Ronald Kessler Quotes

Lawyers didn't seriously get involved in the Watergate stories until quite late, when we realized we were on to something.

I grew up a child of Watergate. It gave me a good dose of skepticism about authority. One of my favorite movies is 'All the President's Men.' Woodward and Bernstein, those guys were my heroes. I have a degree in journalism.

I recently read some of the transcripts of Nixon's Watergate tapes, and they spent hours trying to figure out who was leaking and providing information to Carl and myself.

I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat.

I never leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein or anyone else!

Deep Throat did serve the public interest by providing the guidance and information to us.

Deep Throat's information, and in my view, courage, allowed the newspaper to use what he knew and suspected.

The biggest rap on me is that I don't find a Watergate every couple of years. Well, Watergate was unique. It's not something Carl Bernstein, I, or the Washington Post caused.

I was unknown because I came to Washington from the West. I started covering Watergate. Immodestly, I'd say I did it pretty well, in part because it was hard to go wrong.

The really tough thing would have been to decide to take Woodward and Bernstein off the story. They were carrying the coal for us - in that their stories were right.

Well, a lot of people don't want to be quoted. But keep in mind that Bob Woodward did all of his Watergate reporting with anonymous sources, and we know how that turned out.

There have been as many investigative reporters on this newspaper working on Clinton's many problems as I can remember there were working on Watergate.

Richard Nixon was the best thing that ever happened to journalism. I mean this guy was wonderful. Just when you thought he could get no worse, he got worse.

Deep Throat is a guy who could have your files and mine in his trust.

Deep Throat was a very unfortunate name given to the source by the managing editor of The Washington Post.

I was never for Richard Nixon until Watergate.

[Referring to Richard Nixon:] Either impeach him or get off his back.

Come, come, come and play spy with me, Down at the old Watergate; Come, come, come live and lie with me, Down at the old Watergate. See the little German band, Ehrlichman and Haldeman; Don't Martha Mitchell look great? Come, come, come don't be shy with me; I'll have the whole FBI with me; Down at the old Water—we'll make the police blotter — Down at the old Watergate.

If I’ve done nothing else for the country, I’ve saved them from Dick Nixon.

You roll back the stones and you find the slithering things of the world of Richard Nixon.

Reveal Richard Nixon … lay him and his motives bare … destroy him in his shot for the Presidency.

I’m positive that the President is innocent of any involvement in Watergate

I remember, as a kid, nothing struck me funnier than seeing Richard Nixon look into the camera and sincerely tell everyone he didn't know where the 18 minutes had gone from his tapes. But there was all this sweat on his upper lip. We knew he was lying. He knew we knew he was lying. But he was determined to tell the lie.

Indeed, it was largely the clubbiness of the Washington village press corps that let Nixon get away with Watergate and still win his landslide in 1972.

The big moment for me was making 'All the President's Men'. It was not about Watergate or President Nixon. I wanted to focus on something I thought not many people knew about: How do journalists get the story?