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    "label": "Foreign and Domestic Briefing Book, NAB Convention, March 19, 1974 [2 of 2]",
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    "title": "Foreign and Domestic Briefing Book, NAB Convention, March 19, 1974 [2 of 2]",
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    "ocrText": "Page 26\nQUESTION: Mr. President, Tom Brokaw of NBC News.\nFollowing on my colleague, Mr. Rather's question, you... referred\nhere tonight as you have in the past, about what you call\nthe precedents of past Presidents in withholding White House\nmaterial from the House Judiciary Committee, but other\nPresidents protecting the confidentiality of their conversations\nwere not the subject of impeachment investigations, Mr.\nPresident, and in fact many of them wrote that the House\nJudiciary Committee, at least Congress, had the right to\ndemand White House materials in the course of impeachment\ninvestigations.\nAnd history shows that Andrew Johnson gave up\neverything that the Congress asked him for when he was the\nsubject of impeachment investigation.\nSo, Mr. President, my question is this: Aren't\nyour statements on that matter historically inaccurate or\nat least misleading?\nTHE PRESIDENT: Mr. Brokaw, it is true, as you SE/,\nthat the only other President who was exposed to an impeach-\nment investigation was Andrew Johnson; and in so far as thit\nparticular part of your question is concerned, you are\ncorrect.\nHowever, in so far as the principle of confidenti:lity\nis concerned, that principle still stands and it affects\nan impeachment investigation as well as any other investigation\nbecause in the future if all that a Congress under the con-\ntrol of an opposition party had to do in order to get a\nPresident out of office was to make an unreasonable demand\nto go through all of the files of the Presidency, a demand\nwhich a President would have to refuse, then it would mean\nthat no President would be strong enough to stay in office\nto resist that kind of demand and that kind of pressure. It\nwould lead to instability.\nIt would destroy, as I have indicated before, the\nprinciple of confidentiality.\nWith regard to the problem, I simply want to say\nthis: It is difficult to find a proper way to meet the\ndemands of the Congress. I am trying to do so and trying\nto be as forthcoming as possible. But I also have another\nresponsibility. I must think not of myself but I must think\nalso of future Presidents of this country and I am not\ngoing to do anything and I am not going to give up to any\ndemand that I believe would weaken the Presidency of the\nUnited States. I will not participate in the destruction\nof the office of the President of the United States while\nI am in this office.\nQUESTION: Thank you, Mr. President\nEND\n(At 8:00 PM CDT)"
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