TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Bob Woodward: What I learned investigating Nixon

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Thank you. You're nice to invite me. What I want to do is talk a little bit about wtrtegaae - which was a long time ago - what we've learned about ctrporoiun, what we've lreaend about Nixon since then - because of his secret taping system, there's so much that comes out; it's almost as if every season, there is a new bacth of noixn tapes - and then try to address the question a little bit, What does that mean? What does Watergate, what does the kind of corruption that ledas to the reatiogsinn of a president entail, and what happened? The beginning of Watergate was five burglars caught in the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate, and it seemed bizarre. I rmeeembr that mniorng being called in to the Post, and there's, you know, braulrgs - I was sent down to the courthouse where the burglars were arnairged. They all had business suits. Now, there are lots of burglars in Washington; (Laughter) none to my knowledge ever had business suits. And they were there before the judge, and the judge asked the leader where he woekrd, and the leader said (whispers), and the judge said, "Speak up!" And so it was jmeas McCord, he said, "CIA." (Laughter) And the jdgue then said, "No, speak up so we can hear." And so, McCord said, "CIA." I was in the front row, listening - and I'm going to spaek esgnlih here because that's what happened - I said, not in a whisper but kind of blurted it out, "Holy shit." (Laughter) So it was 26 months of Watergate and the revelations that sort of tumbled out, and as you look at it now, you know, What really was Watergate? Wasn't just that burglary; it was the seires of illegal activities designed to subvert the process of electing a president in this country and nominating - in the case in 1972 - of the Democratic oenoppnt to Nixon. Sam Ervin, who led the Senate Watergate Committee, addressed the question, "What was Watergate?" and he said, "It was this subversion, but why? Why Watergate?" And his answer, which I think is right, is it was "a lust for political pweor," retaining that political power that Nixon had. So as you look at "What was Watergate?" it was really five wars conducted by Nixon, led by Nixon. The first war was, interestingly enough, the war against the anti-war movement, the anti-Vietnam war movement, which was growing. Nixon had inherited the Vietnam War from President Johnson. He wanted to do it his way, which was "We're going to widtharw troops, but we're going to bomb and bomb and bomb," which of course is what they did, but he heatd the anti-war movement so strongly

Open Cloze

Thank you. You're nice to invite me. What I want to do is talk a little bit about _________ - which was a long time ago - what we've learned about __________, what we've _______ about Nixon since then - because of his secret taping system, there's so much that comes out; it's almost as if every season, there is a new _____ of _____ tapes - and then try to address the question a little bit, What does that mean? What does Watergate, what does the kind of corruption that _____ to the ___________ of a president entail, and what happened? The beginning of Watergate was five burglars caught in the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate, and it seemed bizarre. I ________ that _______ being called in to the Post, and there's, you know, ________ - I was sent down to the courthouse where the burglars were _________. They all had business suits. Now, there are lots of burglars in Washington; (Laughter) none to my knowledge ever had business suits. And they were there before the judge, and the judge asked the leader where he ______, and the leader said (whispers), and the judge said, "Speak up!" And so it was _____ McCord, he said, "CIA." (Laughter) And the _____ then said, "No, speak up so we can hear." And so, McCord said, "CIA." I was in the front row, listening - and I'm going to _____ _______ here because that's what happened - I said, not in a whisper but kind of blurted it out, "Holy shit." (Laughter) So it was 26 months of Watergate and the revelations that sort of tumbled out, and as you look at it now, you know, What really was Watergate? Wasn't just that burglary; it was the ______ of illegal activities designed to subvert the process of electing a president in this country and nominating - in the case in 1972 - of the Democratic ________ to Nixon. Sam Ervin, who led the Senate Watergate Committee, addressed the question, "What was Watergate?" and he said, "It was this subversion, but why? Why Watergate?" And his answer, which I think is right, is it was "a lust for political _____," retaining that political power that Nixon had. So as you look at "What was Watergate?" it was really five wars conducted by Nixon, led by Nixon. The first war was, interestingly enough, the war against the anti-war movement, the anti-Vietnam war movement, which was growing. Nixon had inherited the Vietnam War from President Johnson. He wanted to do it his way, which was "We're going to ________ troops, but we're going to bomb and bomb and bomb," which of course is what they did, but he _____ the anti-war movement so strongly

Solution

series
english
hated
watergate
power
corruption
worked
opponent
james
burglars
batch
resignation
remember
leads
arraigned
nixon
learned
speak
withdraw
morning
judge

Original Text

Thank you. You're nice to invite me. What I want to do is talk a little bit about Watergate - which was a long time ago - what we've learned about corruption, what we've learned about Nixon since then - because of his secret taping system, there's so much that comes out; it's almost as if every season, there is a new batch of Nixon tapes - and then try to address the question a little bit, What does that mean? What does Watergate, what does the kind of corruption that leads to the resignation of a president entail, and what happened? The beginning of Watergate was five burglars caught in the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate, and it seemed bizarre. I remember that morning being called in to the Post, and there's, you know, burglars - I was sent down to the courthouse where the burglars were arraigned. They all had business suits. Now, there are lots of burglars in Washington; (Laughter) none to my knowledge ever had business suits. And they were there before the judge, and the judge asked the leader where he worked, and the leader said (whispers), and the judge said, "Speak up!" And so it was James McCord, he said, "CIA." (Laughter) And the judge then said, "No, speak up so we can hear." And so, McCord said, "CIA." I was in the front row, listening - and I'm going to speak English here because that's what happened - I said, not in a whisper but kind of blurted it out, "Holy shit." (Laughter) So it was 26 months of Watergate and the revelations that sort of tumbled out, and as you look at it now, you know, What really was Watergate? Wasn't just that burglary; it was the series of illegal activities designed to subvert the process of electing a president in this country and nominating - in the case in 1972 - of the Democratic opponent to Nixon. Sam Ervin, who led the Senate Watergate Committee, addressed the question, "What was Watergate?" and he said, "It was this subversion, but why? Why Watergate?" And his answer, which I think is right, is it was "a lust for political power," retaining that political power that Nixon had. So as you look at "What was Watergate?" it was really five wars conducted by Nixon, led by Nixon. The first war was, interestingly enough, the war against the anti-war movement, the anti-Vietnam war movement, which was growing. Nixon had inherited the Vietnam War from President Johnson. He wanted to do it his way, which was "We're going to withdraw troops, but we're going to bomb and bomb and bomb," which of course is what they did, but he hated the anti-war movement so strongly

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
white house	5
business suits	2
senate watergate	2
vietnam war	2
president johnson	2
huston plan	2
brookings institution	2
united states	2

Important Words

activities
address
addressed
answer
arraigned
asked
batch
beginning
bit
bizarre
blurted
bomb
burglars
business
called
case
caught
committee
conducted
corruption
country
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democratic
designed
electing
english
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growing
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hated
headquarters
hear
illegal
inherited
interestingly
invite
james
johnson
judge
kind
knowledge
laughter
leader
leads
learned
led
listening
long
lots
lust
mccord
months
morning
movement
nice
nixon
nominating
opponent
political
post
power
president
process
question
remember
resignation
retaining
revelations
row
sam
season
secret
senate
series
shit
sort
speak
strongly
subversion
subvert
suits
system
talk
tapes
taping
time
troops
tumbled
vietnam
wanted
war
wars
watergate
whisper
whispers
withdraw
worked