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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Deborah Hart Strober, Gerald Strober

Aired June 16, 2002 - 17:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the so-called third rate burglary that wound up bringing down a president. One of the men caught breaking into the Watergate hotel had a White House official's name and phone number in his address book. Police found that curious, and so did two news reporters from "The Washington Post." The rest, as they say, is history.

Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein followed the threads from the burglary to the executive branch. They eventually uncovered President Nixon's attempts to use the powers of government against people he considered his enemies. Today, Woodward and Bernstein looked back on the scandal that catapulted their careers and ended Richard Nixon's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MEET THE PRESS")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Carl Bernstein, when you hear "Watergate," what do you think of?

CARL BERNSTEIN: Richard Nixon. Who he was and how his presidency really was unique in terms of its criminality and in terms of a president willing to undermine the Constitution of the United States in a basic, fundamental way that we've never seen before or since.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bob Woodward?

BOB WOODWARD: Watergate really was kind of the real end of innocence, probably, for most people in the country. Gerald Ford, when he took over from Nixon said, "Watergate had been a nightmare." And it really was a nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: To discuss this further, from our New York bureau, Gerald Strober and Deborah Hart Strober, authors of "Nixon: An Oral History of the Presidency." Thanks so much for joining us.

All right, well, ladies first, let me begin with you, Deborah. Was the Watergate the beginning of the erosion of the public's trust in the White House?

DEBORAH HART STROBER, NIXON BIOGRAPHER: I think so. Yes, because before that, we hadn't really seen any major, major scandals that got so much media attention.

WHITFIELD: And Gerald, do you feel that Watergate really did give license to news reporters to cover the White House in a very different way? Now, the White House reporters very aggressively are questioning the presidency?

GERALD STROBER, NIXON BIOGRAPHER: Yes. We know from our research on the Kennedy presidency, Fredricka, that reporters protected President Kennedy. There were many things going on we didn't know about. But Nixon was a special case, because Nixon had an antagonistic relationship with the media long before Watergate ever unfolded. And when Watergate did unfold, the media was ready to pounce. And perhaps rightly so.

WHITFIELD: Now, tomorrow, John Dean's book is going to be released on Salon.com. In it, a few candidates of who just might be Deep Throat. Any ideas, Deborah, who you believe Deep Throat might have been?

D. STROBER: Well, we had a theory that perhaps it was either a composite or a literally invention to spice up the Woodward-Bernstein book. And -- because, you know, nobody has come forth to claim I was Deep Throat. And if they did, that's a multi-million dollar book advance.

WHITFIELD: Gerald, are you in agreement with that, or do you have some ideas?

G. STROBER: No, I think I would agree with Deborah. It's very likely either a composite or, you know, when the manuscript arrived at Simon & Schuster, there was a feeling that it needed to have, as Deborah said, some spice, it had to have some intrigue. And if Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein did invent Deep Throat, it was one of the greatest literary inventions of the 20th century.

And I agree with Deborah; after 30 years, you would think someone, whether out of pride, ego or other reasons, monetary, perhaps, as she suggests, would have come forward and told us the story.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, we'll all continue to theorize until we get to the bottom of that story, then, won't we? All right, thanks very much, Gerald and Deborah Strober, for joining us from New York.

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