HOUSE JUDICIARY PANEL PUBLISHES 718-PAGE BOOK ON IMPEACHMENT

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• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77-00432R000100260001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
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• Document Page Count: 21
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 9, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 21, 1973
• Content Type: NSPR

25X1A
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CONFIDENTIAL
NEWS, VIEWS
and ISSUES
INTERNAL USE ONLY
This publication contains clippings from the
domestic and foreign press for YOUR
BACKGROUND INFORMATION. Further use
of selected items would rarely be advisable.
No . 47
29 OCTOBER 1973
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 1
CONFODENTOAL
Destroy after backgrounder
has served its purpose or
within 60 days.
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Approved For Release 2001/08/07 : CIA-RDP77-00432R000100260001-8
ernmen
,
NEW YORK TIMES
21 October 1973
House Judiciary Panel Publishes,
718-Page Book On Impeachment'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (AP)
?The House Judiciary Com-
mittee has prepared a book on
impeachment in an effort to
make members of Congress and
the public familiar with the
subject.
The 718-page volume traces
the origin of the impeachment
power, cites all cases of its use
by Congress and gives a de-
tailed -account of the Senate
impeachment trial of President
Andrew Johnson. ,
"The resolution of funda-
mental issues of public debate
is always enhanced when wide
?segments of the American pub-
lic become 'concerned and in-
formed," says Representative
[Peter W. Rodino, New Jersey
Democrat, who is chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, in a
foreword.
Mr. Rodino and the commit-
tee staff have been gathering
information on impeachment
for several months as a result
of the disclosures of the Water-
gate investigation and the
'criminal charges brought
against former Vice President
Spiro T. Agnew.
? The material was sent to the
public printer on Oct. 9. The
day before, Mr. Agnew pleaded
no contest to a charge of in-
come tax evasion and resigned.
Copies of the volume are being
distributed to members of Con-
gress and can be purchased
from the Government Printing
,Office for $4.40.
In his foreword, Mr. Rodino
says that much of the materi-
al. in the book was scattered
among various libraries and
some of it was out of print
for more than 100 years. , ? ? -
"It is my hope that these
materials will now be more
readily accessible to members
of Congress and to a larger
segment of the American com-
munity," Mr. Rodino says. ' ?
The book contains the' .de-
bate on impeachmesit 'in the
Constitutional Convention, as
reported in the journal of
James Madison, and the debate
in the First Congress in 1789
on the establishment of the
executive department and, the
power of. removal from of-
fice.'
It also compiles all matters
relating to impeachment in'the
rules and precedents of Con-
gress, the full articles of im-
peachment voted by the
House in the 12 cases in
which it acted, the transcript
of the Senate ?proceedings on
the Andrew Johnson case,,com-
mittee reports on the investi-
gations of Vice President John
S. Calhoun and Vice President
Schuyler Colfax?which.did-not
lead to impeachment-L-and ar-
ticles by leading legal schol-
ars and experts on impeach-
ment.
NEW YORK TIMES
21 October 1973
'
'-The, Tapes Questions
Them
oent
Of Crisis'
. 'WASHINGTON?Last May 17, his
;6,1st,birthday, Prof. Archibald Cox had.
,,-a"telephone'call from a former student
:?ElliotRichardson, then the Attorney..
'General' designate. He asked, Mr. Cox .
, to take oyer as special Watergate pros-
: ecutor.
In the Senate Judiciary Committee's
,,hearings on Mr. Richardson's nonuna- ?
tion, it soon appeared Clatconfirink? .
'i.tion depended on a promise of inde- ?
'rpendence:for. Mr. Cox. Mr. Richardson :
'gave that- promise in almost absolute
erms: Mr:Richardson said the special
Prosecutor would have "all the inde-
pendence, Authority and staff support-
needed to carry outthelasks entrusted '
AO him:"
;Now,' after months of struggle over
Watergate, the moment of crisis has
:come for these two men. It may also
be the decisive imoment Pre ? ent
Nixon. For hismetRWMP Mit tO
WASHINGTON POST1
' Sunday:, Oct. 11, 1973 I
FBI Agents
Seal Off
Cox Office
By Herbert Denton ,
Washinston Post Staff Writer ,
At least six FBI agents took
over and sealed off the two
floors of offices last night of
Special Watergate Prosecutor
Archibald Cox in a private of-
fice building at 1425 K Street
NW.
Members of Cox' staff, who
had returned to the offices af-
ter hearing the news that Cox
had been fired, said they were
stopped by the federal agents
from taking from the offices
any files, except personal pa-
pers not connected with the
Cox investigations.
The FBI agents "are imped-
ing our operations right now,"
Tom McBride, associate spe-
cial prosecutor in charge of
the task force on campaign fi-
nancing, said ks he walked out
of the office.
, "When you can't get into
your offices and your files,
then your operations are be-
ing impeded," McBride said. ,
, The FBI agents arrived
shortly after 9 p.m. and one of
them told reporters; ,"We're
from the FBI. We're sealing
off the area." ?
The agents had walked in
on more than 20 'lawyers on
Cox' staff, most of them'
dressed casually on what was
their day off. The lawyers told
. -
'impose his own solution to the .problem'
?of the Watergate tapes-US:raised:pro-
found questions for Mr. Cot and Mr.
Richardson?and for law:. end' politics
, generally. . ? ?. .
,
? There .seems no way. of -avoiding 4.
'Cox-Nixon confrontation. Will 'the
President fire Mr..?Cox'?.*If the President
directs Attorney General Richardson to
'do the firing of a mad Who is.teelpii-
Cally.his? employe, wiliNfr. AidhardsOn
obey? Will .he want to,.star.., office.
himself on those terms?' : ? ?
? If Mr. Richardson goes; Will the Pres-
ident of the United States. be-able -to:
.find any other lawyer willing.. to.sitvi
as his Attorney Generaf?-arui Of 'a rep-
utation sufficient to-win c,onfirinationr
Those are just some of the inevitable
political questions. But there 'are. also
hard legal questions, which will carry
their own political consequences ..in
future. Without the actual transcripts
of the tapes, what will prosecutors ;be'
able to do with them in any actual ?
trials of former Nixon assistants? sum-
maries approved by however eminent a
Senator will-not be admissible as evi-
dence.. ? ? . ?.
'If defendants demand the tapes as
?
about what to do with their
files following the firing of
Cox and they were wjiting for
Cox to come with instructions.
, ? Some members of the staff
knew some of the FBI agents
? and when they arrived, one
lawyer said, "Hey, what are
you doing? Are you taking
:ever the place?"
"Yes,". one of the FBI agents
? answered, and other agents
' could be heard telling the law-
yers that they could take only
"fully personal papers" from
,the-offices. ?
"They won't even let me
,,take a pencil out," complained
one lawyer who would not
give 'his name to reporters as
',he left the building.
?;'' The Cox offices had been
'guarded by security police and
protected by 'a complicated
electric lock system and
closed circuit 'television cam-
eras. Cox had instructed his
'staff about the importance of
maintaining security for their,
files. .
? When asked ? about the 'au-
thority for the FBI 'seizure of
Cox's :offices and files lase;
night, John W.. Hushen, the' of.
?
ficial Justice Department
spokesman, said, "That's the
first I've heard of it." ?
' FBI Director Clarence Kelly
'could not be reached for com-
ment.
Senate select Watergate
committee sources said that
for the past two days there
had been some discussion
about the committee's staff re-
ceiving files from- Cox's? staff
In the event that Cox .was
fired. When told last night of
the sealing of the files by the
FBI, a source high on the com-
mittee staff muttered an sp-
gry expletive.
evidence? Already, one lederar.judge;
in ,New' York, has indicated that he'
will not'. let John W. Dean testify
against- John. Mitchell, ant; ;Maurice
Sans in the Vetco case unless Dean's:
tapes are made' available?and Dean,
Is- meant :to be a principal witness.
What will hipneh if more..tapes are
identified. as crucial .in 'future judicial,.
' proceedings? .Nixon arrangement
calls , for Senator Stennis to. approve ?
only summaries of. nine specifici-tapei
-previous 'requested-- by Mr; Cox and
?
forever bars' the ;special prosecutor'
(and presumably others) from ode-1
nianding any other tapes ,in future::
pinally,-*Iiat is 'going ,to become Of ?
:Cox'S ? demand made, in the
same Subpoena as .that for the tape's'.
?for: documents and memoranda suck
as John Ehrliehman's notes? Mr:' Cox?
has said that' the White HoUse has re--i
fused . to produce these, ..and" under.
terms of the "compromise" ordered by.
President Nixon they 'would be for-
ever withheld..
In short, what is, at-stake is, really.
? whether' the investigation :of Water-,..
? gate and the 'other- crimes that -have :
exculpatory 'evidence for themselves, been made known to.. the ptiblie. overi:
and are refused them under- the White the last Year -can contintie?and ?what.?
? House. policy,'. will judges dismiss, the,t.?-v. the political.:Conseqiences will be if'it
s:finttRAMebjrnti 90t-16999:1, MmHg qwis
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NEW YORK TIMES
21 October 1973
Excerpts From
NEW YORK TIMES
21 October 1973
!Richardson Says His Plan
ranscript of Cox's News I Did Not PlaceCurb on Cox
onference on Nixon's
Decision on Tapes
Fallowing are excerpts
from a transcript of the news
(' conference in Washington
yesterday by Archibald Cox,
the special Watergate prose-
cutor, as recorded by The
, New York Times:
OPENING'STATEMENT,
I'm not looking for a con-
frontation. I've worried a
' good deal through my life
about problems of imposing
too much strain upon our con-
stitutional institutions, and
I'm certainly not out to get
the President of the United
States.
As you all know, there has
, been and is evidence?not
'proof, perhaps, in some in-
stances, but clearly prima-
facie evidence?of serious
wrongdoing on the part of
high Government officials,
wrongdoing involving an ef-
fort to cover up other wrong-
doing.
It appeared that the papers,
documents and recordings of
conversations in the White
House, including the tapes,
would be relevant to getting
the truth about these inci-
dents.
I'm referring not only to
the Watergate incident itself,
but to other things involving
electronic surveillance, break-
ins at a doctor's office and
.the like.
Last night we were told
that the court order would
not be obeyed, that the pa-
pers, memoranda and docu-
ments of that kind would not
be provided at all. And that,
instead of the tapes, a sum-
mary of what they showed
would be provided.
I think it is my duty as
;the special prosecutor, as an
. officer of the court and as
the representative of the
,grand jury, to bring to the
, court's attention what' seems
:.to me to be noncompliance
; with the court's order.
You will say, "Well, so
ifar as the tapes are con-
cerned, forget legalisms.
Isn't this a pretty good prac-
tical arrangement?" I find
four, to my way of thinking,
.
? Insuperable diffitulties with
at.
Compromise Not Enough
,First, when criminal
wrongdoing is the subject of
investigation, and when one
of those subjects is obstruc-
tion of justice in the form of
a cover-up, then,it seems to
me it is simply not enough
to make a compromise in
, which the real evidence is
? available only to two or three
men operating in secrecy, all
but one of them the aides to
the President and Men who
: have been associated with
those who are the subject of
/he investigation.
It's not a question of Sen-
ator Stennis's integrity. It
have no doubt at all of Sena-
tor Stennis's personal integri-
ty. But it seem, ? to me that
it's the kind of question
where it is terribly impcirtant
to adhere to the established
institutions and not to ac-
commodate it by some pri-
vate arrangement involving,
,as I say, submitting the evi- ?
dence ultimately to any one
man.
My second difficulty is that;
I will not know and 'no one
else will know, what stand-
ards have been applied in
deciding what to exclude
from the summary.
For example, when I give
you the various written pro-
posals and comments that'
were exchanged, you will
find that it is contemplated
that there will be omitted
references to matter's related
to the national defense or for-
eign policy whose disclosure
would do reat harm.
I'm very troubled by the
lack of precision on those
standards. We all know freer
matters that have been pub-
lished that the Ellsberg-Field-
ing break-in was described as
matters affecting the national
defense, and that the tapping
of William Safire's and John
? Sears' telephones was appar-
ently treated as a national
security matter. ?N
Those certainly raise very,
serious questions as to wheth-
er criminal wrongdoing was
not involved. Also, I must
emphasize that I do hot pre-
judge it; I just say they raise
serious questions.
