All the President’s Men—synopsis httpwww.imdb.comtitlett0.docx

All the President’s Men—synopsis

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074119/synopsis?ref_=tt_stry_pl
Panel Discussion of the Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVrGZSxpBEA

On the early morning hours of June 19, 1972, a security guard (Frank Wills, playing himself) at the Watergate complex finds a door kept unlocked with tape. The police arrive where they find and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters office within the complex. The next morning, The Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to the unimportant story.

Woodward learns that the five men - four Cuban-Americans from Miami and their ringleader James W. McCord, Jr. had bugging equipment and have their own "country club" attorney. McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the Central Intelligence Agency, and the others also have CIA ties. The reporter connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, formerly of the CIA, and President Richard Nixon's Special Counsel Charles Colson.

Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), another Post reporter, is assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two are reluctant partners, but work well together. Executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) believes their work is incomplete, however, and not worthy of the Post's front page. He encourages them to continue to gather information.

Woodward contacts "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook), a senior government official and anonymous source he has used before in the past. Communicating through copies of the The New York Times and a balcony flowerpot, they meet in a parking garage in the middle of the night. Deep Throat speaks in riddles and metaphors about the Watergate break-in, but advises Woodward to "follow the money".

Over the next few weeks, Woodward and Bernstein connect the five burglars to thousands of dollars in diverted campaign contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP, or CREEP). Bradlee and others at the Post dislike the two young reporters' reliance on unnamed sources like Deep Throat, and wonder why the Nixon administration would break the law when the President is likely to defeat Democratic nominee George McGovern.

Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan, Jr., Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of thousands of dollars to White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman, "the second most important man in this country," and former Nixon Attorney General John N. Mitchell, now head of CREEP. They learn that CREEP used the fund to begin a "rat-fucking" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon was behind Edmund Muskie in the polls.

Bradlee's demand for thoroughness forces the reporters to obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection. When the White House issues a non-denial denial of the Post's above-the-fold story, the editor thus continues to support them.

Woodward secretly meets with Deep Throat again .

1. All the President’s Men—synopsis

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074119/synopsis?ref_=tt_stry_pl
Panel Discussion of the Film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVrGZSxpBEA

On the early morning hours of June 19, 1972, a security guard
(Frank Wills, playing himself) at the Watergate complex finds a
door kept unlocked with tape. The police arrive where they find
and arrest five burglars in the Democratic National Committee
headquarters office within the complex. The next morning, The
Washington Post assigns new reporter Bob Woodward (Robert
Redford) to the unimportant story.

Woodward learns that the five men - four Cuban-Americans
from Miami and their ringleader James W. McCord, Jr. had
bugging equipment and have their own "country club" attorney.
McCord identifies himself in court as having recently left the
Central Intelligence Agency, and the others also have CIA ties.
The reporter connects the burglars to E. Howard Hunt, formerly
of the CIA, and President Richard Nixon's Special Counsel
Charles Colson.

Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), another Post reporter, is
assigned to cover the Watergate story with Woodward. The two
are reluctant partners, but work well together. Executive editor
Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards) believes their work is incomplete,
however, and not worthy of the Post's front page. He encourages
them to continue to gather information.

Woodward contacts "Deep Throat" (Hal Holbrook), a senior
government official and anonymous source he has used before
in the past. Communicating through copies of the The New
York Times and a balcony flowerpot, they meet in a parking

2. garage in the middle of the night. Deep Throat speaks in riddles
and metaphors about the Watergate break-in, but advises
Woodward to "follow the money".

Over the next few weeks, Woodward and Bernstein connect the
five burglars to thousands of dollars in diverted campaign
contributions to Nixon's Committee to Re-elect the President
(CRP, or CREEP). Bradlee and others at the Post dislike the two
young reporters' reliance on unnamed sources like Deep Throat,
and wonder why the Nixon administration would break the law
when the President is likely to defeat Democratic nominee
George McGovern.

Through former CREEP treasurer Hugh W. Sloan, Jr.,
Woodward and Bernstein connect a slush fund of hundreds of
thousands of dollars to White House Chief of Staff H. R.
Haldeman, "the second most important man in this country," and
former Nixon Attorney General John N. Mitchell, now head of
CREEP. They learn that CREEP used the fund to begin a "rat-
fucking" campaign to sabotage Democratic presidential
candidates a year before the Watergate burglary, when Nixon
was behind Edmund Muskie in the polls.

Bradlee's demand for thoroughness forces the reporters to
obtain other sources to confirm the Haldeman connection. When
the White House issues a non-denial denial of the Post's above-
the-fold story, the editor thus continues to support them.

