NOTE: This Play Guide may contain mild spoilers about the story of the show. If you like to be completely surprised by the play, you may wish to wait until after seeing it to read the Play Guide.
Frost/Nixon
» The Story: A brief synopsis of Frost/Nixon
» Who’s Who: Characters in the play
» Feature: The Fourth Estate: Truth in Journalism by Laura Schlereth
» Feature: The Legacy of the Frost/Nixon Interviews by James Reston, Jr.
The Story
It’s August 8, 1974, and Richard Nixon is stepping down from the American presidency. He is disgraced after the discovery of his involvement in the Watergate scandal: the cover-up of a burglary in the offices of the Democratic Party’s National Committee in 1972. In his televised resignation speech, Nixon discusses his disappointment in being “a quitter,” but feels assured that the country has tremendously benefited under his leadership. Many feel discontentment over Nixon’s speech, which seems to be an attempt to remind all of the integrity of his presidency before the scandal rather than the apologetic admission of guilt that many feel the country deserves from its former President.
After receiving a full pardon by President Gerald Ford and while recuperating from a phlebitis attack, Nixon is sifting through million-dollar offers for his memoirs. One offer for a television interview, which was at first taken as a joke, comes from David Frost, a British talk-show host with a playboy reputation and almost no political convictions who recently lost his U.S. show due to poor syndication. Frost believes that an in-depth interview with the ex-President will be his ticket back into American media prominence. Nixon and his advisers accept Frost’s offer over the more credible Mike Wallace at CBS because they believe Nixon could take control over the less formal Frost in the interviews and therefore give his side of the story.
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| David Frost and James Reston, Jr. Photo courtesy of Mr. Reston. |
Each team has specifically different agendas for the interviews and work tirelessly to prepare. In the first of the four-part interviews, it is obvious the ex-President has the upper hand. A seasoned orator who knows exactly how to outsmart an opponent, Nixon practically conducts the interview himself with long-winded answers that skillfully evade Frost’s objectives.
Despite Frost’s best efforts to regain control in the next two tapings, Nixon is still able to paint his own portrait as a sympathetic man and dignified President who made a mistake. Backed into a corner, Frost’s team realizes how high the stakes are and begins to fear that their plan to bring a former President to his knees has turned into another showcase for Nixon to display all his strengths.
Richard Nixon and David Frost. Photo courtesy of James Reston, Jr.
That is until Reston discovers something almost by accident-something that’s just what they need to inspire penitence in a man determined to leave a pure noble legacy in the minds of Americans. However, it’s up to Frost to outsmart and face down his powerful opponent to attain what the country deserves and has been long denied: an apology.
Who’s Who?
Richard Nixon: The 37th President of the United States and the first to resign from the office due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal
Jim Reston: Liberal UNC lecturer who has written three books on Nixon and Watergate and is currently working on his fourth
David Frost: British talk-show host who is known more for his playboy reputation than his political views
Jack Brennan: An ex-military man who served as Nixon’s Chief of Staff
Evonne Goolagong: A guest on Frost’s TV show, and the first aboriginal woman to win Wimbledon
John Birt: The head of current affairs at London Weekend Television and Frost’s good friend
Manolo Sanchez: Nixon’s valet
Swifty Lazar: A well-known Hollywood literary agent
Caroline Cushing: Frost’s romantic interest
Bob Zelnick: Veteran Washington reporter
Mike Wallace: Distinguished broadcast journalist at CBS who was outbid by Frost to get the Nixon interviews
The Fourth Estate: Truth in Journalism
by Laura Schlereth
“Whoever can speak...becomes a power, a branch of government, with inalienable weight in lawmaking, in all acts of authority. It matters not what rank he has, what revenues or garnitures: the requisite thing is that he have a tongue which others will listen to; this and nothing more is requisite. The nation is governed by all that has tongue in the nation. Democracy is virtually there.” —Edmund Burke, 18th-century British philosopher (recorded by Thomas Carlyle in On Heroes, Hero-worship and the Heroic in History)
Freedom of the press is considered essential to a democratic society, as it is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. Burke revered the importance of the press to a point that he referred to it as a “Fourth Estate,” placing it on the same level of importance as any branch of government. Its watchdog role provides knowledge about the institutions that direct our society, such as government and corporate America.