Doubt as to,. Evidence
My third reason for think- ?
ing that, as a practical mat-
ter, I, as ch,arged with prose-
cuting violations, could not
regard the arrangement as
satisfactory is that it's most
unlikely?I don't go beyond
that?most unlikely that a
summary of the tapes would
be admissible in evidence.
It would be satisfactory
for the purposes of a grand ,
jury, I think but I'm think-
ing of the actual conduct of
a trial. And if that was all
that was available?and I
was given to understand that
the tapes would never be
available under any, circum-
stances?then I would be left
without the evidence with
which to prosecute people
whom I had used the sum-
maries, perhaps, to indict.
Similarly, you have all read
of cases in which those who
have been charged with
wrongdoing have said that
they need the tapes in order
to make their defenses. Again,':'
. ?
By JOHN M. CRtWDSON
Special to :The New York Times
I' WASHINGTON, Oct: 20?At-
torney General Elliot L. Rich-
ardson made clear today that
his coninromise proposal on the
White. House topes did not in-
clude, a provision for the Spe-
'dal prosecutor to forgo all fir-
it seems to Me most unlike-''
ly that a? Summary would be
accepted by the defendants
or that a court would regard
it as sufficient. And that,',,
could, Very, well mean that ;
those prosecutions would
? have to be dropped.
? The other main part of'.,
':the President's statement .1
' last night' said that I would I
be instructed not to use the ,
judicial process in order to 1
obtain tapes, documents,,'1
' memoranda relating to other
? Presidential, ? conversations.:
? This instructs me not to pur- ?;?1
? 'Sue what would be the nor-
mal course of a prosecutor's
duty in conducting this kind
of investigation. 1 ?.":71
And I think the instruc-?,1
tions are inconsistent with:
pledges that were made to
, the United States Senate and 4
through the Senate to the
American people before /
was appointed and before
Attorney General- ? Richard-
son's nomination was con-
firmed. . .
If you go through thefl
hearings you will find re-
peated pledges by both of us 1
that I should have complete
/.independence to decide . howl
: to conduct these investiga-
tions and prosecutions and:'
particularly to plead inde-
pendence in determining
what evidence to, see.
,
There were also specific
references to- executive privi-
lege and pledges by me and
by the Attorney General that.,
I not only would, in his view,'"?
be free to contest, but on my
promise to the Senate that I ;
would Contest claims of eIr-
ecutive privilege where 1'
thought the evidence was :
material.
Guidelines Are Cited
7,
This was finally summar-
ized in the so-called guide-'
lines
lines and the departmental
order put out by the Attor-
ney General. It reads:
"The Attorney General will ?
not countermand or inter-
fere with the special prose-
cutor's decisions or actions. ,
"The special prosecutor will
determine whether and to
what extent he will inform -
or consult with the Attorney ?
General about the conduct :
of his duties and responsi-
bilities.
"The special Prosecutor
Will not be removed from his
duties [except] for extraor-
dinary improprities on his
'part."
?
?
+,
ture attempts to obtain thraugh
judicial process mate'rial ;that
the President regarded 'as priVi-
leged. ? ? ,
- Mr. Nixon asserted yester-
day that Mr. ? RichardsonI;had
made "a reasonable propesal"
in' which Archibald Cox t the
special Watergate prose,autor,
would cease. ;efforts,, to'4,/sub-
poiina from 'Mr.., Nixon ' the
White House tapes amt. any
other. Watergate-related ;docii-
rnents. ? - ? ?
The. President offered instead
to ,provide Mr. Cox and also
the Senate 'Watergate commit-
:tee with a summary of ? nine
Subpoenaed tape 'recordings
after it had been authenticated
'by Senator ? John C. Stennis,
Deinocrat ? of Mississippi.
l?Mr' Nixon. said that, accOrd-
1.`?
ang ? to Mr. Richardson's pro-
Posal, it would also "be *under=
rstood that 'there would' be no
further attempt by the special
,further
, to subpoena still
more tapes or other presiden-
tial papers of a similar nature."
? - But Mr. Richardson.. insisted
today through a.? spokesman
that, the arangement that he
offered Mr. 'Cox in a series of
inetings ? last week had dealt
only 'with a compromise of the
Harvard, law professor's, ef-
forts to subpoena the nine re-
cordings of conversations be-
tween. Mr. Nixon: and, his aides
that -are believed .to concern
the Wat1ergate case. ' ,
The Attorney General .said
that his proposal had included
nothing about 'the "important
notes; memoranda and other
'documents" that Mr. Cox said
last night had not yet been.
Iturned over to him.
; He added that he had neith-
er proposed nor approved any
:potentialagreement that
poenas of Presidential docu-
ments or tapes. ?
. Mr., Cox has described Mr.
Nixon's order that he abandon
such atempts as a serious
,such
to future prosecutions
of ,"wrongdoers who abused
'high ,government office."
' The Attorney General can-
.celed a weekend fishing trip to
Idaho and remained in his of-
fice today, meeting with his
staff and with Deputy Attorney
,General William D. Buckles-
haus. Solicitor General Robert
Bork attended the meeting..
,..,
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, The incidents of last night ', ' I did submit a fairly Care- ''satisfied. Also, I would else. , A. Well,' the ones that I'l
s need to be viewed against ' ,fully drafted six- or seven- . add that a summary is being . am most aware of are notes '
"two things: One is the whole ? page proposed procedure for ':offered and would express that would have been made'
' problem of obtaining infor-. resolving these questions. ? the opinion that that was not ,
; by John Ehrlichman on every :
mation for this investigation; ', The end of last week the ? ,' adequate. ''' conversation in which he par-
, !,
, and the other is the immedi- Attorney General anl I were - One form of procedure ?ticipated. Now this would be ;
; ate discussions that took in touch with each other. We . would be to seek an order to important in case any part of
?1 place between me and van- had several candid, frank and. show cause why the respond- ? the tapes was inaudible ory,
",ous representatives, of the .," . very friendly conversations. ? ent should not be adjudicated ? .; garbled in some way: Or if it i
6 President. , The conversations ended in ? guilty of contempt. I think it.. ?
may also be possible and was ambiguous. It's quite,L
It's my characterization, ; ' a document headed' "A Pro- ? Per" *Possible that those notes not t
but all I can say is that my , - posal." It set forth a *plan, haps might be preferable to only set forth his understand--; *,
seek a further order clarify-
! efforts to get information, be- -; ., somewhat like what was an-. ing of what was agreed upon,",
c ? ? ? ? ing any possible doubt result-
5 ginning in May, have been ? ? flounced yesterday and last'
ing from the President's ' what was to be done, but 1 ?
the subject of repeated frus- ; -night, except that it was in ? '
statement last night. . would give some 'background ;
t? tration., more contingent form and ? : of the knowledge which he t
Q. Senator Cox, is not your ,:had against which they, were.; ''
? This is a very special in- ': ? I think it was meant to leave, ?
? ? intention in direct conflict ' to be read., .
1 vestigation ? in some ways. , I, roo mfor discussion. '
? with the President's orders to ' ' Memorandum by Nixon ,
aro , an i i s an you're ?.,
, The; problem is unique be- i I wrote him on Oct. 10 in a ?; !. u d 1 1 i d
t' cause nearly 'all the evidence ? : paper called "Comments on a
' fired by the end of this news Another example is?I don't
bearing not only on the : " '
, an
. conference, what happens ' know, d that's why you
'
1 Proposal. :
Watergate incident and the 'Charlie' on the Phone ., then? ? 'issue subpoenas?but I have ,
t ? ,
; alleged cover-up; but on the ! , ? A Well, I? there are a ; reason to believe that, in .1
?act.avities of the "plumbers" , Thursda ni ht if m mem- ' ?
.;, and other things of that, : ?137 number of other technical . addition to the conversation ,
is correct, I? received ,?
; questions. I was appointed by ? with John Dean on April 15j,
'kind, is in the White House , word that I was to call White Attorney General. Under 'e there is a memorandum of 1
papers and files. And unless , 'shall Wright at the. t ,,
you 'have access to those,' f House in General Haeg's of- ? the statutes the AttornOy? ,,that conversation dictated by
;4. you're not able to get be . fice. Marshall Wright turned. 'General and those to whem ' ' the President himself. That 1
out to be Charlie when he ? he delegates authority are!in;; ; would give his understand-:!
. , .
Fnormel ; kind a information ' ', "charge of all litigation, mi. ing in the event that any part.'
came on the hone, and he
t ? quickly acknowledged that he eluding the obtaining of vi.- ,of it should be inaudible or:'
`? that 4 prosecutor must seek. ? .
1 You will recall that the : ? was Charlie. And he referred . dence. ' ambiguous or something of ,
? ,
',? papers of many White House , to my comments, said that' ? . I think there is a question that kind. ; ?
! aides?Haldeman, Ehrlich-,., there were four stipulations .* whether anyone other than i ? Q. Mr. Cox, when do you.-
'man, Krogh, Young, Dean- that he must make that the Attorney General can : expect to go to court, what- s
' and others?were taken intowould be essential to any ? give me any instructions that ever court it is you go to?
???-?
::custody and they're in a spe- , . agreement. I have any legal obligation to
:
obey. cial room. ' . A. Well,' promptly. I mean, '
,
? And, as I understood him, he , Second, under the Consti- as fast as we can be sure ,
Taken Out of Files ? said,"You won't agree to tution, and the statutes, there ? * that we're right.
, And many of their papers these." Indeed, the impres- are instances in which not ,Q. Would this'coming
' were taken out of ?the usual ' sion I got ? and I want to the President but departmen- week be a fair guess? A. It's ?
f.files and put in something : make it clear that it was my tal heads make appointments. , ..certainly a fair guess. Cer-
- spe,:ial called Presidential impression; maybe there are ''"And I would think that it etainly I would hope to. .'
! files. ' ? ? ; -
tapes that would verify my was a proper inference that - Q. How could you expect,
Back in June early June if' ?? impression or maybe my irri- ' where - departmental heads --to succeed in this job? How'
my memory is right. I asked ' ' pression is wrong ? but it i are authorizedby statute to could you expect to succeed
that an inventory be made was my impression that I was ? . make appointments that the A. Well, I thought it was
"of those papers. r
? , being conronted with things , same departmental heads are ?
i. , that were drawn in such a the only ones who ?can make worth a try. I thought it was
1. I, ve never gotten it. I was way that I could not accept , dismissals. important. If it could be done, ,
i told orally over the telephone ? ,t I? thought it would help the:
? hem. .
e a short time ago ? I don't 'Dealt With Buzhardt , country. And if I lost, what
.
i'mean in connection with the, . I then went on and sug-
Q. I believe you said you" the hell! ?
t current incidents but a few' ; gested, "Why don't you dic-) Q. Mr. Cox, there was a ,
s weeks ago--that the invento- tate what the four points are were told orally that you '?
lot of talk this week by Re-c.
rry would not be furnished. and I can look at them to- would not be receiving the . 'publicans on the Hill that, -4
There have been other .pa- -' morrow morning and then ; logs that you asked for or at if the President defies a Su--44
give. you a reply." And we ;"pers that we've sought to get ,least the inventory of the * preme Court order to give up
will give you is letter which
hand while I must say I've .
been told I would receive'
! -I received, my response, and' papers that you requested. the tapes, that then-he would
then one final letter which Just to clear that up, who : likely be impeached, or an.
them, the delays have been ? impeachnient action would'
suggested that I had inisure: told you orally that you
?s, extraordinary.' , begin. Do you regard him as
derstood the scope of some would not.
For example, I asked for of, this moment in defiance.
'all kinds of logs of ninny
? of the things he said. That A. I've been dealing Fred of an appeals court order?a'
',principal names in these in- came at 23 minutes past 5: Buzhardt, and I may say, toe, ? l definitive appeals courts'
' cidents and I was promised', yesterday. My letter was de-' or
that he has behaved in deal- . ? , ,
'them back in June. I still , livered to him - about 10 ? ing with me in an entirely der)
f
' haven't got the logs of meet-o'clock. Therei was ample '. honorable way, except he's . 'Determination for Court
ings of the President with time to explain f I had nis-. too damn slow.
