All the President's Men

Bob Woodward:
Well, who is Charles Colson?

Harry Rosenfeld:
The most powerful man in the United States is President Nixon. You've heard of him? Charles Colson is special counsel to the President. There's a cartoon on his wall. The caption reads, "When you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."

Harry Rosenfeld:
Bernstein, why don't you finish one story before trying to get on another?

Carl Bernstein:
I finished it.

Harry Rosenfeld:
The Virginia legislature story?

Carl Bernstein:
I finished it.

Harry Rosenfeld:
All right, give it to me.

Carl Bernstein:
I'm just polishing it.

Sally Aiken:
Ken Clawson told me he wrote the Canuck letter.

Carl Bernstein:
The letter that said Muskie was slurring the Canadians.

Bob Woodward:
Clawson.

Carl Bernstein:
The deputy director of White House communications wrote the Canuck letter. When'd he tell you this?

Sally Aiken:
When we were having drinks.

Carl Bernstein:
Where were you?

Sally Aiken:
My apartment.

Carl Bernstein:
When did you say he told you?

Sally Aiken:
Two weeks ago.

Carl Bernstein:
What else did he say? He didn't say anything? Come on, you're hedging.

Bob Woodward:
Do you think he said it to impress you, to try to get you to go to bed with him?

Carl Bernstein:
Jesus!

Bob Woodward:
No, I want to hear her say it. Do you think he said that to impress you, to try to get you to go to bed with him?

Carl Bernstein:
Why did it take you two weeks to tell us this, Sally?

Sally Aiken:
I guess I don't have the taste for the jugular you guys have.

Bob Woodward:
I don't mind what you did; I mind how you did it.

Ben Bradlee:
A wife and a family and a dog and a cat. Right, Ken, right, yeah. Uh, Ken, I don't want to print that you were in Sally's apartment...

Ben Bradlee:
I just want to know what you said, in Sally's apartment.

Carl Bernstein:
Boy, that woman was paranoid! At one point I - I suddenly wondered how high up this thing goes, and her paranoia finally got to me, and I thought what we had was so hot that any minute CBS or NBC were going to come in through the windows and take the story away.

Bob Woodward:
You're both paranoid. She's afraid of John Mitchell, and you're afraid of Walter Cronkite.

Deep Throat:
It leads everywhere. Get out your notebook. There's more.

Deep Throat:
You let Haldeman slip away.

Bob Woodward:
Yes.

Deep Throat:
You've done worse than let Haldeman slip away: you've got people feeling sorry for him. I didn't think that was possible. In a conspiracy like this, you build from the outer edges and go step by step. If you shoot too high and miss, everybody feels more secure. You've put the investigation back months.

Bob Woodward:
Yes, we know that. And if we're wrong, we're resigning. Were we wrong?

Bob Woodward:
Segretti crisscrossed the country, at least a dozen times. And always stayed in cities where there were Democratic primaries.

Carl Bernstein:
So if the break-in was just one incident in a campaign of sabotage that began a whole year before Watergate...

Bob Woodward:
Then for the first time the break-in makes sense.

Carl Bernstein:
This isn't so crazy. This whole thing didn't start with the bugging of the headquarters.

Bob Woodward:
Segretti was doing this a year before the bugging.

Carl Bernstein:
And a year before, Nixon wasn't slaughtering Muskie, he was running behind Muskie, before Muskie self-destructed.

Bob Woodward:
*If* he self-destructed!

Ben Bradlee:
All non-denial denials. They doubt our ancestry, but they don't say the story isn't accurate.

Ben Bradlee:
Bernstein, are you sure on this story?

Carl Bernstein:
Absolutely.

Ben Bradlee:
Woodward?

Carl Bernstein:
I'm sure.

Ben Bradlee:
I'm not. It still seems thin.

Howard Simons:
Get another source.

Ben Bradlee:
Look, McGovern's dropped to nothing, Nixon's guaranteed the renomination, the Post is stuck with a story no one else wants, it'll sink the goddamn paper. Everyone says, "Get off it, Ben", and I come on very sage and I say, uh, "Well, you'll see, you wait till this bottoms out." But the truth is, I can't figure out WHAT we've got.