Major breakthroughs of investigative journalism in the past have held accountable those who have sought to capitalize on fear as a result of ignorance. However, the past has also shown that those doing the reporting need to be held accountable as well. Project for Excellence in Journalism says that journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. Unfortunately, even though the truth seems to be a black and white concept, different minds producing different versions usually make finding the truth a gray area.
Freedom from fear
All it took to destroy a person’s life in the 1940s and 50s was the label of “communist” from one man—Joe McCarthy. The Wisconsin junior senator’s blacklist campaign of many prominent Americans gripped the country in fear, and the havoc that McCarthyism wreaked proved the power of the spoken word—then someone else decided to speak up.
Edward Murrow, a well-respected journalist who anchored the weekly 30-minute television program See It Now, felt the impact of the “Red Scare” when close friends of his were targeted and in 1954, Murrow and his producer Fred Friendly decided to speak out against McCarthyism in an edition of See It Now. The show’s network, CBS, refused to publicize the controversial program. Paying for newspaper advertisements themselves, Murrow and Friendly broadcast their anti-McCarthyism show on March 9, 1954.
“The line between investigating and persecuting is a very fine one and the junior senator from Wisconsin has stepped over it repeatedly,” said Murrow during the broadcast. “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep into our own history and our doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular. This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result.”
The New York Times praised the show saying “broadcasting recaptured its soul.” CBS received thousands of phone calls and letters after the program, the vast majority of which supported Murrow’s stance. McCarthy tried to fight back the new wave of opposition by claiming that Murrow had “sponsored a communist school in Moscow” and worked for Russian espionage. However, his foundation of malice had been greatly shaken, and on December 2, 1954, the Senate denounced McCarthy’s actions. Murrow earned a Peabody Award for his work, which was recently featured in the 2005 film Good Night and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney and starring David Straithain as Murrow. The movie was extremely well received by critics and earned six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay.
Matter of fact
Because of people like McCarthy, the word “politician” has become practically synonymous with concepts of dishonesty and corruption since the Cold War. It seems that the public puts more trust in media figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brokaw, who, restrained by popularity-based contracts rather than fixed terms, can build decades-long careers where longevity seems to have a direct relationship with credibility. However, as CBS News anchor Dan Rather found out, a 50-year career in journalism can easily be tarnished with one misstep.
In September 2004, two months before Bush was reelected over Democratic candidate John Kerry, CBS’ 60 Minutes aired a piece, anchored by Rather, that stated President Bush received special treatment in his National Guard service. The news show based its report on documents provided by retired Texas National Guard official Bill Burkett. After the broadcast, document analysts expressed doubt that the memos could have been produced on a 1970s government typewriter, immediately putting their authenticity into question. After a two-week-long stubborn defense of the report, CBS News finally admitted that it had rushed to break the story only five days after the documents were acquired and could not confirm their validity.
“We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry,” said Rather. “It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism. Please know that nothing is more important to us than people’s trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.”
Rather said that Burkett lied to the network about how he attained the papers, but Burkett claimed that he was pressured by Rather’s producer, Mary Mapes to reveal a source, so he gave a name of a fake source to protect the “real” person, but had insisted that CBS verify the memos.
The news program ineptitude in the matter immediately put its motives into question. Many felt it was a deliberate attempt of a liberal-leaning media outlet to discredit Bush in the final stretch of his second bid for the presidency. Suspicion was further raised over 60 Minutes‘ impartiality when it was discovered that Mapes recommended Burkett to a senior official on Kerry’s campaign team, saying that he had been helpful in a then-upcoming story on the show.
Four CBS News employees were fired as a result of the very public error, and former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press President Louis Boccardi were asked by CBS to investigate the matter. The Thornburgh panel concluded that although the documents could not be confirmed as total forgeries, their authenticity was most definitely questionable as was CBS’ handling of the matter.
Rather retired his anchor position the following March after 24 years on the job but planned to remain a correspondent on the show. However, since that time, he has filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS that accused his former employer of fraud and breach of contract and claimed there were deficiencies in the Thornburgh Panel.