' '? ' A. In my view, the Presi-
such people as Chapin, Col- ,
understood anything of crit- ' ?? Q. Mr. Cox, I think you be- - -, dent . has, stated that he
i '
i
son, Gray, Hunt, Kleindienst, ' cal importance. ? ? : lieve that Attorney General . 'would not comply with the
' Krogh, Larue, Liddy, Strachan ' Richardson will not fire you. 'appeals court order. That is,
'. or Young. I hope our rec.- QUESTIONS AND A. He may. You know, I'm my view. I think it so likely
, ords are accurate. . ANSWERS
not saying that no one can , that he is not in complianc
'.' There are many pending ? . Q. Mr. ?Cox you would fire me. Of course, eventually, , that it is my duty to present
; letter requests. And I can'tseem to be in what we call i there are ways of firing me. ? the question to the court. It
i, help reading the instruction a nonviable position now. Are I don't know what Attorney , would hen, be for the court
?Richardson will do.
not to seek subpoenas against you going to wait for the ; ' to 'make the determination.
*
that background, even though President to dismiss you? Now, eventually, a Presi- l' I'm not the last word, thank!
.';
the instruction as it's writ- A. I'm going to go about * Now,
can always work his :-?? Gedt ,
my
' ten refers only to things re- 1 duties on the terms on which/. Will. You remember ? when ? . Q. Mr. Cox, should you be
? ferring to Presidential con- , I assumed them. 'Andrew Jackson wanted to ?? removed from office, would. -
t
versa tions. And I- think I'mQ. What do you. consider
take the deposits from the' '. Judge Sirica or the appeals'
to be the state of the case, court * have the authority to
i. entitled to suggest that the" ? , Bank of 'the United States
thing should be judged , and his Secretary of, the ? move on their ( n in an at.'
now and if you will go into
(against that 'background. court, what court and what
Treasury wouldn't do it. He tempt to force tne President
,
You will remember that-- will you say? fired him and then he ap- to release the tapes? ? 6
the Court of Appeals, after
A. It is my intention, with Pointed a new Secretary of . A.. I thing that the an--4
' ?
'oral argument and before it : reference to the order of the , the Treasury and he wouldn't swer is "Very probably, yes. I
:rendered its decision, sug- ? Court of Appeals and the do it., and he fired him. And It is even possible that I*
gested that there be an effort
, finally he got a third , who should be appointed counsel
' district court, to call to the
to reach a mutually satisfac- .
attention of one or the other, would. That's one way,, of to the grand jury or the courts
S,- .
and I'm not sure yet which proceeding. ? ? , for that purpose! ? . A
f ; tory accommodation in which:
is correct, the fact that the Q. Mr. Cox, could you just ' ' But don't carry that too
i
/the President or his repre- papers, documents and other specify for us what the -* far. The thought went through'
sentative and I would agree things subpoenaed are being
memoranda, pipers , and ? my. wind. And then ? I also
:
1
what part of the tapes should
documents are that you're - concluded 'that?no, I ?thinki ' refused and that the order to
not going toget?characterize ; ? that would be very doubtful:
? be made available to the ? deliver the tapes is subject:
4 ? them in some way to ,indi- propriety because, it would,
' ,grand jury and what parts to some particular reserve-. s.
: .should not be.
Approved FOI;t11261eitsteq601Y/081017ei.ntIAGRIDFIRLOW312R00010026031tw.what ought to.be a
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' question ' of ' principle
something that somebody+
.? would look on as a personal
fight?and I don't think this.;
; is a question of personalities.,
Q. Mr. Cox, have you been.
I in touch with anyone, direct-
ly or indirectly, who might;
be a representative for the;
Whote .? House, within ?the
WASHINGTON POST
21 October 1973
'past, say, 12 hotiri, concerri-3
ing your future tenure in;
if your present job?
A. I talked to the Attorneys
t General on the phone fivel
seconds before I came into
;1- the room. It had nothing tol
do with my future tenure; it',
was, again, a purely friendly'
,Conversation.. ; ?
^7-", ? ' 7 ' .7-- ?
,
Following is the text ot thereOf as often as neces-
1' the proposal submitted 'hif sary, and; as he saw fit, proposal:
Cox's commems , on the? sons somehow under investi-',
? Attorney General Elliot L. th* The essential idea ot` es-
tablishing impartial but non-
judicial means for providing
? the special prosecutor and
, grand jury with an accurate
record of the content of the
? tapes without his participa-
tion is not unacceptable. A
courtroom "victory" has no
, value per se. There should
.be no avoidable, confronta-
tion with the President, and
I have not the slightest de-
sire to embarrass him. Con-
sequently I am glad to sit
?down with anyone in , order
to work out a solution
along this line we can.
I set forth below brief
notes on a number of points
that strike me as highly im-
portant.
1. The public cannot be
fairly asked to confide so
difficult and responsible a
? task to any one man operat-
ing in secrecy, consulting
only with the White' House.
? Nor should we be put in the
, position of accepting any ,
choice made unilaterally.
Richardson to Watergate
Special Prosecutor Archi-
; bald Cox on Oct. 17 and
designed to resolve the
controversy over the Water-
gate tapes. With the pro-
. posa/ are comments from
! Cox and an exchange of
, letters between Cox and
4 Charles Alan Wright, the
President's chief courtroom '
? A PROPOSAL
The Objective
The objective of this pro-.
posal is to provide a means.;
of furnishing to the court,
and the grand jury a corn-.
plete and accurate record of
r the content of the tapes sub-
poenaed by the ? 1
ecutor insofar as the conver-
sations recorded in those
tapes in any way ? relate to
the Watergate break-in and
the cover-up of the break-in,
to knowledge thereet on the
':part of anyone, and to per-
jury or the. subornation of
t perjury with regard thereto. ,
'The Means
The President would se-
lect an individual (the
; verifier) whose wide experi-
!r? ence, strong character, and
. established reputation for
veracity would provide a
firm basis for the confidence
thathe would put above any
other consideration his re-
sponsibility for the corn-
pleteness and accuracy of
the record.
Procedure
The subpoenaed tapes
;' would be made available to
f, the verifier for as long as he
;. considered necessary. He
1, would also be provided with
a preliminary record con-
sisting of a verbatim tran-
script of the tapes except (a) ?
; that it would omit continu-
? oils portions of substantial
s duration which clearly and
In their entirety were not
pertinent and (b) that it
:would be in the third per-
'son. Omissions would .be in-
dicated by a bracketed ref-
erence to their subject mat-
!ter.
' With the preliminary re-
cord in hand, the verifier
r would listen to the entire
tapes, replay 'portions
? make additions to e pre-
? liminary record. The veri-
fier would be empowered to
paraphrase language whose
use' in its original form
'would in his judgment be'
? embarrassing to the Presi-
dent and to paraphrase or
omit references to national
? defense or foreign relations
matters whose disclosure he
believed would do real
? harm; Ther verifier would
take pains in any case
where paraphrased language
, was used to make sure that
the' paraphrase did not alter
the sense of emphasis of the
? r ecorded conversation.
Where, despite repeated re-
playing and adjustments of
volume, the verifier. could
' not understand the record-
ing, he' would se indicate.
Having by this process
converte0 the prelimnary
record into his own verified
. record, the verifier, would
attach to it a certificate at-
testing to its completeness
and accuracy and to his-,
faithful observance of the
procedure set forth above.
Court approval of the pro-
'posed procedure would be
sought at two stages: (a) in
general terms when or soon
'after the verifier began his
:task, but without identifying
. him by name, and (b) when
the' verified. record was de-
-livered to the court with the
. verifier's certificate.. At the
.seCOnd stage, the special '
prosecutor and counsel for
:the President would join in
, urging the court to accept
the verified record as a full
: and accurate, record of all
. pertinent portions of the
? tapes for all purposes for'.
which access to those tapes
might thereafter be sought
by or on behalf of any per- ,
son . having standing to ob-
tain. such access.
Submission of the Verified
record to the court would be
accompanied by such affi-
davits with respect to the
care and 'custody of the
tapes as would help to estab-
lish that the tapes listened
to by the verifier had not at
any time been altered or ab-
breviated.
2. Your idea of tying a so-
lution into cdurt machinery
is a good one. I would carry
,/it farther so that any per-
sons entrusted with this re-
sponsibility were named
"special masters" at the be-
ginning. This would involve,
publicity but I do not see
how the necessary public
confidence can be achieved
without open announcement
of any agreement and of the
names of the special mas-
ters.
3. The stated objective of
the proposal is too narrow.
/It should' include providing
evidence that in any way
relates to other possible
criminal activity under the
jurisdiction of this office..
4. I do ,not understand the
implications of saying that
the "verbatim transcript ..
would be in the third per-
son. I do assume that the
'names of all speakers, of all
perons addressed by name
or tone, and of all persons
mentioned would be in-
cluded. [In a handwritten
footnote, Cox added here:I
The last is too broad. I
mean to refer only to per-
?
??
gation.
5. The three standards for'
, omission probably have ac-';
? , ceptable objectives but they
_ must be defined more nar-
rowly and with greater par- i
ticularity. ,
,
? 6. A "transcript" prepared' 4,
in the manner projected ;
might be enough for investi-
gation by the special prose-? t
cutor and grand jury. If we:
accept
accept such a "transcript"
: we would try to get it ac-
cepted by the courts '(as you? ')
suggest). There must also be .1
? assurance, however, that if
indictments are returned if 4
?
-evidence concerning any of
the nine conversations
'would, in our judgment, be. '1
important at the trial, and if
the court will not accept our
"transcript" then the evi-
dence will be furnished to ,4
the prosecution in whatever
form the trial court rules is, '4
? necessary for admissibility
? (including as Much of the
original tape as the court
'requires). Similarly, if the
? court rules that a tape or
any portion must be fur- t
nished a defendant or the
case will be dismissed, then I
the, tape must be supplied.
-7: I am glad to see some
provision for verifying the 1,
integrity of the tapes even ,4
though I reject all sugges-
tions of tampering. Should
we not go further to dispel
cynicism and make provi;
sion for skilled electronic
assistance in verifying the
integrity of the tapes and to .1
render intelligible, if at all
possible, portions that ap-
pear inaudible or garbled?
8. We ought to have a
'chance to brief the special
masters on our investiga-
tors, etc., so as to give them
an adequate background.
The special masters should
, be encouraged . to ask the
prosecutor for any relevant
information. What about a
request for consideration in ,!
the case of an ? evident
mistake? -
, 9. The narrow scope of
the prospsal is a grave de-
fect,, because it would not ;
serve the function of a court
decision in establishing the
special prosecutor's entitle- .
07 : CIA-RDP77-00432R0001002G0001-8
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ment to other evidence. We
1 have long pending requests
for many specific docu-
ments. The proposal also
leaves half a law-suit hang--
ing, (i.e. the subpoenaed
papers). Some method of re-
solving these problems is
; .rquired.
10. I am puzzled about the'
practical and political links ?
between ' (a) our agreeing
upon a proposal and (b) the
1. demands of the Ervin Com-
mittee. ?
11. The Watergate Special ?
Prosecution Force was es'-
r tablished because of a
;;widely felt need to create an
independent office that
. would objectively and forth- ,.
t? rightly pursue the prima fa--
:cie 'showing of criminality.;
1' by high government offi-
cials.You appointed me,
and 1 pledged that I wotild ,
T. not be turned aside. Any so-
i:lution I can accept must be
; such as to command convic-
', tion that I am adhering to
};,that pledge. A.C.
Letter from Wright to Cox;
1 Dear Mr. Cox: ;
' This will confirm our tele-
phone conversation ,of a few
"minutes ago..
.? The fundamental purpose
of the very reasonable pro-
posal that the Attorney Gen-
eral put to you, at the in-
stance of the President, was
to provide a mechanism by
t. which the President could
voluntarily make available'
!, to you, in a form the integ-
rity of which could not be
t, Challenged, the information.
',?-? that you have represented
you needed to proceed ? with
the grand jury in connection
with nine specified meetings ?
1- and telephone calls. This
would have also put to rest
t- any possible thought that ,
the President might himself
have been involved in the ,
'W'atergate break-in or
;. cover-up. The President was
C willing to permit this un-
..precedented intrusion into
k the confidentiality of his of-
, fice in order that the coun- ?
try might be spared the an-
guish of further months of.
litigation and indecision
'about private Presidential '
'papers and meetings.
We continse to believe
NEW YORK TIMES I
22 October 1973
that the proposal as? put to
you by the Attorney Gen
eral is a reasonable one' and
that its acceptance in full
would serve the national in-
terest. Some of your com-
ments go to matters of de-
Jail that we could talk
about, but your comments 1,
2, 6 and 9, in particular, de-
part so far from that, pro-
posal and .the purpose for
which it was made that we
could not accede to them in
any form.