Ben Bradlee:
Now hold it, hold it. We're about to accuse Haldeman, who only happens to be the second most important man in this country, of conducting a criminal conspiracy from inside the White House. It would be nice if we were right.

Carl Bernstein:
Bob, listen, I think I've got something, I don't know what it is. But somewhere in this world there is a Kenneth H. Dahlberg, and we gotta get to him before the New York Times does, because I think they've got the same information.

Bob Woodward:
How do you think your check got into the bank account of a Watergate burglar?

Bob Woodward:
Well, I - I understand.

Clark MacGregor:
I don't know. You're implying that I should know. If you print that, our relationship will be terminated.

Bob Woodward:
Sir, we don't have a relationship!

Bob Woodward:
It's just profile information, mostly. We know, for example, that he works for Mullen and Company, or did work for Mullen and Company, as a writer. He's also a novelist; we know that he works in the office of Charles Colson at the White House...

Bob Woodward:
And the CIA.

Bob Woodward:
No, no surprise at all.

Bob Woodward:
The story is dry. All we've got are pieces. We can't seem to figure out what the puzzle is supposed to look like. John Mitchell resigns as the head of CREEP, and says that he wants to spend more time with his family. I mean, it sounds like bullshit, we don't exactly believe that...

Deep Throat:
No, heh, but it's touching. Forget the myths the media's created about the White House. The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Bob Woodward:
Hunt's come in from the cold. Supposedly he's got a laywer with $25,000 in a brown paper bag.

Deep Throat:
Follow the money.

Bob Woodward:
What do you mean? Where?

Deep Throat:
Oh, I can't tell you that.

Bob Woodward:
But you could tell me that.

Deep Throat:
No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I'll confirm. I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all. Just... follow the money.

Ben Bradlee:
You know the results of the latest Gallup Poll? Half the country never even heard of the word Watergate. Nobody gives a sh*t. You guys are probably pretty tired, right? Well, you should be. Go on home, get a nice hot bath. Rest up... 15 minutes. Then get your asses back in gear. We're under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f*** up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight.

Bob Woodward:
Excuse me, what is your name? I'm Bob Woodward, of the Washington Post.

Markham:
Markham.

Bob Woodward:
Markham. Mr. Markham, are you here in connection with the Watergate burglary?

Markham:
I'm not here.

Bachinski:
There's a strange entry in two of the burglars' address books.

Bob Woodward:
Yeh?

Bachinski:
One says "H.H. at W.H."; the other says "Howard Hunt, W. House".

Howard Simons:
Did you call the White House press office?

Bob Woodward:
I went over there; I talked to them. They said Hunt hadn't worked there for three months. Then a PR guy said this weird thing to me. He said, "I am convinced that neither Mr. Colson nor anyone else at the White House had any knowledge of, or participation in, this deplorable incident at the Democratic National Committee."

Howard Simons:
Isn't that what you expect them to say?

Bob Woodward:
Absolutely.

Howard Simons:
So?

Bob Woodward:
I never asked about Watergate. I simply asked what were Hunt's duties at the White House.

Howard Simons:
Then can we use their names?

Carl Bernstein:
No.

Ben Bradlee:
Goddammit, when is somebody going to go on the record in this story? You guys are about to write a story that says the former Attorney General, the highest-ranking law enforcement officer in this country, is a crook! Just be sure you're right.

Debbie Sloan:
This is an honest house.

Bob Woodward:
That's why we'd like to see your husband.

Carl Bernstein:
Facing certain criminal charges that might be brought against some people that are innocent, we just feel that it would be...

Bob Woodward:
It's really for his benefit.

Debbie Sloan:
No, it's not.

Bob Woodward:
No, it's not.

Hugh Sloan Jr.:
Debbie, tell them to come in.

Carl Bernstein:
All these checks from Mexico?

Dardis:
See?

Carl Bernstein:
How come? Did the money originate there?

Dardis:
Well, I doubt it started off as pesos.

Bob Woodward:
Is there any place you *don't* smoke?

Ben Bradlee:
Where's the goddamn story?

Bob Woodward:
The money's the key to whatever this is.

Ben Bradlee:
Says who?

