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<text>
<title>
(1970s) Nixon Presses His Counterattack
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1970s Highlights
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
November 26, 1973
THE CRISIS
Nixon Presses His Counterattack
</hdr>
<body>
<p> Once more a presidential counterattack on Watergate was
under way. For no less than the 13th time since the scandal
began to unfold eight months ago, Richard Nixon vowed to
disclose all of the facts and put the sorry affair to rest.
After a blitz of nine White House meetings and two public
appearances, he had shed little new light on the controversy.
But he had emerged, however belatedly, out of isolation and
boldly entered the public arena, where the fate of his
presidency will be determined.
</p>
<p> Nixon tried manfully to assuage the doubts of 21 Republican
Party leaders, 220 G.O.P. members of Congress, and 46 generally
sympathetic Democratic legislators. He drew a rousing ovation
from 3,000 friendly members of the National Association of
Realtors when he declared: "As far as the President of the
United States is concerned, he has not violated his trust and
he isn't going to violate it now." He took on the tough
televised questions of news executives at the Associated Press
Managing Editors Convention in Florida. Through it all, the
President managed to make one point clear: he intends to fight
to keep his job.
</p>
<p> Although visibly nervous and erratic in his pronunciation
and syntax, the President used his hour-long press conference in
a hotel at Florida's Disney World for a bravura performance.
Forcefully he repeated his earlier explanations of various
aspects of the entire affair, including his nonexistent tapes,
his large tax deductions, his personal finances and his dealings
with dairy producers. If there was little new in this, it was
extraordinary to hear the President declare: "The people have
to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I am
not a crook. I have earned everything I've got." He had "never
profited from public service," Nixon said. "And in all my years
of public life, I have never obstructed justice."
</p>
<p> No Back-Up. Scrappily and sometimes humorously defending
himself, Nixon said that many of the improprieties in his 1972
campaign occurred because "I was frankly too busy trying to do
the nations's business to run politics." He still felt that his
departed aides John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman "were
dedicated, fine public servants" who will "come out all right"
when criminal investigations are complete. He assailed the
injustice of a situation in which "they have already been
convicted in the minds of millions of Americans by what
happened before a Senate committee." In an embarrassing slip of
the tongue, Nixon declared: "Both men...are guilty until I
have evidence that they are not guilty."
</p>
<p> Nixon offered a strangely oblique defense--or nondefense--of his former Attorney General John Mitchell and his failure
ever to ask Mitchell what he knew about the Watergate
wiretapping operations. "I had every reason to believe that if
he were involved, if he had any information to convey, that he
would tell me," Nixon said. But then Nixon suggested: "Looking
back, maybe I should have cross-examined him and said, `John,
did you do it?'" In an other unusual remark, Nixon noted that in
order to save fuel he had not brought the usual back-up aircraft
to Florida, and added: "I don't need a back-up plane. If this
one goes down, it goes down--then they don't have to impeach."
</p>
<p> While declaring that "the man at the top must take
responsibility." Nixon spread blame broadly for the present
national turmoil over Watergate. He criticized Archibald Cox,
the special prosecutor whom he had fired, for taking so long to
indict or clear former Nixon associates of criminal charges--ignoring the fact that his own legal fight to protect his tapes
caused much of the delay. He blamed his inaudible or nonexistent
tapes partly on the inadequacies of the "lapel mikes" and
"little Sony" recorders used in the White House, explaining,
"This was no Apollo system."
</p>
<p> He said he had taken a tax deduction of some $500,000 for
his vice-presidential papers at the suggestion of former
President Lyndon Johnson, and he declared: "I will be glad to
have the papers back and I will pay the tax, because I think
they are worth more than that." He had raised dairy price
supports, he insisted, not because of large contributions from
dairy producers but because "Congress, he said, were demanding
even higher support prices. So he had acted to ensure a lesser
raise.
</p>
<p> Asked whether he still believed in "absolute executive
privilege," Nixon said that he had voluntarily turned over large
numbers of documents for investigation but said he still had "a
responsibility to protect the presidency" by assuring
confidentiality of White House advice. He again cited the
instance of President Jefferson's supplying information for the
trial of Aaron Burr--and again had his history wrong. Nixon
promised to provide detailed written refutations of the various
allegations made against him.
</p>
<p> Buying Time. The week of whirl-wind activity obviously
bought Nixon more time in his uphill struggle to regain his
party's and his nation's confidence. Yet he also reopened the
self-inflicted wounds of the damaging Saturday Night Massacre at
the Justice Department. He accused a foremost symbol of
rectitude in his Administration, resigned Attorney General
Elliot Richardson, of lying about his role in that showdown.
And he was sharply, if indirectly, reprimanded by his
continuing nemeses in the legal struggle: the federal courts.