If you think that there is
any purpose in our talking
further, my 'associates and I
stand ready to do so. If not,
we will have to follow the
course of action that we
think in the best interest Of
the country. I will call you
at 10:00 a.m. 'to ascertain
your views.
Sincerely, ? ,
Charles Alan Wright
Letter from Cox to
Wright Oct. 19:
Dear Charlie:
Thank you for your letter
confirming our telephone
conversation last evening.
Your second 'paragraph
referring to my comments 1,
2, 6, and 9 requires a little
fleshing out although the
meaning is clear in the light
of our telephone cOnversa-
lion. You stated that there
was no use in continuing
conversations in an effort to
reach a reasonable out-of-
court accommodation unless
'I would ,agree categorically',
to four points. .
Point one was that the
tapes must be submitted to
only one man operating in
secrecy, and the President
has already selected the
only person in the, country _
who would be acceptable to
him.
? Point two was that the
person named to provide an
edited transcript of the
tapes could net be. named
special master under a court :
order.
Point three was that no
portion of the tapes would
be provided 'under any cir-
cumstances. This means that
even if the edited transcript
contained evidence of crimi-
nality important in convict-
ing wrong-doers and even if
the court were to rule ,that
- only the relevant portion of
the original tapes would be
admitted in evidence, still
?' the portion would be with-
held. It is also clear that,
;under your Point 3, the
, tapes would be withheld
even if it meant dismissal of
, . prosecutions against former
...government officials who
have betrayed the public
trust. ? ?
Point four was that I must
? categorically agree not to
, bother" Wh't
House tape, paper, or docu-
ment. This would' mean that '
Any ability to secure evi-
dence bearing upon criminal
? wrongdoing by high White,
House officials would be left
to the discretion of White
House counsel. Judging
'from the difficulties we
have had in the past receiv- '
ing documents, memoranda,
? and ?other papers, we would
have little hope of getting
evidence in the future. ,
These points should be ,
borne in mind in consider-',
ing whether the proposal',
put before me is "very rea-
sonable.'
, I have a strong desire to,
avoid any form of confronta-,
lion, but I could not, con-
scientiously ? agree: to your',
:would.be futile, and that wey
. will be forced to take the ac:
tions that . the' President.'
deems appropriate-in thcso4
'circumstances. '1 :de wish 'te3
clear ',up two., points, hoW,
ever. " ? :':
'
. On what is referred to in,'
. your, letter, to,daY as 'poin
. three; that no portion of th
..tapes would-be provided up...c,
der any circumstances, the
proposal of the Attorney
General was simply Silent.
That would have been an is-.
sue for future negotiations'
when and if the occasion
arose. Your comments of the
?, 18th, hoWever,,..would have
required an adVance com-
mitment from us that we'
cannot make on an issue
that we think would never
\ arise.,:'.
stipulations without unfaith-'?
fulness to the pledges whichl:
I gave the Senate, prior to
? my appointment. It is "
?
'enough to point out that the
fourth stipulation would re-
quire me to forego further
legal challenge to claims of
executive. privilege. I cote-
. gorically assured the Senatg
Judiciary Committee that I
mould challenge such claims
. so far as the law permitted.
The ,Attorney General was
confirmed on, 'the strength',
of that assurance. I cannot
break my, promise now.
Sincerely, .
- Archibald Cox,
Special Prosecutor,
?
Letter from. Wright to Cox,
Oct. 19:
Dear Archie:
This is in response to your
letter of this date. It is My:
conclusion from that letter,:
that further discussions be:
tween us seeking to resolve.;
this matter by compromise
?
' In what 'yen. Is f.as??:Point
1 four you 1escribe,:mY113osi-
tion as heing?that'yon "must :
categoricallY ;agree., net to.
subpoena '? any' ;other White
House tape,:Paper. or, docu-
ment."' When "..I:..indicated,;
that the ninth 'Of StOur porn-1
ments of:the lath'was. -unac-
ceptable I had in mind only r
refer5ed to.in n'iy let-
ter as:'`tiriVate. tiresidential':
papersond 'meetings," "a cat;
egory that?Ilregard.as much,,,
much snialler, than the great
niass of Waite 'House': docu-
ments with which the Presid
-dent has not 'personally
been
been involVed.. , ? '
: I note these, 'points only nil!,
: the interest ,of historical ac-?.'
cttraeyi.: in ? the , unhappy.,
'-event 'that Our 1:yrres'pond-
enee should see. the light of
day: As I read. your com-
ments of the 18th and your
letter of the i9th, the differ-
ences between tis remain so
great that no. purpose would
be served by further discus-
' skin of, what I continue' to'
. think was a "very reasona-
ble"?indeed an unprece- ?
dently. . generous,-,proposal
that the Attorney Generk.:
put to you in an effort, in',
the national interest, to re-,:
solve our disputes by mu-e
tual agreement at a 'time;
when the countiy would be'
particularly well served by
such agreement.
Sincerelyq,
Charles Alan IATright
Ziegler Sta.thrnerit4TidTe)5.ts. of; Lett
Special to The New York notes
? WASHINGTON, Oct. 20?
Following are the texts of
? the ;statement by Ronald ?
Ziegler, the White. House--
'press secretary, regarding
President Nixon's decision to
discharge Archibald-Cox, the
! special- Watergate prosecu-;
' .tor, and William D. ?Ruckels-'
haus, the Deputy Attorney
General; a letter .of resigna-
tion- from Elliot L. Richard-
son, the Attorney General; to,
President' Nixon and the :
President's reply to Mr. Rich-
ardson;- Mr. Nixon's letter to
Robert H. Bork, the Solicitor e
? General and Arftraf,Mdigk?r-
ter to Mr. Cox, and Mr. Rue,: 1
helshaus's letter of resigna- 1
tion to the President: I
? Ziegler Statement
I know many of you are
on deadline. I have a brief
statement to give you at this
time, and following the read-
ing of the statement we will
have an exchange of a series
of letters relating to action
which President Nixon has
taken tonight.
President Nixon has to-
night discharged Archibald
Weah.MtiOolgtbrilffr
in the Watergate case. The
President took this action
because, of Mr. Cox's_ refusal .
to comply with instructions
given Friday night through,
Attorney General Richardson
that he was not to seek to
invoke the judicial process-
further to 'compel production
, of recordings, notes. or mem!'
oranda regarding private
"Presidential conversations. '?
Further, the office of the'
:Watergate special prosecu-
tion force has been abolished
as of approximately 8 P.M.
tonight. ,,Its function to in- ,
Atimter-oenttRideffftiti
rs
those involved in the Water-
gate matter will be. trans-'.1
ferred back into the institu-..f;
? tional framework of the De-
partment of Justice, where 1
at will be. carried out with ;
thoroughness and vigor. ;,;
In his statement Friday:.:
night, and in his decision not';
? to seek Supreme Court re,-;
view, of the Court of Ap.-%i
peals decision with regard to '
the Watergate tapes the ;
President sought to avoid a' ,
constitutional confrontation .
by an action that, would. give,
? the grand jury what it needs
613iornowed., with its work".
Approved For Release 2001/08/07 : CIA-RDP77-00432R000100260001-8
"With the least 7-e? '
: ?
sion a Presidential privacy.., Richardion Letter to Nixon
That. action taken by the
President in the spirit `of Dear Mr. President stances, therefore, I feel that
It is with deep regret that,? that has -; I have been obliged to con-'
marked American constitu- ; t: dude that circumstances .
tonal history was accepted :_leave me no alternative . to
by responsible leaders in
':the, submission of my resig
Congress and the country nation as Attorney General
' Mr. Cox's refusal to pro- ''.of the United States.
? ceed in the same spirit of ac- At the time you appointed'!
L cpmmodation, complete with ?: ?.,.,me; you gave me the author.e.i,
his announced intention to 1 ity to nanie a.4 special prose.?:?
.defy instructions from the ; cutor if. I should consider. it ;
President and press for fur- appropriate. A few days be- ,
'.ther confrontation at a time; , fore my confirmation hearing?
of serious world crisis, made ,,began,. I announced that
it necessary for the Presi- t, would, if cOnfifined, "appoint ;
? dent to discharge . Mr. Cox' special prosecutor ,and ?
and to return to the Depart :',give him all the"independ-
' ment of Justice the task, of enee; authority, ";and staff
prosecuting those who 'broke ; piipport needed to carry out
?,,the law in 'connection with.. the tasks entrusted to him."Watergate. ? ? : ". ; added': "Although he will be '
1.4:. Before taking this action. e L in the Department of Justice ,
the President met this evening ? and report to me?and only
Nixon Letter hi Richardson
with Attr al Richt -4 to me?he be'aware that
3.. General Richardson af about : to the AMericen people."
i; 4:45 today 'for about 30.1 At many points throughout
minutes. , te nomination hearings, I re-
The Attorney' General, o.', ;$ affirmed my intention to as
of the President's de- ' . Sure the independence of the
cision, felt obliged to resign,-. pedal prosecutor, and in my
since he believed the dis-:. statement of his duties and'
:charge
:dharge of Professor Cox to be- responsibilities, 1 specified'
inconsistent with the condi-- that he would have "full
tions of his confirmation by authority" for "determining
the Senate. ( whether or not to contest the '
4. As the ? Deputy Attorney assertion of 'executive privi-
1 .General, Mr. William Ruckels- 'lege' or any other testimonial
haus, refused to carry out the ? privilege." And while the spe-,
President's explicit directive' cial prosecutor can be re-
to discharge Mr. Cox, he, like'. moved from office for "extra-
' Mr. Cox, has been discharged improprieties," I
to: of further duties effective ' also pledged that "the Attor-
6,(1 imtnediately. ney General will not coun;?
Professor 'Cox was notified termand or interfere with the
Of his discharge by the Acting special.prosecutor's decisions,.'
F- 'Attorney General, the Solici- or actions."
V: tor General, Robert H. Bork, ) While - I fully respect the !
r professor of law from Yale.- reasons that have led you to
't University. ; conclude that the special
We have available for you prosecutor must be dis: ;
now the exchange of letters -.charged, I trust that you
between Attorney General understand that I could not ?
Richardson and the President in the light of these firm and
and the other correspondehce. repeated conunitments carry:
ome3 Gener
Out your direction that thi9
? be done. In the circum-
i.have no choice but to
resign.
? In leaving your Adminis-
tration, I take with me last-
: ing gratitede for the op-
portunities you have given
me to serve .under your
.; leadership in a number of
'important posts. It has been
ajorivilege to share in your
? efforts to make the structure
of -world peace more stable
and the structure Of our own
Government more respon-
sive. I believe profoundly in
the rightness and. importance
, of those efforts, and I trust
that they will meet with In-
; creasing success in the re-
maining years of your Presi-'
'dewy.
, Respectfully,
; ELLIOT L. RicriArmsON,
the instruction I issued to
. , through Attorney Gen-
: eral Richardson, yesterday.
Clearly the Government of
the. United States cannot
. !unction if employes of the
:executive branch are free to
? ignore in this fashion the,
lInstruction's of the President.
',Accordingly, in your capacity
of Acting Attorney General,'
" I direct you to discharge Mr.,
Cox imtnediately and to take
? all steps necessary to return'.
to the .Department of 'Justice ;
. ;the functions now being per.
;formed by the Watergate
' 'special prosecution force.
It ,is my expectation 'that'
the
? the Department of Justice .2.
continue with full vigori
the investigations and prose,e;
?.' idutions that had been en-
?.
4 trusted to the?Watergate spe-
? dal prosecution force.
; , ? . Sincerely,.
44
,
c!tirdson. He met with Attorney his ultimatWill e accountability). is
:4
NEW YORK TIMES
-23 October 1973
_
Press Sharply Criticizes
Nixon on Ouster of Cbx
By GLENN
President Nixon's dismissal of
Ardfibald Cox has elicited the
strongest press criticism since
his election nearly five years
ago.
The great majority of news-
paper editorials in the last 48
hours', deplore the President's
action in discharging the
special Watergate prosecutor
for refusing to desist in a quest
for White House tape record-
ings that might bear upon the
bugging and burglary of the
Democratic campaign head-
quarters in 1972 and the sub-
sequent cover-up.
Scores of newspapers, includ-
ing some of the country's most
widely, circulated journals, have
called for impeachment of the
President,' his immediate resig-
nation or other equally drastic
solutions to the impasse be-
tween Mr. Nixon, on theone,
hand, and Congress and the
courts, on the other.
Others Voice Criticism ?