Howard Simons:
Deep Throat.

Ben Bradlee:
Who?

Howard Simons:
Oh, that's Woodward's garage freak; his source in the executive department.

Ben Bradlee:
Garage Freak? Jesus, what kind of a crazy f***ing story is this? Who did you say?

Howard Simons:
He's on deep background, I call him deep... throat.

Rosenfeld:
Where's that cheery face we've come to know and love?

Woodward:
You call me in on my day off because some idiots have broken into local Democratic Headquarters--tell me, Harry, why should I be smiling?

Rosenfeld:
As usual, that keen mind of yours has pegged the situation perfectly. Except (a) it wasn't local Democratic Headquarters, it was National Democratic Headquarters--and (b) these weren't just any idiots, these were special idiots, seeing as when they were arrested at 2:30 this morning, they were all wearing business suits and Playtex gloves and were carrying--a walkie-talkie, forty rolls of film, cameras, lock picks, pen-sized tear gas guns, plus various bugging devices. Not to mention over two thousand dollars, mostly in sequenced hundred dollar bills.

Woodward:
Mr. Caddy? My name's Bob Woodward, I'm from the Post and I wanted to ask about how you happened to come on this case--

Caddy:
I'm not here.

Woodward:
OK. Douglas Caddy, the attorney of record, when questioned about his presence in the courtroom, denied he was in the courtroom, "I'm not here," Mr. Caddy said.

Caddy:
Clearly, I am here, but only as an individual, I'm not the attorney of record. Mr. Rafferty has that position. Whatever you want, you'll have to get from him, I have nothing more to say.

Judge:
Will you please state your professions.

Barker:
Anti-communists.

Judge:
Anti-communists? That, sir, is not your average profession. Your name, please.

McCord:
James McCord.

Judge:
Will you step forward, sir? And what is your occupation, Mr. McCord?

McCord:
Security consultant.

Judge:
Where?

McCord:
Government, uh, recently, uh, retired.

Judge:
Where in the government?

McCord:
Central Intelligence Agency.

Judge:
Where?

McCord:
The C.I.A.

Woodward:
Holy sh*t.

Simons:
Anything?

Rosenfeld:
Woodward's onto a new wrinkle with the break-in thing--absolute page one stuff--

Simons:
In other words, you got nothing, you're thumbsucking.

Rosenfeld:
[shrugs] Could develop.

Woodward:
Who's Charles Colson?

Rosenfeld:
I would liken your query to being in Russia half a century ago and asking someone, "I understand who Lenin is and Trotsky I got too, but who's this yokel Stalin?"

Woodward:
Who's Colson, Harry?

Rosenfeld:
The most powerful man in America is President Nixon, probably you've heard his name. The second most powerful man is Robert Haldeman. Just below him are a trio: Mr. Erlichman is Haldeman's friend, and they protect the President from everybody which is why they are referred to as either The German Shepherds or the Berlin Wall. Mr. Mitchell we've already discussed. Mr. Colson is the President's special counsel.

Woodward:
Thanks, Harry. Know anything about Colson?

Rosenfeld:
Just that on his office wall there's a cartoon with a caption reading, "When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."

Hunt:
Howard Hunt here.

Woodward:
Hi, I'm Bob Woodward of the Post and--

Hunt:
Yes, yes, what is it?

Woodward:
I was just kind of wondering why your name and phone number were in the address books of two of the men arrested at Watergate?

Hunt:
Good God!

Woodward:
According to White House personnel, Hunt definitely works there as a consultant for Colson. But when I called the White House Press office, they said he hadn't worked there for three months. Then the P.R. guy said the weirdest thing to me. [reading] "I am convinced that neither Mr. Colson nor anyone else at the White House had any knowledge of, or participation in, this deplorable incident at the Democratic National Committee."

Simons:
Isn't that what you'd expect them to say?

Woodward:
Absolutely.

Rosenfeld:
So?

Woodward:
I never asked them about Watergate. I only said what were Hunt's duties at the White House. They volunteered that he was innocent when nobody asked was he guilty.

Woodward:
What the hell were you doing rewriting my story?

Bernstein:
I sure couldn't hurt it, could I?

