"We Created a Frankenstein" by jsharkey5

BUSH Right. Cold War. Reagan didn't say, "Well, Mr. Gorbachev, would you please take down the top three bricks off the Berlin Wall?" He said, "Tear it down. Tear it all down." And so they did. WOLFE (CONT'D) Alright, Six says torch this place! Blow the weapons in place. Round up all suspected Vee Cees and shake it up! We ain't got much light left. INT. FIELDING PSYCHIATRIST OFFICE - NIGHT (1971) SUBTITLE READS: "ELLSBERG'S PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE - 1971" NIXON What the hell are you doing, Ehrlichman? Screwing with the CIA? I don't care how much he wants -- pay him. GEORGE JR. Judy. That's over, it was just a fling. How'd you know? Dominick presses buttons on his cell phone. WILL Yo, Dom. Let me use your phone. INT/EXT. CHOPPER - JUNGLE - DAY Chris and King hustling Big Harold's 250 pounds into the chopper. Climbing in with him. Wolfe, Barnes, Ace running in with them. The perimeter is bare. Chris' eyes flitting over Barnes as he jumps in. The chopper lifting off as another explosion rocks the area. The Door Gunner sees something, opens up. Big Harold, cursing, looks chalky but hog happy as he manages a glance down at the jungle. His right leg is gone. Tears are rolling out of his eyes. BUSH At least we've got Italy, Australia, the Czechs, Poles, Slovenia...Who else? JUNIOR Yeah, you had a piece of pussy on a plate in front of you, you'd probably kill it.

EHRLICHMAN Chappaquiddick. You wanted some dirt on Kennedy. Colson brought him in. RING (coming up to Barnes) Sarge - Doc wants you. There's a problem with the new man. Elias and Barnes go with King. Past Chris and Tex who are ambulatory and bandaged, being helped along. As Barnes passes, the men look at him, everybody quickly senses something is wrong. CHOTINER Excuse me, sweetheart. As he sits next to Haldeman, Nixon drones on. MAO The real war is in us. (then) History is a symptom of our disease. HALDEMAN You do it. NIXON (stumbling) No, no. I'm not powerless. Because...because I understand the system. I believe I can control it. Maybe not control it totally. But...tame it enough to make it do some good. NIXON I'd like to finish my dinner in peace. It's not too much to ask. Pat stands slowly. CHIEF SPEECHWRITER Slight change of plans. (goes back to the computer) We've got a lot of work to do before Sportscenter. EXT. STREET - DAY What?

NIXON CHRIS

(VOICE OVER, as he digs) Somebody once wrote Hell is the impossibility of Reason. That's what this place feels like. I hate it already and it's only been a week. Some goddamn week, grandma ... (checking his raw blisters) ... the hardest thing I think I've ever done is to go on point, 3 times this week - I don't even know what I'm doing. A gook could be standing 3 feet in front of me and I wouldn't know it, I'm so tired. We get up at 5 a.m., hump all day, camp around 4 or 5 p.m., dig foxhole, eat, then put out an all-night ambush or a 3-man listening post in the jungle. It's scary cause nobody tells me how to do anything cause I'm new and nobody cares about the new guys, they don't even want to know your name. The unwritten rule is a new guy's life isn't worth as much cause he hasn't put his time in yet - and they say if you're gonna get killed in the Nam it's better to get it in the first few weeks, the logic being: you don't suffer that much. I can believe that ... If you're lucky you get to stay in the perimeter at night and then you pull a 3-hour guard shift, so maybe you sleep 3-4 hours a night, but you don't really sleep ... I don't think I can keep this up for a year, grandma - I think I've made a big mistake coming here ... As he speaks, we cut around to various shots of the platoon members on the perimeter - shaving, eating, cooking, playing, etc... JONES (to Trini, coming up) He's all business, ain't he, Trini? (to Dick) Dick, we could've had our own goddamn lawyers handle this deal. We brought you down here 'cause we wanted to talk to you ... ZIEGLER (corrects him) Bernstein.

CHRIS Then what do you suggest big shot? O'NEILL Awright, come here both of you. You too Taylor. NEWSCASTER ABC is now projecting that Brown will defeat Richard Nixon by more than a quarter of a million votes. Nixon holds up his drink to the screen. Moves to a piano. BUSH I know, but I'm parched. Just give me a couple minutes here. LERNER (to Chris) I was home on leave y'know and everybody's just worried 'bout making money, everybody's out for themselves, they don't even want to talk about it man, it's like the fucking Twilight Zone back there you wouldn't even KNOW there's a war on here. My sister says to me why you have to go there like I started this... EXT. PERIMETER #2 - JUNGLE - LATE AFTERNOON DUSK The Company is digging into another overnight perimeter on a ridge with a view of the Valley where the Village was. C-Ration fires all around the perimeter. EXT. JUNGLE - WOLFE'S POSITION - DAY (RAIN) Lt.Wolfe seems disorientated, struggling with the rain water washing off his map, trying to read the coordinates for an arty fire mission. HANNAH I don't think he has a choice. He was always a leader. BARNES (CONT'D) Move, it, MOVE IT! He's in his blackest rage, the force of his words almost physically pushing the men to move out with Crawford. Barnes turns now to deal with Elias.

DAVE We're not going to leave you buddy. CHRIS (drowsy) I didn't fall asleep, Sergeant, Junior ... NIXON (CONT'D) (softly) Who's helping us? Is it God? Or is it...Death? LAURA People have no idea how hard it is on us. NIXON You can't have peace without a price. Sometimes you have to be willing to fight for peace. And sometimes to die. SCOTT STRAUSS Shut up and let me do my work. DEAN (CONT'D) How the hell do you have the temerity to blackmail the President of the United States? NIXON "National security priority restricted and controlled secret." Bush glares at him. BUSH Only half? LAURA "Cats"--The Broadway company is going to be here. Want to go? CRAWFORD Kills the smell of shit anyway. The joint proferred. Chris waits a beat, shrugs, takes it, smokes. CUBA MONTAGE Images begin to project from that long-ago time. A YOUNGER NIXON. Macho Cuban "Freedom Fighters" in the Keys and

Guatemala. The CIA, the MOB -- including JOHNNY ROSELLI. FAT CATS and CASINO BOSSES shaking hands with young Nixon on his visit in the 40's. A Rum and Coca-Cola SONG plays. NIXON (ON TV) (CONT'D) ... There can be no whitewash at the White House ... two wrongs do not make a right. I love America. God bless America and God bless each and every one of you. HAIG I don't have a pistol. HALDEMAN He'll need a pretext. He'll never figure one out for himself. EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. BRIDGE - NIGHT DOC Holy Jesus! EXT. DEL MAR RACETRACK - CLUBHOUSE - DAY A private box just above the finish line. HOOVER raises his binoculars, watching the race. He is wearing a white tropical suit, Panama hat, white shoes. CLYDE is dressed similarly. JOHNNY ROSELLI, white hair, deep tan, sharp dresser, sits with him in the box, spots someone ... MANOLO Yes, Mr. President. INSPECTOR FIELDS What's the protocol here? The plan? MITCHELL One of the fathers was on the TV saying, "My child was not a bum." And it's playing like gangbusters. Hell, Hoover told me one of the girls was a nymph. BUSH Well, uh, gosh...I, for one, will not stand for the subsidation of failure. How do you know if you don't measure up if you have a system that simply suckles them through?

EXT. PLATOON PERIMETER #1 - CHRIS' FOXHOLE - DUSK MITCHELL The Jewboy's a Harvard whore with the morals of an eel -- sells himself to the highest bidder. DOMINICK (CONT'D) (softer, apologizing) I can't get a fucking line. Nothing's going through. TV images of BOBBY KENNEDY. PAT Dick, you should call Bobby. NIXON (chuckles) Yeah, good old Spiro. Well, better him than me. What the hell is he but an insurance policy? EXT. OFFSHORE OIL RIG- LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA- 1967 A small off-shore oil rig/drilling platform. Bush, 21, face and clothes caked in mud and oil, climbs down the drilling derrick tower to the deck. Migrant MEXICANS toiling in the sweltering heat. KISSINGER To protect you, Mr. President. RUMSFELD We're still grinding on the numbers, Mr. President. NIXON Never made so much money in my life. But my upbringing doesn't allow me to enjoy it. I did get to argue a case before the Supreme Court. BUSH (pleased, his great moment to decide) Great! Well, I think it's time we stopped standing around with our dicks in our hands, and raised the stakes on ol' 'Husseny.' HAIG Clear the path! The President is coming through. Clear a path. I'm in

charge here. PAT gets the DOCTOR's attention on the move. NIXON This is June twentieth? EXT. JUNGLE - FORWARD POINT - DAY (RAIN) Later. A pool of muddy water has formed, in which a pair of buttocks sit. Move up to Chris still on duty, looking at his watch, drawn, drenched, pathetic, rainwater coursing down his face. NIXON You remember, John, in '48 -- no one believed Alger Hiss was a communist. Except me. They loved Hiss just like they loved this Ellsberg character. East Coast, Ivy League. He was their kind. I was dirt to them. Nothing. As they talk, a MONTAGE arises of ALGER HISS and the days of old -- the photographs of the notorious 1948 Hiss case: HISS, CHAMBERS, the YOUNGER NIXON with the microfilm; a headline reading "HISS FOUND GUILTY"; TRUMAN, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, a beaming EISENHOWER shaking Nixon's hand. NIXON It could be '60 all over again, Edgar. Bobby's got the magic, like a goddamn rock star. They climb all over each other just to touch his clothes! He'll ride his brother's corpse right into the White House. INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - VESTIBULE - NIGHT HAIG enters, starts up the stairs. The mansion is dark, silent. Like a tomb. BARNES (CONT'D) (directly to Sal) Goddamit! Are you fucking kids ever gonna learn! Don't you understand how easy it is to die! The Doc running up - one look tells us all we need to know. NIXON What exactly did you want to discuss, Pat? CHRIS

(loud whisper) WHO IS IT! Chris, firing out another magazine, crawls closer to Lerner, trying to ascertain if he's still alive. INT. NIXON'S FIFTH AVENUE APARTMENT - STUDY - DAY (1963) HOOVER Don't listen to 'em, don't quit. Remember - Kennedy, Bobby, and King were against the war. Where are they now? Don't give 'em a goddamn inch on the war. President Johnson bombed Laos for years and nobody knew or said a thing. How the hell the Times ever got ahold of this Ellsberg stuff is a disgrace! KING (smokes) Sheeit, beats burning hutches anyway... They meditatively look out at the Village - burning hutches sending up spirals of smoke. Shouts. Shots. Chaos. Donna and Pat dash up the escalator and burst through the glass doors at the police desk. Sergeant King is still there. EXT. LA COSTA COUNTRY CLUB - ESTABLISHING - DAY EXT. LA COSTA COUNTRY CLUB - PRIVATE PATIO - DAY BUSH SR. Right now, wish I had a spot like this. Not the White House lawn. LERNER Mumm, any time sweetheart. He hands the cartoon back. Antonio is annoyed. He throws the cartoon in his locker. One by one, as they slam their doors, we see their nameplates. Rodrigues. Slam. Pezzulo. Slam.

Jimeno. Slam. TEX (muttering at Chris) ...godamn! Godamn! DUMB FUCKER, DUMB FUCKER! Chris watching, suddenly feels himself dizzy, instinctively runs his hands over the back of his neck. Feels the warm blood there. A moan comes from his lips. Junior looks at him. PAT You. What' you're doing -BARNES (CONT'D) Fuck you in hell ... Chris shoots him. Once. Twice. Three times. Silence ... Barnes is finally dead. Chris looking at the corpse, numbed, no exultation in his expression. Just cold satisfaction and little feeling left. Behind him, the SOUND of a big machine moving. He turns. A huge Nazi flag on an antenna looms up in the bush, followed by the great belly of a turreted dragon crunching down a tree for its breakfast. A big tough GERMAN SHEPARD comes boudning at him sniffs, followed by a flak-jacketed MONSTER MAN - filthy and greasy, unshaven face, earring in his left ear, 'DEATH CORPS' scrawled on his shirtless flak jacket and a drawing of a death's head, he looks like a cross between a pirate and a hell's angel. Behind him, a SECOND MONSTER MAN and the ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER grinding its engine, a human skull hanging from its turret. NIXON (ominous) We'll see about that ... (pause) We bite the bullet here. In Cambodia. We blow the hell out of these people! A PROLOGUE APPEARS on a black screen: "This film is an attempt to understand the truth of Richard Nixon, thirty-seventh president of the United States. It is

based on numerous public sources and on an incomplete historical record. In consideration of length, events and characters have been condensed, and some scenes among protagonists have been conjectured." On a portable screen we read the famous words from Matthew: "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" This FADES into: A BLACK AND WHITE 16-mm sales training FILM. At the moment, the sales manager, BOB, is chatting with EARL, a rookie salesman. NIXON Jews and Negros don't win elections, Henry. Better to hang them around the Democrats' necks. HARRIS Not now. We'll get into this when we get back to base camp. Right now I need every man in the field, I want your guys to stick together ... Elias? Barnes? ... You hear me? This is no time for fighting with each other. I know.

JOHN NIXON Who? Not another goddamn Cuban? NIXON That depends who writes the history books. I'm not a quitter ... but I'm not stupid either ... A trial would kill me -- that's what they want. FRANKS Not going to happen. HALDEMAN Vietnam's gonna put you in there this time, chief. REPORTERS (V.O.) (CONT'D) Presidential aides Haldeman and Ehrlichman were ordered to resign today ... In a stunning announcement, White House aid Alexander Butterfield revealed the

existence of a secret taping system... CLOSE: on the manila envelope in Haig's hand. LAURA (blushes) I can't vote for you, anyway. I live in Austin. Not that I wouldn't consider it. HALDEMAN (worried, points to a door) Dick, you don't have to make a statement. Herb covered it for you. BUSH (flummoxed) Hmmm. I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it. There's polite laughter from the press corp. Bush scowls, shakes his head, pissed that he's been put on the spot. Ahhhhh.

BUSH CLOSER ON BUSH-- stumped, growing more nervous as the seconds tick by. MITCHELL She doesn't know what she's talking about. Stop bothering her. She's not well. Hell, she's nuts -- you bastards've seen to that. (brushing past another) question) WOLFE MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT. INT. DINING ROOM OFF OVAL OFFICE- WHITE HOUSE- DAY - 2004 A grim President George Bush looks at his lunch, low-fat hot dogs, but has no appetite. He listens to David Kay, CHIEF U.S. WEAPONS INSPECTOR. Cheney, Rice, Card, also at table. KAY Frankly, we missed it sir--because Saddam pretended he had the weapons.