" Many, other. newspapers,
FOWLER
while less harsh in their edi-
torial judgment of Mr. Nixon,
were nevertheles scornful of
what they considered the Presi-
dent's high-handedness, and
were openly skeptical of the
Administration's' contention
that the compromise proposal
for screening of the tape re-
cordings represented an effort
to avert a constitutional crisis.
Mr. Nixon received editorial
support, however, from a mi-
nority of the American press.
It was expressed in varying de-
grees of warmth, ranging from
defense of the proposal on the
tapes to approbation for the
dismissal of Mr. Cox and the
Deputy Attorney General, Wil-
liam D. Ruckelshaus, and the
resignation of Attorney Genera
Elliot L. Richardson.
In the foreign press, censure
of the President's action wat
widespread but for the most
part it was voiced in the ex-
pressed hope that the United
States would not be weakened
in the arena of world affairs.
Dear ,
It is with the deepest re-
gret and with an understand-
ing of ? the circumstances
which brought you to your
decision that adept your
' resignation.
? Sincerely,--
- RICHARD NIXON
Nixon Letter to Bork
.Dear Mr. Bork: .
- I have today ? accepted the
'resignation of Attorney Gen-
eral Richardson and Deputy
Attorney General Rucke1S-
? haus. In accordance with ?
Title 28, Section 508(B) of
the United States Code arich
. of Title 28, Section 0. 132(A)
of the Code of Federal Regu-
; lations, it is now incumbent
upon you to perform both
: the duties of -Solicitor Gen-
eral, and duties of and act
as Attorney General.
, In his press conference to-
day, special prosecutor Archi-
. bald Cox made it apparent
that he will not comply with
? RICHARD NIXON,.
Bork Letter to Cox
, Dear Mr: Cox:
As
As provided by Title 2.8,
r. Section ?508(B) of the United
; States Code and Title 28, Sec-
' ?. tion O. 132(A) of the Code of
). Federal Regulations, I have
today, assumed the duties of
-Acting Attorney General.
A In that capacity I am, as
instructed by the President,
discharging you, effective at
-once, from ,your'position as
,''special prosecutor, Watergate 'l
1' special prosecution force.
. . Very truly yours,.':
? ' ROBERT H. BORK:
:'Honorable Archibald COX
, Special Pro,secutof '
Watergate Special
: Prosecution Fore
1425 K Street, N.W.
.. 'Washington, D.C.
Ruckeisliaus Letter to riixoni
, . ?
Dear-11r. President,
? .It is with deep regret that
I tender my resignation. Dur-
ing your; Administration, you.
.have
?have honored me with four
'.appointments ? first in the.1
Justice Department's Civil Di-.'
vision, then as administrator
of the Environmental Protec-
' tion Agency, next as acting
, director of the Federal Bureau
' of Investigation, and finally
; as Deputy.Atorney General. I
-have found the challenge of
; working in the high lev, els of
...American Government 'an un-.
forgettable and rewarding ex-'
perience.
- I shall aways be grateful
? for your having given me'
,the opportunity to serVe the,
American 'people in ,this
? 'fashion. . ?
., I am, of course, ? sorry that
my conscience, will not per-
mit me to carry out your in-
struction to discharge Archi?
bald Cox. My disagreement
; with that action, at this time
is too fundamental to permit
me to act otherwise. .
wish you- every success
' duringthe remainder of your
Administration.
Respectfully,
VILLIAM D. RUCKELSHAUS
NEW YORK TIMES
23 October 1973
!Russian Press Gives -
Watergate Slight Nod'
Special to The New York Times
MOSCOW, Oct. 22 ? The
Soviet press paid only a min-
imum of attention today to
the latest developments in
the Waergate affair with a t
flat announcement of the'
dismissals of the special
Watergate prosecutor Archi-
bald Cox and Deputy Attor-
, ney General William D. Ruck-
-- elshaus and the resignation
' of Attorney General Elliott
Pravda, under the headline,
; L. Richardson.
? "Communcation ? From the
White House Press Secre-
'tary, "hewed to the remarks
:made by Ronald. L. Ziegler
,on the latest turn of the
;Watergate affair. By attrib-
uting everything to Mr. Zieg-
ler, the Soviet press avoided
any direct comment on in-
ternal American politics.
The Soviet press has gen-
erally avoided making any
mention of the scandal, in An
attempt not to jeopardize the
special . relations ' developed
by the Russian. 'Communist
party leader Leonid I. Brezh-
nev with President Nixon. .
Today's article gave Soviet '
.readers hardly any ? hint of
Acting Attorney Genera1.1
the dramatic events that led-,
to the newest domestic crisis
within the' Nixon Administra- 1
tion, PraVda, made a point of):
quoting Mr. Ziegler as say-
ing that the President had
accepted Mr: Richardson's .
resignation with !deepest re-'
gret."
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Protests From Colleges
In opinion forums other than
the press, Mr. Nixon fared bad-
ly. Protests from college facul-
ty and student groups were
dispatched to Washington from
dozens of campuses. Local and
state political leaders, includ-
ing many Republicans, reacted
with disapproval of his actions.
Newspaper editorial comment
in the country's larger cities
was mostly against Mr. Nixon.
In Chicago, The Tribune said
the President's proposed com-
promise revelation of the Wa-
tergate tapes "maybe the worst
blunder in the history of the
Presidency," but it urged both
Mr. Nixon and his critics to
avoid "a hysterical, inflamma-
tory and divisive political in-
quisition."
The Chicago Daily News de-
plored "the savagery" of the
President's order to seal off the
special prosecutor's office after
he was .ousted, and asked: "Did
the President suspect some
monstrous subversive con-
spiracy was hatching in Cox's
office?"
The Chicago Sun-Times said
editorially that "Mr. Nixon is
in deep trouble personally, and
he has placed the Government
in trouble."
Both The Washington Post
and The Washington Star-News
upbraided the President. "Hav-
ing lost two rounds in court,"
The Post said, "he [Mr. Nixon]
,attempted to seize immediate
icontrol of the prosecution of a
,series of criminal cases in
which he is at least potentially,
a defendant."
NEVI YORK TIMES
'Untenable Position'
"President. Nixon has placed
.himself in an untenable position
in relation to the courts," The
Star-News said. "Unless he can
find a way to backtrack quickly
he is on a course which could
lead to unimaginable diffi-
culties.",
Among other big-city? news-
papers, strong disapproval of,
Mr. Nixon came from The
Kansas City Star, which called
for impeachment proceedings in
Congress, and The Boston
'Globe, which celled upon :the
President to resign. . ?
"The appearance of a rudder-
less Government is beginning
to haunt Washington as affairs
slip beyond the control of the
executive power," The .,Star
said. .editorially. "Congress,
however reluctantly, must-.no*
consider the mechanics of re-
placing a President who may be
fast approaching an 'incapacity
to rule and . cope with a world
that so often demands instant
reactions from a united people
and their leaden"- ? ,
Agnew Example Cited
t?Tlie Globe , said: "There is'
another way, to spare the na-
tion from impeachment. It was
done tidily and quickly and in
full accordance with the
processes of law. only recently,
when Spiro .jr. Agnew resigned
as Vice President. With? full
respect for the high office he
holds, and indeed because of
that respect, .we urge President
Nixon to do; the same."
The Atlanta ,Constitution was
another large-circulation news-
paper to call for impeachment
"No man is above the, law.
President Nixon, with the near
incredible arrogance Of hie.,
action in firing Archibald Cox,
has left the Congress, and the
American people little choice."
But more typical of the anti-
Nixon reaction was that of The
Baltimore Sun, which stopped
short of a demand for Impeach-
ment: "By ordering Mr. Cox to
obey him and not the orders of
two courts that have now ruled
in this case, and by firing him
when he could not, ,President
Nixon seemed to be saying flatly
that he is above the law. If he
does believe that, what is next?"
The Detroit Free Press- said,
in a similar vein, "It can be
safely predicted that the Presi-
dent will now slide deeper into
trouble and that he will havo
fewer resources at work in his
behalf." To The Cleveland Plain
Dealer the President's actions
"leave Congress with little
choice but to challenge [his]
fitness to continue in office."
And The'- Dallas Times-Herald
said the,President had "precipi-
tated a crisis of confidence in
his right to hold office."
'Discredit His Leadership'
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
said the President "has now
virtuall yclosed the door to any!
chance of redeeming himself
in the eyes of the public and
regaining a position of leader-
ship." In view of The Los An-
geles Times,. the President's
"serious mistakes discredit his
leadership and peril the balance
of Federal power."
Other metropolitan news."
papers either leaning toward
impeachment or severely re'.
buking the President included .
IThe Nashville Tennessean, The
!Memphis Commercial Appeal,
:The :Des Moines Tribune and
1 'The Louisville Courier-Journal. '
Mr. Nixon's biggest editorial
cheer came from The Manches-
ter (N. H.) Union Leader, whose,
publisher, William Loeb, hailed i
the dismissal of Mr. Cox and.
the resignation of Mr. Richard-,
son as "the best news to come'
along for quite a while."
Cox Ouster Defended ,
On the other side of the con-
tinent, the Portland Oreg.onian: -
also. defended the Cox dismis-
sal. As for talk of impeachment, ;
The Oregonian ten I it "pre-
mature if not irrelevant," and
'added that "the prime national
goal remains to get to the dregs '
of Watergate, not to punish Mr.'
Nixon."
Abroad, The Daily Express of
London said Mr. Nixon's week-
end actions represented "ar-
rogance that threatens us all,"
and said the constitutional
crisis in the United States came
at a particularly unfortunate
time in view of the serious
Mideast situation.'..
In West Germany, 'The'
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
said the fact that "the mightiest
man of ..the greatest world ,
power has' to struggle with in-:
ternal scandals in the face of a'
war
war - in the Near East that
threatens world peace is in ft-,
self a scandal." . ? ? ?,.
23 October 1973
The Constitutional Crisis
By Chesterfield H. Smith
CHICAGO?As the president of the
American Bar Association, I urge in.
the strongest terms that appropriate
? action be taken promptly by the courts,
and if necessary by Congress, to repel
the attacks which are presently being
made on the justice system and the
rule of law as we have known it in
this country. '
The American Bar Association last
spring called for the appointment of
'an independent prosecutor with re-
sponsibility for the investigation and .
prosecution of the Watergate affair.
The A.B.A. position was based upon ?
. its Standards for Criminal Justice,
which provide that a prosecuting of-
ficer should have no conflict of inter-
est or the appearance of a conflict
of interest. Thus, under the standards,
it would be improper for an investiga- ?
tion of the President himself, of the
Office of the President, or of the ex-
ecutive branch of the Federal Govern-
ment to be conducted by a prosecutor
subject to the direction and-control
of the President.
? Based upon assurances made pub-
licly by high officers of the Admiriis-
- tration, the A.B.A. was most hopeful
, that Archibald Cox would be allow,ed
to pursue justice in all aspects of his
investigation without control by those
whom he was charged with lnvesti-
2. gating.
Now, the President, by declaring an
intention, and by taking overt action,
to abort ..the established processes of
justice, has instituted an intolerable
assault upon the courts, our first line
of defense against tyranny and arbi-
trary power. The abandonment, by
Presidential fiat, of the time-tested
procedures to insure the equitable
distribution of , justice constitutes a,
clear and present danger of compelling
significance.
The substitution, again by Presi-
dential fiat, of a makeshift device?
unilaterally improved and conferring
upon one individual functioning in se-'
? cret the power to test evidence?may
well be acceptable for a Congressional
investigation, but to also insist that
it be utilized by the courts in criminal
proceedings is an assault of wholly un-
precedented dimension on the very
heart of the administration . of justice.
The absolute gravity ,of the situation
demands the most resolute course on
the part of the courts and, if neces-
sary, Congress.
There Can be no menace to our se-
curity from within and none from
without more lethal to our liberties
at home and fatal to our influence
abroad than this defiant flouting of
laws and courts.. I express my hope
and confidence that the judicial and
legislative forces of this nation will
act swiftly and decisively to repeal and
correct this damaging incursion by the
President upon the system of justice,
and therefore upon our basic liberties..
I hope also that the President. will
change his course and 'cease what I i
believe to be an unprecedented flout-
ing of the rule of law. I also believe
that the Congress should, as its first ,
priority, re-establish the office of the;,
Special Prosecutor and make it hide-
pendent.