Woodward:
It was fine the way it was.

Bernstein:
It was bullshit the way it was.

Woodward:
I have to stand here and listen to the staff correspondent from Virginia?

Bernstein:
What have you been here, nine months? I been in this business since I was sixteen.

Woodward:
And you've had some f***ing meteoric rise, that's for sure. By the time you turn forty you might be the head of the Montana bureau.

Bernstein:
You only got the job because both you and Bradlee went to Yale.

Woodward:
Bradlee went to Harvard.

Bernstein:
They're all the same, all those Ivy League places. They teach you about striped ties and suddenly you're smart.

Woodward:
I'm smart enough to know my story was solid.

Bernstein:
Mine's better.

Woodward:
No way.

Bernstein:
Read 'em both and you'll see.

[Woodward reads the stories]

Woodward:
Crap.

Bernstein:
Is mine better?

[Woodward nods]

Woodward:
What is it about my writing that's so rotten?

Bernstein:
Mainly it has to do with your choice of words.

Woodward:
Carl?

Bernstein:
Yeah?

Woodward:
F*** you, Carl.

Bernstein:
You heard? They put us both on the break-in thing. Simons liked the way we worked together.

[Woodward nods]

Bernstein:
Listen, I'm sorry I said your story was bullshit.

Woodward:
It's OK; I'm sorry I called you a failure.

Bernstein:
Forget it, the main thing--did you call me a failure?

Woodward:
I was sure trying.

Librarian:
Library.

Bernstein:
Hi. Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post. I was just wondering if you remember the names of any of the books that Howard Hunt checked out on Senator Kennedy.

Librarian:
I think I do remember, he took out a whole bunch of material. Let me just go see.

Bernstein:
What do you think?

Woodward:
Hunt doesn't seem like your ordinary consultant.

Bernstein:
Maybe a political operative of some sort.

Woodward:
A spy, you mean?

Bernstein:
It makes sense; Hunt worked for the C.I.A. and the White House was paranoid about Teddy Kennedy.

Librarian:
Mr. Bernstein?

Bernstein:
Yes, ma'am.

Librarian:
What I said before? I was wrong. The truth is, I don't have a card that Mr. Hunt took out any Kennedy material. I remember getting that material out for somebody, but it wasn't Mr. Hunt. The truth is, I've never had any requests at all from Mr. Hunt. [pause] The truth is, I don't know Mr. Hunt.

Deep Throat:
You thought I'd help out on specifics? I'll confirm what you get, try to keep you on the right track, but that's all. Are you guys really working? [Woodward nods] How much?

Woodward:
I don't know maybe sixteen, eighteen hours a day--we've got sources at Justice, the FBI, but it's still drying up.

Deep Throat:
Then there must be something, mustn't there. Look, forget the myths the media's created about the White House--the truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Woodward:
If you don't like them, why won't you be more concrete with me?

Deep Throat:
Because the press stinks too--history on the run, that's all you're interested in. You come up with anything?

Woodward:
John Mitchell resigned as head of CREEP to spend more time with his family. That doesn't exactly have the ring of truth. Howard Hunt's been found--there was talk that his lawyer had 25 thousand in cash in a paper bag.

Deep Throat:
Follow the money. Always follow the money.

Woodward:
What do you mean? Where?

Deep Throat:
Oh, I can't tell you that.

Woodward:
But you could tell me that.

Deep Throat:
No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I'll confirm. I'll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that's all. Just... follow the money.

Woodward:
This man Gordon Liddy--he's going to be tried along with Hunt and the five burglars--we know he knows a lot, we just don't know what.

Deep Throat:
You changed cabs? You're sure no one followed you?

Woodward:
I did everything you said, but it all seemed--

Deep Throat:
Melodramatic? Things are past that--remember, these are men with switchblade mentalities who run the world as if it were Dodge City.

Woodward:
What's the whole thing about--do you know?

Deep Throat:
What I know, you'll have to find out on your own.

Woodward:
Liddy--you think there's a chance he'll talk?