These setbacks were at least partly offset by his week-long
demonstration of self-control and mental agility, which eased
some of the mainly unspoken but widely held concern about his
emotional stability.
</p>
<p> In sheer energy and ambitiousness, Nixon's meetings with
Senators, Congressmen and party leaders were nearly heroic. They
were called in lots ranging from six Southern Democratic
Senators to 78 Republican Congressmen. The sessions gradually
expanded from an unsatisfying Nixon monologue to a tough exchange
of views. Many of the President's listeners were impressed by
his combative mood and at least outward confidence under fire.
</p>
<p> Even a longtime critic, California Republican Paul N.
("Pete") McCloskey, praised Nixon's "state of physical and
emotional health" and added: "He looked to me like he relished
the combat he was in." Declared another critic, Massachusetts
Republican Governor Francis W. Sargent: "He has a strength that
is really amazing; he was cool and clear and precise--and
with no notes in front of him." Said Republican Senator Howard
Baker: "I've never witnessed a more frank presidential
conversation."
</p>
<p> Shifting from large dinners in the State Dining Room to
cozy cocktail sessions in the upstairs solarium, the sessions
were brutally candid at times. Some participants felt painfully
uncomfortable listening to the President pleading, although not
contritely, for understanding. Called on to give his views,
Republican Senator Barry Goldwater pulled no punches. "The only
time you have us down here," he complained to Nixon, "is when
you get your ass in a crack and want us to get it out for you."
As others laughed nervously at Goldwater's coarse language,
Nixon stared stonily, obviously irked at the remark.
</p>
<p> Another tense moment came when Republican Senator Edward W.
Brooke told Nixon what he had previously said publicly. "I have
reluctantly come to the conclusion, Mr. President, as painful
as it is to me, that you should resign." Rarely in U.S. history
had such a direct request come from a respected member of a
President's own party. Replied Nixon: "Ed, I understand your
reasoning, and I'm not hurt or angry, but that would be taking
the easy way out, and I can't accept your recommendation."
</p>
<p> Perhaps harshest of all was Oregon's Republican Senator Bob
Packwood, who told Nixon that "credibility has always been your
short suit." He observed that "when one person gives his word
to another, that is a bond which those of us in politics revere
highly. Congress believes you breached your word in the firing
of Cox." And he told Nixon: "For too long this Administration
has given the public the impression that its standard of conduct
was not that it must be above suspicion, but that it must merely
be above criminal guilt. Mr. President, that is not an adequate
standard of conduct for those who have been accorded the
privilege of governing this country."
</p>
<p> When Packwood finished, the room was quiet. Nixon said
nothing. Michigan Senator Robert P. Griffin broke the stillness
by suggesting that some of Packwood's ideas were good, and the
discussion turned to whether Nixon's credibility could be aided
by his confronting a select group of newsmen.
</p>
<p> Pure Hell. Nixon, too, was blunt at times. Responding to
suggestions that he should make a detailed defense before a
joint session of Congress, Nixon said with a smile that it
might be ineffective because "the Democrats would probably say
`The son of a bitch is lying,' and the Republicans would
probably say `Well, he's lying, but he's our son of a bitch.'"
Nixon conceded at one point that he had experienced "seven
months of pure hell over Watergate." He pleaded: "If you cut the
legs off the President, American is going to lose." Urged to
consider impeachment in order to clear the air, Nixon said: "I
will not put the country through that."
</p>
<p> While the net impact of the week's sessions was a plus for
the President, some participants were critical. A conservative
Republican Congressman, Ohio's John M. Ashbrook, said the
content "boiled down to `Believe us or believe them.'"
</p>
<p> Nixon used the meetings to make a surprising attack on the
credibility of Richardson, who had resigned rather than follow
presidential orders to fire Special Prosecutor Cox. Nixon and
his Chief of staff, Alexander Haig, both contended that
Richardson had misled them by at first agreeing with Nixon's
orders that Cox must stop seeking presidential papers in court,
and with the plan to let Mississippi Senator John C. Stennis
"authenticate" a White House transcript of presidential tapes
wanted by Watergate prosecutors. Then, the White House charged,
Richardson "got cold feet" and quit.
</p>
<p> The attempts to impugn Richardson were carried out in two
of the Nixon meetings. At a Tuesday session with Senators,
Richardson's name came up, and Nixon said there was a great
difference between "what Richardson had stated and the course he
had taken," but added: "I don't want to hurt Elliot Richardson."
Objected Senator Marlow W. Cook: "Hell, Mr. President, if there
is a choice between not wanting to hurt Elliot Richardson and
having absolute facts to refute what he said, I think it
absolutely essential to the presidency that the information
should be made known." Nixon demurred.
</p>
<p> Not True. But the next evening Nixon escalated the attack.