The people of this country will never
believe that justice has been done until,
such time as the independent prosecu-
tor is permitted to go into all aspects ?
of Watergate without limitations or,;
control imposed on him by those whom
he has reason to believe are possible
participants. At the same time, it is
clearly . proper that those who are
being investigated by' the Special Pros-
ecutor present' their objections 'to his':
conduct to the courts for a determine- !,
tion as to whether such conduct is
legally permissible.
I pledge to see that the A.B.A. as-
sist the United States District Court !
for the District of Columbia and any,,
other Federal court 'in the discharge"'
of its duties and responsibilities in this ;
constitutional crisis.
I applaud the action of three great
lawyers, Elliot Richardson, William
Ruckelshaus and Archibald Cox, who '
have emphasized to the nation that
they are lawyers who honor the tra-
dition of the legal profession and that
they are lawyers who properly and ,3
without hesitation put ethics and pro- %,
fessional, honor above, public office.
Chesterfield H. Smith of Lakeland, Fla.,
has been president of the American
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NEW YORK TIMES
23 October 1.973
Excerpts From Rules That Established, Cox's Iffice
, Spoeial 4o The New York Thttes
,
; WASHINGTON, Oct 22?
Following are excerpts front
rules and regulations signed
by former Attorney General
.! Elliot L. Richardson and
printed in the June 4 Federal
Register establishing the of..
(ice of Watergate special
prosecutor within the Depart-
'tent of Justice:
1Duties and Responsibili-
ties of the Special
Prosecutor
. The special prosecutor shall
Ita*e full authority for in-
', vest-tgating and prosecuting
flises against the United
t arising out of the un-,
tutfbrized entry in Dem-
rat National Committee
Iteaclimarters at the Water-
gate, all offenses arising out
the 1972 Presidential elec-
tion for which the special '
prosecutor deems it neces-
azy itio appropriate to as-
Iume rresponsibility,
,dons Involving the President,
nembers of the White House
??taff, or Presidential appoint.,
'fees, and any other matters
which he consents to have
,issigned to him by the At-
Ono General. ?
In particular, the special of duties), ., inchidirig; any,. ,The ' special prosec'utor will
,
,
prosecutor, shall have full appeals; ? ' ,. .. . ... not be removed from his
, authority with respect to the (1Coordinating .and direct.' duties except for eXtraordin-
above matters for: - ??,. , ? . ing the activities of ' All De- -?aryilinpronrieties on hispart: '
? 9Conducting probeedings., partment of. Justice per '
son-r,.. ? --aiu;;..
NATION AND RE
ur-
: before grand juries and any nel, . including . U. S. At- ' '
;
- other investigations he deems i ?'torneys; - . .SPONSIBILITY-The person-
' 9Dealing With and 'appear-
? ' ?
necessary; ; nel. acting as the staff and'
'1
? (11Reviewing all documen-' ing ? before assistant of the special prose-
: Congressional t? .
tary evidence available from ?? committees having, jurisdic- ? cutor shall be known as the,l
?,
any source, as to which he . ? tion over any aspect of the Watergate special prosecu-
shall have full access; : ?tion force and shall be 1
above matters and determin-
` 9Detennining whether or responsible only to the special '
?ing what 'documents, infor- '
?
not to contest the assertion prosecutor. ? 1
mation, and assistance shall .
tees.
?of y "executive privilege" or . be provided to such commit- PUBLIC REPORTS? The '
an other testimonial priv- -'
.. special prosecutor may from'
ilege; Pledge of Independence ''? time to time make public
Determining whether or - In exercising this author- ,, such statements or reports as
not application should ? be
made to any Federal ity, the special prosecutor - he deems appropriate and,
court -.
w eve e greatestegree;;. n' shall upo complettion of his,
any witness consistently
for a grant of... immunity to . of independence that is con-;: ..' assigment Submit a final re-,-
, ?
.with applicable statutory re-. ? e , ( ornellr 'port to the appropriate
. quiremerits, or for warrants, General'th stentWi s statutory account!;.: persons or entities of the:
subpoenas, 'or other cout ability for all matters fallin congress. 1 .
orders; . ? . within the jurisdiction of the
(Wedding Whether or not
Department of Justice. ' DURATION OF ASSIGN- .
. to prosecute any individual, The-Attorney General will ? MENT ? The special prose-
firm, corporation, or 'group not countermand or interfere cutor will carry out these ,
of individuals; with the special prosecutor's responsibilities, with the full
9Initiating and conducting. decisions or actions. The spe- support of the Department of,
prosecutions, framing indict. cial prosecutor will determine, Justice, until such time as, in
ments, filing'- informntions, ' whether and to what extent ? his judgment, he has com- ,
and handling all aspects of he will inform .or consult . pleted them or until a date
any , cases within his juris- _ with the Attorney , General mutually agreed upon be-
diction (whether initiated be-:'about the cenduct of his tureen' the Attorney General ?
fore 'Or after his assumption dutits and 'responsibilities. and himself. ?
NEW YORK TIMES
2,4 October 1973
?
Text of Cox's Farewell 111 e marks to Watergate Staff
?
Special to The New York Times
1,.; WASHINGTON; Oct. 23?'
' Following is a) transcript of
the farewell remarks 'of-,
Archibald Cox to the staff of.
t, the Watergate Special Prose-
cution Force, as prepared by
the special force's public in-
'?formation office, before the
White House announced that
' President Nixon would turn'
over the Watergate tapes to i
t: Judge John .1: Sirica:
I; I have been spending some'
. time thinking over something
? to say and never got beyond
that point.. Perhaps we've
been saying all the things
; 'that needed to be said during
the past few month's. Per- .
haps, as in most important .
things, there is nothing to
say.
(The following nine words ,
are a paraphrase?I think we
. tried to conduct this investi-
gation by) working with in-
tegrity,with impartiality, .
fairness and care,- and I think
that we also share the belief
, that a high level of personal
and supporting ability was
something which was impor-
'tant to bring into play, and
that if we behaved ourselves'
in accordance'th those
aims, that indeed the values
' of our governmental institu-
tions and `system of justice: I
would be demonstrated. I
think and pray that that will
The the result.
Plainly, there will be a :
good deal of shakedown dur-
ing the next few weeks. 'I
don't want to tell anyone
what the future should hold
for any individual. I do think
it important that the work go
on being done, and that the
integrity, not in a moral
sense, but in a holding-to-
gether sense; the unity, via-
bility, existence, whatever the
right words are, of the or- ,
ganization will be' preserved'
during that, period, and that'
the work go forward during
that period as we All tried to
do it.' ?
I cling to the faith that its
merit will. 'appear to the
American people and those ?
who make decisions for them.
And that you will' be able to
continue to do what you ,
came here to do.
I do think, at least, -that'
chance should be preserved,
that one should. bet onit just
as we all bet on that .chance-
when we came to begin with.
Because life isn't a sure thing,
and it 'isn't a sure thing in
these'areas. Perhaps I can say
three. things. First of them per-
sonal in a way and the other
two?very personal. -"
The one that' is personal
only in a way, is that while
had an extraordinary staff
as Solicitor General and have
worked in that office And
others where extraordinary.
groups were put together; I,
think it really is true that I
-never came in contact With an
? organization of more profes- -
sional skill or dedication, or
more that did really good pro-
fessional work than any other.
I say that's in a way per-
? sonal because that is one of
? the things that I value most
in life. It is also not a per-
sonal judgment in any eino-.'
tional sense, or personality
sense, but I really think it.
is true. I 'hope11 .,
of you, as it certainly, was '
for me, that this was a place
?I'm not sure that fun is
the right word, but a 'place',
where there were real satis-
factions.
, 'One Thing More'
? ' Where we had a sense of
coherence, ? of everybody,
'helping everybody else. And
that *as enormously im-
portant to me. Just as your
-friendship and support over,
what was growing over the
last week, even though I
couldn't say much about it,
and what came to a climax
,-,over the weekend at least.
. as far as I'm concerned per-
sonally. ? ?
- I don't know quite how to
thank you all for that. I ?
don't think its really per- ,
sonal, though. I feel it in a
personal way.' But I hope.
you'll?well, I don't know. '
God bless you_ ?' - ? :
I will say just one thing
more. A professor can always
say one thing more since he /
gets hold of himself. As far
as I am concerned, I am :
'going to stay in the, city.
think I may be called to ;
testify once: or twice. My,
aim is to stay as long as I
can articulate, without it be- .
coming personal, the 'things
that I think that are in- ;
volved, that / tried to articu-
late Saturday afternoon. Some.:
of them can be added to. I
I intend to get out as soon
as I think there is any sense.;
that what I begin to articu-';
late somehow seems to be a
matter of personality and not ,
of principle. I don't know
just when that will be. Then
I think I will go to the ceast
of Maine and spend the win-,:
ter there, or at least the
first part of it.
I understand that my leave '
at Harvard was during my'
period of Government em-
ployment. Those of you who
are lawyers at least, and-
those of you who have,',
worked for lawyers for-
a period, will understand me'
when I say I am told that
sort of a fee simple deter-
minable. The condition sub-
sequent has now been satis-
fied, and perhaps I won't be
eligible for long -for unem-
ployment compensation. God
bless you all. .
,
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WASHINGTON POST
24 October 1973
Ervin Panel
Told Tapes
Offer Is 1ff
By Lawrence Meyer
and John Hanrahan
WashlYigton Past Staff writers
Presiti. ent Nixon withdrew
r his offir yesterday to make
partial') White, House tape.:
transcripts available, after
verifieia` tion by Sen. John C.
r, Stennis (D-Miss.), ' to the
'1' Senate: select Watergate;
committee. ,
White House ChieflOtttagi
Alexander M. Haig Jr. said '
yesterday that the "Stennis
Comprothise" reached Fri- ?
t day with Senate Watergate
y committee chairman gain J.
Ervin Jr. ? (D-N.C.) and vice
chairman Howard H. Baker
- ? Jr. (R-Tenn.) had been can- 1
celed as a result of Mr. Nix-
on's decision to comply with
;-?, a court order to' turn nine
White House
? - to Chief U.S. Dis-
trict Court Judge John 'J.
Sirica. ?
" Although Sirica had or-
"dered Mr. Nixon to turn the
tapes over to him as part of
former Special Watergate
Prosecutor Archibald cox. :
federal grand jury investiga-
tion, Sirica had rejected on
Oct. 17 the Senate commit-
"tee's ,own subpoena to ob-n ?
the tapes.
!. The Senate committee ac-
cordingly filed a motion yes- ,
terday with ? the United
States Court of Appeals re-
questing an expedited ap-
peal of Sirica's ruling. The
committee brief requests
that arguments on its appeal
be heard by the full nine-
judge court on Nov. 2..
The decision to withhold
the tape summaries from
.the committee, came after a
dramatic series of events ,
last Friday that resulted in
? the summoning of Ervin and
Baker to the White House,
with no notice, from out-of- _
state speaking engagements.
Both men were out of touch
with their staffs or other,_
! senators at the time, leading
some committee sources to
The White House said that
Ervin and Baker had agreed
to accept a summary of five
tape recordings with partial
quotation. A telegram sent
yesterday morning by Ervin to
President Nixon, asking for
a clarification presented a
radically different view of
, the agreement.
his telegram, Ervin
said 'that Stennis would
have temporary custody of
the tapes, that Stennis
, would hear the tapes and
' separate Watergate-related
material from material not
relevant to the Watergate
affair and that Stennis
would "prepare and fur-fl to the committee "a
verbatim copy of the exact
words as recorded on' the
tapes, which are relevant to
matters which the commit-
tee is authorized ... to in-
vestigate."
In addition, Ervin said
that his understanding of
the agreement was that
Stennis could verify the au-
thenticity of the tapes and
could provide the committee
with a summary of the items
on the tapes that he consid-
ered not to be relevant to
the committee's investiga-
tier].
In announcing that Presi-
dent Nixon had decided to
withdraw' his offer to the
committee, Haig referred to,
the committee's appeal of
Sirica's order. "They, have
soughtthemselves o resolve
this issue through the
'courts," Haig said.
The second consideration
In President Nixon's deci-
. sion to withdraw his offer to.
the
the committee, Haig said,
Was a concern for Stennis'
health. Stennis only re-
cently, recovered fom gun-
shot wounds suffered during
a holdup here last January.
Stennis had agreed to un-
dertake the assignment,
Haig said, with the under-
standing that it would be
"hopefully devoid of the
limelight of the kind of ten-
sions that have developed
around this issue."