EHRLICHMAN Looks like he talked to Joe Kraft ... and to the Times. Told them he was dead set against the bombing, that you were ... "unstable." Claims he has to handle you "with kid gloves" ... Waiting on Nixon, who goes into some inner state alone, dark brows furrowing with built-up rage. LAURA You forgot John Quincy Adams. BUSH I'm going to de-regulate school districts so that teachers and administrators can develop programs that best fit their kids. HALDEMAN I believe you're right, boss. BUNNY (pissed, cuts in, shoves him hard) Shut your face chicken shit! You in big trouble boy! ALLISON I have to get home and the fucking light is taking fucking forever. O'NEILL Fuck you Elias. NIXON I don't have time for all this shit! DONNA Are you sure he's alive This isn't another mistake? O'NEILL (eager to elaborate) Yeah, they had claymores strung up in the trees, blew a whole fucking platoon to pieces. BAAD SHIT. Barnes inflects his next words at Wolfe, who is worried. HUNT I won't tell him if you won't.

The HANDLERS throw TWO NEW FIGHTING COCKS into the ring. They start to rip at each other. INTERCUT WITH: DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE of chaos in the pantry. The camera is jostled. Women screaming. A man is being wrestled to the floor. ROBERT KENNEDY lies there, mortally wounded. At the Company CP, Captain Harris is talking urgently into the radio. O'NEILL Fuck the silver star. You got any booze? BUSH That's below the belt, even for you, Mr. Hance. TERRIFIED SOLDIER You guys get outta here! They're right on my ass and they ain't stoppin' for shit! He tears off, leaving Francis in a state of incipient panic. He looks at Chris. FRANCIS Oh shit! Dat's it, dat's it ... HAROLD I'd rather get a whipping than have another talk with her. Anything but a talk with her. Richard is terrified Mom might overhear. CHRIS (V.O.) I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves - and the enemy was in us ... The war is over for me now, but it will always be there - the rest of my days. As I am sure Elias will be - fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called possession of my soul ... There are times since I have felt like the child born of those two fathers ... but be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again,

to teach to others what we know and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and meaning to this life... LAURA It's hard. He knows that this is the end. NIXON Jesus! Did Mitchell know? ROVE (chuckles) You've got it. ELIAS (CONT'D) Oh shit! Sometimes there's things in my head ... man. Grass does that to me, fucks me all up like a crazy Indian ... Chris, further back, dumps Lerner with Doc who's got more than he can handle. INT. RESTAURANT- W'S 40TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION- JULY, 1986 Glasses raised in toast. W and Laura, joined by Midland friends, Joe and Jn O'Neil, who introduced them, and Don and Susie Evans. FRANCIS (joining in the frenzy) YAAAAAHHHH!!!! KILLLLL!!! The Platoon moving downslope in the Jungle, their faces grim, quiet, deadly. King is on point. SANDY Yeah, she lives in Dallas ... HALDEMAN Alright. But why, if Kennedy is so clean in all this, didn't he cancel Track 2? NIXON (CONT'D) I begin with the proposition that freedom of choice in housing, education and jobs is the right of every American. On the other hand, I am convinced that while legal segregation is totally wrong, forced integration of housing or education

is just as wrong! We simply have to face the hard fact that the law cannot go beyond what people are willing to support. This was true as far as Prohibition was concerned. It is far more true with regard to education and housing ... Yet those of us in public service know -- we can have full prosperity in peace time ... Yes, we can cut the defense budget. We can reduce conventional forces in Europe. We can restore the national environment. We can improve health care and make it available more fairly to all people. And yes, we can have a complete reform of this government. We can have a new American Revolution. INT. DKE FRAT HOUSE- BASEMENT- NIGHT- 1966 YOUNG GEORGE W BUSH pours the cheap vodka into a large garbage can while fellow PLEDGE, CLAY JOHNSON, mixes in orange juice. W leans over, takes a snoot-full. Then belts out a chorus of the Yale Whiffenpoof song. HALDEMAN He'll give us the documents. BUSH Carpetbagger! This is my home. Been here in Midland since I was two years old. PAT Why don't we go down to Key Biscayne together? Just the two of us. RICE I'm afraid Chirac's let us down. He's definitely doing the 60 Minutes piece, calling for weapon inspectors to be given another 30 days. BARNES (a look) Take off, but keep your radio here. Elias goes, stops, looks at Barnes ... BUSH But I feel that God wants me to do this, and I must do it. I must.

On the wall hangs a portrait of Texas pioneer, Sam Houston, dressed in a toga as a Roman Emperor. Karl Rove ushers in Televangelist JAMES ROBISON. Bush rises to greet him. ROBISON Nice of you to invite me down, Governor. ATWATER Your father is now the President of the United States. How does that feel? Will drives south on the Garden State Parkway in his 1991 Oldsmobile Bravada. He wrestles with the window, which refuses to go down. He does not notice the Manhattan skyline out his passanger side. He sings along to the radio, which plays "How Do You Like Me Now" by Toby Keith. NIXON You know: how the voters are gonna play your divorce. Rockefeller, who still clutches the visibly uncomfortable Nixon, gives him a squeeze before finally releasing him. HALDEMAN Yes, sir, but ... do you think Gray'll go for it? LERNER (overwhelmed) She's going on, I don't know - why are we shooting the pigs, they're farmers ... they got to make a living, all that crap ... The Woman is still ranting when Barnes turns to her, quite casually levels his M-16, and puts a bullet in her head. She goes down as if pole-axed. A stunned pause. The Chief looking at his wife. The Villagers in background reacting. Wolfe looking ... Chris looking, shocked. Doc, possibly the straightest of them all, very uncomfortable. They are all shocked insome way, but do nothing against the power of Banres. Barnes walks over to the pig pen with the other Villagers, very casually, confronts them. RHAH Barnes took a bullet right there. At Ia Drang Valley...

PAT Not that. (then) Us. Nixon stops playing, looks at her. BARNES Get out of there you fuckheads move! Move! Fires a warning shot. Three VILLAGERS climbing out of the spider hole, arms raised, but not showing any emotion. Barnes turning to his radioman Hoyt and Big Harold accompanying. FRANCIS Get outta here, she married ... RHAH (stringing them out) Okay Crawford - over here. Taylor down twenty yards behind that tree. NIXON (CONT'D) (continues to play) Don't you want to listen to Brown's victory speech? REPORTER 2 (V.O.) ... Nixon became one of the leading lights of the notorious House Un American Activities Committee, questioning labor leaders, Spanish Civil War veterans, Hollywood celebrities ... INT. PORT AUTHORITY BUS TERMINAL - RESERVE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Will and Dominick keep walking until they enter the Reserve room. The Reserve room is a lounge tricked out with orange chairs and a television. There is also a large conference table along one wall. As Will and Dom enter the room, they join Antonio, who is already there. The television broadcasts NBC 4. We hear Katie Couric and Matt Lauer discussing the gaping wound in Tower One of the World Trade Center. However, we cannot fully see the image they are broadcasting because there are too many OFFICERS already crowded around the tv, blocking our view. DOCTOR

No. He's sure he has tuberculosis. FRANCIS (points) Back there. The Soldier struggling out of the foxhole. KISSINGER (prepared response) They will understand, sir. To be undone by a third-rate burglary is a fate of biblical proportions. History will treat you far more kindly than your contemporaries. No!

CHRIS A POP! - then a fizzle of BLUE LIGHT as the Figure hits their trip flare - revealing itself to be large, with no helmet, and gasping, terrified of the trip flare. Barnes looks around. They all look around. Elias walks right up to him, followed by his men - King, Rhah, Crawford, others from the rear party. He looks around. The corpse of the Wife ... the Young Daughter sobbing. SIR!!

RTO 3 FADE IN TO: WILL I love you, too. Huh?

BUSH SR. People taking care of each other. Chuck looks to his left. There, the FIVE COPS who we briefly met earlier at the diner in Wisconsin stand in front of a motor home. They've tacked up a crudely-drawn banner which reads: Wisconsin Cops love NY. BUSH The truth is, I really don't want to run. My father was President. My whole family has been affected by it. I know the price, what it will mean. I'd be perfectly happy just buying my fishing lures at Wal-Mart

and going about my business. And if I run for President, that kind of life will be over. My life will never be the same. BUSH SR. Good work, son. You're earning your spurs. PAT You're ruining us. If we stay with you, you'll take us down with you. CHUCK SEREIKA (to Scott) Let's go. A few gas pumps in front, overlooking a dry, western, Edward Hopper landscape. A run-down residence at the back. A large man in bloody butcher's apron, FRANK NIXON (46), crosses. PAT (CONT'D) And it's enough that we know. Just think of the girls. They're still young. We never see them. I lost my parents. I don't want them to lose theirs; I don't want them to grow up without a mother and father... NIXON (frustrated) What about the CIA? Helms's done nothing for us. I want to see him. SCOTT STRAUSS I'm Scotty Strauss. I did that joint ESU training with you. PAT, 51, John's brother, gets out of the car. Donna yells at him from the front stoop. DONNA Are you here to tell me something? INT. EXEC OFFICE BLDG - NIXON OFFICE - DAY (1972) SUBTITLE READS: "JUNE 1972." Nixon's hideaway office in the Executive Office Building. BOB HALDEMAN, his crew-cut, hard-edged chief of staff, sits across the desk, a folder open on his lap. Nixon, at his desk, seems a healthier man than in the previous scene. Also there are JOHN EHRLICHMAN, portly domestic advisor, and JOHN DEAN, blond, gentrified, legal counsel.

Sgt. O'Neill watches the loading process forlornly from the distance. Captain Harris intersects him. WILL Juice me up with stuff and cut it off. You gotta help him. O'NEILL (CONT'D) Yeah that's what I figger. Some dudes you jes' look in their faces and you KNOW they just ain't gonna make it. Barnes looks - with some irony - at O'Neill. The Country Western tune has reached a crescendo whine which now mixes into: MAO How a fat man gets so many girls. Mao howls at his own joke. BUSH (slams fist on table) Then who? I can't believe I'm surrounded by a bunch of fingerpointing ninnies. WHO'S IN CHARGE? Night is coming down. The tone of the jungle sounds has subtly shifted - mellower, more sinuous and certainly scarier. The file stops. King, an experienced point man, listens. Chris - carrying Tex's linked ammo - looks around, tense. Behind him is Gardner, trying to smile, starts to whisper something ('Hey Taylor ...') when he's abruptly shushed. The file moves on. Gardner's pack rattling a little too loud. A weird rush of cold wind now rattles the trees and the MONSOON comes. A hard slanting rain, sudden, tropic. BUSH JR. 'Course you did, Poppy. BUSH We must teach our children to read. NIXON No! Magruder! That sonofabitch tests my Quaker patience to the breaking point. LIEUTENANT WOLFE

(amiable) How you doing Rodriguez? LIDDY (translates into English) "A warrior with nerves of steel is yet broken by a thread of silk." Nietzsche. NIXON Forget it. Ehrenberg's paid three times that much ... BUSH Donde esta cerveza? They laugh. MIGRANT WORKER Solomente agua. (points to a cooler) BUSH Gracias. Muy caliente. Muy. MIGRANT WORKER Ha. Es frio comparare prondocimo mes. (It's freezing compared to next month.) NIXON (laughs awkwardly) Let's wait and see how you survive your first crisis, Rocky ... Nixon pauses, looks up. He feels something ominous in the air. O'NEILL Fuck yeah. They all left me, bunch of fuckin' faggots. BUSH Since the start of the war, though....I barely have time to run my three miles anymore. Knees hurt; Im' off my pace. Been hard on me Laura; on top of everything else. BUSH Yeah, sir. I think that's great. LERNER Tennessee someplace. Hill country.

BUNNY (stripping the corpse) That's no NVA man. That's a chink look at 'em, the cocksucker's six and a half feet tall. Look at his gear - good as ours. KING Shit, too bad we in base camp anyway. FLASHBACK TO: REPORTER 1 (V.O.) ... Johnson's withdrawal resurrects Richard Nixon as a strong Republican candidate against the war. His mother, Hannah Nixon, just before her death last year, commented on her son's chances. CHOTINER (CONT'D) Closest election in history, Dick, and they stole it. Sonofabitch! STUDENT 2 Come on, man -- Vietnam ain't Germany. It doesn't threaten us. It's a civil war between the Vietnamese. HALDEMAN (to himself) Sir ... six bodies. His wife puts her hand on his knee in support. He squeezes her hand. NIXON Kissinger's misunderstood. He pretends to be a liberal for his Establishment friends, but he's even tougher than I am ... The lights are blazing late with war talk. Nixon laughs maniacally. JOHN DEAN crosses in as Kissinger exits. Dean closes the door behind him. JOHN You tell them. HALDEMAN When I met with him, he said ...

NIXON on a gurney, being wheeled down a hospital corridor. PAT, wearing dark sunglasses, is with him, very concerned. A plastic mask is over his face. He struggles to get up, but a NURSE gently presses him back down. SECRET SERVICE AGENTS surround the gurney. HAIG clears the corridors nervously. ELIAS Yeah - and has blonde hair and almond-shaped eyes. RTO #5 Captain, Third Battalion Armoured's on its way with tracks 'bout 2 kliks west! WILL (CONT'D) Chriiiiiiiiiiiis! NIXON Gentlemen, I go now to discover the exact length, width and depth of the shaft. INT. UNDERWORLD HUTCH - NIGHT BUSH SR. Fellas, I appreciate your time and support. And I obviously do need it, but I'd be more comfortable having you working directly with my son. I'm trying to learn the lingo, but I'm still an old-school Episcopalian. George here is the real "born again." NIXON I was never the buddy-buddy type, Al. You know, "Oh I couldn't sleep last night, I was thinking of my mother who beat me" -- all that kind of crap, you know the psychoanalysis bag ... My mother ... The more I'd spill my guts, the more they'd hate me. I'd be what ... pathetic! If I'd bugged out of Vietnam when they wanted, do you think Watergate would've ever happened? You think the Establishment would've given a shit about a third-rate burglary? But did I? Quit? Did I pull out? He stares, waits.

LAURA At least we won here in Midland. The people who know you best voted for you. ROSELLI (gestures to the crowd) The crowd loves that shit. Hey! There's Randolph Scott. You might like that guy, friend of mine. Wanna meet him? Edgar? SHOUTING and CHEERS behind them. They turn. NIXON is making his way down the aisle, waving to the crowd. He is followed by HALDEMAN. Hoover passes Roselli a ticket. WILL So I get to choose the name this time. Alyssa. ERLICHMAN (smirks) Do you fill a black bag full of unmarked bills? TEX Shit, looks like rain. All night too. Gonna grow mushrooms in your bad-ass crotch Junior. ROVE (nods) What about welfare? Karen rolls down Allison's window.

Yes.

