E.G. Marshall credited as playing...
John Mitchell
- Richard M. Nixon: I hate these cocktail parties. John, I'm in hell. I'll be mentally dead in two years and physically dead in four.
- John Mitchell: Make some money, Dick. Prove yourself to the Wall Street crowd. Let Goldwater and Rockefeller take the fall against Kennedy.
- Richard M. Nixon: I don't know why. I miss making love to the people. I miss entering a room. I miss the pure acting of it, John. I gotta get back in the arena.
- Richard M. Nixon: [on Martha Mitchell] How can you put up with her, John?
- John Mitchell: Well, I love her. That, and she is great in bed.
- John Mitchell: [on Pat Nixon] You need her, Dick. In '60, she was worth five, six million votes.
- Richard M. Nixon: Yeah. Don't worry. I'll use the old Nixon charm.
- H. R. Haldeman: [to Ron Ziegler, after Nixon walks out] Who could resist that?
- John Ehrlichman: Excuse me, sir. Are you saying you're gonna recognize Red China? That would cost us our strongest support.
- Richard M. Nixon: No, I can do this because I spent my whole career building anti-Communist credentials.
- H. R. Haldeman: If Kennedy or Johnson tried it, they'd have crucified them, and rightfully so.
- John Mitchell: Damned risky, Mr. President. Why don't we wait until the second term?
- H. R. Haldeman: This will get us a second term.
- Richard M. Nixon: This will get me a second term. Damn it, without risk, there's no heroism, there's no history. Nixon was born to do this. Give history a nudge. Come on.
- H. R. Haldeman: Hear, hear.
- Richard M. Nixon: If Cambodia doesn't work, we'll bomb Hanoi if we have to. That's right. And if necessary, I'll drop the big one.
- [everybody in the dinner table stays silent]
- Henry Kissinger: We have to entertain the possibility.
- Richard M. Nixon: Goddamn it! Who cooked this damn steak? Manolo, there's blood all over my plate. Take it away.
- Manolo Sanchez: I'm sorry, sir.