nixon frost interview quotes
A longtime broadcaster, Mr. The quotes form the interview are by any journalistic standards, a dream offering considering Nixon’s stature and the conditions under which, arguably the most powerful man in the world had to resign his office. And power! Nixon: Because as president of the United States … ah … I had to make a decision, as has faced most presidents, in fact, all of them, ah … in which, ah … the national security in terms of a threat from abroad, ah … and the security of the individual … individual violence at home had to be put first. The on-camera interviews, 12 in all, were conducted about three years after Nixon’s resignation over Watergate and Frost got the former … David Frost: I've had an idea for an interview: Richard Nixon. President Richard Nixon near Stacks of White House Tapes Transcripts Recording a National Radio/Television Announcement, April 22, 1974, NARA, WHPO E2678-14. And Kennedy, of course, even before Vietnam began to escalate, had the beginning of the violent racial disturbances … ah … which led to some activities in this category. Whereas Frost's seconds are guns for hire, Nixon's cornerman, Jack Brennan (Kevin Bacon), has as lifetime loyalty to his boss. “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1973”, p.76, Best Books on 4 Copy quote Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of another nation. He screwed anything that moved, and everything. And the American people, they loved him for it! First of all, the whole arrangement between Frost and Nixon was dubious from the outset. Powered by Beck & Stone. We're not going to let that happen, either of us. The Weathermen, also known as the Weather Underground, formed in 1969 as a militant faction of the campus-based socialist organization Students for a Democratic Society. Richard Nixon: [Frost is signing a cheque] I hope that isn't coming out of your own pocket. David Frost: Why didn't you burn the tapes? But the more interesting question is whether Lincoln and Jefferson’s arguments necessarily lead to something like Nixon’s claim. Unlike Lincoln, Nixon assumes that this power can be used even when the Union is not at stake. Let’s look at the year, 1970. © 2006-2021 Ashbrook Center "Frost/Nixon" is based on journalist David Frost's 1977 interview with former president Richard Nixon. While the script is straightforward about the fact that under their agreement Nixon was to be paid for the interviews (a then-whopping $600,000), a highly unusual arrangement, it omits the even more questionable part of the deal in which Nixon was guaranteed twenty percent of the profits from the … David Frost: I really don't know what you're talking about. No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or … —President Richard Nixon, reflecting on the Watergate scandal in 1978 James Reston, Jr.: You have to set up that he has an anti-democratic personality. Richard Nixon: More important than that, she comes from Monaco. "Frosting Nixon", a 2013 episode of the NBC sitcom 1600 Penn, https://www.quotes.net/movies/frost/nixon_quotes_122851, The cardinal work of charity is not by the number that counts, but by…. Now, why were we concerned? Frost was best known for incisive interviews with public figures, including talks with former President Richard M. Nixon, which he called the highlight of his career. —President Richard Nixon, giving advice to a political associate "I was not lying. No, I don't. James Reston, Jr.: [after a pause, he shakily extends his own hand] Mr. President... Bob Zelnick: [after Nixon leaves] Oh that was devastating, I don't think he's ever going to get over that. Ah … but most significantly, it was a year in which there had been thirty thousand bombings and fifty thousand …I mean, sorry, three thousands bombings, three thousand bombings and fifty thousand bomb threats … which caused, ah … the evacuation of buildings. Web. Nixon: Well, when the president does it … that means that it is not illegal.