"I think the President's
view," Haig said, "is that
given all ,the tensions, pub-
licity, pressure now associ-
ated with this task, that he
would not presume to im-
' pose upon Sen. Stennis
when the information is now
being divulged in its com-
plete form in accordance ,
with the rulings of the
courts.
speculate that the two sena-,,
tors were being ,"used" as
, part of a White House
scheme to fire Cox.
I The agreement ,between
? Mr. Nixon and the commit-
tee had begun to disinte-
grate Saturday when Ervin
said that a White House an-
nouncement was incorrect
? in stating that he and Baker,
had agreed to receiving only,
summaries of the tapes. Er-
vin made his statement af-
ter C,ox rejected Mr. Nixon's
offer of the summaries to
him as unacceptable ?
'and as far as I'm concerned
we'll see you in court to bat-
tle over the question of ac-
cess to the tapes.'"
Both Dash and deputy
chief counsel Rufus Edmis-
ten said that they had not
talked to the White House
or Garment about President
Nixon's withdrawal of - the,
,tape summaries. Edmisten,
who said they learned that
the agreement had' been
withdrawn from a newsman,
said that the committee
'stance "would be more than
ever that it should have the ?
tapes themselves" and
would push ahead with its
court suit.
Both Ervin and Baker
were ? caught by surprise
when they were summoned
:to the White House last Fri-
day for the meeting on ? the
Stennis proposal, Senate ,
committee sources said. ?, I
Ervin was in the New Or-' ,
leans airoort, ' preparing to
return to his Morganton,
N.C, home after giving a
speech in New Orleans,
when he was paged to come
to the telephone. The caller
was J. Fred Buzhardt, spe-
cial counsel to the Presi-
dent, who told him the
White Reuse had decided to
offer a compromise to re- ,
solve the , tapes issue,
sources said. ?
Ervin then changed his
flight reservations and flew
by commercial airline to
Dulles -International Airport ,
here, where he was met by ,
White House representa-
tives. Ile then was whisked
to the meeting at the White
House, sources said, without
having any, time to contact
any of the other senators on
the committee or its staff
members.
After the White House
'Meeting, because there were ?
no flights back to North ,
Carolina that night, Ervin
was'flown? by military plane
to Charlotte, the ?sources
said.
I. tape summaries, they 'Iso- ,-?
lated Cox in refusing the"
?tapes, sources said.
However, sources said Er-
vin felt as recently as Mon-
Baker, sources said, re-
ceived his urgent call to re-
turn to Washington for' a:
meeting at the White House
while he was delivering a
speech in Chicago. Sources ?
said Baker arrived at the
White House some time
ahead of Ervin and -talked 1
with White House aides be-
fore Ervin arrived.
?
Like. Ervin, Baker had no
time to call any other com-
mittee members or staff of-
Special presidential coun- ficials bpfore the meeting.
,sel Charles Alan Wright, ,Baker told The Washington
who has been arguing Presi- Post on Sunday that he still
dent Nixon's position in had not Weed to any other
court, said after the an-
nouncement that President commh.tea members about
:Nixon would comply with the Friday meeting.
Sirica's order that White . Some Senate committee '
House counsel Leonard ,Gar-sources s iid yesterday there .
ment had spoken on the tel- was a 'feeling that the White
ephone with chief commit,-
tee counsel Samuel Dash. __
mouse may have "used" Er-'
Wright
' Wright said Dash told vin and Baker as part of a
:Garment, "'I think you've plan to fire Cox. By getting
dgne exacliy the ?It thine) the committee to aceetRthe
day that he had not been
"used," and that the Pre,si-
dent had put forth his pro-
posal in good faith. Baker
and Ervin were given noth,
?ing in writing last Friday
but, sources said, felt they ,
had "a gentleman's agree-
ment." ?
Haig said yesterday, ?"I
know of no departure from
'that agreement." Describing
Ervin's role in the Friday
meeting, Haig said, "I think
;international interests and
at a time krhCn there was
great tension in the Mideast, ?
when the senator could ob-
serve for himself the kind of
polarization that was taking
place, that he very selflessly ?
and I think quite correctly
decided for himself that this ?
was a compromise that he
, could accept. I'm not aware
of any deviations from the
agreement that was arrived
at. I know there were some ,1
?
semantic problems over the 11
weekend, but they were just
that."
Committee sources said '
yesterday that the commit- %
tee will meet Thursday to '
chart its future course of ac-
tion. One major item to be '
discussed; sources said, is t
the possibility of the corn-
mittee subpoenaing all docu-'?
ments held by the special
prosecutor's office in order?,
to use them and safeguard t,
them from tampering.
The committee also is ex-
pected to discuss proposals
by some staff members to
call Cox, former Attorney
General Elliot L. Richard- ,
son and former Deputy At-
torney General William
? Ruckelshaus as public wit-
nesses. Richardson and )
Ruckelshaus resigned after :
? refusing'to fire Cox last Sat-
urday.
The committee yesterday
subpoenaed two Manchester
? (N.H.) Uion leader report-
ers and their records. The '
reporters, R. Warre Pease
?and Arthur Egan, have been
questioned by -the ? commit- ?
tee's investigators about the "
so-called "Canuck" letter,
which was sent to the news-
paper in early 1972 and ac-
cused Democratic presiden-
tial candidate Sen. Edmund
Muskie of making racial
slurs against Americans of
French-Canadian, ancestry. .
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WASHINGTON POST
24 October 1973
By William Chapman ?
Washington Post Staff Writer
Two? high-ranking Justice
1,?' Department officials de-
clined to say. yesterday
whether they will pursue
f- through the courts the
White House material?
other than the Watergate
tape recordings?which for-
meit special prosecutor Ar-
chibkad Cox had sought.
But acting Attorney Gen-
eral Robert H. Bork and As-
sistant Attorney,, TGen I
Henry E. PeterieVT tin
promised a vigorous? swift
?' investigation of Watergate
, and related cases.
Neither would say
whether he favors subpoena-
ing the documents and
memoranda that Cox had
felt vital to the cases.
Shortly before he was dis-
missed last Saturday, Cox
characterized as , vital the
? power to obtain by subpoe- "The independence of the
nas notes ? and documents , prosecution is still a prob-
relating to several ..cases lem," one of the senior Cox
now under investigation. staff members who attended
Petersen, interviewed in a the meeting said last night.
Justice Department corn- "Everything is very uncer-
' der, said he had not been thin. There's no promise of
. told anything about the an independent prosecutor."
? course of the investigation The idea of retaining a
except for Bork's comment prosecutor holding? Cox's
pledging a vigorous one. , status did not appeal to Pet-
Petersen said he wanted to ersen, ,the chief of the Jus
proceed "with dispatch" ori tice Department's criminal
the cases.. , division. Petersen , was the
Bork, through a Justice original prosecutor of the
Department spokesman, de-
Watergate burglary cases
dined comment,
and was angry when ' the
Petersen and Bork met
case ultimately was placed
;
yesterday, afternoon with in Cox's hands.
the senior staff members of Petersen said that no one
'
' Cox's prosecuting office to "has come to any firm con-
discuss how the investiga. elusion" about the hiring of
tions will proceed.
another independent prose-
It. became apparent ?after- .cutor. But he seemed to
ward that the Cox staffs Pour cold water on the, idea
, doubts about an impartial, when he said, "The events
independent - prosecution , of the last few days have
? had not been removed.
"biought that concept into')
. question." Asked what he
meant by that, he noted that
Cox had been fired.
Petersen said he would:
t welcome the services of top- ',I,
level attorneys on the ('nit
special force, saying, "The
professional people at Cox's"
office are some of the best
, we could have in the federal
. service."
"
It appears for the immedi-?
, ate future that most ? of
Cox's top, people would be'
willing to work with Peter-4'
sen on the investigation.
' However, they reported,
?'' yesterday they have been'
unable td get clear-cut re:??;
sporises to their requests for
; information on how ? the%
investigations would' pro-? k
? ri
ceed.
In a meeting Monday eve-
ning with Bork and Peter-7
? sen, two of the top Cox spe-',,
.
cial force aides submitted;
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR specific question s. They
asked whether they would'
24 October 1.973 be able to pursue specificl
pieces of needed evidencel
European press concern,e
over ES. politic 1 crisis
By the Associated Press
k The European press expressed con-
cern that the United States Govern-
ment's latest Watergate crisis might
.hamper American effectiveness as a
'peacemaker in the Midclle East.
, Derek Marks, the political ? corre-
spondent of the Daily Express, Lon-
don, described President Nixon's
ac-
tion in the dismissal of special Water-
gate prosecutor Archibald Cox as
? "arrogance that threatens us all."
Citing the negotiations in Moscow
between U.S. Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger and Soviet leaders
which led to the UN Security Council
cease-fire resolution, Mr. Marks said: ,
? "It strikes one as totally in-
, comprehensible that President Nixon'
should deliberately choose this mo-
ment to provoke a major con-
?stitutional crisis hi the United States
over thi release of the Watergate
'tapes."
The Financial Times of London
. said, "One must hope that a settle-,
sment of the Middle East war is not
prejudiced by Mr. Nixon's actions,
: but it is becoming increasingly uncer-
tain how long American foreign policy
can be insulated from the political
crisis at home."
The Danish conservative Ber-
lingske Tidende sounded a similar
note: "In a serious international
situation," 'the newspaper said, "with
the United States involved in difficult
?and important negotiations over a
cease-fire in the Middle East, i'-'
political crisis in Washington must
seem especially depressing and cause
anxiety."
Most West German newspapers
headlined the story on front pages.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zei-
tunesaid: "The might of the United
States in the world and the ladwer of
the American President in his country
are certainly not ... tied to each other
' without fail. But' that the mightiest ;
man of the greatest world power has',
to struggle with internal scandals in
-
the face of a war in the Near East that
- threatens world peace is in itself a
scandal."
' Several papers were sharply criti-
cal of Mr. Nixon.
The middle-of-the-road West Ger-,
man paper Politiken, under the head-:
line "The Crime Goes On," com-
mented:
"Obviously there are no limits to
what 'President Nixon and his com-
panions in the White House will do to
stop the investigation of the Water-
gate crimes. For the Washington
Congress there seems nothing else to
do than go ahead with impeachment
procedures when the Senate hearings
are over.. . ." ?
The conservative Die Welt of Ham- '
burg said, however: "What Nixon. did
appears scandalous. But it is, to be
asked whether he did not act in a kind
of self-defense and whether America, ?
whether ,its allies, . . . should wish
that he may fall because of the ?
, debacle."
?
through the courts.?
?
. A Cox staff source 'saick
yesterday that Bork and Pe-,
tersen "gave no clear signal";
about whether those items;
of evidence would be sought.
He said that both Justice,
Department officials seemed.;
vague and uncertain about;
the role they would play.
Nevertheless, most were,
planning to remain at least,
, temporarily as Justice De-4
loartment employees. "There
fare a number of people who-,
; think it would be nice justf,
to take a walk in the,:
woods," said One 'aide. "But,-;'
there's also a chance We can't;
do an independent investiga-,.'s
tion, which is what we came
-; here to do."
; Bork asked all of the Cox':'
?staff personnel to continue
working, according to John
Hushen, Justice Department I,
press officer.
Hushen said that Bork had.7,
promised to "prosecute
orously" Watergate and re-':
lated cases and asked :the
Cox staff to "stay on in or- ?
der to bring the cases to al
t conclusion."
t. , ?
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?
BALTIMORE SUE
24 October 1973
What the atergate tapes might reveal and
why Cox fought for their surrender
Washington?The nine secret
White House tapes that now
are to be handed over to Judge
John J:Sirica may resolve the
still unanswered question of
whether and how much Presi-
dent Nixon was involved in the
Watergate affair.
A memorandum previously
'issued by Archibald Cox, the
special Watergate prosecutor
who was dismissed by the
President last weekend, noted
that each of those tapes re-
lated to an occasion when
"plans and activities relating
to Watergate and its aftermath
were discussed in respondent's
,[Mr. Nixon's] offices."
" As Mr. Cox put'It, the search
.for the truth would be "greatly_
assisted" by obtaining an ac-
curate record of each of those
nine conversations, on which
there already had been consid-
.erable conflicting testimony.
, The tape of June 20, 1972?
three days after the break-in
of Democratic offices at the
Watergate complex by em-
ployees of the Committee to
Re-elect the President, along
with four Cuban-Americans ?
relates to a meeting between
Mr. Nixon, H.. R. Haldeman,
then White House chief of
staff, and John D. Ehrlichman,
Alien chief domestic adviser.
