Robards appeared in two dramatizations based on the Watergate scandal. In 1976, he portrayed "Washington Post" executive editor Ben Bradlee in the film "All the President's Men", based on the book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. The next year, he played fictional president Richard Monckton (based on Richard Nixon) in the 1977 television miniseries "", based on John Ehrlichman's "roman à clef" "The Company". In 1983, Robards starred in the television movie "The Day After" where he played Dr. Russell Oakes.