Deep Throat:
Talk? Once, at a gathering, he put his hand over a candle. And he kept it there. He kept it right in the flame until his flesh seared. A woman who was watching asked, "What's the trick?" And he replied. "The trick is not minding." Compare dialogue from the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962):

Potter:
[trying to copy Lawrence's snuffing a match with his fingers] Oooh! It damn well hurts.

Lawrence:
Certainly it hurts.

Potter:
Well, what's the trick, then?

Lawrence:
The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts.

Woodward:
This should take only a minute, Mr. Dahlberg, but we're doing a follow-up on the break-in...and I was kind of curious about your check.

Dahlberg:
Check?

Woodward:
The twenty-five thousand dollar one....The one with your name on it...In Bernard Barker's Florida account...Bernard Barker, the Watergate burglar.

Dahlberg:
You're definitely doing a story?

Woodward:
Yes, sir.

Dahlberg:
I'm a proper citizen, I'm a decent man, I don't do anything that isn't decent or proper. [pause] I know I shouldn't tell you this...That twenty-five thousand dollars is money I collected for Nixon in this year's campaign.

Woodward:
I see. And how do you think it reached Miami?

dahlberg:
I don't know; I really don't. The last time I saw it was when I was in Washington. I gave it to the Finance department of the Committee to Re-Elect the President. How it got to that burglar, your guess is as good as mine.

National editor:
Let me tell what happened when I was having lunch today at the Sans Souci.

Rosenfeld:
Correction--when you were drinking your lunch at the bar of the Sans Souci.

National editor:
This White House guy, a good one, a pro, came up and asked what is this Watergate compulsion with you guys and I said, well, we think it's important and he said, if it's so goddamn important, who the hell are Woodward and Bernstein?

Rosenfeld:
Ask him what he's really saying--he means take the story away from Woodstein and give it to his people at the National Desk.

National editor:
Well, I've got some pretty experienced fellas sitting around, wouldn't you say so?

Rosenfeld:
Absolutely--and that's all they do, sit sit sit--every once in a while, they call up a Senator, some reporting.

National editor:
Well, what if your boys get it wrong?

Bradlee:
Then it's our asses, isn't it?

Simons:
And we'll all have to go to work for a living.

Foreign editor:
I don't think either Metropolitan or National should cover the story. I don't think we should cover the story, period.

Bradlee:
Go on.

Foreign editor:
It's not that we're using unnamed sources that bothers me, or that everything we print the White House denies, or that almost no other papers are reprinting our stuff.

Simons:
What then?

Foreign editor:
I don't believe the goddamn story, Howard, it doesn't make sense.

Bradlee:
It will, it just hasn't bottomed out yet, give it time.

Foreign editor:
Ben, Jesus, there are over two thousand reporters in this town, are there five on Watergate? Where did we suddenly get all this wisdom?

Bernstein:
This is practically a high school reunion for us, Jane--I would have sprung for a classier place.

Jane:
Anyplace really public, they'd know about it--they know everything at the Committee, Carl.

Bernstein:
You don't really think you're being followed?

Jane:
This girlfriend of mine at the Committee, the other day she went back to the D.A. to tell the things the FBI didn't ask her. That night, her boss, he knew what she'd done. They control everything; that's how they know it all.

Bernstein:
FBI too?

Jane:
You don't believe me? Well, I was working the weekend of the break-in and my God, all the executives were running around like crazy--you had to practically wait in line to use the shredding machine--and when the FBI came to investigate, they never even asked me about it.

Bernstein:
If you don't like it down there, why don't you quit?

Jane:
I don't know what they'd do to me.

Bernstein:
Hey, easy...

Jane:
We're a long way from high school, Carl, and I'm scared.

...

Jane:
They found out I saw you. They wanted to know everything. Don't call me again.

Bernstein:
I can help if you'll...

Jane:
Stay away from me, Carl!

Woodward:
A friend at the Committee told us to contact you.

Woman:
Who was it?

Bernstein:
We never reveal our sources, which is why you can talk to us.

Woodward:
It's safe, try it, you'll see.

Bernstein:
We understand your problem...

Woodward:
You believe in the President, you wouldn't ever want to do anything disloyal.

Bernstein:
We appreciate your position--really.

