Nixon interviews

Richard Nixon spent more than two years away from public life after resigning from office due to the Watergate scandal. However, Nixon granted David Frost an exclusive series of interviews in 1977. He was publishing his memoirs at the time, but his publicist Irving Paul Lazar believed that he could reach a mass audience by using television. Frost's New York–based talk show had been canceled some years earlier. Frost had agreed to pay Nixon for the interviews{{cite news |url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0206/10/lkl.00.html |title=Transcript of CNN's Larry King Live: Frost, Schieffer, Bradlee Discuss Extensive Nixon Interview |publisher=CNN |access-date=January 4, 2009 | date=February 7, 2001}} but the American television network news operations were not interested, regarding them as checkbook journalism. They refused to distribute the program and Frost was forced to fund the project himself while seeking other investors, who eventually bought air time and syndicated the four programs. The interviews were also broadcast on radio by the Mutual Broadcasting System.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=98082715|title=James Reston Jr. On The 'Frost/Nixon' Interviews|website=npr.org|date=December 10, 2008 |access-date=May 15, 2017}}

Nixon's chief of staff Jack Brennan negotiated the terms of the interview with Frost.{{cite web|url=http://www.projo.com/movies/content/lb_jackbrennan_01-23-09_N6D0VV8_v18.2d0afec.html|title=Is Frost/Nixon true? Let's ask PC grad Jack Brennan — he was there|last=Janusonis|first=Michael|date=January 23, 2009|publisher=The Providence Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201001357/http://www.projo.com/movies/content/lb_jackbrennan_01-23-09_N6D0VV8_v18.2d0afec.html|archive-date=February 1, 2009|access-date=January 25, 2009}} Nixon's staff saw the interview as an opportunity for him to restore his reputation with the public and assumed that Frost would be easily outwitted. He had interviewed Nixon in 1968 in a manner that Time magazine described as "softly".{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947901-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070207130655/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C947901-2%2C00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 7, 2007|title=David Can Be a Goliath|date=May 9, 1977|access-date=January 8, 2009|magazine=Time}} Frost recruited author and intelligence officer James Reston Jr.{{refn|Multiple sources:{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/frostnixon-interview/3273956|title=Frost/Nixon interview|date=May 19, 2008|website=Radio National|access-date=May 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/2008-05-21/3260686|title=Wednesday 21 May 2008|date=May 21, 2008|website=Radio National|access-date=May 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/frost-nixon-and-me-99350263/?all|title=Frost, Nixon and Me|website=smithsonianmag.com|access-date=May 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/12/AR2007071201979.html|title=Trial by Television|date=July 15, 2007|access-date=May 15, 2017|via=washingtonpost.com}}{{cite web|url=http://palmbeachartspaper.com/the-artspaper-interview-james-reston-jr-on-frostnixon/|title=The ArtsPaper Interview: James Reston Jr. on 'Frost/Nixon'|website=palmbeachartspaper.com|access-date=May 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/the-history-behind-the-film-and-play-frostnixon.html|title=The History Behind the Film and Play 'FrostNixon': – FindLaw|website=Findlaw|access-date=May 15, 2017}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0hVWPFp1WAC&q=Nixon&pg=PA4|title=The Conviction of Richard Nixon: The Untold Story of the Frost/Nixon Interviews|first=James|last=Reston|date=May 2008|publisher=Three Rivers Press|isbn=978-0307394200}}}} and ABC News producer Bob Zelnick{{cite web|url=http://www.bu.edu/com/about/faculty/robert_zelnick.html/|title=Robert Zelnick : Chairman, Department of Journalism; Professor of Journalism|author=bu.edu|access-date=May 15, 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031023095456/http://www.bu.edu/com/about/faculty/robert_zelnick.html/|archive-date=October 23, 2003}} to evaluate the Watergate details prior to the interview. Nixon's negotiated fee was $600,000 ({{Inflation|US|600000|1977|r=-5|fmt=eq}}) and a 20% share of any profits.{{cite book |title=Frost/Nixon: Behind the Scenes of the Nixon Interviews |first=David |last=Frost |author2=Bob Zelnick |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-06-144586-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/frostnixonbehind00fros_0 }}

The 12 interviews began on March 23, 1977, with three interviews per week over four weeks. They were taped for more than two hours a day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for a total of 28 hours and 45 minutes. The interviews were managed by executive producer Marvin Minoff who was the president of Frost's David Paradine Productions, and by British current affairs producer John Birt.{{cite news|first=Mike |last=Barnes |title='Nixon Interviews' producer Marvin Minoff dies |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i8f2c0287dc37ec6b8e1fe1642ba3b00f |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=November 13, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024051904/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i8f2c0287dc37ec6b8e1fe1642ba3b00f |archive-date=October 24, 2012 }}{{cite news |title=Producer Marvin Minoff dies at 78 – Worked on Frost-Nixon TV interview specials |url=https://variety.com/2009/scene/news/producer-marvin-minoff-dies-at-78-1118011298/ |work=Variety|date=November 13, 2009 |access-date=December 2, 2009}} Recording took place at a seaside home in Monarch Bay, CaliforniaInterview with David Frost included with the 2008 DVD re-release of the original 1977 Nixon interviews owned by Harold H. Smith, a longtime Nixon supporter. This location was chosen instead of Nixon's San Clemente home La Casa Pacifica due to interference with the television relay equipment from Coast Guard navigational transmitters near San Clemente. Frost rented the Smith home for $6,000 on a part-time basis.

