Frost/Nixon is a historical drama based on the real-life interviews between British media personality David Frost and disgraced former American President Richard M. Nixon. On 6/18/72 a man who was an employee of Richard Nixon’s reelection committee office was arrested after trying to bug democratic national committee office. This was one of the series of events that lead to the 8-0 vote from congress to have the tapes from the Watergate scandal released.
After this, impeachment inevitable. After two years of bitter public debate over the Watergate scandals, President Nixon bowed to pressures from the public and leaders of his party to become the first President in American history to resign” Kilpatrick, C. (1974, 9 8). Richard Nixon announced that it was the 37th time Nixon spoke from that office stated he would resign effective the next day. This came as a shock to some, most seemed mad though because there was no remission of guilt, no apologies.
However, when he left office, it was 0600 hrs on the west coast; half of his audience was asleep. This was pointed out by David Frost. Gerald Ford became the new president. One of the first things Gerald Ford done was to give Nixon a full, free pardon for all the offenses against the US. Ford was desperate to move on from the Watergate thing. 2-1 public opinion poll, disapproval of the full free pardon for Nixon. It was said on the movie: “ Roosevelt had his New Deal. Truman his Fair Deal, now Ford has his crooked deal. Howard, R. (2008). Frost/Nixon [Theater].
David Frost was a British individual. He was a television host and was in Australia when President Nixon resigned. He hoped to interview Nixon and get the truth. Frost wanted to do a full interview, a look back over his life. Frost recruited John Birt to help him get an interview with Richard Nixon. With the help of Swifty Lazar, Nixon’s team agrees to the Frost interview at a cost of $600K. David Frost met with Nixon, paid him $200K and would later do another interview and pay the rest.
It was quite a work and effort for Frost to get the interview, but finally he got the interviews March, 1977 in a hotel room at the Beverly Hilton. Interviews for 2 weeks long. During the interview, Richard Nixon ultimately admits that he may have done things that were illegal, and let the country down in the process. The events leading up to the interview were very interesting. For instance, a group 3 of investigators got together and tried to figure out what they could talk to Nixon about. They wanted to give Nixon the trial he never had.
I found it interesting that “ will you shake his hand? ” was a question amongst David Frost’s group of investigators. A lack of respect for an individual from people who has little influence in the US compared to an individual who had very much influence in America. Funny to me how something as a handshake was so big then, and has become so minuet now. And that perspiration was a total worry to Nixon as he had trouble with it before struck me as he was comfortable and likely a likeable guy.
Nixon was a person who seemed to be able to talk about anything. Why didn’t you burn the tapes? ” first question asked by David Frost to Richard Nixon. I find it interesting that was his first question. The stunning look on David Frost was almost like he had honestly no idea what he was going to say next after such a huge question. All the time prepping for the interview, questions already wrote, gone because he chose the gutsy route. Nixon burned 23 minutes rambling to the first question. This movie was really good. I enjoyed the effort that David Frost had to put forward to get a network to air his interview with Nixon.
It was kind of like they were unsure what would come out in the interview. And how it would look for a British newsperson to be reporting on a US president resignation. I thoroughly enjoyed when Frost was in the home of Nixon. I would like to think that Nixon was that down to earth and storytelling. Nixon has left an impression on me as an individual who may have done something wrong, but was moving forward and doing fine. I enjoyed his talk with Brenner about David Frost’s shoes, and the cost of the interview. This movie seemed well written and quite factual.