Woman:
You people--you think that you can come into someone's life, squeeze what you want, then get out. [to Bernstein] You don't appreciate a goddamn thing, mister. [to Woodward] And you don't understand nothing. But the Committee's briefed us on you--so get the hell out of here. Do you like scaring the life out of decent people?--'cause if you don't, in the name of God--stop it!

Man:
I know who you are and I'm not afraid but that don't mean I'll talk to you either--you're just a couple Democrats out to stop Nixon getting re-elected.

Woodward:
Democrats?

Man:
That's right.

Bernstein:
I hate both parties.

Woodward:
And I'm a Republican.

Bernstein:
Republican?

Woodward:
Sure.

Bernstein:
Who'd you vote for?

Woodward:
When?

Bernstein:
'68.

Woodward:
Nixon.

Nixon:
[on television] No one in this administration, presently employed, was involved in this very bizarre incident. What really hurts in matters of this sort is not the fact that they occur, because overzealous people in campaigns do things that are wrong. What really hurts is if you try to cover it up.

Woodward:
Did he just say what I think he said?

Bernstein:
You voted for him.

Bernstein:
I want you to know that I understand why you're afraid--a lot of good people down there at the Committee are afraid. I'm really sorry for what you're being put through.

Bookkeeper:
All those articles you people write--where do you find that stuff?

Bernstein:
We don't tell anyone that. Which is why you can talk to us. And if we can't verify what you say someplace else, we don't print it. That's another reason you can relax.

Bookkeeper:
I'm relaxed--light your cigarette.

Bernstein:
You were Hugh Sloan's bookkeeper when he worked for Maurice Stans at Finance, and we were sort of wondering, did you go work for Stans immediately after Sloan quit or was there a time lapse?

Bookkeeper:
I never worked for Sloan or Stans.

Bookkeeper's sister:
Would you like some coffee or anything?

Bernstein:
Please, yes, thank you. Can I sit down for a minute?

Bookkeeper:
One minute but then--

Bernstein:
Right, right, I've got to go. Why did you lie just then? I was just curious--you don't do it well, so I wondered. Have you been threatened, if you told the truth, is that it?

Bookkeeper:
No... never in so many words...

Bernstein:
It's obvious you want to talk to someone--well, I'm someone.

Bernstein:
The General Accounting report said there was a 350 thousand cash slush fund in Stans' safe. Did you know about that from the beginning?

Bookkeeper:
There are too many people watching me--they know I know a lot.

Bernstein:
It was all in hundreds, wasn't it?

Bookkeeper:
A lot of it was. I just thought it was sort of an all-purpose political fund--you know, for taking fat cats to dinner, things like that.

Bernstein:
Could buy a lot of steaks, 350,000 dollars.

Bookkeeper:
I can't be positive that it was used for the break-in but people sure are worried.

Bernstein:
Which people?

Bookkeeper:
The ones who could disburse the money....I don't want to say anymore.

...

Bernstein:
You haven't finished telling me about the money.

Bookkeeper:
Omigod, there was so much of it, six million came in one two-day period--six million cash, we couldn't find enough places to put it. I thought it was all legal, I guess I did, til after the break-in, when I remembered Gordon got so much of it.

Bernstein:
Gordon Liddy, you mean?

Bookkeeper:
[nods] It was all so crazy--the day after the break-in he gave us a speech, bouncing up and down on his heels in that loony way of his--Gordon told us not to let Jim McCord ruin everything--don't let one bad apple spoil the barrel, he said. You just know that when Gordon Liddy's calling someone a bad apple, something's wrong somewhere. It's all so rotten... and getting worse... and all I care about is Hugh Sloan. His wife was going to leave him if he didn't stand up and do what was right. And he quit. He quit because he saw it and didn't want any part of it.

Bernstein:
Think Sloan's being set up as a fall guy for John Mitchell? Sometimes it looks that way.

Bookkeeper:
If you guys... if you guys could just get John Mitchell... that would be beautiful.

Bernstein:
We were hoping that maybe now you could... We know why you left the Committee. We know you're not guilty of anything. But we know you know who is.

Sloan:
Look, come in. We'll have to be quiet--my wife's asleep...I'd like to talk to you, I really would, but my lawyers say I shouldn't until after the Watergate trial.

