Episode 101: RICHARD NIXON and WATERGATE, 1973 Enemies at the Gate (Part 1) The POW's Come Home

Our Season 6 Premier and the first in our NIXON and WATERGATE series:

This season opens just as the Vietnam War ends for America. Even as the treaty is signed there are still last minute maneuverings that President Nixon and Henry Kissinger have to deal with in order to get our Prisoners of War out of Vietnam. You will listen in on the discussions between the President and his speech writer Ray Price and then Dr. Henry Kissinger as the war finally comes to an end. 

Then we will listen to the memories of the brave soldiers of that war and the ordeals they suffered through as Prisoners of War in the Hanoi Hilton. The most famous of which, the future Senator from Arizona, John McCain, recounts his years in the prison and the moment that the Vietnamese almost broke his indominable spirit. You will hear several other soldiers tell their stories as well.

Then we will shift gears to the burgeoning scandal that would soon dominate the Nixon Administration, Watergate. You will hear ABC News set the stage for the coming sentencing of the Watergate burglary defendants and we will be introduced to a cast of characters from G. Gordon Liddy, to Judge Sirica to future Chairman of the Watergate Committee in the Senate Sam Irvin of North Carolina. 

In this episode we will also meet Geoff Shepard, the last living defense Attorney for Richard Nixon, he had been a mid level employee, and White House Fellow , there working on policy. He would move up to being Nixon Attorney Fred Buzhardt's right hand man.  He will play a major role in the telling of our story on "Bridging the Political Gap" over the next three seasons. 

You can read up on Mr. Shepard and get copies of his three landmark books at his website:

 https://shepardonwatergate.com/

 and starting with this episode you will hear excerpts from his extraordinary  podcasts with the Nixon Foundation and its then President Hugh Hewitt titled "Known Unknowns" , here is a link to the first episode and you can then go from there to the rest. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWxWKSK0cmc 

We will be using a lot of these conversations throughout our series on Watergate over the next three seasons

Finally our show will then return to the POW's as they are released and we get to hear their stories of returning, finally, home. 

It remains perhaps the true high point of one of the greatest Presidencies in all of American History, the Presidency of Richard Nixon. 

Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
Please Leave us a review at wherever you get your podcasts
Thanks for listening!!

Chapters

• 0:26 Richard Nixon addresses the POW's at the White House and talks about the need for secrecy while conducting foreign policy
• 1:58 Host Randal Wallace welcomes you to Season 6 of "Bridging the Political Gap" , "Richard Nixon and Watergate"
• 6:16 Telephone call between Speechwriter Ray Price and President Richard Nixon in January 23, 1973
• 8:58 Telephone call between President Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger January 31, 1973
• 17:09 VIETNAM POW 40th REUNION, a look back with ABC News and Diane Sawyer
• 20:09 U.S. Veteran Describes Being Prisoner of War in Vietnam - Iowa PBS
• 25:52 John McCain on the horrors he endured as a POW - ABC News
• 32:44 Segment from ABC News "Dark Days at the White House" - Watergate opener
• 33:15 Host Randal Wallace introduces the burgeoning Watergate Scandal and introduces the audience to Geoff Shepard
• 36:03 Known Unknowns segment with Hugh Hewitt and Geoff Shepard
• 43:19 ad for RandalWallace.com
• 44:59 News report from ABC News by Howard K. Smith announcing that the Senate had voted to investigate the Watergate break in and the 1972 election
• 45:20 Known Unknowns segment on the vote and the Irvin committee with Hugh Hewitt and Geoff Shepard
• 56:26 Vietnam POW Homecoming 1973 - CBS News Coverage of the return of our POW's
• 59:01 Vietnam POW Release Archive Footage from FreedomStar Media
• 1:04:49 Closing theme