a mood of panic and despair

 

[at right] Dwight Chapin, White House Appointments Secretary in Nixon administration

"He took on this self-survival cloak.  And that led to other things happening."

Mr. Chapin says this, describing Pres. Nixon at the time the Pentagon Papers were leaked to newspapers.

A self-survival cloak.

It led to other things happening. (Watergate break-in)

*

cloak

It's a word.

We don't use it very much in the modern era.

-------- [from conversations Pres. Nixon had tape-recorded in the Oval Office] --

Nixon:  I want you to find me a man.  I've got to have one.  I've got to have one.  A man who can work directly with me on this whole situation.  I want somebody who is just as tough as I am, for a change.

We're up against an enemy, a conspiracy.  They're using any means.  We are going to Use. Any. Means.

[voice of Charles Colson, Special Counsel to Nixon]

There was a mood of panic and despair.  Nixon wanted to bring in a group of people who would do - security, these kind of black-bag jobs.  And told me to do whatever it took.  That really led to the creation of the "plumbers."

----------------------------- [words typed on the screen] -- In the summer of 1971, Nixon establishes a covert special investigations unit called "The White House Plumbers."

Their mission is to stop leaks and undermine Nixon's political opponents.

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