Justice for all
If anyone knows the risks of investigative journalism, it’s famed Big Tobacco whistleblower Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a former research employee for Brown & Williamson Tobacco (B&W). During his four-year-long employment, Wigand read a study by the National Toxicology Program that discussed the cancer-causing effects of coumarin, a key additive in one of B&W’s pipe products. Wigand advocated its removal, but company president Thomas Sandefur refused because the taste would be affected and could lower sales. Wigand was fired from B&W in 1993 but signed a confidentiality agreement regarding his employment.
In 1994, 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman approached Wigand to analyze Phillip Morris documents that Bergman had received anonymously. In April of that same year, the seven largest tobacco companies in the US, including B&W, testified before Congress that they believed that nicotine was not addictive. In the meantime, Wigand agreed to act as advisor to the FDA in its case against the tobacco industry, which didn’t violate his confidentiality agreement. In June, Wigand also became a technical advisor to ABC, which Philip Morris was suing for $10 billion over an ABC story that stated Phillip Morris was dishonest about the nicotine levels in its products. In 1995, Bergman asked Wigand to participate in a televised interview about his B&W experience before he might be court-ordered not to speak to the press. Wigand taped his interview with 60 Minutes in August and it aired the following February.
While Wigand was deposed in Mississippi, he charged Sandefur with lying under oath in his statement to Congress about nicotine’s addictiveness, and he also contended that B&W participated in a long-term cover-up of research that showed the great dangers of tobacco. B&W later launched a smear campaign against Wigand in the form of a 500-page report that included such accusations as spousal abuse, but The Wall Street Journal found most of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, calling the report “chilling insight into how much a company can find out about a former employee and the lengths it may go to discredit a critic.” In addition to the attempted damage to his reputation, Wigand said that he received telephone threats against his daughters and that a bullet was once placed in his mailbox.
Wigand’s disclosures eventually helped multiple states reach a settlement from the major tobacco companies that amounted to $246 billion. The 1999 film The Insider directed by Michael Mann and starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe was based on the story. Nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Screenplay, the movie was “100 percent on target” according to Wigand.
Now running the foundation, Smoke-Free Kids, that he formed to educate children about the dangers of tobacco, Wigand states on his website: “I am honored that people think I am a hero...but I do not accept that moniker as others are much more deserving of it. I did what was right. . .have no regrets and would do it again. As you see, we were just ordinary people placed in some extraordinary situations and did the right thing...as all should do.”
The Legacy of the Frost/Nixon Interviews
by James Reston, Jr.
During the California taping in that spring of 1977, I thought of Nixon as Proteus, the mythological Greek god, who possessed all the wizard wiles, who was well protected by guards and by cunning, and who, when threatened, could miraculously change shapes. In David Frost, we had the most unlikely Odysseus. His job, as the legend said, was to “catch and pin Proteus down”. He had a daunting task.
Richard Nixon had dragged the country through two years of agony over his Watergate transgressions. His abuses of his presidential office, his obstruction of justice, his impeachable offenses had become perfectly clear to the American people. Just as he was on the verge of being impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives and then tried and formally removed from office by the U.S. Senate for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, he had abruptly resigned. His successor, President Gerald Ford, promptly pardoned him, ensuring that the disgraced President would never stand before the bar of justice.
The Frost/Nixon interviews of 1977 would be the only trial for Watergate that Nixon would ever have. As such, they were freighted with enormous historical significance. It was my job to prepare David Frost for his Watergate interrogation, and I felt the weight of our historic responsibility intensely. The stakes were immense. Frost was paying Nixon more than a million dollars for the privilege of the interrogation, and so the morality of “checkbook journalism” was much discussed. Nixon undoubtedly saw the enterprise as a sweetheart deal. He stood to make a lot of money and to rehabilitate his reputation in the bargain. Through Frost, he surely hoped to show that the country had made a mistake. But he underestimated the great skill of his adversary.
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| Nixon and Reston. Photo courtesy of James Reston, Jr. |
Would the Grand Inquisitor be able to coax from the Master of Deception a sincere confession of crime and an authentic apology to the nation? How could he accomplish this, when so many before him had failed?
After a series of disappointments, David Frost surprised us all. When it was over, more than two-thirds of the viewers felt Nixon was guilty of obstruction of justice, and an equal number thought he had lied during the interviews.
Television had vindicated the decision of the nation.
Historian James Reston, Jr. is the character Jim Reston in Frost/Nixon. He is the author of The Conviction of Richard Nixon: The Untold Story of the Frost/Nixon Interviews.
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