H. R. Haldeman Quotes in Nixon (1995)

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 apologize? That will be the day. Most of his armor would fall off.

H. R. Haldeman: You'll tell Mitchell?

[Ehrlichman nods. Haldeman turns to go, then hesitates]

H. R. Haldeman: And John... you *do* know that you and I are next?

Richard M. Nixon: She got it, Bob. 19-year-old college kid.

H. R. Haldeman: What? Who?

Richard M. Nixon: She understood something it's taken me 25 years in politics to understand. The CIA, the Mafia, those Wall Street bastards...

H. R. Haldeman: Sir?

Richard M. Nixon: The Beast. 19-year-old kid. She called it a wild animal.

H. R. Haldeman: Yes, sir.

John Ehrlichman: Well, sir, it turns out one of the people implicated is still on the White House payroll.

Richard M. Nixon: Who? Not another damn Cuban?

H. R. Haldeman: No sir. A guy named Hunt. Howard Hunt, sir.

Richard M. Nixon: [Fear creeping on his face] Hunt? Howard Hunt?

John Ehrlichman: What's this Bay of Pigs thing? He goes white every time you mention it.

H. R. Haldeman: It's a code.

Richard M. Nixon: You see, when I saw Bobby lying there on the floor, arms stretched out, his eyes staring... I knew then I'd be President. His death paved the way, didn't it? Vietnam, the Kennedys, cleared a path through the wilderness just for me. Over the bodies. Four bodies.

H. R. Haldeman: You mean two. Two bodies.

Richard M. Nixon: Four.

[He walks up to a portrait of Abraham Lincoln]

Richard M. Nixon: How many did you have? Hundreds of thousands? Where would we be without death? Abe? Who's helping us? Is it God or is it death?

H. R. Haldeman: [Watching Nixon on TV announcing the resignations of him and John Ehrlichman] Six bodies.

H. R. Haldeman: You making any statement?

Richard M. Nixon: Thank you, Fidel Castro!

Pat Nixon: You're not going to blame Castro, are you?

Richard M. Nixon: I'm sure am. Goddamn missile crisis united the whole country behind Kennedy and he was supporting Brown. People were scared, that's why.

Pat Nixon: I suppose Castro staged the whole thing just to beat you.

Richard M. Nixon: Buddy, before you join the jubilation of my being beaten again you should remember that people vote not out of love but fear. They don't teach that at Sunday school or the Whitier Community Playhouse.

H. R. Haldeman: [leaving the room] I'll go check with our people.

Pat Nixon: I'm glad they don't, Dick. I'm glad they don't because life is tough and it is unfair and sometimes you forget that in your self pity.