'I know what I meant’

Press, 25 February 1980, Page 15

'I know what I meant’

Nicol Williamson portrays President Richard Nixon in a compilation of factual material about the Watergate controversy entitled “1 Know What I Meant,” today on TV2. The programme, compiled by David Edgar, includes reconstructions of meetings in the White House, filmed statements by the then President and film of evidence given to the Ervin Committee.

In the reconstructions, the words spoken are those which were recorded on tape at the time and published in the official White House transcripts. The action takes place in the Oval Room of the White House, and the Granada set

is an exact replica of the original. Furniture, curtains and files were specially made, and the carpet is an authentic reproduction of the one bearing the Presidential seal in the Oval Room of the White House in Washington.

Other characters featured in the play are Bob Sherman as John Dean; James Berwick as John Ehrlichman; John Bay as H. R. Haldeman; and Shane Rimmer as Ronald Ziegler. The title of the play is taken from these statements by President Nixon: “From the beginning I (have said that in many places on the tape there were ambiguities — statements and comments that different people with different perspective might interpret in drasticallt' different ways, that although the words may be ambiguous, though ■ the discussions may have explored many alternatives, the record of my actions is totally clear now and I still believe it was totally correct then. “I know what I meant, and I also know what I did?’ This Granada Television programme was made and transmitted •in Britain ,in July, 1974. one month before Nixon's resignation.