TheNixon interviews were a series of conversations between formerAmerican presidentRichard Nixon and British journalistDavid Frost, produced byJohn Birt. They were recorded and broadcast on television and radio in four programs in 1977.[1] The interviews later became the central subject ofPeter Morgan's playFrost/Nixon in 2006.
Richard Nixon spent more than two years away from public life afterresigning from office due to theWatergate scandal. However, Nixon grantedDavid Frost an exclusive series of interviews in 1977. He was publishing his memoirs at the time, but his publicistIrving 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[2] but the American television network news operations were not interested, regarding them ascheckbook 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 andsyndicated the four programs. The interviews were also broadcast on radio by theMutual Broadcasting System.[3]
Nixon's chief of staffJack Brennan negotiated the terms of the interview with Frost.[4] 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 thatTime magazine described as "softly".[5] Frost recruited author and intelligence officerJames Reston Jr.[13] and ABC News producerBob Zelnick[14] to evaluate the Watergate details prior to the interview. Nixon's negotiated fee was $600,000 (equivalent to $3,100,000 in 2024) and a 20-percent share of any profits.[1][15]
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.[2] The interviews were managed by executive producerMarvin Minoff who was the president of Frost'sDavid Paradine Productions,[16] and by British current affairs producerJohn Birt.[16][17] Recording took place at a seaside home inMonarch Bay, California[18] owned by Harold H. Smith, a longtime Nixon supporter. This location was chosen instead of Nixon'sSan Clemente homeLa Casa Pacifica due to interference with the television relay equipment fromCoast Guard navigational transmitters near San Clemente. Frost rented the Smith home for $6,000[1] on a part-time basis.
The interviews were broadcast in the US and some other countries in 1977.[2] They were directed by Jorn Winther[19] and edited into four programs, each 90 minutes long. In addition to being televised, the interviews were heard over radio via theMutual Broadcasting System.
On Sunday evening May 1, 1977,CBS's60 Minutes broadcast[20] an interview of David Frost byMike 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:[1][21]
| Part | Broadcast | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | May 4, 1977 | Watergate[22] |
| Part 2 | May 12, 1977 | Nixon and the world |
| Part 3 | May 19, 1977 | War at home and abroad |
| Part 4 | May 26, 1977 | Nixon, the man |
| Part 5 | September 10, 1977 | additional material from parts 1–4 |
The premiere episode drew 45 million viewers, the largest television audience for a political interview in history — a record that still stands today.[23]
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 inTrump 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 ahalf-truth in a modern legal context, but damaging in ahistorical context for the time period as such a legal standard forpresidential immunity had not been legally set yet, and such a statement would have been viewed asimmoral by most citizens for the time period.[24][25][26][27]
Part 5 opened with Frost's blunt question, "Why didn't you burnthe tapes?"[28]
AGallup 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.[2]Frost was expected to make $1 million from the interviews.[1]
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 ofFrost/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]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)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.
