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The film Secret Honor (1984) is a one-man show, with Richard Nixon (Philip Baker Hall) as the sole on-screen character. The "second main character" is therefore an unseen, imagined audience—a formal court, prosecutor, or historical judge/jury—that Nixon addresses throughout his monologue into a running tape recorder.
The relationship between Richard Nixon and this unseen Judge/Jury evolves dramatically over the 90 minutes, shifting from a formal defense to a confessional descent, and finally to a searing act of defiance and psychological self-exoneration.
Here is the event-by-event evolution of this adversarial, psychological relationship:
Initial Stance: Submissive/Pleading to a Higher Authority
Opening Formal Address: Nixon sets the tone by formally addressing the tape recorder, stating, "Your Honor, may we take the matter of the pardon first?" This event immediately establishes the audience as a court of last appeal and his monologue as a legal/historical defense of his legacy. His tone is initially structured, albeit tense, focused on legally clearing his name.
Rejection of the Pardon's Premise: Nixon argues that President Gerald Ford's pardon actually tainted him because, to accept a pardon, one must admit guilt. He claims that had he gone to trial, he "would be a free man today" because the charges could not have been proven. This event attempts to establish his legal innocence to the Judge, framing himself as a martyr rather than a criminal.
Evolution: Erosion of Formal Respect, Shift to Ranting/Blame
Collapse into Profanity and Ranting: As he drinks Scotch and his monologue progresses, the structured defense collapses. The address to "Your Honor" becomes increasingly interspersed with vulgar rants and instructions to his unseen transcriber, "Roberto, would you erase all that crap, please." The Judge/Jury is no longer a formal court but an irritant, a silent witness to his emotional and intellectual disintegration.
Accusation of the "Establishment" Conspiracy: Nixon begins to articulate his central thesis: he was not a criminal, but a "patsy" and a victim of the "Bohemian Grove" or "The Committee of 100," a shadowy cabal of power brokers whom he claims control the world, including the heroin trade. This event transforms the Judge/Jury from an impartial court into a symbol of the very system he is accusing, moving the relationship from defendant vs. court to whistleblower vs. conspiracy.
Direct Confrontation of Historical Rivals: The Judge/Jury becomes a proxy for his political enemies. Nixon rails against his mother's portrait (for her pacifism), Dwight Eisenhower (with hatred), Henry Kissinger (with condescension), and John F. Kennedy (with a mixture of appreciation and rage). He is trying his enemies, and the Judge/Jury is forced to hear his side of history, further dissolving the pretense of a legal defense into a personal purge.
Evolution: Complete Rejection, Open Hostility, and Self-Exoneration
The "Secret Honor" Revelation: In the climax, Nixon delivers his final confession/defense: he did not actually try to cover up the Watergate break-in to protect his re-election. Instead, he claims he staged the scandal to force his own resignation and escape the demands of the "Committee of 100," who wanted him to prolong the Vietnam War for their drug trade and run for an illegal third term. This event is the peak of the relationship's evolution; Nixon asserts that his supposed crime (Watergate cover-up) was, in reality, his "Secret Honor"—a heroic sacrifice to save the country from a global drug conspiracy.
Armed Suicidal Posturing: Nixon holds the loaded revolver to his head, contemplating suicide, an act he believes the unseen conspirators (the Judge/Jury's proxy) desire. He rejects the notion, declaring, "They wanted me to kill myself. Well, I won't do it. If they want me dead, they'll have to do it..." This moment shows the ultimate adversarial nature of the relationship, as he sees the Judge/Jury/Establishment as his would-be executioner, which he actively refuses.
The Final Verdict and Rejection: The monologue concludes with Nixon's ultimate, venomous verdict on the American people and the system he feels betrayed him. His last lines, screamed defiantly into the tape recorder and the surveillance camera lens are: "I did not elect myself... They elected me... F—k 'em!" This final event marks the complete and total severance of the relationship. Nixon has moved from respectful defendant ("Your Honor") to a defiant, broken man issuing a final, profane rejection of the Judge, the jury, the establishment, and the entire American public.
(Note: This summary was generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash + Search)
The AI summary mentions the portraits in point 5 but doesn't emphasize that Nixon treats them as literal characters he is arguing with, which is a key part of the 'relationship' evolution in a one-man show.
The theory isn't just that he staged the scandal, but that he staged the *failure* of the cover-up to ensure his own removal from office to thwart the Committee's plans for a third term.
The monitors in the room create a sense of a 'panopticon' where Nixon is both the observer and the observed, adding to the psychological relationship with the 'unseen audience'.
In the film Secret Honor (1984), the relationship between Richard Nixon (the only on-screen character) and his 'second character'—the unseen audience/tape recorder/history—evolves through three distinct stages.
The Formal Defense: Nixon begins by addressing the tape recorder as 'Your Honor,' attempting to present a legalistic defense of his legacy. He argues that Gerald Ford's pardon was a 'fake' because it implied guilt, and he asserts that he would have been acquitted had he gone to trial.
The Psychological Breakdown: As he drinks and becomes more agitated, the formal address to 'Your Honor' gives way to rants directed at 'Roberto' (his unseen assistant) and the portraits on the wall (his mother, Eisenhower, Kissinger, Kennedy). He shifts from a defendant to an accuser, claiming he was a 'patsy' for a shadowy group called the 'Committee of 100' (or 'Bohemian Grove') who controlled his career and the Vietnam War.
The Final Defiance: In the climax, he reveals his 'Secret Honor': the claim that he deliberately bungled the Watergate cover-up to force his own resignation, thereby escaping the Committee's demand that he run for an illegal third term. After contemplating suicide with a revolver, he rejects the act as something 'they' want. The film ends with him screaming 'Fuck 'em!' at the camera/recorder, marking a total rejection of the public and the system he once sought to lead.