All the President’s Men

In August 1974, we were brand new in America. My Dad held 3 jobs–as an engineer by day, cab driver on weekends and working nights in the kitchen at the South Gate Drive-In.

The three of us would take our used tan Ford Pinto in through the back entrance at 5pm, and my Mom and I would wait for the movies to start while Dad worked in the kitchen. His shift would end around midnight, and by then I would be fast asleep in the back seat.

On the night of August 8, 1974, I remember us driving home, and my being half asleep, and hearing on the AM radio about Richard Nixon resigning as president and Gerald Ford becoming president, then pardoning Nixon immediately. The whole thing sounded immensely important but I had no idea why or how the puzzle pieces fit. I drifted in an out of sleep while listening to the news bulletin.

Maybe that’s why All the President’s Men is one of my favorite movies of all time. Maybe that’s why I absolutely love the idea of investigative journalism. It’s as much a part of my half-dreams as my reality.