NIXON (tense) NIXON Housecleaning? It would be ugly, Henry, really ugly ... RICK (clears throat) Has he...well, ever personally offered you advice on Iraq? KISSINGER We have to entertain the possibility...

RHAH (snorts) Wrong? You ain't EVER been right 'bout nothing. And dig this you assholes and dig it good! Barnes been shot 7 times and he ain't dead, that tell you something? Barnes ain't meant to die. Only thing can get Barnes ... is Barnes! Barnes stands there, silhouetted in the trap door, looking down at the men who are stunned to see him here. He steps down into the hutch, his face now lit by candle light. A bottle of whiskey in his hand, drunk, ugly, sweating, but as always, with dignity, possessive of his silence. He feels their fear in the silence, enjoys it. INT. HOTEL ROOM- NIGHT- NOVEMBER 1988 Laura in bed. Stirs. Looks at the alarm clock. Sees Bush staring out the window. LAURA George, it's 3 o'clock. Come on to bed; we've got to fly back to Washington with your family in a few hours. TOLSON It's between Nixon and a Kennedy again, Edgar ... Who do you want? HELMS And so shall I. BUSH Sir, this butt of mine's just quit. NIXON (laughs) The little bastards think they can ruin Tricia's wedding day by dancing naked in the Reflecting Pond. SGT. KING I don't know. They're working on it. INT. FIELDING PSYCHIATRIST OFFICE - NIGHT (1971) PAT I wish I knew. You're hiding. KISSINGER

But your writings have changed the world, Mr. Chairman. REPORTER 2 (V.O.) For Nixon, politics was war. He didn't have opponents, he had enemies. He didn't run against people, he ruined them ... He won his California seat in the U.S. Senate in 1950 in a vicious campaign against liberal congresswoman and movie actress, Helen Gahagan Douglas... NEWSFILM of NIXON and CHOTINER at a rally with PAT. Images of DOUGLAS follow. CAMPAIGN WORKERS handing out smear literature. HALDEMAN And his staff. Come on, the copy they were filing from China was great. NIXON (then) It's the lie that gets you. EXT. PERIMETER #3 - PLATOON CP - NIGHT What?

CHRIS PAT Sometimes I think that's what you want. CUT TO: EXT. PERIMETER #3 - BARNES' FOXHOLE - NIGHT NIXON (ON TV) I would never question Senator Kennedy's patriotism. But going around the country promising peace at any price is exactly what the North Vietnamese want to hear. Cheers.

Applause.

EXT. PERIMETER #3 - COMPANY CP - NIGHT JOHN The best...

NIXON Howard Hunt? ... Jesus Christ, you open up that scab ... and you uncover a lot of pus. BARNES You gonna sit there and play with yourself Taylor or you gonna be part of my war ... Awright, saddle up, let's go - Tubbs you got point. The men moving into jungle formation, silently. Chris walking over into line, stops for a moment - noticing a freshly-severed eyeball partially buried in dirt, staring up at him. He turns away, sickened. BUSH JR. Be damned if I know. I've never seen him like this before. Next to the Church deployed in the jungle, Rhah looks on, silent. Chris in his position, waits. It is so silent in comparison to the racket from the battle across the forest. The Mist clings to the trees, moist and lovely. Then, a flicker of movement, sound. Chris hears it, tightens. His POV - at fifty yards. An evanescence of beige and green uniforms moving towards him very fast, scurrying. They look like headless ghosts. Chris opens fire. Why?

NIXON NIXON I'm not scared, Buddy. INT. HILTON HOTEL - BALLROOM - NIGHT (1962) We move down past a blizzard of balloons and confetti blown by a hotel air-conditioner to a huge "NIXON FOR GOVERNOR" banner. NIXON thrusts his arms in the air -- the twin-V salute. The CROWD cheer wildly. SUBTITLE READS: "CALIFORNIA GOVERNORSHIP, 1962." FRANK comes down the narrow stairs, shocked, fighting tears. HANNAH sits reading her Bible. The BOYS linger nervously around their made-up cots in the parlor.

You okay?

DOC PAT And what would I find out that I haven't known for years. CUT TO: SANDY I like that name, Dick. EXT. NVA BUNKER - COMPLEX - SANDERSON POSITION - DAY NEWSCASTER 1 (V.O.) This is a stunning revelation. If such tapes exist, they could tell us once and for all: What did the President know and when did he know it... Dave pulls out his cell phone. He dials 911 and presses send. Doo, doo, doo. All circuits are busy. The men look at each other. BUSH Whose job is it to find the damn nuclear weapons? Doesn't anybody around here know what the hell's going on? BUSH Yeah, well, I got in some licks before he pulled out the dirty tricks at the end. Right? She doesn't answer. BUSH (CONT'D) What, you don't agree? NIXON (then) But then when you get to the top, you find you can't stop playing the game the way you've always played it because it's a part of you like an arm or a leg. So you're lean and mean and you continue to walk the edge of the precipice, because over the years you've become fascinated by how close you can get without falling ... I wonder, John, I wonder

... Mitchell puts his hand on Dick's shoulder. JULIE (calmer) You've got to stay and fight. I'll go out there and make speeches, Dad. No one knows the real you. How sweet you are, how nice you are to people. I'll tell them. She embraces him almost desperately, kissing him on the forehead, crying. NIXON ... an open invitation for Mr. Khrushchev to become involved in Latin America. We would lose all our friends in Latin America. PAT (incredulous) Thank you? (then) Dick, sometimes I understand why they hate you. Nixon watches her walk out the door. Then, he picks up his fork and continues eating. BIG HAROLD Short round! It's short, man! They fuckin' got Fu Sheng! BARNES! OVER HERE! NIXON Resent it all you want, Henry, but you're in it with the rest of us. Cambodia, Ellsberg, the wiretaps you put in. The President wants you to know you can't just click your heels and head back to Harvard Yard. It's your ass too, Henry, and it's in the wind twisting with everyone else's. A stony silence. The men, all clenched jaws, wait. Kissinger, icily, clicks his heels and withdraws. KING Hey Taylor, what's in the breeze? In King's mild tone Chris tries to read his standing in the platoon.

GEORGE JR. Well, you beat both of 'em when you won the Ivy League Championship, right? And went on to the first College World Series. HALDEMAN No, sir. A guy named Hunt. FU SHENG Don't drink that asshole. You're gonna get malaria. NVA SOLDIER Diiiiikaaeeeeeee! And jumps right into the hole blasting Bunny point-blank in the chest. Bunny struggling to consciousness at the bottom of the hole. THUCK! A boot in the gaping hole where his chest was. Bunny, his eyes uncomprehending. A muzzle is jammed into his mouth, breaking his teeth with an ugly sound. Another yell from the NVA trooper. A flash of orange red light. Bunny's face blown to bits. Junior, dizzy from the blow to his head, looks up. A yellow flare somewhere out there and a SHADOW above him digging a bayonet into his belly with a grunt. A long oozing sigh of belly gas. An explosion. The Shadow with the bayonet staggering blind without eyes, holding his brains with his hands. Barnes throws open the empty LAAW rocket casing he has just fired off and charges forward with a yell, cutting down another NVA in Bunny's old foxhole. Jumping into the hole, the bottom of which is a liquid pit of guts, blood, ooze. Another Enemy running in on him. A short burst of fire. Barnes hit. Firing into each other. Barnes draggin him down into the pit with him, grappling alongside the corpse of Bunny. Barnes uses an entrenching tool to finish him off. SANDY Oh, I like satin, I like pink ... DAVE I spent so many years in the Marines. God gave me a gift. To be able to help people. To defend our country. I feel Him calling on me. FRANCIS

Come on man! SCOTT STRAUSS (CONT'D) Good. Get out of here. Go up to the top. MITCHELL (to the room) And Dick beat the shit out of them. NIXON This isn't a "moral" issue, Bob. We have to keep our enemies at bay or our whole program is gonna go down the tubes. The FBI is filled with people who are pissed that I put Gray in and not one of their own. Vietnam, China, the Soviet Union: when you look at the big picture, Bob, you'll see we're doing a hell of a lotta good in this world. Let's not screw it up with some shit-ass, third-rate burglary. JOHN (CONT'D) (to the threesome) Let's go. HUNT That's okay, Gordon Hunt motions him off. As Liddy drifts off: CROSSCUT TO: ALLISON I'll go pick it up. RHAH Whatcha doing in the underworld Taylor? WILL Yeah. If he hadn't switched places with me... Haig hands him a letter of resignation. INSERT: "I hereby resign the office of President of the United States." STURGIS (stops) You're fucking me.

NIXON (to Ehrlichman) Fuck it! He doesn't like me, John! (to Kissinger) It's your fault, Henry. WILL Dom's gun. It's cooking off. JONES That's enough now, let him be. He's just like you and me, folks, just another lawyer ... Let's go, let's go, break it up ... Moving Nixon out of there. INT. KAREN'S CAR - MOMENT LATER Karen drives. Allison is in the passenger seat. Jerry is in back. Allison nervously fiddles with her wedding band. They are silent. They come to a red light. Karen stops. There is no one coming through the intersection and yet they wait. And wait. And wait. Allison opens the car door and gets out. She starts walking. JERRY Where are you going? RHAH ... you got one right there. Chris feels for, finds the leech on the edge of his lip, cursing under his breath. PAT They're all your enemies? NIXON ... worrying whether someone said something "nice" about them. All short-term, frivolous bullshit; Ben Bradlee worrying about Teddy Kennedy liking him ... Kissinger tries to get the focus back. KISSINGER (pause, in an embarrassed voice) We all know you're clean ... Right?

So let's do a housecleaning. Take the gloves off. Haldeman shares a look with Ehrlichman. Is he referring to them? Nixon turns slowly on Kissinger, cryptic. KING Does a chicken have lips? Whoever said we did, babe. Make it outta here, it's all gravy, every day of the rest of your life man - gravy. Oh shit, superlifer! O'Neill comes up, jerks his thumb at King. JOHN This is good. Let's go. Tower one's this way. The cart is now even heavier. Will continues to push it. They turn to their left and began walking down a long corridor in the mall. There is a Citibank and a Banana Republic in this hallway. To be clear: this underground stretch connects towers one and two. To their backs, now, is the lobby of tower two that Will had just been looking at. They are walking away from it, headed for tower one. Will is sweating terribly. Antonio notices. BUSH It's gonna spread to all these countries, because people want freedom. With this message, we're sending strong word to reformers in Iran to turn on these deadbeat, dead-enders, these Ayatollah cockamanies. Iran stays in. Bush smirks, clinks beer bottle with Cheney's coffee mug. BARNES (quietly) ... everybody gotta die sometime Red ... Get back to your foxhole. A look in his eyes. Very remote, very cold, silencing O'Neill. Barnes walks off. Will scurries off. John turns back around and SLAM. ALL EXTERNAL NOISES FADE AWAY. We are in John's head,

experiencing the situation from his POV. We hear him breathe, short quick gasps of effort and nerves. The ash cascades in sheets now, creating blizzard-like conditions. And so John can't get a clear look at anything. It's a hazy disorienting situation. A MARINE CORPS HELICOPTER waits at the end of a red carpet. NIXON and PAT make their way towards it, followed by FAMILY. HARRIS Three Alpha, if you can't talk, just key the handset twice over. Silence, then a vague MURMURING - becoming clearer and clearer. It's in Vietnamese. The radio is then bashed in, the sound like thunder in the Captain's ear. He looks at his RTO, both of them shocked. JOAQUIN Joaquin, Mr. Hoover. Hoover selects an orange slice, puts one end between his teeth. Wiggles it. Joaquin bends over, bites off the other end. Tolson looks peeved. HALDEMAN So? You wanted Castro dead. Everybody wanted Castro dead. If Hunt and the others are CIA, why don't we just throw this back in the CIA's lap? Let Richard Helms take the fall? BUSH No, you're not going to tell me what to say. I'm going to tell you what I want. You're the wordsmith. You can smith it out. But this campaign starts and ends with me. With what I think. The plane flying through the clouds.

A royal feeling.

NIXON I don't know if you can see her, but there's a little girl sitting down here with a sign. Could you hold that up, sweetheart? JOHN (CONT'D) Can you still see the light? NIXON (CONT'D) The permissiveness of this era is

over. The belts are coming off and people are gonna be taken to the woodshed. This government cannot survive with a counter-government inside it. I know how traitors operate -- I've dealt with them all my life. This bullshit to the effect -- some stenographer did it, some stenographer -- that's never the case. It's never the little people -- little people do not leak. It's always the sonofabitch like Ellsberg who leaks! The Harvard Hebrew boys with the private agendas who wanna be heroes. HALDEMAN The only problem with that, sir -it gets us into obstruction of justice. BUSH (smirks, pleased) Just remember to make mine non-alcoholic. Fucker!

BUNNY The young man is groaning on the floor of the hutch. Bunny smashes him - again and again. EXT.PERIMETER #3 - JUNIOR'S FOXHOLE - DUSK NIXON Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we're going to play it. Don't lie to Helms and say there's no involvement, but just say this is sort of a comedy of errors, bizarre, without getting into it. Say the President believes it's going to open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing again. Tell Helms he should call the FBI, call Pat Gray, and say that we wish for the sake of the country -- don't go any further into this hanky-panky, period! BARBARA Why don't you call your son and tell him what's on your mind? Why you're not sleeping?

HELMS My job, unpleasant sometimes, is to know what others don't want me to know. NIXON (exultant) You're the strongest woman I ever met. I love you, Buddy. NIXON sits in his chair in a suit and tie, listening to "Victory at Sea" at top volume. In front of him is a picture album -- 1922 portraits of the NIXON FAMILY. HAROLD holding ARTHUR. RICHARD stares glumly at the camera between HANNAH and FRANK. GENERAL HAIG, with KISSINGER behind, approaches with some papers held out in his hand. Nixon sees them, turns down the hi-fi. REPORTERS flock outside the building as NIXON and his GROUP exit their car, trying to ignore the press. OFF-SCREEN VOICE We hear you! INT. NVA BUNKER - TUNNEL POSITION - DAY NIXON Shit, plenty of people did their best writing in prison. Gandhi, Lenin ... HANNAH We haven't said grace yet. Richard. BARNES Yeah sure it was. What about all that fucking rice and the weapons ... who they for? KLEIN We shift 25,000 votes in two states, and ... BIG HAROLD Hey look at Charlotte! The monkey is sitting quietly stoned, its eyes blinking. Laughter off. NIXON (CONT'D) ... he'd just found out about Track 2.