Woodward:
You handed out the money. Maybe there's a legitimate explanation for the way it was done.

Bernstein:
Then again, maybe things are even worse than we've written...

Sloan:
They're worse. That's why I quit.

Sloan:
Try and understand this. I'm a decent Republican. I believe in Richard Nixon. I worked in the White House four years--so did my wife. What happened on June 17 I don't think the President knew anything about. Some of his men I'm not so sure of.

Bernstein:
Do you think the truth will come out at the trial?

Sloan:
That's another of the things I'm not so sure of.

Bernstein:
Because people at the Committee were told to lie to the prosecutors?

Sloan:
We were never told flat out "Don't talk." But the message was clear.

Bernstein:
To cover up?

Sloan:
Well, they sure didn't ask us to come forward and tell the truth.

Woodward:
Does "they" mean the White House?

Sloan:
As opposed to the Committee? The Committee's not an independent operation. Everything is cleared with the White House. I don't think that the FBI or the prosecutors understand that.

[Woodward has just finished writing his first article on the Watergate break-in, and puts it in the pile to be submitted. Bernstein walks to the desk, sees the story, then takes it and starts working on it himself. Woodward goes to him]

Bernstein:
How's it going?

Woodward:
What're you doing?

Bernstein:
I'm polishing it a little.

Woodward:
You're what?

Bernstein:
Polishing.

Woodward:
What's wrong with it?

Bernstein:
Nothing, nothing, it's good.

Woodward:
Then what are you doing with it?

Bernstein:
I'm helping it, it's a little fuzzy.

Woodward:
May I have it?

Bernstein:
I don't think you're saying what you mean.

Woodward:
I know exactly what I mean.

Bernstein:
Not here. I can't tell from this whether Hunt works for Coulson or Coulson works for Hunt-

Woodward:
May I have it, please?

Bernstein:
-so many conclusions to this-

Woodward:
May I have it?

Bernstein:
Yes, I'm not looking for a fight.

Woodward:
I'm not looking for a fight either.

Bernstein:
I'm just aware of the fact that you've only been here nine months.

Woodward:
What's that got to do with anything?

Bernstein:
Well, I've been in the business since I was 16.

Woodward:
What're you saying?

Bernstein:
Look, I'm trying to tell you that if you'd read mine, and then read yours-

Woodward:
Can I read yours?

Bernstein:
Yeah. [Woodward takes Bernstein's version and reads them side-by-side] I walked by, gave yours a glance, it didn't look right, so I figured I'd just refine it a little. The first paragraph has to have more clarity, the readers gotta understand. You don't mention Coulson's name till the third paragraph. I think mine's better, but you go ahead and read. If you think yours is better, we'll give yours to the desk. I've got Coulson's name up front. He's a White House consultant and nobody knows-

Woodward:
You're right. Yours is better. [Goes to his desk, comes back with a bunch of papers] If you're gonna do it, do it right, here are my notes. If you're gonna hype it, hype it with the facts. I don't mind what you did, I mind the way you did it.

Ken Clawson:
Please, listen, now, if you're going to refer to that alleged conversation with Sally Aiken, you can't print that it took place in her apartment. I have a wife and a family and a dog and a cat.

Bradlee:
A wife and a family and a dog and a cat. Right, Ken, right, yeah. Uh, Ken, I don't want to print that you were in Sally's apartment...

Clawson:
Thank God.

Bradlee:
I just want to know what you said...in Sally's apartment.

Bob Woodward:
The head of security for the reelection of a Republican President got caught bugging the national offices of the Democrats? What the hell does that mean?

Bob Woodward:
Hi, I'm Bob Woodward of the Washington Post--and--what's that?--you've never heard of me?--I can't help that--you don't believe I'm with the Post?--what do you want me to do, Madam, shout "extra--extra"?

Bob Woodward:
[about Martha Mitchell] I just don't get it; a CREEP secretary being scared, that's one thing. But what does the wife of one of the most powerful men in America have to be afraid of?

Bob Woodward:
This is terrific work, if you like rejection.

Carl Bernstein:
I lived here all my life, I got a million contacts, but they're all bus boys and bellhops.

