transcription/"Cancer on the Presidency"- John Dean explains the origins of the Watergate break-in, March 21, 1973.webm.en.srt

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>> NARRATOR: The Nixon Presidential Library and Museum presents

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A selection from the White House Tapes:
Conversation 886-008,

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which took place on March 21, 1973.

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>> JOHN DEAN: Uh, the reason I thought we ought to talk this morning is because in, in our conversations, uh,

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uh, I have, I have the impression that you don't know everything I know

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>> PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: That's right.
>> DEAN: and it makes it very difficult for you to make judgments that, uh,

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that only you can make
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: That's right.
>> DEAN: on some of these things and I thought that--

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>> PRESIDENT NIXON: You've got, in other words, I've got to know why you feel that,

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uh, that something...

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>> DEAN: Well, let me
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: ...that, that we shouldn't unravel something.
>> DEAN: let me give you my overall first.

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>> PRESIDENT NIXON: In other words, you, your judgment as to where it stands, and where we go now.

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>> DEAN: I think, I think that, uh,

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there's no doubt about the seriousness of the problem we're, we've got.

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We have a cancer within, close to the Presidency, that's growing.

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It's growing daily. It's compounding, it grows geometrically now

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because it compounds itself.

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Uh, that'll be clear as I explain, you know, some of the details,

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uh, of why it is, and it basically is because (1) we're being blackmailed;

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(2) uh, people are going to start perjuring themself very quickly

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that have not had to perjure themselves

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to protect other people and the like. And that is just -- and there is no assurance--

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>> PRESIDENT NIXON: That it won't bust.
>> DEAN: That that won't bust.
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: True.

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>> DEAN: So, let me give you the sort of basic facts: talking first about the Watergate;

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and then about Segretti; and then about some of the peripheral items that, uh,

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have come up.

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First of all, on, on the Watergate: How did it all start, where did it start?

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It started with an instruction to me

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from Bob Haldeman

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to see if we couldn't set up a perfectly legitimate campaign intelligence operation over at the Re-election Committee.

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>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Hmm.
>> DEAN: Not being in this business, I turned to somebody who had been in this business:

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Jack Caulfield, who is -- I don't know if you remember Jack or not.

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He was your original bodyguard before
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Yeah.
>> DEAN: they had

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>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Yeah.
>> DEAN: candidate, candidate protection

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>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Yeah.
>> DEAN: an old New York City policeman.
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Right, I know, I know him.

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>> DEAN: Uh, Jack had worked for John and then was transferred to my office.

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I said, "Jack, come up with a plan that, you know, is a normal infiltration,

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I mean, you know, buying information from secretaries and all that sort of thing."

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He did, he put together a plan. It was kicked around, and, uh, I went to Ehrlichman with it.

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I went to Mitchell with it, and the consensus was that Caulfield wasn't the man to do this.

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Uh, in retrospect, that might have been a bad call,

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'cause he is an incredibly cautious person and, and wouldn't have put

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the situation to where it is today.
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Yeah. 

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>> DEAN: All right, after rejecting that, they said, "We still need something."

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So I was told to look around for somebody that could go over to 1701 and do this.

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And that's when I came up with Gordon Liddy, who-- they needed a lawyer.

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Gordon had an intelligence background from his FBI service.

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I was aware of the fact that he had done some extremely sensitive things

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for the White House while he'd been at the White House, and he had apparently done them well.

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Uh, going out into Ellsberg's doctor's office
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: Oh, yeah.
>> DEAN: and things like this.

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He'd worked with leaks. He'd, you know, tracked these things down. And, uh, and [coughs]

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so the report that I got from Krogh was that he was a hell of a good man and, and not only that, a good lawyer,

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uh, and could set up a proper operation.

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So we talked to Liddy; Liddy was interested in doing it.

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Took, uh, Liddy over to meet Mitchell. Mitchell

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thought highly of him because, apparently, Mitchell was partially involved in his even coming to the White House to work for, for Krogh. 

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Uh, Liddy had been at Treasury before that.

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Then, Liddy was told to put together his plan.  You know, how he would run an intelligence operation.

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And this was after he was hired over there at the, the Committee.

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Magruder called me in January and said, "I'd like to have you come over and see Liddy's plan."
>> PRESIDENT NIXON: January of '72?

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>> DEAN: January of '72.
[Noises in background]

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Like, "You come over to Mitchell's office and sit in on a meeting where Liddy is going to lay his plan out."

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I said, "Well, I don't really know as I'm the man, but if you want me there I'll be happy to." [clears throat]

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So, I came over

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and Liddy laid out a million dollar plan that was the most incredible thing I have ever laid my eyes on.

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All in codes, and involved black bag operations, kidnapping, providing prostitutes,

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uh, to weaken the opposition, bugging,

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uh, mugging teams. It was just an incredible thing.

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>> NARRATOR: For more information, please visit www.nixonlibrary.gov