JOHNSON ... accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president ... RESUME SCENE - NIXON listens as the tape rolls. REPORTERS (V.O.) The New York Times began publishing today the first in a series of forty seven volumes of top secret Pentagon Papers relating to the war in Vietnam. The papers reveal a systematic pattern of government lies about American involvement in the war ... Nixon throws down the paper in disgust and attempts to feed his Irish setter, KING TIMAHOE, a biscuit, as HENRY KISSINGER paces the room, the most upset of all. RHAH (smiles) You mean he's crazy? No more crazy'n the rest of us been out in the bush too long. Will hears something he never thought he'd hear again. He hears a voice. OFF-SCREEN VOICE Shh, shh, shh, shh. Sarge-?

WILL OFF-SCREEN VOICE United States Marines! CHOTINER (privately) Jesus Christ, has he told them how many push-ups he can do yet? What the hell happened to him? NIXON It would ruin us, Buddy, our family. ELIAS Yeah, those are the guys that live. I really don't think Death gives a shit, it's like a giant garbage can,

I think it takes whatever it can get ... you never know where it's gonna come from anyway ... so why spin your wheels? He shrugs, a certain bravado masking his own uncertainty. CHRIS (CONT'D) It's your shift, man ... Junior scowls, swears, looks around for his rifle in the mud. Chris crawls back to his position, curling himself up in his soaked poncho, teeth chattering from the cold, rain splattering over him. A long beat. He sighs, the sigh kicking off the next image. NIXON (conflicted) No, no. He's our only "star" right now. He'd go crying straight to the press. He'd crucify us -- the sonofabitch! (lethal) Get someone from our staff on his ass. Tap his phones. I want to know everyone he talks to. ARTHUR If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take ... He slips off, into a coma. Richard watches, devastated. NIXON (aside) I want a very private conversation. I don't want to be bugged. Nixon swallows hard, blushing now. He sweats, very uncomfortable with this intimacy. CHUCK SEREIKA (CONT'D) (quietly) I been in and out of rehab the last two years. Only thing I ever been good at is helping other people. (beat) My life isn't worth more than theirs. I made my peace. We're doing this together.

HUNT Just leave it. The waiter puts down the pitcher, picks up the five, and follows the busboy out of the room. The moment the door closes behind them, GORDON LIDDY is on his feet, locking the door. OTHER MEN are visible, putting on jackets, securing technical equipment from briefcases and bags. They are: FRANK STURGIS, BERNARD BARKER, EUGENIO MARTINEZ, VIRGILIO GONZALES, and JAMES MCCORD. BUSH Japan is sending observers. ROSELLI You just wait a second. CLOSE: On Olly's Boy bandaged front legs. Then, Olly Boy's right foreleg snaps. It sounds like a rifle shot. Olly's Boy goes down over his shoulder. The JOCKEY is thrown across the track. The CROWD is stunned. Sunday's Chance wins easily. Hoover turns to Roselli. ROCKEFELLER (CONT'D) Howya doin'! New York treating you okay? I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you at all-VOICE (next position) Doc over here! Gardner's hit. NIXON (V.O.) My mother was a saint, but my old man struggled his whole life. You could call him a little man, a poor man, but they never beat him. I always tried to remember that when things didn't go my way... EXT. VILLAGE - PIG PEN - DAY NIXON (ON T.V. MONITOR) Let's take hydroelectric power. In our administration, we've built more... PAT He's not...We don't know. But

they've declared him as missing. He's just missing. ELIAS Sure, goes on all the time. Maybe a piece of me's in you now, who knows. But when you die - really die that's a big return ticket. As seen before: a GLASS shatters, a CROWBAR jacks open the door marked: "Dr. Lewis J. Fielding, Psychiatrist." SGTS.O'NEIL AND WARREN Get em out! Get em out! THOMAS I just examined the perimeter. That there's our best way in. No barriers. No patrols. NIXON does not look well. His clothes are baggy, and he has a slight sheen of perspiration around his lower lip. He seems uncomfortable in his movements, robotic, falsely aggressive with his raised eyebrows and glaring demeanor. (The following essences are taken from four debates and various campaign material; in using a documentary JFK, we will be cutting around him when off-debate material is used.) REPORTERS (V.O.) Attorney General Elliot Richardson will present evidence to a grand jury that Vice President Agnew is guilty of bribery, extortion and tax evasion ... Nixon immediately starts gasping. He again tries to rise, but hands push him back. The doctor fits the mouthpiece of the respirator into Nixon's mouth. Images of the Beast pervade the room. Nixon begins breathing ... His eyes going past PAT to ... PAT (CONT'D) Why didn't you? BARNES (CONT'D) There's the way it oughta be and there's the way it is. 'Lias he was full of shit, 'Lias was a crusader I got no fight with a man does what he's told but when he don't, the machine breaks down, and when the machine breaks down, WE break down

... and I ain't gonna allow that. From none of you. Not one ... NIXON The bastard! If I'd called his shot on Cuba I would've won. He made me look soft. PAT Is he hurt bad? NIXON in the hospital, breathing. JONES And whose fault is that? If we'd won in Vietnam ... INT. NIXON'S FIFTH AVENUE APARTMENT - STUDY - DAY BUSH Did you tell her I don't like motherfuckers who gas their own people?! Did you tell her I don't like assholes who try to kill my father?!

Yes.

NIXON (tense) EXT. GROUND ZERO - EARLY MORNING Dave Karnes holds his cell phone to his ear as he continues to comb through the rubble. DAVE (into phone) I won't be in today. I don't know when I'll be back to work. NIXON Where the hell is he? NIXON Right, right. I used to play a little ball myself at Whittier. NIXON You know why they're turning on me? They're not serious about power, that's why. They're playing with power. They're forgetting the national interest. In the old days, people knew how to hold power, how

to set limits. They wouldn't have torn this country apart over a third-rate burglary. All they care about now are their egos, looking good at cocktail parties... HOOVER (a reminder) It won't. As long as I'm here. Nixon absentmindedly shows Hoover through a small door into his BATHROOM ... There is an awkward pause, as both men are too proud to pretend they are cramped in this place together. Hoover clears his throat and exits the regular door. As we hear the Love Theme from "Doctor Zhivago": NIXON (self-effacing) I was the lesser of two evils. A moment.

Mao levels a gaze at him, deadly serious.

BOOM. It's not as loud as we, in retrospect, would imagine it to be. It's muffled, somewhat removed from these two cops, but it's unmistakable. An explosion. And then...silence. Christopher and his co-worker share a thousand words with their eyes. Across the street from the terminal is a TRANSVESTITE HOOKER. She stares unflinchingly at Antonio. Antonio stares back, silently daring her. Just then, the radio on Antonio's chest crackles with static. DISPATCH All officers, report to the police desk. All officers report back. EHRLICHMAN Look at it this way. You came closer than any other Republican ever has in this distrcit. WILL (CONT'D) Why was that?! WOLFE Catch you men later. Enjoy

yourselves. BUSH (interest piqued) "Cats?" (she nods) Wow, that's something I'd stay up late for. Definitely. REYNOLDS Alrighty. You hang tight. BLACK MAN You don't want a real dialogue with the American people. This whole thing's been staged. These aren't real people. You're just a mouthpiece for an agenda that is hidden from us. SUBTITLE READS: "JANUARY 1973" BUSH JR. Look, I'm not looking to steal his heat-BUSH (looks over at her) Sweet as ever. King leads Chris down to a specially constructed cellar-like hutch dug deep into the ground on an isolated edge of the battalion perimeter. Ammo casing and canvas are piled over it, and sandbags surround it. From the outside very little sound can be heard as they go down through a trap door made of ammo crates. Past a lookout (Adams) pulling security, hitting a joint but alert. King motions to him, it's cool. Inside is another world. Chris looking around amazed. It's like a private cabaret for the 'heads' who are there cooling out. Boxes of food from the States, beers, whiskey bottles, crates functioning as tables, hammocks hanging from poles, electric fans, tape decks, paraphenalia. The boys are all dressed up in their Saturday night rags. The clothes are clean, the headbands, the medallions are out, anything distinctive and individualistic. On the tapedeck, Jefferson Airplane's 'Go Ask Alice'. To Chris it is a new world. And RHAH, the resident head, sitting there in all his finery puffing a huge burning red bowl in a three foot long Montagnard pipe, seems to be the lord of final judgement in this smoky underworld.

Across his naked chest, birds and snakes are tatooed. Around his neck a black skull and white ivory cross side by side. On his knuckles 'Love' and 'Hate' are tattooed. In his eyes, a dancing Satanic fire. A poor rural Southern white, in his grizzled late 20's, he could be a Biker King. Giving Chris the once-over. KING (soft) 'People say I'm the life of the party cause I tell a joke or two although I may be laughing loud and hardy deep inside I'm blue...' NIXON (sighs) Christ, you're right -- Gray makes Jerry Ford look like Mozart. (then) Just have Helms call him. Helms can scare anybody. NIXON "National Priority." Barnes is laying out fire. CUT BACK TO: NIXON Chile, Congo, Guatemala, Cuba. Wherever's there's a need for an Executive Action capability, there's a Track 2. In Cuba, Track 1 was the Bay of Pigs invasion. Track 2 ... it was our idea. EXT. COMPANY PERIMETER #1 - KING'S POSITION - DUSK TELEVISION SCREEN - NIXON - NIGHT (1973) DOCUMENTARY REPLACEMENT - Nixon with Ike in triumph. A clip of Eisenhower praising Nixon. Nixon and Pat standing up to rock-throwing STUDENTS in Venezuela. Pointing his finger at KHRUSHCHEV in the Kitchen Debate. REPORTER 3 (V.O.) Eisenhower put Nixon back on the ticket ... Responding to attacks on Truman, Acheson and the entire Democratic Party for betraying the American principles in China, Korea and elsewhere -- it was two-time Democratic presidential candidate,

Adlai Stevenson, who perhaps best summed up the national unease with Richard Nixon... DOCUMENTARY - SHOTS of ADLAI STEVENSON campaigning in '52 and '56 against IKE. Images of JOE MCCARTHY precede. The HERBLOCK CARTOON of Nixon crawling out of the sewer system. Others of his cartoons follow. HAIG At least Mitchell stood up to it. KING Go on, whatcha gotta lose, yo' here now ... BUSH (pleased) Well, you ride herd an' keep the traffic light. (given pause) Still...we need that 52nd card; you know--the WMD's. HAROLD (a little laugh) I just thought, since the food was here... MANOLO (shrugs) He was a politician. NIXON (laughs nervously) Of course, they used me as a tackling dummy. A self-possessed YOUNG WOMAN abruptly interrupts. CHRIS It's not ... so bad ... dying. How long .. it ... The sun is sittin there hot and high in the sky. Chris, strangling in heat, a demented look on his face, staggers into a hutch with Francis. HALDEMAN If they didn't tell Kennedy about Track 2, how did Hoover find out? TENET

I've read how many of theese...? Tenet wearily takes the document. CHENEY What do you mean we, Kemo Sabe? TONY Rumor goin' round is they got tanks. Soviet shit, T- 34's ... Barnes fixing on him, moving. POWELL (a little cynical) ...We got the Mongolians-- damn good fighters. NIXON It's got nothing to do with justice. It's national security. NIXON Screw congressional oversight. I know damn well, going back to the '50's, this agency reports what it wants, and buries what it doesn't want Congress to know. Pay close attention to this. Nixon fixes him with his stare. Helms clears his throat. LAURA What's the matter? What'd he say? INT. BELLEVUE HOSPITAL - LOBBY - LATER Donna stands waiting in the lobby. She is on pins and needles as she waits. And waits. And waits. And waits. And then the door pushes open and John is wheeled in. She rushes to him and grabs his hand, smothering it with kisses. He looks awful, near death. And with every ounce of his last energy, he looks at his wife and says: NIXON Hiding what?

Bush thinks for a moment. BUSH "Axis of Evil." I like the ring of that. That's it. ROVE George, I've been a life-long student of political horseflesh and from what I see, you've got natural talent; got the "people touch." But you need to go out in the world and do something. I don't know how else to say it-- but you haven't done jack shit yet. EXT. NYC BUS - SAME The bus is parked at the corner of Barclay and West Broadway, about one block north of the WTC. Dominick, Will, Antonio and the other officers file off. NIXON We can't keep a goddamn secret in this government, Edgar. They're stealing papers right out of his office. In their foxhole, Chris points. FRANKS I'm afraid, Mr. President...that we're in for a longer haul than we thought. CHRIS (calling out) In here, man! Hurry. The SOLDIER now runs in like a fullback going down for the tackle, sprawling into the hole, knocking Chris and Francis down beneath him. He is sweating, terrified, a white boy with an unrecognizable, filthy face, no rifle, no helmet, his fatigues torn all over. HOOVER You'll win the nomination. BARNES Get me a Medic will ya. Go on ...

Chris doesn't move. Barnes looks at him again, reading the intention that has crossed Chris' mind. An expression of surprise crosses his face, then amazement, almost shock. RHAH The Good Lord works his revenge in strange ways. LERNER He says they had no choice. The NVA killed the old honcho when he said no. He says the rice is theirs. CHRIS Fuck this shit! NIXON Buddy, look at me ... just look at me. Do you really want me to quit? She stares out the window. A long moment. NIXON (CONT'D) Because if you're uncomfortable with the EPA up your ass, try the IRS ... HOOVER (nods) If things remain as they are...He's got the anti-war vote. I am.

DONNA HALDEMAN They went after Castro. In some crazy way it got turned on Kennedy. I don't think the "P" knows what happened, but he's afraid to find out. It's got him shitting peach pits. DICKERSON Mr. President, after 9/11, what would you say your biggest mistakes would be, and what lessons have you learned from them? BARBARA The best person didn't win, George. The best man did not win tonight. COLSON Yeah, like the Plumbers.

Nixon smiles. PAT Do you really want this, Dick? Like a lizard, HOOVER eyes JOAQUIN, the Hispanic boy. DOMINICK Yeah, it was. OFF-SCREEN VOICE AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Oh God!!!!!! Through the haze - it's confusing, disorienting - but we track around until we come to John and realize it is he who is screaming. The cement wall that was hovering just half an inch over the lower half of his body has been compated by the falling debris. It has been pushed down on top of him; He's now being squeezed between the cement floor and thousands of pounds of cement debris. NIXON You know how much money he had in the bank when he died? GEORGE SR. (hard) It doesn't work that way...not to me, or to this family. Now, I don't want to get any more phone calls like this again. Ever. Do you hear me? BLACK MAN (impassioned) When are you going to tell us what you really stand for? When are you going to take the mask off and show us who you really are? Close on Nixon's upper lip, sweating. Haldeman watches intently. BUSH JR. My father's not going to give me a position. He's afraid of nepotism. And I'm not gonna hang around, become a lobbyist. That's for sure. You go.

CHRIS Francis hesitates, stays.

