"So Nixon called in Bob Haldeman, his chief of staff and said, 'Why is this son of a bitch allowed to make so much trouble for us? Tell J. Edgar Hoover to look into this guy and get something on him.' Haldeman called the FBI and said, 'The boss wants you to look into the background of a correspondent named Daniel Schorr.' He made a mistake there because the word 'background' has a special meaning at the FBI. To them it means a check on somebody who is about to receive a presidential appointment. And the FBI misunderstood, sending people all over the country asking for reactions about Dan Schorr."
"One of my bosses called me and said, 'What the hell is this? Are you going to work for Nixon? You're out of your mind!' But I had no idea why they were investigating me. So, the Washington Post runs this story that FBI is investigating Daniel Schorr, and refuses to say why. Whereupon, the White House staff gets together with Chuck Colson, and says we've got to have a story we can put out on this. We'll have to say that we are actually considering him for a White House appointment, that the background check had started before we could get to him, and the President is very sorry about that. Of course in testimony to the impeachment committee they admitted it was all a lie, and there never was any job for Schorr."
"Twenty years later I go to dinner where Nixon was speaking. At the end of his speech -- which was pretty good, he had just come back from the Soviet Union, and gave a good rundown on what was happening there -- I walked over to him, couldn't resist. 'Mr. Nixon, I'm not sure you'll remember me. My name is Daniel Schorr.' He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Sure, Dan Schorr, damn near hired you once.'"
Thanks for relating that tale.
That's a nice piece of history.
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