician of them all.
Richard Milhous Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California in 1913. He grew up in a Quaker family of
modest means, an ordinary boy who would grow up to be an extraordinary politician. He went to Whittier
College, and then on to Duke Law School. After serving in the navy during World War II, he ran for
Congress and won a seat in 1946. Two years later as anti-communist fever was on the rise, Nixon
captured the public’s attention, by going after former State Department official Alger Hiss. The so-called
“Pumpkin Papers,” stolen secret documents found on a Maryland farm, helped to send Hiss to prison.
Mr. NIXON: These documents were fed out of the State Department over ten years ago, by Communists
who were employees of that department, and who were interested in seeing that these documents were
sent to the Soviet Union.
GUMBEL: Nixon quickly capitalized on his fame, in 1950 in one of the dirtiest campaigns California has
ever seen, he defeated Helen Gahagan Douglas for a U.S. Senate seat. Then in 1952 he was picked by
General Dwight Eisenhower to be the number two man on the Republican ticket, he was clearly a rising
star in the GOP. But weeks later Nixon was accused of having a secret $18,000 campaign slush fund. He
saved his career with his now famous “Checkers” speech.
Mr. NIXON: You know the kids, like all kids, love the dog. I just want to say this right now, that
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regardless of what they say about it, we’re going to keep it.
GUMBEL: The “Checkers” speech marked Nixon’s first comeback, many others would follow, but not
until Nixon had settled in as a household name.
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: The bell announcing the opening of mental health week is rung by Vice
President Nixon and Senator Smathers of Florida, characterizing mental health as the nation’s number one
problem. The Vice President says that the ringing of the bell throughout the nation will be a reminder of
suffering Americans.
GUMBEL: In 1955 when President Eisenhower had a heart attack, Nixon gained prominence as a
temporary man in charge. Even after Ike recovered he stayed in the headlines as Vice President. On a trip
to Latin America in 1958, Nixon and his wife Pat had to be rushed to safety after a mob attacked their
motorcade. And in 1959 in a trip to Moscow, he took on Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Mr. NIXON: If this competition is to do the best for both of our peoples, and for people everywhere, there
must be a free exchange of ideas.
GUMBEL: In 1960 Nixon won the first of his three of his presidential nominations, his debates with JFK
have become political legends.
DEBATE MODERATOR: The candidates need no introductions, the Republican Candidate, Vice
President Richard M. Nixon, and the Democratic Candidate, Senator John F. Kennedy.
GUMBEL: The debates defined the two candidates of contrasting style and temperament. Their ads
accentuated their differences.
Mr. NIXON: We must never let the communist think we are weak, this is both foolish and dangerous, and
so I say, lets not tear America down, let us speak up for America.
ANNOUNCER: Vote for Nixon and Lodge, November 8th, they understand what peace demands.
GUMBEL: In November, Nixon lost by one of the narrowest margins in American history, and the
bitterness from that defeat would stay with him throughout his career. In 1962 he mounted a comeback,
and ran for governor of California, but after being badly beaten by incumbent Governor Pat Brown, he
told reporters that he was quitting politics for good.
Mr. NIXON: Just think how much you are gonna be missing. You don’t have Nixon to kick around
anymore.
GUMBEL: But within five years, Nixon was on his way to one of the greatest comebacks in political
history. The Nixon administration was marred by the continuing quagmire in Vietnam and the deep
divisions it caused at home. But through it all Nixon’s constituency was his so- called “Silent Majority”,
the white middle class and he played to them at every opportunity. As a chief executive, Nixon was
decisive, and always in charge. Witness this phone call in 1971 to his U.N. ambassador, George Herbert
Walker Bush.
Mr. NIXON: I want you to hit it firmly, strongly and toughly, is that clear? I mean that, don’t just take the
gloves off and crack it, because you know exactly what needs to be done, all right, bye.
GUMBEL: While in office Nixon increased the trappings of presidential power, his began to be called the
“Imperial Presidency,” but in 1972 he still won reelection by a landslide. But his second term was doomed
by the misdeeds of the first. Though widely downplayed when it happened, the burglary at the Watergate
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exploded as a national scandal in 1973 when investigations showed the affair and cover up reached all the
way to the White House.
WATERGATE LAWYER: Were you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the oval office
of the President?
ALEXANDER P. BETTERFIELD: I was aware of listening devices, yes sir.
JOHN DEAN, witness: At one point in the conversation I recall the president telling me to keep a good
list of the press people giving us trouble, because we’ll make life difficult for them after the election. The
conversation then turned to the use of the Internal Revenue Service to attack our enemies.
Mr. NIXON: I welcome this kind of examination, because people got to know whether or not their
president is a crook, well I’m not a crook.
GUMBEL: Through it all Nixon persistently claimed innocence, but when the Watergate tapes finally
proved otherwise, his infamy was assured, and his presidency was doomed.
Mr. NIXON: I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President Ford will be sworn
in as president, at that hour, in this office.
GUMBEL: At first Nixon seemed a broken man, but in the 18 years since he resigned he has engineered a
remarkable return to prominence, gaining widespread respect and real stature as an elder statesman.
Earlier this month he spoke of his eventual place in history.
Mr. NIXON: As far as I am concerned, and historians were--are going to write it, and I don’t have any
high hopes that they will treat me well, because let’s face it, most historians are on the left, and I am not
on the left.
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