David Frost

David Frost had a successful, decades long career as a television talk show host and interviewer, in both the UK and the US.

He interviewed thousands of VIPs, celebrities, and movers and shakers of all kinds.

But he may be best remembered for his 1977 series of interviews with former President Richard M. Nixon, who just three years earlier had resigned the presidency in disgrace after the Watergate scandal.

Frost paid Nixon some $600,000 for those interviews. But they paid off, big time, as they became a part of American television history, and helped restore some of Nixon’s credibility.

I met David Frost 30 years later, when he wrote a book called Frost/Nixon, a behind the scenes account of how the interviews came about, and what happened when the cameras stopped ruling.

So here now, from 2007, David Frost.

David Frost died in 2013. He was 74.


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G. Gordon Liddy
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G. Gordon Liddy

A third-rate burglary” at Washington’s Watergate hotel and office complex in the summer of 1972 launched a scandal that ultimately brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

At the very center of that burglary, and ensuing Scandal, was G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who headed the the infamous White House “Plumbers” unit.

After serving prison time for his role in Watergate, Liddy wrote a book called “Will,” which became a bestseller for years to come.

In 1991 Liddy updated his book, adding new information that had been revealed in a book by two journalists,Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, called “Silent Coup.”

As you are about to hear, Libby discovered that the Scandal that he was at the center of was not what he thought it was.

So here now, from 1991, G. Gordon Liddy.

G. Gordon Liddy died last year at age 90.


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John Dean

Fifty years ago this week, a botched burglary at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, DC touched off a criminal conspiracy that eventually brought down the president of the United States, Richard M. Nixon.

It’s the scandal that to this day is simply known by the name of the office complex where the burglary occurred: Watergate.

All this week on Now I’ve Heard Everything we’re featuring interviews I’ve done with figures connected to Watergate. Our last episode featured former Washington Post editor Ben Bradley. On Friday, my conversation with the mastermind of the burglary, G. Gordon Liddy.

One of Nixon’s loyalists at the center of everything was his White House counsel, a young lawyer named John Dean.

As the investigation into the cover-up began to widen, Dean quietly began cooperating with prosecutors.

Later, famously, Dean was heard on a White House tape telling the president:

Dean recounted that episode in his congressional testimony:

After serving a brief prison sentence for his role in Watergate, Dean wrote several best-selling books, and his political views changed, as well.

And in the last 20 years, Dean has become a strong voice against what he sees as the authoritarian nature of the modern conservative movement – Republicans, in particular

In 2005, Dean wrote a book called Worse Than Watergate, which was followed in 2006 by one called Conservatives Without Conscience. And that’s when I met him.

And then we talked again a year later, when he wrote what was the third book in his trilogy.

So what you’ll hear now is first an excerpt from my 2006 interview, then after a short break, my 2007 conversation with John Dean:

John Dean is 83 now. His last book, Authoritarian Nightmare, was published in 2020.


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Alexander Haig

Today is March 30th, and it was 41 years ago today that a young man tried to kill President Ronald Reagan.

And one of the most controversial things that happened that day happened to a man with a long and distinguished military and public service career, general. Alexander Haig.

Haig was a graduate of West point m. He served in Korea, served in Vietnam, earned the silver Star and the purple heart. And by 1973 was the youngest four-star general ever in the US army.

In 1973, Haig became President Richard Nixon’s, Chief of staff just as the Watergate scandal was turning up to full boil.

In fact, many say that Haig was instrumental in persuading Nixon to resign the presidency in 1974.

In 1980, after being elected president in a landslide, Ronald Reagan chose Haig as his secretary of State. And it was the following March 30th, the day. John Hinckley Jr. Tried to assassinate the president, that Haig made a comment that will haunt him.

In 1992, Haig wrote a book called inner circles. And that’s when I have the chance to meet him. So here now, from 1992, general Alexander Haig.

Alexander Haig died in 2010. He was 85.


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Jim & Sarah Brady
Jerry Parr

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G. Gordon Liddy

A third-rate burglary” at Washington’s Watergate hotel and office complex in the summer of 1972 launched a scandal that ultimately brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

At the very center of that burglary, and ensuing Scandal, was G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who headed the the infamous White House “Plumbers” unit.

After serving prison time for his role in Watergate, Liddy wrote a book called “Will,” which became a bestseller for years to come.

In 1991 Liddy updated his book, adding new information that had been revealed in a book by two journalists,Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, called “Silent Coup.”

As you are about to hear, Libby discovered that the Scandal that he was at the center of was not what he thought it was.

So here now, from 1991, G. Gordon Liddy.

G. Gordon Liddy died last week. He was 90.