{"id":6564,"date":"2021-04-09T09:52:05","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T13:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6564"},"modified":"2025-08-23T19:05:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T23:05:49","slug":"fighting-crime-and-catching-villains-all-the-presidents-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/04\/09\/fighting-crime-and-catching-villains-all-the-presidents-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Crime and Catching Villains: \u2018All the President\u2019s Men\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men,\u201d the superheroes are crime reporters fighting for truth, justice and the American way in metropolis. But in this true story of deceit at the highest level, the villains are all the president\u2019s men. It is the story of how two investigative reporters, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), exposed a cover-up that shocked the nation and toppled a president.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Pictured: Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On June 17, 1972, the arrest of five men for breaking into the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate building didn’t attract much attention — not even from the newspaper. Yet it was curious that the burglars had money with sequential serial numbers on the bills. Other possessions were odd as well \u2013 cameras and three pen-sized tear gas guns.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When crime reporter Woodward arrived at the arraignment, things just didn’t line up. Counsel arrangements invited curiosity. The burglars were three Cuban exiles, a Cuban American and an ex-CIA agent James W. McCord Jr. (Richard Herd). The reporters’ investigation revealed that the cover-up of the bugging of the headquarters traced directly to the White House.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without the keen detective work, dogged investigation and courage of Bernstein and Woodward, the real story might have been hidden for years or forever. In 1973, Nixon resigned.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Woodward and Bernstein chased down one lead after another using rotary phones and notepads. They documented their stories, pecking away on typewriters. Without Google and databases, they poured through records and phone books.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their informant, Deep Throat (Hal Holbook), was cryptic. Sources played games to confirm what they knew without speaking the words. They confirmed facts by what they didn\u2019t say or how they said it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All the president\u2019s men were connected, and the investigation is dangerous. The story of the Watergate Scandal is not fiction. The risks for the press to get it right were high. The stakes for the freedom of the press, and the future of democracy were high. When Bernstein and Woodward admitted to miscommunication with a source, they went to the home of executive editor Ben Bradlee (Jason Robards).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the iconic scene, Bradlee says, \u201cWe’re under a lot of pressure, you know, and you put us there. Nothing’s riding on this, except…First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press. And maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f\u2014 up again, I’m going to get mad.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But it does matter. The superheroes keep fighting. The power of the Constitution is their weapon. And moviegoers have a front row to the action.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0History tells how the story ends, but the movie compels the viewer to think, What if? What if free speech was denied? What if the press was silenced? Hindsight is 20\/20, but this movie makes the audience grateful for the foresight of the Framers of the Constitution and the power of the press.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Almost 50 years later, when Americans can choose news sources by their slant, fake news is a rally cry, and cancel culture is the new catchphrase and fear. This movie shows what integrity in reporting looks like. It proves that the power of the press can expose corruption at its highest level.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men,\u201d the superheroes are crime reporters fighting for truth, justice and the American way in metropolis. But in this true story of deceit at the highest level, the villains are all the president\u2019s men. It is the story of how two investigative reporters, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":258,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/258"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8292,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564\/revisions\/8292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}