The interviews were broadcast in the US and some other countries in 1977. They were directed by Jorn Winther{{cite web|url=https://www.kcet.org/history-society/tricky-dick-and-the-dane-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-frost-nixon-interviews|title=Tricky Dick and the Dane: The 40th Anniversary of the Frost-Nixon Interviews|date=May 5, 2017|website=kcet.org|access-date=May 15, 2017}} and edited into four programs, each 90 minutes long. In addition to being televised, the interviews were heard over radio via the Mutual Broadcasting System.

On Sunday evening May 1, 1977, CBS's 60 Minutes broadcast[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpYu36q_tQ 1977 60 Minutes Mike Wallace interview of David Frost] on YouTube. an interview of David Frost by Mike Wallace. This was the same network that Frost had "scooped" (CBS had negotiated to interview Nixon, but unlike the news organization, Frost was willing to pay for the sessions). Frost talked about looking forward to Nixon's "cascade of candour."

The interviews were broadcast in four parts, with a fifth part containing material edited from the earlier parts broadcast months later:{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=98995421|title=Behind The Scenes Of The Frost/Nixon Interviews|website=npr.org|date=January 4, 2009 |access-date=May 15, 2017}}

The premiere episode drew 45 million viewers, the largest television audience for a political interview in history — a record that still stands today.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4588233.stm |title=Profile:Sir David Frost |work=UK News |publisher=BBC |date=May 28, 2005 |access-date=December 13, 2008}}

In part 3, Frost asked Nixon whether the president could do something illegal in certain situations such as against antiwar groups and others if he decides "it's in the best interests of the nation or something". Nixon replied: "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal", by definition. This statement notably came 47 years before the Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that the president had absolute criminal immunity for official acts under core constitutional powers, presumptive immunity for other official acts, and no immunity for unofficial acts. Which makes Nixon's statement a half-truth in a modern legal context, but damaging in a historical context for the time period as such a legal standard for presidential immunity had not been legally set yet, and such a statement would have been viewed as immoral by most citizens for the time period.{{cite web |url=https://www.landmarkcases.org/united-states-v-nixon/nixons-views-on-presidential-power|title=Nixon's Views on Presidential Power: Excerpts from an Interview with David Frost |work=Landmark Cases of the US Supreme Court |publisher=landmarkcases.org |access-date=November 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417202919/http://landmarkcases.org/united-states-v-nixon/nixons-views-on-presidential-power|archive-date=April 17, 2019}}{{Cite web |title=Transcript of David Frost's Interview with Richard Nixon |author= |website=Teaching American History |date= |access-date=12 October 2021 |url= https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/transcript-of-david-frosts-interview-with-richard-nixon/}}{{Cite web |last=Fritze |first=John |date=2024-07-01 |title=Supreme Court rules Trump has limited immunity in January 6 case, jeopardizing trial before election {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/01/politics/supreme-court-donald-trump-immunity/index.html |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-09-30 |title=Nixon Gave Trump One Hell of a Gift Forty-seven Years Ago |url=https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a62447233/nixon-trump-frost-hearing/ |access-date=2025-02-09 |website=Esquire |language=en-US}}

Part 5 opened with Frost's blunt question, "Why didn't you burn the tapes?"{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/why-didnt-nixon-burn-the-tapes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306140513/http://millercenter.org/presidentialclassroom/exhibits/why-didnt-nixon-burn-the-tapes |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |first=Ken |last=Hughes |title=Why Didn't Nixon Burn the Tapes? |work=Presidential Recordings Program |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=December 13, 2008}}

A Gallup poll conducted after the interviews aired showed that 69 percent of the public thought that Nixon was still trying to cover up, 72 percent still thought he was guilty of obstruction of justice, and 75 percent thought he deserved no further role in public life.

Frost was expected to make $1 million from the interviews.

There have been several releases on DVD featuring different edited presentations of the Interviews, the first of which is generally focused on clips from the first segment on Watergate with additional commentary, whereas the extended release features the "complete" interviews in the original four (and the later fifth) segments just as they were broadcast in 1977. In particular, footage from the Frost/Nixon interviews were included on the 2009 DVD release of Frost/Nixon, which presented a dramatized re-creation of the interviews and the events surrounding them; the reverse of the keep case explains that the footage was included primarily for the sake of comparing it to the film's depiction. However, it is still unclear whether or not the (more than 20 hours of) tape cut from all the publicly released editions will ever be made available to the public.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

• 1 disc edition, 85 minutes ("Frost/Nixon: The Watergate Interviews")
• 2 disc edition, 377 minutes ("Frost/Nixon: The Complete Interviews")

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{IMDb title|0261639|David Frost Interviews Richard Nixon}}
• {{cite web| title= British presenter David Frost taking on Nixon| date= January 5, 2009 | url= http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2009/2458940.htm | publisher= Radio National | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090131220036/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/breakfast/stories/2009/2458940.htm |work= Summer Breakfast |archive-date=January 31, 2009| quote= One of the most fascinating aspects of the story is how a team of journalists prepped Frost to take on Nixon in the interview. One of those journalists was Bob Zelnick, played by Oliver Platt in the [Frost/Nixon] film. The real Bob Zelnick speaks to us on Summer Breakfast.}}

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Category:1977 controversies in the United States

Category:1977 in American politics

Category:1977 in American television

Category:Interviews

Category:Richard Nixon

Category:First-run syndicated television programs in the United States

Category:Television controversies in the United States