Woodward secretly meets with Deep Throat again for more
questions where Deep Throat finally reveals that the Watergate
break-in was indeed masterminded by Haldeman. Deep Throat
also claims that the cover-up by those in the White House was
not to hide the other burglaries or of the burglars involvment
with CREEP, but to hide the "covert operations" involving "the
entire U.S. intelligence community", and warns that Woodward,
Bernstein, and others' lives are in danger. When Woodward and

3. Bernstein relay this to Bradlee, he urges the reporters to
continue despite the risk and Nixon's re-election.

In the final scene, set on January 20, 1973, Bernstein and
Woodward type out the full story, with the TV showing Nixon
taking the Oath of Office, for his second term as President of
the United States, in the foreground. A montage of Watergate-
related teletype headlines from the following years is shown
ending with Nixon's resignation and the inauguration of Gerald
Ford on August 9, 1974.



BACKGROUND NOTES: All the President's Men


All The President's Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
tells the story

behind the Watergate scandal. It all started with a burglary at
the
Democratic headquarters, but proved to be something much
more complex.

This story tells how two reporters worked with sources to
uncover deceit in
the highest levels of government.

On June 17, 1972, Woodward was asked to cover a story for his
job at the

"Washington Post." There had been a burglary at the Watergate
hotel. When
he arrived at the newsroom, he discovered that this wasn't an
ordinary

4. burglary, and he wasn't the only one reporting on it. The
burglars had
broken into the headquarters of the Democratic national
committee in the

Watergate office-apartment-hotel-complex. Bernstein had the
same

assignment. The two men had no appreciation for each other.

At the trial, Woodward realized that there might be more to the
story.

Main Characters in the Movie:

Bob Woodward -- Investigative Reporter

Carl Bernstein--Investigative Reporter

Harry Rosenfeld--head of local news at Washington Post

Howard Simons--Managing Editor responsible for letting local
reporters cover national issue

Ben Bradlee--Executive Editor oversaw publication of
Pentagon Papers and Watergate

Hugh Sloan--Treasure of the Committee to Reelect the President
(CRP--CREEP), did not know

about the break-in. Became a source for Woodward and
Bernstein. Supported by wife, Debby.

Donald Segretti--"Dirty Tricks" operative for Nixon's campaign;
forged documents sabotaging

5. opponents.

Bernard Barker--Cuban-American undercover agent for FBI.
Convicted with Howard Hunt, G.

Gordon Liddy, James McCord.

"Deep Throat"--Associate Director, FBI

Ken Dahlberg--unwittingly wrote $25,000 check to Maurice
Stans who cashed it to give to the

burglars

Maurice Stans--Chair of CREEP Finance Committee





BACKGROUND NOTES : All the President's Men


White House Staff involved:

--former military, assistant to
Haldeman, not involved in

wrongdoing but revealing tape recordings



--Special Counsel to the President

6. Dean--"master manipulator of the cover-up," refused to
resign when Nixon asked

him to, served as witness in trials



--Counsel for Domestic Affairs, obstruction
of justice, conspiracy,

perjury







Haldeman--Chief of Staff, obstruction of justice,
perjury, conspiracy



--CIA, one of the "Plumbers," conspiracy,
burglary, wiretapping



--Special Investigations Unit for Ehrlichman,
"Plumbers" to plug leaks to the

press



--organized breaking with Hunt, burglary,

7. conspiracy, refusing to

testify.







--CREEP liaison to Haldeman, oversaw
political operations



on, kept tapes of
conversations at which President

was present





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Butterfield
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ehrlichman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._Haldeman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Howard_Hunt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egil_Krogh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Gordon_Liddy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_C._Strachan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Mary_Woods

8. ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Notes on the Movie

NAME:
Type your answers under each question and submit to Turnitin.
If you don't have an answer, see if you can find it on the
internet. In addition to submitting this to Turnitin, bring your
completed form to class next week. (Each question worth 10
points, #7 is worth 30.)
1. It is important that a Problem Solving approach to Ethics
relies on facts, not just opinions. How does the movie illustrate
this statement? Be very specific.

2. Ethical problems are dynamic, able to change. How does the
movie illustrate this? Be very specific.

3. The newspaper is very committed to discovering the facts of
the situation. What is a principle or value that is supported by
their doing this? What is a principle or value that is violated by
their doing this?

4. What principle or value is supported by breaking into the
Democratic Headquarters? What principle is violated?

5. Much of the behavior uncovered in the movie was illegal.
What is an example of something that was legal but still
unethical?

6. In addition to the answers above, what else connects this
movie to the course?

7. What are 3 connections you would make between this movie
and the current political situation in the US at this time?
a. First connection:
b. Second connection;

9. c. Third connection:

8. Who do you think is the most important person in the movie?
Why?