Reel American History - Films

0:03:47 Good Advice: â€œAlways look them in the eye. Nothing sells like sincerity.â€ (Opening commercial)
0:20:45 On losing the 1960 Presidential election to John F. Kennedy: Murray Chotiner: They stole it fair and square.
0:22:11 The Real Nixon: Advisor: If heâ€™s not this Nixon (points to poster), heâ€™s nobody.
0:24:23 Nixon's Father: Nixon: Do you know how much money he had in the bank when he died? (Referring to his father). Nothing. He was so damn honest.
0:31:59 Nixon Wisdom: Nixon: People vote not out of love but out of fear.
0:42:04 A View of the Checker's Speech: Advisor: It was shameless, it was manipulative, it was a huge success.
0:42:45 The Media View: Newscast: [Nixon was] driven by demons that seem more personal than political.
0:44:15 New York cocktail party: Martha Mitchell: But where I come from, Dick Nixon is as misunderstood as a fox in a hen house -- and do you know why? Because, my darlin, they don't think your smile and your face are ever in the same place at the same time.
0:46:00 The American Dream: Nixon: The whole point of democracy is believing that the son of a grocer can become President.
0:55:15 The day after John F. Kennedy's murder: Richard M. Nixon: I bet if I was President they wouldn't have killed me.
1:03:51 At the races: J. Edgar Hoover: There's already been one radical in the White House. I don't believe it could survive another.
1:09:04 Nixon on Kennedy's involvement in a CIA-Mafia plot to kill Castro: Richard M. Nixon (to Haldeman): Because he didn't even know about it. The CIA never told him; they just kept it going. It was like...it had a life of its own. Like...a kind of "beast" that doesn't even know it exists. It just eats people when it doesn't need them anymore.
1:31:11 Explaining his seeming lack of emotion to John Mitchell: Richard M. Nixon: I think that's when it starts when you're a kid. The laughs and snubs and slights you get because you're poor or Irish or Jewish or just ugly.
1:31:39 After the Kent State shootings: Richard M. Nixon: I'd like to offer my condolences to those families. But Nixon can't.
1:54:37 Power: Chairman Mao: I want to know your secret...how a fat man gets so many girls?
Henry Kissinger: [To chairman Mao] Power, Mr. Chairman, is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
1:54:58 Mao and Nixon: Mao: You know, I voted for you in your last election.
Nixon: I was the lesser of two evils.
Mao: You're too modest, Nixon. You're as evil as I am. We are the new emperors. We're both from poor families. But others pay to feed the hunger in us. In my case, millions of reactionaries. In your case, millions of Vietnamese.
Nixon (taken aback): Civil war is always the cruelest kind of war, but our two countries were forged by revolution....
Mao: [Speaking through an interpreter] Why are you so interested in peace? The real war is in us. History is a symptom of our disease.
2:01:36 Threats: Richard M. Nixon: Presidents don't threaten. They don't have to.
2:13:32 Psychoanalyzing Nixon: H. R. Haldeman: You think this is about politics? This is about Richard Nixon. You got people dying because he didn't make varsity football. You got the constitution hanging by a thread because he went to Whittier, not to Yale.
2:14:29 I'm sorry?: H. R. Haldeman: Eight words back in '72. "I covered up. I was wrong. I'm sorry." The American public would have forgiven him. But we never opened our mouths, John. We failed him.
John Ehrlichman: Dick Nixon say I'm sorry? That will be the day. Most of his armor would fall off.
2:15:41 Hunt: E. Howard Hunt: [On whether or not he wants more money] In Richard Nixon's long history of underhanded dealings, he's never had better value for his money. If I were to open my mouth, all the dominoes would fall.
2:15:53 Blackmail: John Dean: Can I ask you a question? How the hell do you have the temerity to blackmail the President of the United States?
E. Howard Hunt: That's not the question John. The question is: why is he paying?
2:16:53 Darkness: E. Howard Hunt: [To John Dean] John, sooner or later. Sooner, I think, you're gonna learn a lesson that's been learned by everyone who's ever gotten close to Richard Nixon. That he's the darkness reaching out for the darkness. And, eventually, its either you or him. Your grave's already been dug, John.
2:17:33 Hors d'oeurve: John Dean [to the President]: This is the sort of thing that Mafia people can do, washing money and so forth. We just don't know about these things because we're not criminals.
2:19:17 Cancer: John Dean: There's a cancer in the presidency, and it's growing.
2:20:29 Pat: Pat Nixon: When do the rest of us stop paying off your debts?!
2:22:34 Nixon's speech about Watergate to the US: Henry Kissinger: Can you imagine what this man would be like had anyone ever loved him?
2:30:00 Julie: Richard M. Nixon [To Julie Nixon]: I hope I haven't let you down.
2:39:54 Cambodia: Richard M. Nixon: They can't impeach me for bombing Cambodia. The president can bomb anybody he likes.
2:58:25 Kennedy: Richard M. Nixon: [To a portrait of Kennedy] When they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look at me, they see what they are.
3:03:24 Resignation speech: Richard M. Nixon: ...because the greatness comes, not when things go good for you, but the greatness comes when you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes. Only when you've been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is on top of the highest mountain.
3:04:19 Resignation speech: Richard M. Nixon: Always remember: others may hate you. But those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.