When Senator Charles Percy referred to the Cox affair, Nixon
quickly cut in. "Now," he said, I meant General Haig to recount
the events of that week." Haig claimed that Richardson had
actually originated the idea to halt all further efforts by Cox
to seek documents through court action. "But General," objected
Senator Charles McC. Mathias Jr., "that contradicts Elliot's
sworn testimony."
</p>
<p> Nixon: But he wasn't telling the truth.
</p>
<p> Mathias: But Mr. President, he was under oath.
</p>
<p> Nixon: You don't think you're going to get him for perjury,
do you?
</p>
<p> When one version of this exchange leaked out, the White
House, incredibly, clung to a semantic denial, saying Nixon had
not accused Richardson of lying but of "simply articulating one
of the several versions of the events." It was a curious
performance--first an attack on Richardson, then a denial
that an attack had been intended--but it got the White House
version out.
</p>
<p> Richardson told TIME that the Nixon-Haig version was "very
clearly and demonstrably untrue." He helped draw up the Stennis
plan, he said, but he threatened to resign when he was told by
Haig that Cox would be fired if he did not agree with the
proposal. Richardson said he asked for a meeting with Nixon on
that Friday morning to present his resignation notes. But Haig
met him and agreed to drop the idea of firing Cox, Richardson
said. That pacified Richardson.
</p>
<p> On that Friday night, however, Richardson received a letter
from Nixon linking the Stennis proposal to an order to Cox
forbidding him to seek any more presidential documents in court.
Richardson said he immediately called Nixon Adviser Bryce Harlow
and advised him that he would publicly oppose any such
restriction on Cox. Harlow reassured him in a way that led
Richardson to think that the White House had retreated again.
Within hours the President's statement was released, ordering
Cox to desist, and so Richardson resigned. Sworn testimony by
Cox as well as two written statements prepared that week by
Richardson support the Richardson account.
</p>
<p> Unaccountably, Nixon also assailed Cox, contending that he
had been in favor of the Stennis plan, and that "we did not know
until Saturday (Oct 20) that he had changed his mind." Yet at
the time Cox had released copies of correspondence with Charles
Alan Wright, Nixon's counsel, which showed that Cox had raised
eleven objections to the plan on the preceding Thursday and that
Wright had acknowledged this the same day, then added in a
Friday letter: "Further discussions between us seeking to
resolve this matter by compromise would be futile."
</p>
<p> Nixon's position on the Cox firing was further undermined
last week by Federal Judge Gerhard A. Gesell, who ruled flatly
that the dismissal was "in clear violation of an existing
Justice Department regulation having the force of law and was
therefore illegal." Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork,
following Nixon's orders, had abolished the special
prosecutor's post, ruled Gesell, as "simply a ruse to permit the
discharge of Mr. Cox." This was demonstrated, he wrote, by the
prompt recreation of the post. The judge said there was no need;
to take action to reinstate Cox, since Cox had made no effort
to get the job back, and in fact had said he did not want it.
</p>
<p> The White House admitted last week that a third tape was
now either missing or nonexistent. This was a Dictabelt
recording that Nixon had claimed he made after talking to John
Dean on April 15. He had offered to make this recording
available as evidence of his version of the April 15
conversation, since the White House recording of the
conversation itself was "nonexistent"; a recorder, Nixon
contends, had run out of tape. But now, Nixon said in a written
statement, he had checked his "personal diary file: for April 15
and found some "personal notes" of the conversation with Dean,
"but not a dictation belt."
</p>
<p> New Mystery. This presented a new mystery, since Assistant
Attorney General Henry E. Petersen had told the Senate Watergate
Committee--and he repeated it last week in Sirica's hearings
on the missing tapes--that Nixon had called him on April 18
and told him he had "a tape" of the Dean conversation. Nixon
called Petersen later to tell him he had meant that he had
dictated a memo about the conversation and that this was on
tape. The questions of one of the prosecutors, Richard
Ben-Veniste, indicated that Ben-Veniste believed that there
never was a Dictabelt memo, but that Nixon's second call to
Petersen was made to prevent the prosecutors from becoming
aware of the elaborate White House recording system. If true,
this would mean that Nixon must have believed that the entire
April 15 conversation was indeed on tape.
</p>
<p> Throughout the week Nixon said he was trying to find a way
to get all the evidence presented to the public but that it was
tied up in the courts, particularly in Judge John J. Sirica's
court. In an unusual judicial move, Sirica issued a formal
statement, declaring: "If the President thinks it advisable to
waive any privilege and make tapes or other material public, he
of course is free to do so at any time." TIME has learned that
Sirica felt he was being used by the White House as an excuse to
stall in releasing material to the public. Sirica also said he
did not want to accept any White House documents that had not
been subpoenaed by prosecutors, since his court should not
become "a depository of non-subpoenaed matter." Nixon, he
said, should deal with the prosecutors on any unrequested
evidence.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>