# Stone's "Nixon" Movie: Four Bodies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 14, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058 "2009-09-14T17:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/839c29/32.png) [@A\_Man\_A\_Plan\_A\_Canal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Man_A_Plan_A_Canal)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/1 "2009-09-14T17:56:43Z")
Hello, Straightdopers, AMAPAC here. Watching Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” movie. Nixon is musing about how when Robert Kennedy died, that was when he knew he’d be president. He says a few lines, something like “Kennedy’s death paved the way, didn’t it? Cleared a way for me, right through the wilderness.” He pauses, and then he says “Over the bodies.” Then James Woods, playing Ehrlichman (I think), says “Two bodies.” Then we cut to a shot of Nixon, holding his drink and staring out of the window. He pauses, and then says “Four.” Okay, I get where two bodies come from: John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. But who are the other two? Thanks…AMAPAC. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/2 "2009-09-14T18:04:29Z")
Maybe one of them was Joe Kennedy Jr. who was killed in WW II. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph\_P.\_Kennedy,\_Jr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_P._Kennedy,_Jr). He was supposed to be the guy to run for president. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/3 "2009-09-14T18:05:32Z")
Kopeche? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/4 "2009-09-14T18:09:09Z")
Too late in the game. King? King’s death might have had Nixon thinking that there was an exploitable wedge for the South. Even had Civil Rights not done it the riots following King’s assassination might have been considered to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/5 "2009-09-14T18:31:20Z")
I haven’t seen this movie in something like ten years. However, if I remember correctly, a huge theme of the movie was how guilty Tricky Dick felt about the death of his brother from TB or something like that. There are constant weird black and white flashbacks to his brother, or brothers, as I remember. That’s at least one of the four bodies. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/6 "2009-09-15T18:42:26Z")
Erdosain is on the right track. From [this review](http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Nixon.html), “Nixon tells H.R. Haldeman (James Woods) that he achieved high office over “four bodies” (he associates the dead Kennedys with his own lost brothers Arthur and Harold, the guilt for whose demise his mother regularly enforced).” ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Ian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@Dave\_Ian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Ian)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/7 "2011-11-21T22:04:48Z")
4 bodies are JFK,RFK,Oswald and some one else…if u remember, halderman and eirlichmann discussing that nixon went pale everytime he heard of the bay of pigs code. Nixon had no role to play in anything but it somehow came to his knowledge and he was terrified by it, by the fact that, track 2 was his idea and it came back as a boomerang to jfk.nixon knew there was a conspiracy, but he hated to be associated with it because of his personal relationship with jfk was sour at that time. ---
**Author:** ![InfernoOrangeSS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@InfernoOrangeSS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfernoOrangeSS)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/8 "2015-02-24T06:23:37Z")
It was the Kennedy brothers and the Nixon brothers. ---
**Author:** ![InfernoOrangeSS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@InfernoOrangeSS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfernoOrangeSS)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/9 "2015-02-24T07:17:52Z")
…and James Woods played Halderman. No mistaking that haircut. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/10 "2015-02-24T17:12:33Z")
> [@Dave\_Ian](#): > > nixon knew there was a conspiracy, but he hated to be associated with it because of his personal relationship with jfk was sour at that time. Do you mean the Bay of Pigs conspiracy (if an official CIA operation can be so characterized), or a conspiracy to assassinate JFK? ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/11 "2015-02-27T18:47:53Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I haven’t seen this movie in something like ten years. However, if I remember correctly, a huge theme of the movie was how guilty Tricky Dick felt about the death of his brother from TB or something like that. There are constant weird black and white flashbacks to his brother, or brothers, as I remember. That’s at least one of the four bodies. Also, IIRC it was implied that Nixon’s opportunity to attend law school (the first step of his political career) was somehow related to the older brother’s death. My guess is that this meant that the family received some sort of death benefit that allowed them to pay his tuition. However, in real life he received a full scholarship from Duke Law School. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stones-nixon-movie-four-bodies/510058/12 "2015-02-27T18:53:21Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Also, IIRC it was implied that Nixon’s opportunity to attend law school (the first step of his political career) was somehow related to the older brother’s death. My guess is that this meant that the family received some sort of death benefit that allowed them to pay his tuition. However, in real life he received a full scholarship from Duke Law School. Or maybe his older brother’s zombie ate the brains of some of the smarter applicants so Richard got accepted in their place. I didn’t notice how old this thread was when I made my first post.