DOMINICK Why'd you have us run in there? KLEIN (reading transcript) "I feel sorry for Nixon because he does not know who he is, and at each stop he has to decide which Nixon he is at the moment, which must be very exhausting." -- Jack Kennedy. BARNES (to all) Take a good look at this lump o'shit ... (motions to Gardner's body) Remember what it looks like, all of you. You fuck up in a firefight and I guaran-goddamn-tee you, a trip out of the bush - IN A BODYBAG. Out here, assholes, you keep your shit wired tight at ALL times... (glares directly at Chris) and that goes for you, shit for brains. You don't SLEEP ON NO FUCKIN' AMBUSH. Next sonofabitch I catch coppin' z's in the bush I'm personally gonna take an interest in seeing him suffer - I SHIT YOU NOT... He thumps Chris lightly but menacingly in his chestbone and moves on. NIXON (with some satisfaction) But they won't get it. He signs the resignation paper. A pause. It lies there. KING (smiling) ...go ahead on, smoke it man. Chris understands, takes the bowl. Hesitates. Then smokes it. The contact fumes are almost enough to knock him out. He starts coughing. They're all laughing. DOMINICK Looks like there's light. Maybe air. About twenty feet up. KENT HANCE (deep drawl)

My daddy and grand-daddy were farmers. They didn't have anything to do with the mess we're in now. Bush's Daddy and Grand-daddy have been in politics his whole privileged life. They don't know what people's sufferin' is about. SCOTT STRAUSS Scott Strauss. You ready? You know this thing could collapse on our heads. REPORTER 4 (V.O.) Fifty-eight million people saw it. It was shameless. It was manipulative. ELIAS ... don't feel like it either. JOHN (CONT'D) I need volunteers who know how to use the Scot Airpak. EHRLICHMAN He got pretty burned at Chappaquiddick. PAT Does it matter what's on them? Really? ... Murder, Dick? Sex? Your secrets, your fantasies? Or just me and you and... Inga?

BIG HAROLD The LAST SOLDIER in the file recedes into the foliage. RADIO OPERATOR (into radio, exhausted) - 37 U.S. KIA, 122 wounded and still counting. Estimate 500 Victor Charlie KIA, 22 wounded and still counting. Over. JOHN (CONT'D) (into radio) PAPD McLoughlin and Jimeno. We're trapped in the freight elevator vestibule in the concourse between towers two and one.

BUZHARDT Sir, we'll win that one, but the other three ... CHRIS Where's Elias come from? NIXON (musing) There must be a quarter-million out there, Edgar. They've been at it now for a year. Young kids just like Tricia. I don't know. Do you think they have a point, Edgar? Maybe this whole damned system of government is... CHRIS (CONT'D) (to the girl) It's okay ... it's okay ... Elias appears behind Bunny and the others, sees what's happened. He signals them to move out. ELIAS (CONT'D) First time? GEORGE JR. (sings) We're poor little lambs who have lost our way. Baa! Baa! Baa! HALDEMAN ... beating out the other papers, chasing girls ... NIXON We could get that. EXT. IRAQ BORDER- APRIL, 2003 (STOCK) US APACHE HELICOPTERS strafing Iraqi air defense sites near Kuwait border. SMART BOMBS and F-117 STEALTH BOMBERS striking targets in Baghdad. Thousands of allied troops pour across the border from Saudi Arabia, commencing the ground attack. Continuous air sorties pound columns of Iraqi soldiers and tanks from Kuwait City to Basra. BUSH Looks like we're movin' to D.C. PAT

It is. We know that. EHRLICHMAN Is it legal? EXT. PERIMETER #3 - DAY NIXON What about the documents he promised? BUSH SR. Well, uh, just remind Lee that hwe can't run this directly through the campaign. Find another pipeline. NIXON (CONT'D) I'm afraid, Buddy ... There's darkness out there. Pat is crying now. She tries to soothe him, strokes his brow like a sick child. TERRIFIED SOLDIER Water! Water! Chris gives him his canteen, his shoulder and neck hurting from the collision. The Soldier sucks down the canteen. NIXON (CONT'D) (at the podium) Who are they? Let me tell you who they are -- they're in this audience by the thousands, they're the workers of America, they're white Americans and black Americans... We cut among the DELEGATES, seeking to show the face of the populace that is torn by civil war. INT. EXEC OFFICE BLDG - NIXON OFFICE - DAY (1972) EXT. COMPANY PERIMETER 31 - DOC'S POSITION - DUSK HAIG Three days before, on the June twentieth tape -- the one with the eighteen-minute gap -HAROLD (flashes a smile) I need a suit. Richard buries his face in his hands.

FOREMAN If that's the way you want it, fine with me. NIXON (CONT'D) Let's face it. Most Americans today, in a crisis of spirit, are simply fed up with government at all levels. All the Great Society activists are lying out there in wait, poised to get you if you try to come after them: the professional welfareists, the urban planners, the day-carers, the public housers. The costly current welfare system is a mess, and we are on the brink of a revolt of the lower middle class. The bottom line is -- no work, no welfare. Our opponents have exaggerated and over-emphasized society as the cause of crimes. The war on poverty is not a war on crime, and it is no substitute for a war on crime. CHRIS It's the ambush! RHAH (team leader) Gotcha. INT. NVA TREEHOUSE - DAY As the Chopper rises off the battlefield, Chris, who is sitting at the edge so that he has a full view out the open door, waves back at Rhah. KISSINGER (interjects) There's no other choice. NIXON Maybe I am. A silence. Nixon looks at her. Haldeman and the SECRET SERVICE MEN fill the succeeding beat of silence by moving Nixon off. He allows himself to be herded, waving absently to the protestors. RHAH Your shit's in the wind troop. Baaaaah!

Lerner replies, his tongue hanging out in parody. KISSINGER He's an idiot ... HAIG The weasel's got no proof. Just remember that it's still an informer's word against the President's. BUSH JR. (CONT'D) (pauses) Nos that he's gone, boys, the 19th District is finally in play for a Republican. EXT. JUNGLE - DAY (RAIN) ELIAS (CONT'D) (smiles) Feel good? RHAH (pause) ...and this here's Elias...Baaaa! The other knuckle is out - 'LOVE' tattooed across it. Rhah smiles his crazy smile. Chris stares fascinated at the two knuckles side by side. A moment on his face. HELMS I'm sure you realize this is a very tricky area, Mr. President, given our charter and the congressional oversight committees ... RICE Still, I think the Iranian people could take offense in being lumped together with the Iraqis and North Koreans. After all, they have a president who was democratically elected. John.

BUSH (V.O.) INT. CENTCOM HEADQUARTERS- QATAR- DAY- 2003 Bush staring coldly across the table at IARQI CONSUL, PAUL BREMER. Franks, Tenet, Rice, looking on. BUSH

The Pentagon told me that we'd be down to 25 to 30 thousand troops by August. Is that anywhere near possible now? EXT. PLATOON CP - PERIMETER #3 - DUSK PAT Can I just ask for one thing? DONNA (disbelieving) I think I'm pregnant. NIXON addresses the DELEGATES (a composite of Nixon speeches). NIXON Then what about this Washington Post crap? Woodwind and Fernstein? BUZHARDT We could check the tape again, sir. ROVE Always move back to those four issues. Always. And if you're asked what time it is, what do you say? O'NEILL What are you saving up to be Lieutenant - Jewish? Laughs. Wolfe forces a smile, glad to move on. There is a continual worried rodent air about him, an anxiety, a desire to fill the vacuum in his leadership with a false masculinity. FLEISCHER Helen Thomas. HAIG Then we'll have to deal with the possibility of removal from office, loss of pension, possibly ... prison. BUSH SR. And I'll throw out that first ball when you need me. CUSHMAN Uh, he's rushing back from his tennis game, sir ...

LIEUTENANT WOLFE That dink was reported to me as NVA sir by Sergeant Barnes. Sergeant Barnes. Squirreling out of any responsibility. NIXON (stands) We felt the invasion wouldn't work unless we got rid of Castro. So we asked ourselves -- who else wants Castro dead? The Mafia, the money people. So we put together Track 2... Barnes turns his attention on the other villagers, his intentions apparent. Everybody feels them. They're next. Barnes is unperturbed, very much in command of the situation, no rage, no emotions expressed. Chris has never seen such a thing in his life - but can't react. Can't stop it, just watches it like he's not quite there. The same goes for Lieutenant Wolfe, for all of them. The very outrageousness of Barns' killing seems to quell all protest. John has tears in his eyes. JOHN I ordered them inHALDEMAN It was her wrist. And it was through a plate-glass door. HALDEMAN (closes his eyes) He's treading water. Don't mention Khrushchev. BUSH SR. You know, I'm gearing up to run in '88. KING What we got here a crusader? EXT. PERIMETER #3 - JUNIOR'S FOXHOLE - DUSK DOC (to Chris)

...it's a scratch, nothing to worry about. PAT They're like love letters. You should burn them. Nixon, startled, tries to shut off the tape, but he hits the wrong button and we hear high-speed VOICES in reverse. ZIEGLER He asked for it. INT. UNDERWORLD HUTCH - NIGHT BUSH SR. It's been hard for him. The loss. Wish I could have been at his inauguration, too. Would have been something. HAROLD (gasps) ...that was a whopper. Richard carefully folds the cloth, drops it into a metal container that is already full of them. He stands there, helpless, a solemn boy. All this is watched from a distance by Ace and Doc and Lt.Wolfe at the Platoon CP. Ace and Doc are digging the foxhole, the ace of spades in Ace's helmet band, sharing the information with Tony and Francis. The soldiers depart the village. A huge EXPLOSION now rocks the earth and sends a spray of smoke into the blue sky as the weapons cache explodes in stages that sound like the end of the world. MITCHELL (indicating) Dick, we should catch Rocky 'fore he leaves. NELSON ROCKEFELLER, Governor of New York, dominates the room. Big smile, horn-rimmed glasses. Next to him is HAPPY, his new wife, much younger. LAURA Your mother told me to never criticize a politician's speech. Dave Karnes watches THOMAS, another Marine, from afar. Thomas looks like he's mentally working over a problem. We

see an idea dawn on Dave. DAVE Hey. Private First Class. MITCHELL That'll be the day. NIXON Thank you, Fidel Castro. EXT. VILLAGE - WEAPONS CACHE - DAY The room is small, austere, dominated by a portrait of LINCOLN over the fireplace. HAIG stands in the doorway, holding the envelope. NIXON So you're saying, "Do nothing" -that's what you're saying. The same old shit. Well, that's not good enough. I'm sick of being pushed around by the Vietnamese like some pitiful giant. They're using our POWs to humiliate us. What we need now is a bold move to Cambodia; go right after the VC base camps, make 'em scream. That's what I think. You, Henry? A pivotal moment for Henry. Nixon is clearly scrutinizing Kissinger, who glances at his rivals. NIXON No, you didn't, Bob. MANNY She look huge and got freckles on her ass. BARNES Tell that dipshit to get fucked. Get that other freshmeat up here. Gardner. As Barnes picks up his pace, irritated now at this reprimand from the CO - coming up on Chris, who is soaked now from head to foot in sweat, dizzy, feeling sick, about to vomit. GARDNER (next to Chris, Southern accent) That what I think it is?

ZIEGLER We got the press this time! ARTHUR (low) Thank you, Mama, I feel better ... I'm sleepy. BUSH Come on, Spotty, this one's for you. CHRIS Who's on point? NIXON But O'Brien doesn't even use that office. The Democrats've moved to Miami. There's nothing there! PAT But they never will, Dick. No matter how many elections you win, they never will. TIME CUT: On point, Lerner moves out through a remnant of an old arch, somewhat casual in his approach to point. TONY Take her up the ass ... As they roll her over, like excited dogs in heat. Chris, coming up, sees their heads dipping up and down on the other side of the anthill, knows what they're doing. He makes a conscious decision to do something. He runs over. HALDEMAN I'll talk to Helms. REPORTER 3 (V.O.) ...Nixon quickly became the Republican's attack dog. He tore into Truman for losing Mainland China in 1949, and blamed the war in Korea on a weak foreign policy ... His speeches, if more subtle than those of his Republican ally, Joe McCarthy, were just as aggressive... Nixon at another rally with Pat. ELIAS

Well she was picking up her kids. BUSH I'm no target picker, but I sure as hell don't want to fire a 2-million dollar missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a damn camel in the ass. BARNES (smokes again) Me I don't need that shit. I AM reality. Confronting Chris, he moves on, taunting them all. CUT FORWARD TO: HAIG Sir, the deadline is today. MITCHELL You're doing the right thing, Dick ... don't let 'em shake you. A tiny knot of men are ringed around Barnes who is questioning a sturdy-looking man who is the VILLAGE CHIEF. He has been stripped of his shirt, scars all over his body, scared. He has his ID papers out, trembling, showing them to Lerner who speaks some pidgen Vietnamese. REPORTER 2 ("LESLIE STAHL"-TYPE) Mr. President, what is your reaction to James McCord's statement that high White House officials were involved in the Watergate break-in? CHENEY Sir, I served your father and he was an able and honorable man. And he won the Iraq War. But he, myself and Powell, we let that momentum slip away. And if we hadn't we wouldn't be looking down the barrel of another 9/11. But they roll on, smashing each other's faces in. Both quick, fast, agile, mean fighters. Sgts. O'Neill and Warren drag them apart. And?

KING BUNNY Ya worry too much O'Neill ...

ELIAS (CONT'D) Stagger yourselves across this line, shoot anything that moves. They'll be coming from here. HALDEMAN ...never complain, never explain, John... PAT I just wish ... you knew how much I love you, that's all. It took me a long time to fall in love with you, Dick. But I did it. And it doesn't make you happy. You want them to love you... Pat waves outward, indicating the world, the public. NIXON Churchill, DeGaulle, Disraeli. They all went through the pain of losing power. NIXON Yeah, you do. Sir?