[4]. The poor little bitch was never the same! Frost: So that the black-bag jobs that were authorized in the Huston plan … if they’d gone ahead, would have been made legal by your action? But in summer 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scanda Richard Nixon: Take my advice. Do you actually enjoy those? They taste like Styrofoam. As opposed to what? Ah… it was a year of turbulence in American society. Richard Nixon: Why would I want to talk to David Frost? Nixon: Well … I think that we would … I think that we’re splitting hairs here. A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon. That lightness, that charm. ', and 'Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.' Richard Nixon: Yes you do. Richard Nixon: Did you do any fornicating? Frost: So, what in a sense you’re saying is that there are certain situations and the Huston plan or that part of it was one of them where the president can decide that it’s in the best interest of the nation or something and do something illegal. And Kennedy's so goddamn handsome and blue-eyed! The rest of the project and its failings would not only be forgotten, they would totally cease to exist. At first I couldn't understand why Bob Zelnick was quite as euphoric as he was after the interviews, or why John Birt felt moved to strip naked and rush into the ocean to celebrate. TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Privacy Policy Edited transcript of David Frost's interview with Richard Nixon broadcast in May 1977. It's like Paris without the French. David Frost: I'm in this for all I've got. Even more intriguing is the fact that Nixon agreed to appear on camera with no pre-interview preparation or screening of questions. I said things that later on seemed to be untrue." Since the resignation, he has become a fretful coach and father figure to Nixon, encouraging him to be strong, insisting an interview be stopped at the first sign of Nixon… Before the interviews, Nixon’s team believed that Frost could be outwitted The British journalist David Frost who passed away recently was most famous for his series of interviews with former US President Richard Nixon. And I have always mantained what they were doing, what we're all doing was not criminal. Caroline Cushing: Well, I've never been to Vienna. David Frost: Are you really saying the President can do something illegal? So, I did it. Second, when a burglary, as you have described a black-bag job, ah … when a burglary, ah … is one that is undertaken because of an expressed policy decided by the president, ah … in the interests of the national security … or in the interests of domestic tranquility … ah … when those interests are very, very high … and when the device will be used in a very limited and cautious manner and responsible manner … when it is undertaken, then, then that means that what would otherwise be technically illegal does not subject those who engage in such activity to criminal prosecution. Frost. I shall come at you with everything I got, because the limelight can only shine on one of us. I spent yesterday watching you interview the Bee Gees.David Frost: Weren't they terrific? Why did you approve a plan that included an element like that … that was clearly illegal? Hence, in this document excerpt, we indicate omitted text by means of footnotes. The Frost/Nixon interview is the closest we will get to a trial, but it is unlikely to have changed public opinion. Frost indicates the pauses characteristic of Nixon’s speaking style by means of ellipses. It got your okay on July the fourteenth, didn’t it? Now? That’s the way I would put it. And isn't that why we work so hard now, why we fight for every inch? Richard Nixon: I shall be your fiercest adversary. But that was before I really understood the reductive power of the close-up, because David had succeeded on that final day, in getting for a fleeting moment what no investigative journalist, no state prosecutor, no judiciary committee or political enemy had managed to get; Richard Nixon's face swollen and ravaged by loneliness, self-loathing and defeat. Kennedy and Johnson as Vietnam began to come in. There's a reason they call him Tricky Dick. Nixon the horse? Bob Zelnick: [Impersonating Nixon, discussing Jack Kennedy] That man, he screwed anything that moved, fixed elections, and took us into Vietnam. But you know, politically the pressure on me to let them go, that became overwhelming. My political life is over. James Reston, Jr.: You know the first and greatest sin of the deception of television is that it simplifies; it diminishes great, complex ideas, stretches of time; whole careers become reduced to a single snapshot. Frost/Nixon For three years after being forced from office, Nixon remained silent. They never know when they're being taped. Look. Richard Nixon: [after being told that one of the interview segments will be about "Nixon the man"] Nixon the man? Look, when you're in office you gotta do a lot of things sometimes that are not always in the strictest sense of the law, legal, but you do them because they're in the greater interest of the nation. Ah … there were CIA … was not speaking to the FBI … the NSA, the National Security Agency, which of course does all of our [cryptographic] work. Richard Nixon: I'm saying that when the President does it, it's *not* illegal! Richard Nixon: [Watching Frost head for his car] You mean to say he just paid me two hundred grand for a visit? Frost/Nixon may refer to: Richard Nixon: We're not gonna let that happen! Enjoy the best Richard M. Nixon Quotes at BrainyQuote. The two of us. It was a year in which we had, ah … sixteen airplane hijackings. It's kind of a sickening moment, when he realizes that all those months of pep talks and the hype, the psyching yourself up, had been delusional all along. The Nixon Interviews, a series of interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon He calls them my Hawaiian burgers, but they don't taste like burgers at all. The people who's respect we really wanted. Never before, nor since, has a U.S. President been so candid on camera. And in the Huston plan it stated very clearly, with reference to the entry that was being proposed, it said very clearly, use of this technique is clearly illegal, it amounts to burglary … however, it is also one of the most fruitful tools and it can produce the type of intelligence which cannot be obtained in any other fashion. No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or how high the elected office is, it's still not enough. It's that moment that he feels the impact from the champ's first jab. Scrambling our way up in undignified fashion. Now, that isn’t trying to split hairs … but I do not mean to suggest the president is above the law … what I am suggesting, however, what we have to understand, is, in wartime particularly, war abroad, and virtually revolution in certain concentrated areas at home, that a president does have under the Constitution extraordinary powers and must exert them with … as little as possible. Seeing themselves as leaders of a revolutionary movement that would put an end to US “imperialism,” they engaged in domestic terrorism. [Source: London Times] British interviewer and entertainer David Frost makes a deal with former President Richard Nixon to undertake 24 hours of interviews on a wide range of topics, with six hours each on foreign policy, domestic affairs, Watergate, and a loosely defined “Nixon the Man” interview. Well, to *hell with that*! The cities did cease to be burned, and bombings did go down. [Offers Reston his hand]. Richard Nixon: You have no idea how fortunate that makes you, liking people. Frost/Nixon is a 2008 historical drama film based on the play of the same name by Peter Morgan which dramatizes the Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977. We had a situation where thirty-five thousand people, ah … had been victims of assaults. In a Daily Beast exclusive, broadcaster David Frost and the actor who plays him, Michael Sheen, talk about how he (they!) Ah … under the circumstances I felt that we had to coordinate these activities and get a more effective program for dealing with, first, foreign-directed, ah … espionage, ah … or foreign-supported, ah… subversion. The 1977 interview series inspired Frost/Nixon, a play by Peter Morgan, which was subsequently adapted into a 2008 film. Richard Nixon: [Prior to the second interview] Ah, the great inquisitor. Now he's miserable and depressed. I spent yesterday watching you interview the Bee Gees. You should marry that woman. In doing so, Nixon offers a theory of executive prerogative that goes beyond that offered by Jefferson and Lincoln (Letter to John B. Colvin and Letter to Albert G. Hodges). David Frost: [Gives a quick smile] I wish my pockets were that deep. Now I'm sweating. I don't have it, I never did. 6 Mar. And glory! Richard Nixon: [drunk] Mmm. Transcript of David Frost’s Interview with Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon: Yes you do.Now come on. "Frost/Nixon Quotes." There are no approved quotes yet for this movie. Ah … the Weathermen and the Black Panthers.[3]. Let’s begin with that proposition. Ah … ’‘68 … ’69 … ’70 … the residue of the terrible period of ’68. Richard Nixon: These men, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, I knew their families, I knew them since they were just kids. Frost/Nixon (play), a 2006 play written by Peter Morgan David Frost: Oh. —Richard Nixon to David Frost before a 1977 interview "You don't know how to lie. With Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell. James Reston, Jr.: I want to give Richard Nixon the trial he never had! Nixon paraphrases a sentence from Lincoln’s Special Message to Congress on July 4, 1861 (Document 16). Damn it! Now let’s first, let’s second understand what the surreptitious entry is limited to. A number of them had been killed. You know what, I wish I'd gone in sooner. And I'm gonna have to carry that burden with me for the rest of my life.