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Watgerate at 50...
🕑 Added 2022-06-15 20:11:37 +0000 UTCWe have some good Watergate material coming out for the 50th anniversary (June 17). As a teaser of sorts, I wanted to share this scene from Oliver Stone's Nixon. Oliver actually cut this scene from the film's theatrical release. Reportedly, this was because of the film's long running time. In fact, Richard Helms' lawyers acted to pressure the filmmakers to remove the scene since Helms was still alive.
As a result, the scene only got released with the Director's Cut of Nixon after Helms died. In the scene, Sam Waterson plays DCI Richard Helms. Orchids and poetry were actually associated with James Angleton, but they were added to the scene for dramatic/artistic purposes.
Comments
Rory Kuykendall
Wow 😳
Aaron Good
Well, you'll see that I disagree with Morley on some points and his focus on Watergate isn't the same as mine. That said, I personally don't think he went on too much about Helms personal life. Yes, I--and presumably AE readers and listeners--are more interested in the deeper political forces and the historical impact of Watergate, but the work does collect the visible relationship b/t the two Dicks. And in my mind it makes it impossible for an objective person to accept the official, sanitized accounts of Dallas or Watergate.
Johnny Case
Absolutely, Aaron. And I look forward to your Morley interview. He's certainly the real deal and very nice man. But where's the music? In dealing with opaque devils such as Helms, Angelton, Dulles and the rest of the Coven, I don't see the point in mere document/testimony surfing. Helms served a function and was thrilled about doing so. I don't give a fuck how good a ballroom dancer this motherfucking mass murderer was. Or how he found his second love late in life. Burn in hell with this cocksucker. (Do we know where his grave is, so we can all go and piss on it? The way that great philosopher David Atlee Phillips did on JFK's grave.) Nope. David Talbot gets it. James Douglass gets it. So does Helmut Kruger in "The Great Heroin Coup."
BruceInAdelaide
creepier than creepy!
Aaron Good
It is a good book, but it does stay within a certain scope. I think it is great for people who want a good entry point for what is wrong with the conventional Watergate narrative. You'll see in our discussion that I try and get into exactly these areas. Morley has a different perspective than me, even as he does realize that Helms and other CIA elements had to have been involved in both Dallas and Watergate. So while of course I would say Scott's work on Watergate is the best--and I tried to build on that in my two Watergate chapters--Morley's work is still interesting and useful for meticulously presenting so much important information.
Johnny Case
Great scene. Thank you! Sadly, imho, Morley's new book is a real flop. He portrays Helms as your standard very clever and very ambitious bureaucrat ~ he could be Don Draper or trying to grab the golden ring within US Steel. (Limitations of Morley's first two CIA bios.) No deep state here. No capitalism. Nothing sinister. Just colliding ambitions. Boo.
John McElroy
Wow that was intense - forgot about this
Angleton
James JESUS Angleton
NYCM&AHole
Amazing and chilling scene. Totally should’ve been in the film.
theSmokingGun
This is one of the most powerful scenes in cinema history. I've watched it probably a thousand times. The best part is just how subtle the conversation is. I can show this to my parents and the entire conversation wouldn't be understood.