HALDEMAN NIXON It's your people who are leaking to the Times. Wasn't this Ellsberg a student of yours at Harvard? He was your idea; why are you suddenly running for cover? KING (a snicker) Let's see three hundred and WHAT? KAY I'm sorry, Mr. President. Under the circumstances, I feel I've let my country down. I really thought he had WMD's. I feel I have no other option, but offer my resignation. NIXON (looks into her eyes) If I could just ... If I could just ...sleep. CHRIS

Nah... NIXON So, what about those Watergate clowns, John? This fuck Sirica's crazy. Thirty-five-year sentences! There were no weapons. Right? No injuries. There was no success! It's just ridiculous. INT. U.S. SENATE- JAN. 28, 2003- STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS CLOSE ON BUSH- PRESIDENTIAL SEAL BEHIND HIM BUSH The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa. CHENEY I'll let you finish your lunch. BUSH No, we can't do that, Tony. We've run plumb out of time. The start date for the war is penciled in. March 10th. NIXON (feeding the dog) Here, Tim ... Tim. I'm as frustrated as you, Henry, but don't you think this one's a Democrat problem. They started the war; it makes them look bad. Kissinger lowers his voice for effect, pounds the desk. HELMS (grudgingly accepts that) It will take a little time, but I'll order a search for your papers. Though it does raise a disturbing issue. TV NEWS ANCHOR (O.S.) What had been a neck-and-neck race...changed with Ross Perot running as an independent...hurting the incumbent president...stagnant economy...along with Iran-Contra... BUSH

How many times do I have to tell you, you're my gal. I'm as happy as a rabbit in a carrot patch with you. NIXON (stern) Then find something. And I want these leaks stopped. Jack fucking Anderson, the New York Times, the State Department -- I want to know who's talking to them. EXT. JUNGLE - O'NEILL'S POSITION - DAY (RAIN) ACE (sensing the impending massacre) Hey Sarge can we get in on this. Tony advances, the hairy Italian kid from Boston. CHRIS (weakly) I'm hit ... Barnes and Big Harold come hustling up. Doc finishes tourniquetting Tex, cradles Chris onto the earth, his flashlight probing the wound. Tex in background continues to thrash and moan. Chris waits, tensely for the verdict, his eyes big with fear on Doc, who takes out his morphine. FRANCIS Politics, man, politics. We always getting fucked around here. Chris is scared, nervous with his last-minute equipment adjustments, his pack obviously overweight for a night mission as he hauls it up. Gardner, the other new boy, is jovial in contrast, his wallet extended towards Chris. BARNES (contemptuous) Death? What do you guys know about it? He walks out. Quietly. GEORGE JR. (eyeing Sr.)

I got in. But I'm not goin.' I just wanted to show you all that I could do it. HALDEMAN It's a code or something. The COMPANY - about 100 men who seem insignificant amid the size of the surrounding jungle - is digging into a perimeter of some 100-yard radius. A RESUPPLY CHOPPER lifts off in a flurry of blowing leaves. Bare-chested soldiers chop down trees, clear fields of fire, set out claymores, fill sandbags, chow down. Little fires snake up against the greying red horizon. EXT. SANITARIUM CABIN - PORCH - ARIZONA - DAY (1933) DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE - 11. KENT STATE UNIVERSITY - (1970) CUT TO: NIXON (fumes) I never made a dime from public office! I'm honest. My dad died broke. You know the sonofabitch went to law school with Jack Kennedy? ... The last gasp of the Establishment! They got the hell kicked out of 'em in the election, so now they gotta squeal about Watergate 'cause we were the first real threat to them in years. And by God, Al, we would have changed it, changed it so they couldn't have changed it back in a hundred years, if only... PAT I'm the only left, Dick. If you don't talk to me, you ... EXT/INT: PERIMETER #3 LZ CHOPPER - DAY KING He done a year in Japan in the hospital, then when he gets out, the first thing he done is re-up. Four years he been in the field... Lt. Wolfe, shaken, is on the radio with Cpt. Harris, words garbled through the air, trying to describe a primal horror. At the Company, l Elias, Captain Harris, Barnes, Lt. Wolfe are huddled. Close on Harris, looking from face to face,

assuming a judicial attitude. Jimeno!

WILL (O.S.) TOLSON (sarcastic) What do you think this plan is, Edgar? A nuclear attack? NIXON (then) Churchill used to say to me, "If you want your own history written properly, you must write it yourself." (starts out) All right, Edgar, but just don't let it come back to haunt me. ELIAS (pointing) I can work right up on 'em ... Wolfe unsure, looks up for the artillery. Who wants to be reminded? A silence of shame. The Men moving away, Warren, Ace, Tony, Rodriguez, Barnes looking back once, a cold glare. The Village Chief is a broken-looking man, huddled over his wife's body. Elias stands there, frustrated. Chris glances at him, moves out. HELMS And of course I accept. I'm flattered. And I want you to know, I work for only one president at a time. HANCE Washington is the way it is because of all those Yale and Harvard fellas running the place. I went to Texas Tech, you went to Yale. I went to UT Law, you went to Harvard. ALLISON You loved the name Bianca. NIXON (V.O.) (CONT'D) ...The long dark night for America

is about to end ... Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth -to find the truth, to speak the truth. And to live the truth ... A new voice is being heard across America today: it is not the voice of the protestors or the shouters, it is the voice of a majority of Americans who have been quiet Americans over the past few years ...a silent majority. DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE - 3. GEORGE WALLACE whips a DIXIE CROWD into a frenzy. 4. The WOUNDED KNEE SIEGE is underway - FBI AGENTS and LOCAL MILITANTS pour fire in on the INDIAN MILITANTS. 5. The YIPPIE DEMONSTRATORS outside the CHICAGO DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION. Chicago POLICE wade in with nightsticks, tear gas. KISSINGER Mr. President, this cannot be breathed! Especially to our secretary of state -- that cretin Rogers ... The Chinese would never trust us again. The only way, I emphasize only way, to pull this off is in secret. BARNES YOU IGNORANT ASSHOLE! - What the fuck coordinates you giving! You killed a bunch of people with that fucked up fire mission! You know that? ... ah shit! Wolfe stares at him, open-mouthed. Disgusted, Barnes hunkers down to read the coordinates from his own map into the handset. JOHN Elevator shaft's strongest part of the building. NIXON I end the longest war in American history and they keep harping on this chickenshit! You know who's behind this, don't you -- it's Teddy Kennedy! He drowns a broad in his car and he can't run for president. NIXON I don't need that, Buddy. I'm not Jack Kennedy.

COLSON Sir, if I might? NIXON (brays loudly) You're the one who should be in politics, John. You're tougher than I am. You never crack. KISSINGER Secret, Mr. Chairman? WILL I got a pipe here. RODRIGUEZ (a thick Mexican accent) What do you want me to say, it's all the same ol' shit. Tony shrugs, back to his food. STUDENTS (chanting) One-two-three-four. We don't want your fucking war. Someone throws a rock. CROSSCUT TO: NIXON So I'm supposed to be ... KING looks like a king. A lion of a black man but with a sleepy, gentle face, not to be roused, is painfully trying to scrawl a letter home with the pencil held awkwardly, mouthing the words. FRANCIS, a young baby-faced black with long lashes and soft eyes, peeks over his shoulder, shaking his head. PAT NIXON, a year older than Dick, watches her champion through the glass booth. The "Mona Lisa" of American politics, she projects deep admiration for, and pride in, her husband. But now she appears perturbed by what she's seeing. A younger HALDEMAN sits watching the debates on monitors with HERB KLEIN, press secretary, and OTHERS in the Nixon circle. Through the glass we see the CANDIDATES. MURRAY CHOTINER, campaign manager, overweight and bow-tied, moves down the row of monitors holding a cigar. He manages to drop ashes on an attractive KENNEDY STAFFER.

FOREMAN Bush, what you doin' off the tower? At the Company CP, Harris gets on the radio with the air strike. One of the RTOs on a separate radio calls over. JONES Hell, Kennedy's pissed Cuba away to the Russians. And he don't know what the hell he's doing in Vietnam. These are dangerous times, Dick, especially for business... EXT. PERIMETER #3 COMPANY CP - NIGHT HANNAH Could thou at least remove thy apron, Frank? ELIAS Move it! Move it! Elias comes to a stop, looks. Behind them we hear the sounds of battle, gauging their distance from the main body. The spider holes are still empty. But he listens, senses something out there getting closer. NIXON (CONT'D) ...and then he was a grocer. But he was a great man because he did his job, and every job counts up to the hilt, regardless of what happens ...Nobody will ever write a book, probably, about my mother. Well, I guess all of you would say this about your mother: my mother was a saint. And I think of her, two boys dying of tuberculosis and seeing each of them die, and when they died ...Yes, she will have no books written about her. But she was a saint ...But now, however, we look to the future. Nixon is holding himself together by sheer force of will. Many members of his STAFF are weeping. He pulls an old well-leafed book open, puts a set of eyeglasses on to read from it, the first time he's ever worn them in public. BUSH Back home in Midland. We're trying to have a little time alone.

TENET I just can't go with it. BLACK MAN Who made them -- you made them! GEORGE JR. I know that, Poppy. GEORGE SR. (rueful) There are things in this life you wish you could go back and do over. I went 0 for 3 against Cal in the finals. And we lost 8-7. That last at bat, I took my eye off the ball. If I hadn't, we could have been the champions. But that's how history goes. At the Company CP, things are just as bad. A Radioman is sprawled over a smashed radio. Captain Harris is in a bunker working the radios himself, as his Radiomen fire at yelling, running FIGURES scurrying all over the inner perimeter. NIXON Good. You know how I feel about loyalty. I'm not going to let any of my people go to jail. That I promise you. NIXON (then) Hunt reported to my military aide. But I met with him several times as Vice President. That's what worries the shit out of me. I don't know how much Hunt knows. Or the Cubans. NIXON (quietly) No ... I'll go through Lyndon. We'll be invited. We flash suddenly to Kennedy's head being blown apart. Then back to Johnson as we: NIXON Well, in any case, Rocky, I'll send you my book. "Six Crises." But the body keeps coming, lurching now, falling. MARTHA

...Can you keep a secret, honey? Tween you, me and the gatepost, Tricky Dick always knew what was going on ... every last goddamn detail. And my husband's not taking the rap this time ... They know they can't shut me up, so they'll probably end up killing me, but I depend on you, the press, to protect me ... and my husband, because that's what it's going to come to... NIXON Gentlemen, I tried. I told Kennedy to go into Cuba. He heard me and he made his decision. I appreciate your sentiments. I've heard them from many fine Cuban patriots, but it's nothing I can do anything about. Now, it's a long drive back to Dallas tonight, and Trini and I have got an early flight tomorrow to New York... CRAWFORD (sucking in air) Jesus! JOHN That should be all. With the two bullets he fired, that's sixteen. GEORGE JR. 29-7. Hill and Dowling had great games. We kicked their butts. PAT (at last) I'm giving a tea for the wives of the POWs. Nixon doesn't respond. CHIEF SPEECHWRITER You'll get it, sir. We just have to get our guy at the NSC to sign off on it. KENNEDY (ON TV) ...in attacking my resolve, Mr. Nixon has carefully avoided mentioning my position on Cuba... EPILOGUE (CONT'D)

For the remainder of his life, Nixon fought successfully to protect his tapes. The National Archives spent fourteen years indexing and cataloguing them. Out of four thousand hours, only sixty hours have been made public. We end on an IMAGE OF YORBA LINDA, CALIFORNIA ... turn of the twentieth century where it began. We focus on the faces of the early pioneers who settled the land -- we drift over the faces of HANNAH and FRANK, in their stern postures -past the BROTHERS, including the two deceased ones ... to little RICHARD, eyes all aglow with the hopes of the new century. RHAH (CONT'D) You'll do dinky dau in Long Binh Barnes. Ten years - kill an enlisted. Ten years, Barnes, just climb the walls. DON'T DO IT ... Barnes' eyes tremble in the candle light, his scars ugly, a spasm clenching and locking his facial muscles. Then suddenly he is calm again, very calm. We sense a man of enormous self-control. Suddenly he flicks his knife across Chris, leaving a mark below his left eye. Chris gasps. Looking up at Barnes rising off him. The boots alongside his face. The Men looking on, the tension lowering. Rhah sets his tripflare. Crawford, with him, putting out a claymore. NIXON (to all) Don't forget, the most important thing in your life is your relationship with your Maker ... (over his shoulder to all) Don't forget to be on God's side. This doesn't go down well with the protestors. ("Bullshit!") As Nixon is led down the steps to the limousine: HAIG Sir, you talked about opening up the whole "Bay of Pigs" thing again.

GEORGE SR. I'm worried about him. Really worried. (shakes head) But I can't talk to him. Allison can't even speak. She just ahskes her head no. LAUREN (CONT'D) Sit down. Here. EXT. THE HOLE AND GROUND ZERO - CONTINUOUS Dozens of rescuers are gathered around the top of the hole. Their stress level is high. There's an incredible tension in the air as everyone waits to see what's about to happen. When it feels like we can't wait another instant, Will's head emerges from the top of the hole. It's as if he is being reborn. He is alive and in one piece. A CHEER bursts out of the crowd. MEDIC (to Chris) That's your ride man, you ready? ELIAS So I'm thinking to myself - Elias you walk away from this, you gonna regret this the rest of your natural life. So I go after her, follow her down the beach. You know find out if she is what she is. They're all hooked into this now. ALLISON We're naming her Alyssa. NIXON (snaps) This is not a joke, John! NIXON ("NEWSFILM LOOK") (questioning witness) Can you tell me today the names of any pictures which Hollywood has made in the last five years showing the evils of totaliarian Communism? NIXON surrounded by REPORTERS outside the HUAC hearing room. NIXON

Can't we just talk here? I've got the police chiefs in San Diego. HALDEMAN It was right after the Pentagon Papers broke. They went in to get his psychiatric records. BARNES (to Hoyt on radio) Get Two Bravo up here. Get me a gun. (to others) Spread it out! More to the flanks! Look for a fuckin' target! Another explosion. WOLFE

Fuckin' A!

Elias runs up to him. Fire all around, incoming and outgoing, makes them yell to each other. NIXON (ON TAPE) (CONT'D) ...these guys went after Castro. Seven times, ten times ... What do you think -- people like that, they just give up? They just walk away? JOHN I don't know. RHAH Not the only man to meet his Jezebel either. ELIAS Dawn! That was it! NIXON I never thought Jack was ready for the presidency. But I would never, never consider... ELIAS (back to Barnes) Give me three men, if I'm wrong, I can still roll up that flank. NIXON We can't touch Hoover -PAT Yes, it's been a long time ...

