Monday, December 20, 2010

ACT FOUR
Scene I. Washington, D.C. The Mall.

[Enter Chorus.]
Chorus. Shakespeare misquoted, for your consideration:
“To be or not to be, is that a question?”
Taken here, the problem is not so clear.
Brave Hamlet talked of only death and life.
The deeds of Richard are of greater strife. 5
Under the scrutiny of this History
comes the Chief Executive of this Country.
Indeed, Affairs of State are Acts of Men,
as governed by the Constitution.
Yet how is this judged or who’s to choose 10
why which view prevails or which party fails?
Issues face us. Two sides, emotional,
believe there is no one truly impartial
left on this earth who can judge wrong from right.
In any ideological fight, 15
the flares and flames of passion burn the mind
into thinking that all must take a side.
“If ye be not for me, ye must be agin’ me!”
has forever been the partisans’ cry.
And no settlement will ever be found 20
to satisfy both sides. They won’t be bound
by any decent Logic known to man.
For Logic, you see, only tends to fan
outlandish bursts of emotional tension,
which fills a land with apprehension . 25
Each feuding side does hide the Truth full well
within the veil of Hyperbole’s saddle.
Even you, out there in audience land,
already have formed an opinion of this man.
And nothing we present in these final acts 30
could ever cloud your judgment of the facts
about this man, Richard Nixon by name,
of how he fared or what ever became
of him. For even now the Nation is
divided in two camps. As half the folks 35
laugh, “Alas, poor Richard, I knew ye well,”
the other half cries, “You Nixon haters,
you filthy Press, upon our President
you’ve unleashed the Hounds of Hell.”
Not ‘til all the principals are dead and cold 40
will wise and brave historians be bold
and say for certain who was wrong, and why.
So this History of Richard M. Nixon
Finds a turning point. Either a triumph
for those that want to fix him, or a 45
vindication for his loyal support.
So sit back in your comfortable chair
and watch the tale the players again prepare.
If you find them good in what they do,
give them a hand, 50
for they present a tale most significant
in the history of our land.
[Exit.]
[Enter Leon Jaworski, a Prosecutor.]
Jaworski. Thanks to my predecessor, I’ve been able
to do my job. Here in my right hand are
seven indictments against seven 55
administration men. I go to hand
them up to His Honor, to begin the
prosecution of these indicted men.
And all the evidence I have will go
to the House Committee that studies his 60
Impeachment. I find it a shame that the
President will not give up his many
tapes. And now I’m forced to go before the
District Court to enforce my subpoenas
and the subpoenas of the House Committee. 65
I see just over there a bookstore with
a big blue book. A compromise is no
compromise if only one side agrees
to it. But ne’er-the-less, we have thirteen
hundred pages of edited transcripts. 70
The President says that is all we need
to decide that he’s innocent. But I’ll
be expletive deleted if I’ll for
one moment be unwise enough to think
that edited transcripts are the whole truth! 75
Thus, I need tapes, not transcripts! Or
do the President and his lawyer take
me and the House Committee for abject
fools? There exists two possibilities.
If Nixon is not guilty, then I can 80
take these blue bound transcripts at face value
The President asks me and the country
to trust him now, for he is the best judge.
There is another possibility,
horrid to think on. If Mr. Nixon 85
is guilty of doing wrong once, is it
not so impossible that he would have
the tapes transcribed to cover up his guilt?
I will not trust a man because he pleads
me to. I must discern the truth myself. 90
[Enter Martha Mitchell.]
Hello, Mrs. Mitchell.
Martha. Hello, Mr. Jaworski. You contemplate deeply.
Jaworski. The ambiguities of our day trouble me.
Martha. They trouble us all. Just look around you.
Over there the TV shouts for the 95
thousandth time a picture of our President
declaring he’ll not resign. And the
radio tells of the Court cases against
his former aides. And the papers at the
newsstand inform the reader that the 100
President should either resign or be
impeached! Sometimes I pity the
President. I can feel sorry for such
a man who’s long time friends are either
indicted or leave his side. Oh, so 105
many papers, loyal to him for many years,
turn their backs and editorially
say he should not be President.
It is sad to see a man attacked by former friends.
Jaworski. They say, madam, that rats desert a sinking ship. 110
[Exeunt.]



[Enter two Citizens.]
1st Person. Well, delete my expletives, if it ain’t ol’ Hal.
2nd Person. That’s not funny, Roger. You know that I’m
a Nixon man. Nixon’s the greatest
President we’ve ever been fortunate to have.
1st Person. Come now, dear friend, surely you joke? Have you 115
not read the voluminous blue editions
of the edited transcripts?
2nd Person. That I’ve done.
1st Person. And isn’t it now clear to you that your
President is a shameful disgrace? 120
Have you no vision to see a man
who let his friends do dirty work while your
President stood by and watched? I find
the immorality of these transcripts
appalling. Why was there no cry 125
of moral indignation sent out?
2nd Person. Why friend, do you mean the same transcripts as
I? I’ve read fully and thoroughly all
the blue bound volumes and I can find
nothing at all that incriminates my mind. 130
You must read things that are not there!
1st Person. Exactly, all those portions marked,
“Not related to Watergate matters.”
Hah! The most important parts are not included.
2nd Person. You lie, fiend. Have you no trust? 135
1st Person. Not in Richard M. Nixon.
[Exit 1st Citizen.]
2nd Person. Well, I do!
[Exit 2nd Citizen.]

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