Title Card: The Last Campaign

NARRATOR: In March 1974 Nixon went to the Grand Ole Opry, to the South where his support remained the strongest. "In the end," he later wrote, "it would come down to a campaign, but this time, I would be campaigning for my political life."

Pres. NIXON: [at the Grand Ole Opry] If you'll join us in this song, I think you'll recognize it when I start it. Just let me get a chord. [Richard Nixon plays on the piano "Wild Irish Rose]

NARRATOR: But seven of Nixon's closest aides had been indicted by the Watergate grand jury and the aftershocks of the Saturday Night Massacre continued to reverberate in the courts and in Congress. On Capitol Hill, the House Judiciary Committee was debating Nixon's impeachment, investigating charges ranging from illegal wiretaps and break-ins to abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Pursuing their investigations, they demanded more tapes and set a deadline of April 30. On April 29, with less than 24 hours to go, facing a citation for contempt of Congress, Nixon tried to do again what had worked so well for him in the past: bypass his opponents and appeal directly to the public.

Pres. NIXON: [April 29, 1974] Good evening. I have asked for this time tonight in order to announce my answer to the House Judiciary Committee's subpoena for additional Watergate tapes. In these folders that you see over here on my left are more than 1,200 pages of transcripts of private conversations ...

NARRATOR: Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of the tapes to the committee and the public simultaneously. The president himself had supervised the editing.

Pres. NIXON: In giving you these records, blemishes and all, I am placing my trust in the basic fairness of the American people.

NARRATOR: Nixon had gambled and lost. He badly misjudged the public reaction. The transcripts, said Time magazine, showed a president "creating an environment of deceit and dishonesty, of evasion and cover-up." Even Republican leaders denounced them as "shabby, disgusting, immoral." A majority of Americans now thought the president should resign or face impeachment. Soon after the transcripts were delivered to Capitol Hill, the Judiciary Committee voted that the president had failed to comply with their subpoena. They continued to demand the tapes. In the White House, Nixon secluded himself, listening to the recordings over and over. Not only was Congress demanding the tapes, so was the new special prosecutor. Nixon had exhausted all his legal appeals but one. He took his case to the Supreme Court. It would become known as The United States v. Richard Nixon.

As his lawyers prepared to argue his case, the president took his campaign abroad, hoping to build on the diplomatic triumphs of the past. First to the Middle East, where just months before, his persistent diplomacy had helped bring about a fragile peace between Arabs and Israelis. Then to the Soviet Union where the glittering ceremonies mirrored the president's past success. But the summit achieved little. Leonid Brezhnev sensed that Nixon's power was eroding fast.

Returning home, Nixon landed at a small Air Force base in Maine where the military crowd gave him a warm welcome. But the extraordinary journey that had taken Richard Nixon all the way from Yorba Linda to the White House, to Peking and Moscow, from humiliating defeats to the pinnacle of world power seemed to be coming to an end. Most Americans had lost faith in the president. They saw a man who had repeatedly lied to cover up his crimes, had subverted the political process and undermined the Constitution.

Mr. BUTLER, Judiciary Committee: There are frightening implications for the future of our country if we do not impeach the president of the United States. If we fail to impeach, we have condoned and left unpunished a course of conduct totally inconsistent with the reasonable expectations of the American people.

NARRATOR: On Capitol Hill, the Judiciary Committee prepared to vote on three articles of impeachment. They charged the president with obstruction of justice, abuse of power and contempt of Congress.

Representative LAWRENCE HOGAN, (R) Maryland: The thing that's so appalling to me is that the president, when this whole idea was suggested to him, didn't, in righteous indignation, rise up and say, "Get out of here, you're in the office of the president of the United States. How can you talk about blackmail and bribery and keeping witnesses silent? This is the presidency of the United States." But my president didn't do that. He sat there and he worked and worked to try to cover this thing up so it wouldn't come to light.

NARRATOR: The committee took its first vote July 27. Nixon was swimming at San Clemente as they rendered their verdict.

Representative PETER RODINO, (D) Chairman, Judiciary Committee: Those in favor, signify by saying "Aye," all those opposed, "No."

CLERK: ... say aye, all those opposed, no. Mr. Flowers.

Mr. FLOWERS: Aye.

CLERK: Mr. Mann.

Mr. MANN: Aye.

CLERK: Mr. Drinan.

Mr. DRINAN: Aye.

NARRATOR: Nixon later wrote, "I was getting dressed in the beach trailer when the phone rang and Ziegler gave me the news. That was how I learned that I was the first president in 106 years to be recommended for impeachment, standing in the beach trailer, barefoot, wearing old trousers, a Ban-Lon shirt and a blue windbreaker emblazoned with the presidential seal."

CLERK: Mr. Rodino.

Rep. RODINO: Aye.

CLERK: Twenty-seven members have voted "Aye." Eleven members have voted "No."

Rep. RODINO: And pursuant to the resolution, Article I, that resolution is adopted and will be reported to the House.

NARRATOR: Just days before, the Supreme Court had ruled in the case of The United States v. Richard Nixon. "The president must turn over the tapes to the special prosecutor." Not even a president, said the court, could withhold evidence in a criminal trial. Nixon returned to Washington, still calculating the odds. He knew the House of Representatives would vote to indict him. There was a chance he might survive a trial in the Senate as long as there was no irrefutable evidence that he had personally committed a crime. But Nixon himself possessed that evidence, a tape that plainly showed he'd obstructed justice. His conversation with H.R. Haldeman on June 23, 1972, when Nixon ordered his aides to divert the FBI.

Pres. NIXON: [on tape] ... they should call the FBI in and say that we wish for the country, don't go any further into this case, period.

NARRATOR: Nixon would soon have to release this tape, along with others covered by the Supreme Court ruling. With nothing left to lose, he decided to release a transcript of the tape. It became known as "the smoking gun."

The night following the release of the transcript, Nixon sat alone in the Lincoln Sitting Room, then retired to bed. His daughter Julie had left a note on his pillow. "The White House, August 6th. Dear Daddy: I love you. Whatever you do, I will support. I'm very proud of you. Go through the fire just a little bit longer. You're so strong. I love you. Millions support you. Julie."