A signal has been given. Nixon recoils, embarrassed. A slight sweat. BUSH SR. (suddenly tired) You own a baseball team. Spare yourself the headache. Maybe it's better you stay out of the barrel. REPORTER 4 (V.O.) ...Hiss claimed he was being set up by Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover to discredit the New Deal's policies. The case came down to an Underwood typewriter, and a roll of film hidden in a pumpkin patch. DOCUMENTARY IMAGE - A DETECTIVE-TYPE reaches into a hollowed-out pumpkin and pulls out microfilm. In his congressional office, NIXON examines the film with a magnifying glass, playing to the cameras with a deadly serious mien ... Shots of MRS. HISS, the Underwood typewriter. RHAH Hey Lieutenant I didn't ask for this job, I ... EXT. TEXAS RANGER STADIUM- DAY (IN HIS MIND) Bush stands in center field, alone, in the empty stadium, his stadium. A look of supreme contentment on his face. Though there is no one around, we hear the CRACK of a BAT. A towering blast from home plate. A ball in slow motion spirals through the air, his way. He pivots, then backtracks chasing it toward the centerfield wall. At the warning track, he reaches up and snares the fly ball with his bare hand. Gripping the ball, he triumphantly raises his arm as THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE rings through the stadium. NIXON -- as long as he's got secret files on everybody. I don't want 'em used against us. O'NEILL (reflexively) Yes sir And as Harris moves away, O'Neill is left thinking. Finally there is a certain frustration to his actions; he has taken such great pains to stay alive that the tuition he pays is

precisely to stay in this Jungle. Inevitably his time will come - one way or another. His eyes now follow the MEDIVAC CHOPPER upwards, whatever is left of his shrunken soul yearning to go with it. EXT. NVA BUNKER - COMPLEX - SANDERSON POSTION - DAY PORTLY PASSENGER Did you see that Johnson kid's homer on Sunday? Kid's got an arm. CHENEY What about Clinton? Elsewhere, another three NVA stop, turn and flee back from where they came. NIXON You know, Al, men in your profession ... you give 'em a pistol and you leave the room. ACE You're an asshole Lieutenant, you know that. As he abandons his radio, grabs up his 16 and moves to an adjacent position. Doc, a quiet man up to now, is treating a wounded Parker who is now hit by bullets and thrashes wildly and jerks to a stop. He is obviously dead but Doc goes on trying to finish the bandage. Suddenly he goes beserk, grabs a 16, starts firing and yelling. DOC They're coming through all over! I can't ... I can't do ... No, sir.

EHRLICHMAN HELMS By offering Cuba to the Russians as a consolation prize? CHRIS Okay - got light duty, three days. Nixon's expression changes totally, narrowing, cold. HALDEMAN (screaming) Go to commercial!

WILL They did what they needed to do. Couldn't have lived with themselves if they hadn't gone in. That's who they were. NIXON sits at his desk, holding a rigid expression. DONNA (CONT'D) Don't you come in here. I mean it. Don't you come in this house. BARNES You're dead, you're fucking dead Elias! I don't--

WILL PING! RESUME SCENE - NIXON takes another drink, looks up at Lincoln's portrait. FRANCIS (leaves) Let's get out of here man. But Bunny takes up the slack, moves forward on the young man. ZIEGLER That's right, sir. A moment. CHRIS (not to be bothered) No ... Gardner shows him his girl. She's real dog u-g-l-y, and what makes it worse is Gardner's put the standard photo of Raquel Welch alongside it, tits and all. But he misses the irony of it. KISSINGER He doesn't have a choice! He has to shift missiles from Europe to the Chinese border. With one stroke, the balance of power moves completely in our favor. This is a coup, Mr. President! ALLISON

Just don't ask me to invest in anymore of your dry wells. Yeah.

WILL INT. AMBASSADOR HOTEL - SUITE - LOS ANGELES - DAWN (1960) NIXON You know, they all miss the point. Probably our biggest achievement as an administration, when it's all said and done, isn't China or Russia. It's pulling out of Vietnam without a right wing revolt. ALLISON I'm not hungry. NIXON (V.O.) History will never be the same. Cabinets full of pills are overturned. The disguised and LIDDY, with the three CUBANS, go to work. A FILE is ripped from a cabinet. In the flashlight beam the reads "Daniel Ellsberg." A VOICE calls out: "Howard, it!"

HUNT FOLDER file I got

HELMS Flowers are continual reminders of our mortality. Do you appreciate flowers? BUSH Second fastest, maybe. He had endurance, but not my kind of speed. NIXON There's no secrets here, Al. LIDDY (to all) Remember -- listen up! Fire team discipline is there at all times. Keep your radios on at all times during the entire penetration. Check yourselves. Phony ID's, no wallets, no keys. We rendezvous where? The Watergate, Room 214. When? At zero three-hundred. The sound now of a C-130 air cargo plane roaring over us and we cut sharply to:

JULIE (sees her look) What's the matter? BUNNY (CONT'D) (stepping back, examines what's left of the head, amazed) Wow! You see his fucking head come apart? Look at that ... I never seen brains like dat before. Jesus fucking Christ... The Old Lady is shrieking, hovering over the body of her son. Bunny studying her. ROVE What do you say to-- "George W. Bush is a rich, spoiled jerk. His wealth was produced through stock swaps and bailouts helped by his father. BUSH JR. The great peanut farmer, rabbit hunter, Jimmy Carter sure isn't helping out any in the oil patch. (scoffs) Putting solar panels on the roof of the White House...gettin' big government to try and control gas and oil prices. BUSH SR. This is a moment you'll never forget. Being inaugurated the first time. Try and take a photograph in your mind. So you can savor it, when the times get tough...as they always do. NIXON looks out the window, turns to HALDEMAN next to him, making notes on his ubiquitous clipboard. ZIEGLER is nearby. SCOTT STRAUSS (CONT'D) You got McLoughlin stable for now? Hello ...

NIXON Pause. PAT What matters to me is whether you understand it.

A beat. He finally gets the tape stopped. CUT TO: FADE BACK IN. Vague sunlight. Blurry. Chris fluttering his eyes. A sharp MOVEMENT in the bush. His eyes fight their way open. SOFT EYES are watching him from behind foliage. A soft, furry head, alert, rigidly still. Chris fights his way up to his elbow, in pain, looking at the eyes. The head turns and in one fluid move, bolts. Gone. Like the wind. A deer. A big brown deer. Or was it? Chris will never be quite sure. But whatever it was, it was surely a sign of grace - the grace of Elias. This he knows as he feels himself for the first time alive. And in pain. His left hand torn and bleeding, shrapnel in his side, cuts on his face, dried blood caking him. Looking around his garden of eden. A messy jungle floor. Cordite fumes. Burned bush and trees. Torn sandbags. Dead NVA. Bird songs somewhere in the distance. It is the very crack of dawn, a pink- red sun casting long oblique light patterns through the trees. A holy light. Chris pushes himself to his feet, feels his weight and the pain. He walks. In the near distance, towards the LZ area, there's the sound of Armored Personnel carriers grinding, men moving, calling out in Americanese. But Chris is alone here. He fishes up an AK-47 from a dead NVA. Checks it, a weapon. Walks on. BENNINGTON You a legacy? BUSH I wanted to get into education. But he didn't give me any opening. Later. The crowd has thinned further to a hard-core dozen. The last man -- Mitch -- comes from the inner bedrooms, zipping up, the Servants chasing out the straggling girls. Another round of drinks is served. The cigars are out. KISSINGER Uh ... not really. You mean on my knees? CUBAN So Kissinger stays. Just like Castro, Mr. Nixon?

BARNES Yeah. Back about 100 metres. He's dead, now get going, the gooks are all over the fuckin' place. Moving on quickly. Chris has no choice but to follow, looking back one more time. HALDEMAN Eight words back in '72 -- "I covered up. I was wrong. I'm sorry" -- and the American public would've forgiven him. But we never opened our mouths, John. We failed him. Daddy?

ALLISON BUSH SR. We all make mistakes. NIXON "--the skies above are clear again. Let's sing a song of cheer again--"... Cocksucker! Pat turns off the TV. EHRLICHMAN McCord? ... O'NEILL Excuses are like assholes, Taylor everybody got one. INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - NIXON BEDROOM - NIGHT NIXON That's right ... SGT. KING I've been trying to call you. The phones-SANDERSON Nah this stuff's important. He puts the documents back in the ammo case, lifts it. It's the last thing he ever does. INT. REPUBLICAN CONVENTION - NIGHT (1968) NIXON I'm not Jack Kennedy. Your agency is

secure. Elias, further back, is checking out the jungle alongside the clearing, noticing a number of old spider holes long since abandoned. He goes over and checks them. PAT You don't have to go. MAJOR (looks at his watch, to his XO) Okay move two squads from Alpha down there. Where's that goddamn air strike, you bet your ass if we were the First Cav they'd be here now. NIXON (CONT'D) Probably most of you think real SOB. I know that. But understand how you feel, I do. I want peace, too, but with honor.

I'm a I really peace

NIXON (continues) You see these bums, you know, blowing up the campuses, burning books and so forth. They call themselves "flower children." Well, I call them spoiled rotten. And I tell you what would cure them -- a good old-fashioned trip to my Ohio father's woodshed. That's what these bums need! DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE - More STUDENTS are throwing rocks. The GUARDSMEN are momentarily panicked, confused. Then, suddenly: they open fire. A melee. Screaming. STUDENTS running. Then: half a dozen BODIES lie on the ground. A young WOMAN crouches over a BODY, crying. ARTHUR NIXON (7) cries in pain. RICHARD (12) helps FRANK, his father, hold him on the bed as a DOCTOR twists a long needle into the base of Arthur's spine. FRANKS How are you, sir? ELIAS Then the worm has definitely turned

for you man. Chris puzzled by this expression. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - PRESIDENT'S CABIN - NIGHT BUSH Hell, no, that's the last thing in the world I'd want to do. TOLSON Edgar, think twice. He works in the kitchen. BUNNY (to Chris) Come on, man, let's do her. She cowers from him. Chris steps back, horrified. As is O'Neill, more puzzled than horrified. NIXON (a beat, quietly) I've gotta keep fighting, Buddy, for the country. These people running things, the elite ... they're soft, chickenshit faggots! They don't have the long-term vision anymore. They just want to cover their asses or meet girls or tear each other down. Oh, God, this country's in deep trouble, Buddy ... and I have to see this through. Mother would've wanted no less of me ... I'm sorry, Buddy. Pat stands, about to leave. O'NEILL Collect your shit and move out King. You got 10 minutes make the last chopper. Cee ess em oh or your ass is mine. RHAH (finally hooked in) And living in Hawaii man? WILL Remember that earthquake? Where was it? Turkey? There's a little girl there lived four days buried in rubble. A New York City MTA bus idles by on the sidewalk. The group

of officers that John selected file on. Parked in front of the bus in a Suburban painted with the blue and white logo of the Port Authority. CHRIS (CONT'D) Barnes got it in for you, don't he? REPORTERS (V.O.) Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox has broadened his investigation to include President's Nixon's business dealings and house payments. Nixon apparently paid no income tax in the years 1970, '71 and '72 ... and may have illegally used government funds to improve his San Clemente Western White House. HAIG holds open the doors as the ORDERLIES push Nixon into the respiratory unit. Pezzulo!

DOMINICK (O.S.) WOLFE Need anything? JUNIOR (to Barnes, pointing at Chris) That dumb fuck didn't blow his claymore! Chris hearing this. Barnes looks at him. NIXON (ON TV) You know what it was? It was a little cocker spaniel dog. Black and white spotted. And ... our little girl, Tricia, the six-year-old, named it "Checkers." And you know, the kids love that dog and we're going to keep it ... DEAN (suddenly) Executive clemency ... DEAN Well, they're trying to connect Bob and John to a secret fund, but they don't have much. BUSH I want you to know that we're going

to put our full weight behind that Second Resolution. We'll twist as many arms as necessary, to get these other fellows on board. ROVE (pipes up) Well, then what about "Axis of the unbearably obvious?" BUNNY Thataway Sarge, fuckin' Elias man, fuckin' squeal that's what he is, gonna get everybody in the platoon in shit. Somebody oughta fix his ass... Barnes fixing his coffee. CHRIS ...there's nobody. EXT. CHRIS' POSITION - NIGHT (RAIN) Karnes.

DAVE EXT. VILLAGE TRAIL - DAY Yes!

BUSH INT. NIXON'S FIFTH AVENUE APARTMENT - DAY (1968) FRANCIS Can you do any better, Mister Pussy? JAN O'NEIL To the best thing that ever came out of a Texas backyard barbecue. They walk past ANALYSTS laboring in isolation behind Plexiglass walls; the hum of computers, a dark austerity to the place. They all glance up as NIXON strides past. What the?

CHRISTOPHER (CONT'D) TEX (CONT'D) AAAAAGHHH! MY ARM! MY ARM! NIXON It's the parents' fault really.

BARNES Ask him what the weapons are doing here? Past scores of NVA bodies. Past the Foxhole where Bunny lays dead in the bottom, faceless. Looking over at Junior bayoneted to the ground, dead. NVA everywhere around the hole, some of them still moving, badly wounded. Chris looking around, then noticing a movement a little further out in the Jungle. Then he sees who. The uniform is shredded, the figure obviously hurt in several places (thigh, back, neck, hand) but not mortally so, now struggling to right itself, dragging its face up from a belly- down position. Streaked with dirt and blood, we see Barnes once again re-emerging from the dead. Chris steps over to him, a solemn look on his face. Barnes looks up, begs. BARNES (CONT'D) You pussies gotta smoke this shit so's you can hide from reality...? HALDEMAN ...this entire affair, the President wants you to know, is related to the Bay of Pigs, and if it opens up... Helms grips the arms of his chair, leans forward excitedly, and yells at Haldeman. NIXON (T.V.) ...When we consider the lineup of the world, we find there are 590 million people on our side, 800 million on the Communist side, and 600 million who are neutral. The odds are 5 to 3 against us... FRANKS These are the latest revisions to 'Polo Step.' Under the plan, we project war with Iraq should last approximately 225 days. 90-45-90 is our scenario. That includes 90 days of prep; moving approximately 150,000 troops into Kuwait at first. Building airfields there, getting in equipment, weapons, supplies, fuel. Then, in phase two, we'll conduct airstrikes for 45 days before we move into ground combat--

O'NEILL (checking out the hutch) Forget it will ya, let's go... Chris standing there, watching, sensing something awful is going to come and unable to do anything about it. It comes suddenly and without warning. Bunny is looking at O'Neill, the Vietnamese couple are muttering something. In one fluid move, Bunny swivels and with unbelievable savagery clubs the young one-legged man in the side of the head with the butt of his 16. NEWSCASTER President Kennedy has called Governor Pat Brown to congratulate him... CHRIS (charging off into the jungle) DIE YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!! DAVE It's like God made a curtain with the smoke. Shielding us from what we're not yet ready to see. NIXON (CONT'D) (woozily at his hands) It's unbelievable, it's insane ... On that note, we: CUT TO: WILL And about Dominick helping me instead of escaping. REPORTER (V.O.) J. Edgar Hoover is dead at the age of seventy-seven. The legendary crime buster served his country as Director of the FBI for almost half a century, from 1924 to 1972. An enormous BRAHMA BULL, red-eyed, snorting, thrashes viciously against the reinforced walls of its pen. NIXON and JACK JONES watch as SECRET SERVICE hover nearby. FOOTBALL MONTAGE: RICHARD (19), 150 pounds, is on the defensive line as the ball is hiked. ("Let's get fired up!") He gets creamed by a 200-pound offensive tackle. He jumps up, no face guard, hurting, and resets. AD LIB football chatter. We can tell from Richard's cheap uniform that he is

a substitute. But: We go again. And again. Building a special RHYTHM of JUMP CUTS showing Nixon getting mauled each time. He doesn't have a chance, this kid, but he has pluck. And he comes back for more. And more. This image of pain and humiliation should weave itself in and out of the film in repetitive currents. As we CUT TO: NIXON They had us bugged. Christ, he had everybody bugged. Yeah, he was gonna support me in '68, but he was also threatening me. INT. AIR FORCE ONE - PRESS CABIN - SUNSET BARNES Yeah, they got two Lieutenants and a Captain. BUSH San Jacinto, yeah. The next year I moved to Houston. Still, don't know how I could have missed seeing someone as pretty as you? FLEISCHER She kept pestering me; her usual liberal bull--"What makes Saddam any different from other dictators?" "What right do we have to go to war with Iraq?" HAROLD Go to law school. Mom and Dad'll be able to afford it now ... Richard looks at him in horror. KAY He really thought you were bluffing. Right up to the end. NIXON (ON TV) ...so now what I am going to do is give this audience a complete financial history. Everything I've earned, everything I've spent, everything I owe...