Carl Bernstein:
[to Martin Dardis] Look, you've been jerking my chain all day. If there's some reason you can't talk to me--like the fact that you've already leaked everything to The New York Times--just say so.

Carl Bernstein:
My first day as a copy boy I was sixteen and wearing my only grown-up suit--it was cream colored. At 2:30 the head copy boy comes running up to me and says, "My God, haven't you washed the carbon paper yet? If it's not washed by three, it'll never be dry for tomorrow." And I said, "Am I supposed to do that?" and he said, "Absolutely, it's crucial." So I run around and grab all the carbon paper from all the desks and take it to the men's room. I'm standing there washing it and it's splashing all over me and the editor comes in to take a leak, and he says, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?" And I said, "It's 2:30. I'm washing the carbon paper." Just wanted you to know I've done dumber things than get us lost, that's all.

Ben Bradlee:
[Mitchell] really said that about Kathy Graham? [Gives a light chuckle, then hands the notes back to Woodward] Cross out the words "her tit", and run it...this is a family newspaper.

Ben Bradlee:
Once when I was reporting, Lyndon Johnson's top guy gave me the word they were looking for a successor to J. Edgar Hoover. I wrote it and the day it appeared Johnson called a press conference and appointed Hoover head of the FBI for life... And when he was done, he turned to his top guy and the President said, "Call Ben Bradlee and tell him f*** you." I took a lot of static for that--everyone said, "You did it, Bradlee, you screwed up--you stuck us with Hoover forever." I screwed up but I wasn't wrong. You guys haven't been wrong yet, is that why you're scared shitless? You should be.

Ben Bradlee:
I can't do the reporting for my reporters, which means I have to trust them. And I hate trusting anybody.

Ben Bradlee:
It's like they taught us at Harvard: few things are as gratifying to the soul as having another man's nuts in a vise.

Ben Bradlee:
Either of you want a drink or should I order? Because--because our c*cks are on the chopping block and you've got to be sure that you're not just dealing with people who hate Richard Nixon and want to get him through us. You see, I don't give a sh*t who's President--I really don't, it's an adversary situation between them and us and it's always gonna be. I never had a closer friend than Jack Kennedy and once I printed something that pissed him off and for seven months I didn't exist.

Ben Bradlee:
All right, you made a mistake maybe, we all have, just don't make another. And watch your personal lives, who you hang around with. Someone once said the price of democracy is a bloodletting every ten years. Make sure it isn't our blood.

Ben Bradlee:
WOODSTEIN!

Harry Rosenfeld:
Woodward, Bernstein, you're both on the story, now don't f*** it up.

Harry Rosenfeld:
As a rough rule of thumb, as far as I can throw Bronco Nagurski, that's how much I trust John Mitchell...

Harry Rosenfeld:
[to Woodward] I can't sell hints to Simons-- you called everyone you know? Call someone you don't know.

Harry Rosenfeld:
[to Ben Bradlee] Benjy, we got a present for you. Above the fold on page one for sure. It may not change our lives one way or the other. Just a good, solid piece of American Journalism that The New York Times doesn't have.

Richard Nixon:
The White House has had no involvement whatever in this particular incident.

John Mitchell:
All that crap, you're putting it in the paper? It's all been denied. You tell your publisher--tell Katie Graham she's gonna get her tit caught in a big fat wringer if that's published. Good Christ! That's the most sickening thing I ever heard.

Hugh Sloan, Jr.:
I've been looking for a job but it's been... hard. My name's been in the papers too much. Sometimes I wonder if reporters understand how much pain they can inflict in just one sentence. I'm not thinking of myself. But my wife, my parents, it's been very rough on them. I wish I could put down on paper what it's like--you come to Washington because you believe in something, and then you get inside and you see how things actually work and you watch your ideals disintegrate. The people inside, the people in the White House, they start to believe they can suspend the rules because they're fulfilling a mission. That becomes the only important thing--the mission. It's so easy to lose perspective. We want to get out before we lose ours altogether.

White House spokesman:
On the record let me say just this: the story is totally untrue. On background, I'd like to add that Bob Haldeman is one of the greatest public servants this country has ever had and the story is a goddamned lie.