On Aug. 8 at 9 p.m., 40 years since Richard Nixon announced he would resign the presidency, PBS will air Dick Cavett's Watergate, an hour special combining the long-time talk show host's new and archived interviews with major players.
The new interviews include Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post team that broke the story of the White House scandal, John Dean, the former White House counsel who provided details to Congress, and Watergate historian Timothy Naftali.
Cavett hosted a talk show on ABC from 1968 to 1975, then on public TV from 1977 to 1982.
Among the archival interviews are with Watergate figures John Ehrlichman, Alexander Haig, G. Gordon Liddy, Jeb Magruder and Senate Watergate Committee members Howard Baker, Daniel Inouye, Herman Talmadge, and Lowell Weicker.
TV coverage of those committee hearings were appointment afternoon TV for many in the Baby Boomer generation in the pre-C-SPAN days.
Cavett was a self-described Watergate junkie and PBS asserts no TV show outside of the nightly network newscasts devoted more attention to the issue between 1972 and 1974.
That did not escape the notice of the White House. The special includes a quote from President Nixon: "Cavett...how can we screw him?" Cavett says he was mentioned 26 times on the infamous White House tapes.
The special was produced by Crew Neck Productions and Daphne Productions in association with THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET New York, one of PBS' flagship producers.
(Photo Credit: Daphne Productions)