Nixon forces a smile. Pat is clearly in pain, mortified. REPORTER 1 (V.O.) We can now officially write the political obituary of Richard Milhouse Nixon ... He came into being as part of the big post-war 1946 Republican sweep of the elections. People were weary of the New Deal and FDR's big government... Images of FDR, TRUMAN, and ACHESON, early Cold War imagery the Soviets, Berlin. KING Barnes gets killed, his jaws'd go on clacking... JIM SALE The bombastic Bushkin is sure fleecin' us tonight. ARTHUR I like Margaret O'Herlihy, too. She's very pretty. Can we pray now? The boys start giggling. JUNIOR Youse a pig man. I hope Manny get dat laundry gig for' you do. BUSH (flares) Hold on here-- when it comes to the integrity of my father. What mess are you talking about, Mr. Hance? DIRECTOR She's right down front. JOHN I got four kids. Dave smiles. John is passed to the front of the assembly line. He looks at the first two men who take him. RICHARD Yes, Mother ... LAWYER Oh, I've read some very nice things

about you. PAT (beat) This isn't political, Dick. This is our life. RICHARD, obediently seated, pays his Mother heed. He seems a gloomy, unsmiling child in her presence. We sense that this is familiar territory for both. HANNAH, very quiet, penetrating with her gaze. HAROLD What do you think? He said in life there's no free ride. WILL Well then you can't die either. HALDEMAN (confused) I don't understand. Track 2's Chile? At the Ambush CP, Ace whispers into his radio. A soft hissing sound. JONES ...And now I have a federal judge ordering me to bus my kids halfway 'cross town to go to school with some nigger kids. I think, Mr. President, you're forgetting who put you where you are. BUSH First is first and second is nothin'. PORTLY PASSENGER That's a good one to a been at. Elsewhere on the perimeter, Chris is digging out a foxhole with Rhah, as King and Lerner prepare the C's for dinner. Allison can't stand this. She walks into the kitchen. There, in front of the stove, is MARIALENA, Will's round little mother. Marialena is on her knees with her eyes closed. What?

NIXON HAIG looks at Dean on TV, shakes his head, disgusted, and goes out.

REPORTERS (V.O.) FBI Director-designate, L. Patrick Gray, shocked the Senate by revealing that John Dean has been secretly receiving FBI reports on Watergate ... Gray also said that Dean lied when he claimed Howard Hunt did not have an office in the White House... An NVA SOLDIER, jungle-whiskered, dirty, smart, crouches, listens, looks to his PARTNER. What are they fighting here? The First One mutter something sharp and they split fast in the direction they've come. They get about six steps when Elias suddenly rises up from the bush, not ten yards in front of them, his shots ripping into them, driving the surprised life from them. Elias is gone. EHRLICHMAN Christ, we created Frankenstein with those fucking Cubans. Haldeman sighs, lets his guard down. HAIG Your lawyers feel it's the ... "smoking gun." RHAH (to Chris) Shit boy you been out in the sun too long. You try that, he'll stick it right back up your ass with a candle on it. REPORTER 4 (V.O.) (CONT'D) But Whittaker Chambers, a former freelance journalist, said he was a Communist. WHITTAKER CHAMBERS testifying before the HUAC. CRAWFORD History, man, history. Chris surprised at their attitude. The joint suddenly hits him, a look in his face, eyes looking around different. Over at King. COLSON Just whisper the word to me, sir, and I'll shoot Ellsberg myself.

George Bush Jr., 26, behind the wheel, drunk, radio BLARING. He steers over the curb, onto the lawn of a Colonial home, lurching to a stop by the shrubbery. ALLISON Did you bring your cell phone? KING Yeah, just stole me some from the Top's supply but he's stealing it from us anyway. KISSINGER (smiles) But they all got it back again, didn't they? (proffering a card) We should have lunch sometime. At the Platoon CP, small arms fire is all over the place, the NVA closing the ring. Ace, in the foxhole, yells to Wolfe. STAFFERS Lying sack of shit! Little mommy's boy -- go tell the teacher, will ya... JUNIOR (to Barnes) He let'em walk right up on us. He was sleeping on his shift. JR. You've had enough? Well, I'm glad to hear that. ACE Sir! Shot out. Arty's on the way! BUSH I grew up Presbyterian, but now I'm Episcopalian. PAT They've lost a brother. You know what that means, Dick. Nixon sighs, watches the TV -- images of a touch football game in Hyannis Port. NIXON Exactly! We've got to take the war to them. Hit 'em where it hurts --

right in the nuts. More assassinations, more killings. Right, Al? WARREN Manny! ... Hey Buchanan. There is no answer. The men in the platoon start to look at each other, sensing more trouble. Elias heads into the bush after him. Barnes watches him go. Francis, his friend, and Tubbs and King follow. ROCKEFELLER (shaking another hand) Hiya, fellow ... What were they? Elias coming abreast of Wolfe. KISSINGER (at the door) Mr. Nixon, it is possible for even a president to go too far. WILL (pointing to the lobby) They're evacuating out of Tower 2 also? BARNES Yeah, and I ain't even cheating yet. NIXON Never. I never said that about Jews! Buzhardt glances at St. Clair. BUSH I have tasters in the kitchen. What's on your mind, Vice? NIXON Let 'em try! I appointed three of those bastards! I'm not giving 'em my tapes! BUSH Well, remember, we're not looking to play small ball. RICHARD (lying) I don't ... have them. Mother ... I

swear, I ... didn't smoke. NIXON I need you out there. It won't be like last time. The war's crippled the Democrats. I can win ... We deserve it. Yeah, it's ours, Buddy -- at last. Nobody knows better than you. Frank Nixon's boy. Pat slows her packing. Nixon takes her hand. Barnes stares down at a WEAPONS CACHE buried cleverly underneath the ruce urns. Ace, Fu Sheng, Sgt.Warren, Lt.Wolfe, others, are digging it out. It's in white plastic wrappings - a load of AK- 47's, rockets, grenades, claymores, carbines, flares, NVA uniforms. A real find. NIXON (a realization) You can't stop it, can you? Even if you wanted to. Because it's not you. It's the system. And the system won't let you stop it... SUBTITLE READS: "JUNE 1971 - A YEAR LATER" DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE - The White House is still ringed. ARMED TROOPS patrol Pennsylvania Avenue. The BUSES are drawn up. SMOKE is in the air. The SOUNDS of cherry bombs going off. Signs that read: "End the war! Throw the fascists out! Dick Nixon before he dicks you!" BOB (to the camera) Nothing sells like sincerity. A BLACK SCREEN as the film rattles out, followed by a RADIO REPORT over the darkened room, the sounds of doors closing. RADIO REPORT (V.O.) Five men wearing surgical gloves and business suits, and carrying cameras and electronic surveillance equipment, were arrested today in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington. They were unarmed. Nobody knows yet why they were there or what they were looking for... NIXON Well, it's not good enough...

ACE Negative contact. Can't raise Barnes, Two Bravo, Two Charlie, nothin'! BUNNY Hey look at this! Ma and Pa Kettle here. Look at them - greasy gook motherfuckers! BUNNY (CONT'D) Yeah sure you are, you're real sorry ain't you. You're just crying out your hearts about Sandy and Sal and Manny - they're laughing at us! Their family is out there in the fucking bush blowing us away and they're laughing at us! EXT. NVA BUNKER - CHRIS' POSITION - DAY SGT. KING (measured, careful) Alright. Mrs. Jimeno. We received confirmation here. Yes. Will went in. But we have no location on him and we have had no communication with him. BUSH SR. Sorry to hear that Selig screwed you. ELIAS I fucked this chick in Hawaii man. Couple weeks ago ... Oooooh! Wow outasight. Gracie Slick man, she looked like Gracie man, I shit you not. PAT I remember Alger Hiss. I know how ugly you can be -- you're capable of anything. But you see, it doesn't really matter, at the end of the day, what's on them. Because you have absolutely no remorse. No concept of remorse. You want the tapes to get out, you want them to see you at your worst... EXT. JUNGLE - STREAM - DAY (RAIN) ELIAS

My report sir, will include Lt. Wolfe as being witness to the shooting... NIXON No! He bursts through the door into: Rhah, alive and well, is poking around the NVA corpses with a long gnarled walking stick, looking like a crazy Johnny Appleseed with his pants rolled up on his thin hairy ankles and wearing a red bandana tied in a four-knot around his head. As one of the APC SOLDIERS carves an ear off a dead NVA, Rhah works his way through the torn bloody pocket of an NVA Troop in full rigor mortis, extracting what he thought was there - a wrapped cellophane of heroin. Rhah's face glows with satisfaction as he tastes it, then snorts it. With a certain satisfaction of triumph over the grim circumstances. NIXON Buddy? ... CHRIS Yeah, I dropped out of college and told 'em I wanted infantry, combat, and Nam ... He grins, finding their reactions funny. It's also the first time we've seen Chris crack a smile. EXT. VILLAGE - DITCH - DAY INT. JONES RANCH - DAY EHRLICHMAN (shakes his head) Colson doesn't know about it; he's pure as a virgin on this one. It's just not clear the burglars knew what they were looking for. They were heading to McGovern's office later that night. BUSH No, I'm serious. I like the way you think...And look. NIXON Are you tapping Kissinger?

RICHARD (terrified) No, no! Please, don't. Don't tell him. I'll never do it again. I promise. I promise ... (on the edge of tears) Please, mama ... DONNA They evacuated those buildings. I'm sure everyone was fine. ZIEGLER Well, we could delete it. INT. EXEC OFFICE BLDG - NIXON OFFICE - DAY EXT. TRAIL - RUINS - POSITION #1 - NIGHT MARTHA Well, zippety-fucking-doo-dah! Mitchell moves Nixon away towards the Rockefeller GROUP. NIXON sits in his bed, alone, still in his pajamas. It's clear he hasn't slept. He looks shell-shocked. His eyes are open. From his POV we see that he hears nothing. Sees nothing. Feels nothing. John is sure he is dead. He is perfectly still, getting used to this feelings of being dead. OFF-SCREEN VOICE AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! CHRIS (shocked) He's dead! Where? ... You saw him? NIXON My God -- divorce? EXT. NVA JUNGLE - NIGHT/DUSK RUMSFELD We'll issue a blackout on media coverage of any American soldiers in caskets.

KING Man, you gonna be in Japan this time tomorrow, Big Harold. EXT. TEXAS LANDSCAPE - DAY JUNIOR Shit I hope so! EXT. VILLAGE - OUTSIDE HUTCH - DAY NIXON (drinks) No one understands! -- even my own men. What do you think the Communists respond to? Honesty, liberal guilt, soul-wringing crap, fathers on TV crying? Hell no! I understand the Communist mind, I've studied it for thirty years. They grasp "realpolitik" better than any of us, right, Henry? Henry nods. SUBTITLE READS: "MARCH 1973" HANNAH Thou must. She moves closer, casting a shadow over his face. HAIG They might ... if there were another ... recording. Nixon glances up at him. NIXON (CONT'D) Dear God! Dear God, how can a country come apart like this! What have I done wrong...? Kissinger is experiencing pure dread, his shirt soaked with sweat. He opens his eyes and peeks at Nixon. NIXON Yeah ... I'm out. HUNT (CONT'D) Mein Kampf? HALDEMAN So you tell Mitchell ...

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INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE - DAY (1971) Sgt. Warren cautiously explores another bunker, probing a little tunnel in the bottom of it with a stick. Bunny, having a small frame, goes down into it, fearless. BUSH More government is not the answer. We must have the attitude-- that every child in America, regarldess of where they're raised, can learn. I mean, rarely is the question asked-- is our children learning? GEORGE SR. What! You can't play. Coach? You're fishing for the moon in the water. Something real. I started out in the oilfields, and I was hoping that... (sighs, frustrated) Look, you only get one bite at the apple. NIXON ... and get rid of all these "goddamns" and "Jesus Christs!" HOOVER Yes. Your old friend from Cuba. TOLSON ... give me a break, Mary. JOHN (weakly) What? ELIAS Tell Six we need engineers here, this pos. is crawling with traps. ANTONIO (quietly spitting) We at least got to try. JR. I'll talk however I want. BUNNY Come on MOTHERFUCKERS, COME ON!!! Junior, huddled in the hole with him, speechless and terrified, looks at him with huge eyes. The guy is nuts. An incoming grenade explosion shakes the hole.

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HALDEMAN (to the others) The old Nixon charm? Who could resist that. JOHN I'm okay. Need water. CHRIS (suspicious) Doc ... tell me the truth, don't lie to me. The needle goes in. Tex lets out this strange keening moan that sets everyone's teeth on edge. CHRIS (V.O.) (CONT'D) ... I guess I have always been sheltered and special, I just want to be anonymous. Like everybody else. Do my share for my country. Live up to what Grandpa did in the First War and Dad the Second. I know this is going to be the war of my generation. Well here I am anonymous all right, with guys nobody really cares about - they come from the end of the line, most of 'em, small towns you never heard of - Pulaski, Tennessee, Brandon, Mississippi, Pork Bend, Utah, Wampum, Pennsylvania. Two years' high school's about it, maybe if they're lucky a job waiting for 'em back in a factory, but most of 'em got nothing, they're poor, they're the unwanted of our society, yet they're fighting for our society and our freedom and what we call America, they're the bottom of the barrel - and they know it, maybe that's why they call themselves 'grunts' cause a 'grunt' can take it, can take anything. They're the backbone of this country, grandma, the best I've ever seen, the heart and soul - I've found it finally, way down here in the mud - maybe from down here I can start up again and be something I can be proud of, without having to fake it, maybe ... I can see something I don't yet see, learn something I don't yet know ... I miss you, I miss you very much,

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tell Mom I miss her too - Chris. THE END