Both presidential aides had.
met earlier that day with John
N. Mitchell, the Nixon cam-
paign director, John W. Dean
3d, White House legal counsel,
and Richard G. Kleindienst,
then the attorney general, a
Meeting at which, according to
Mr. Ehrlichrrian's testimony,
? Watergate was the primary
topic.
, Mr. Cox commented that the
inference that the White House
aides later reported to the
, President on Watergate "and
,may well have received in-
? structions,' was "almost irre-,
sistible."
; A four-minute telephone con-
versation June 20 sbetween the
President and Mr. Mitchell,
according to the former attor-
ney general's testimony, dealt
solely with y the Watergate
break-in and investigation.
. Another of the tapes relates
to a more than hour-long meet-,
, big on June. 30,; of the, Presi,
dent, Mr. Mitchell and Mr.
Haldeman in the presidential
office in the Executive Office
Building adjacent to the White
House. His impending resigna-
tion as director of the re-
election committee was dis-
cussed, Mr. Mitchell has testi-
fied.
/ Of that meeting, Mr. Cox
wrote, "It strains credulity' to
suppose that. Watergate. and
how Watergate affected Mitch-
ell and the campaign were not
topics of conversation. The
records of the meeting are
clearly the most direct evi-
dence of the knowledge and
intentions of the participants
as of a date shortly after the
grand jury began its investiga-
tion."
? A crucial White House tape
deals with a September 15,
1972, meeting between the
President, Dean and Mr.
Haldeman. This was the day
on which indictments were
handed down relating to the
original seven Watergate con-
spirators, and this was the
meeting at which Dean testi-
fied the President congratu-
lated him on doing a good job
on the Watergate coverup.
? Mr. Haldeman disputed
Dean's testimony, which, if
corroborated, according to Mr.
Cox, would "tend to establish
that a conspiracy to obstruct
justice reached the highest
level of government." If Mr.
Haldeman's version is upheld,
' Mr. Cox noted, "the question
of Deans perjury would then
'arise."
Further disputed Dean alle-
? NEW YORK TIMES
25 October 1973. ..,..,
.al h ? t _
Z
r ,
gations arise from a meeting
of March 13 this year, when
Mr. Nixon met with Dean and
Mr. Haldeman, and according
to Dean, discussed the possibil-
ity, of paying $1 million in hush
money to a Watergate defend-
ant.
The tapes ,of March 21 relate
to two meetings at which he
President, Dean, Mr. Halde-
man and (at one meeting only)
Ronald L. Ziegler, the White
House press secretary, were
present. It was at the earliert
? meeting that Dean talked
about a "cancer" growing, on
the presidency?a ' point on
which there was general agree-
ment among those present?
and revealed a theory of the
coverup and liability of high-
level officials. There was also
discussion of the threat by E.
Howard Hunt, Jr:, a Watergate
defendant, to expose his
"seamy work" for the White
House unless he received a
large sum of money.
( At the afternoon meeting,
the coverup was discussed,
and it was Dean's testimony
that it became clear to him
that the White House efforts at
concealment would continue.
"Evidence orthis meeting is
pertinent to determining the ex-
istence of a coverup, its thrust
and its membership," the Cox
memorandum states.
On March 22, Mr.- Nixon had
an almost two-hour' meeting
with Dean, Mr. Ehrlichman,
Mr. Haldeman and Mr. Mitch-
ell, a discussion that, accord-
ing to all evidence so fart
centered on Watergate and the
problems presented by the
forthcoming Senate Watergate
hearings.
I The final tape deals with a
i meeting last April 15 between
the President and Dean, who
testified that 'he had told Mr.
Nixon in detail of his revela-
tions to the United States at-
torney's office about his knowl-
edge of the Watergate affair.
It was on that occasion that,
.aecording to Dean, the Presi-
dent said he had been "joking".
' When he approved the idea of,
1 raising $1 million for the Wat-
ergate defendants. '
It was also on that date,.
according to the Dean testi-
mony, that the President ad-
mitted he had been "foolish"
to discuss executive clemency.
for the Watergate conspirators.
with Charles -W. Colson, a'
White House counsel.
Summing up the importance
of the Watergate tapes,' Mr.. ? t
Cox said: "It would be hard to
exaggerate the importance to
the grand jury of . full and
accurate knowledge of every.: ,
thing said.: in these partieular;:
conversations relevant to the.:
Watergate affair. The material
. . might well be determina-
tive in fixing the planning .and?.
precise scope of the conspiracy:
to obstruct justice and other
illegal activity as well as the
involvement and. knowledge of
the putative conspirators at
various times during the, al-
leged Coverup,? ,
4 A
iii't Trut
By Ramsey Clark
As the nation faces further crises:
t in law and constitutional government,
it may be helpful to examine one just
past. ?
The criminal acts of Spiro Agnew
'were tragedy enough for Ainerica in
this time of profound doubt. The con- '
? tempt for law manifested by the offi-
cials who handled his case compounded ?
that tragedy. If we cannot adhere to
? law with greatest fidelity to its prin-
ciples and purposes in time of crisis,
it will earn slight respect and.' fail
when needed most.
t ,The 'pragmatic disposition of the'
Agnew ,case ignored the need for
faith in truth as the foundation of the
law. As a result, the people do not
have the facts needed to know whether
they have witnessed power over inno-
Approved For Release, 2410VONOW hiellA3#21aRZ77011
.ered up, personal sacrifice to an un-
fair system or protection of the Presi-
dent. There is no visible vindication
'of the public ? interest, fairness to the
accused or due process of law. :
Former Attorney General Richard-'
son said the initiative for the pre- .
indictment resolution of the issues by.:
the sudden plea came from the office
of the President. There is no surer
way to politicize the system of crimi-
nal justice than intercession by the
'White House. Henry Petersen is re-
ported to have said the President Would
be a "blithering idiot if he weren't)
trying to exert some role." The same ,
can ? be said for anyone interested in
a criminal case. The prosecution would:
be an'outlaW if it permitted such inter-
..ference. Archibald Cox understood this.
04311104flte.0628t904044 more dis- '
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1. ' respectful "to the office of the Vice '
, President, or the integrity of law, than !
for the Attorney General of the United -'
States to agree to intercede personally;
' in return for the resignation and plea
of the Vice President This is barter-',.
'1.ing with the second highest office in','
.1' the land. Is it enough to tell the hun..:
' dreds of thousands of defendants sen. !,
tenced to prison that they would have
'fared better had they been Vice Presi-'$
'? dent? Will angry convicts see ours
as a system of power, not law intend. ;
.. ing justice? The Vice President is al- :
ways a step 'away from the Presidency. ,,
This does, not place him a step above.
the
.! the law., . -.;
Neither the U.S. Department of JuS- '
-*.tice nor the court should have'' ac-.
,cei3ted the plea ,of rio/o contendere to'
:'the remote and ambiguous 1967 'tax \'
c charge. Doubt about the charges and -
?
, 1 the guilt will Orme youpg Americans:,
gaining their firstbimpreaelions of Amer-
"'lean justice. The allegation; were far .;
too serious, the need of the public to !
know too great, to permit such a dis- ;
' position. ,
The submission of a forty-page ex-
- parte statement of the prosecutor is a'
dangerous practice. It removes the
?.? Shields of the grand jury?the-rules'of ,
NEW YORK TIKES
24 October 1973 . _
Excerpts From a Federal Court Hearing on the Tapes,
and Text of Statement by Sirica to Gran Juries
"evidence and a 'petit ' jury' verdict.
These protect accused persons from
i: unsupported charges. The press-con- ?
ferenCe plea by Mr. Richardson ,'for
-!''public support for the settlement was
; trifling with the law. It speaks for
itself by acts of grand juries, .petit,
/: ? ?
Ounes and judges. -
,. For U.S: Attorney James Thompson)
k"of Chicago to tell the world he has '
studied the Agnew file, that' it is as'
i! bad as he has seen,, that Mr.. Agnew.,
Os a "common crook," is ethically'
t
:;corrupt. We have not, heard a word,:
6.
?f reprimand. A system of law cannot;
tolerate extrajudicial comments by ,a;
p-rosecutor from investigative files on
the character or conduct of citizens.
I. Then,. there -is the failure by the)
); state of Maryland against which many
'the offenses were apparently com-;
,'mitted. Two state officers have stated
ff! no action will be taken. Thousands of':
Persons charged and convicted of
- eral crime have- known Maryland (to,'
? wait years to, imprison them when.
they were. released from a Federal 1
Penitentiary. Is a Vice President simply'
too powerful for the rule of law?
Y. What was needed, was clear enough
simply faithful execution of the:
; laws. ,EmOtional as: the experience.
'? may have been, a modicum of instinct
*; would have instructed. Present the,
?? evidence to the grand jury as nearly '
like any other case as is possible.'
; Make no comments out of court. If
the person under investigation wants
to enter a ? plea before indictment
.formally delineate all the charges sckl
the law can know what was chargedi,
??:, and, where jeopardy attaches. Insist
on a plea of guilty. If no plea is of- 4
fered, submit the case to the grand !
jury and if there is in 'Indictment,
;' prepare' for trial.
The question of resignation is for
/:' the official involved, not for trade.!
Certainly out of respect for the officq.
he should resign, if indicted;unless he!
? believes the prosecution ? is in halt
faith to ,remove him,'? ti
e Sentencing is the function of the'
9; Court.' If the court 'wants the prose
!.*: tutor's recommendation, as many dq,1
it is entitled to it, but !a special plea
! 'for leniency is improper. A prison
; sentence makes no sense for crimes
;. of extortion, bribery, qr. tax evasioh,,??
*1, or most other crimes for that matter.
Some day we need to face this. But;
it does not serve the nation_ to humble':'
the law by bargaining away its &gig
application to a Vice' President, , fully,
, intending to use thak, same law to
crush the . powerless and' unpopular?
tomorrow.
Rarrisey Clark- was ? Attorney General ?
.in the Johnson Administration.
SOecial to The New York Times
, WASHINGTON, Oct.. 23?
Following are excerpts from
the official transcript of a
hearing today in United States
District Court, where Chief
Judge John J. Sirica read por-
tions of a ruling in the Water-
gate tapes case by the United
, States Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Cir-
cuit, and Charles Alan Wright
announced that President
Nixon would comply with ,
.-the ruling, and the text of a .
statement read by Judge
Sirica to the two Federal
, grand juries em paneled to
mvestigate Watergate and
other cases:
JUDGE.. SIRICA: Counsel
for beth sides, I am starting
:at page 38 of the opinion in
;case you want to follow. The
[appeals] court said:
? "We contemplate a proce-
dure in 'the district court, fol-'
lowing the issuance of our
mandate, that follows the
path delineated in Reynolds,
Mink, and by this court in
Vaughn v. Rosen. With the
rejection of his all-embracing
dair om prerogative, the
President will have an oppor- ?
tunity to present more parti,?..
? ,cular, claims of privilege, if
accompanied by an analysis
'in manageable segments.
"Without compromising the
;confidentially of the informa-
tion, the analysis should con-
tain descriptions specific
:enough to identify the basis
. of the rarticular claim or.
'claims.
? [I)
"In sofar as the President
: makes a claim that certain
material may not be dis-
: closed because the subject
matter relates to national de- indexing will have eliminated donee ,in a criminal proceed-
any danger of disclosing
peculiarly sensitive national
? security, matters. And, here,
any concern over confiden-
tiality is minimized by the
Attorney deneral's designa-
tion of a distinguished and
reflective counsel as Special
Prosecutor. If, however, the
court decides to allow ac-
cess to the special prosecu-
to, it should, upon request
stay its action in order to
allow sufficient time for ap-
plication for a stay to this
court.
"Following the in camera
hearing and inspection, -the
district court may determine
as to any items (a) to allow
the particular claim of priv-
ilege in full; (b) to order dis-
closure to the grandjury of
all or a segment of the item
or items; or, when segmenta-
tion is impossible, (c) to fash-
ion a complete statement for
the grand jury of those por-
tions of an item that bear
on possible criminality. The
district court shall provide a
reashnable stay to allow the
fense or foreign relations, he
may decline to transmit that
portion of the material and
ask the district court to re-
consider whether in camera
inspection of the material' is
necessary The Special Pro-
secutor is entitled to inspect
the' claim and showing and
may be heard thereon, in
chambers. If the judge sus-
tains the privilege, the text
of the Government's state-
ment will be preserved in the
court's record under seal.
[2]
"The President will present
to the DISTRICT court all
other items covered by the
order, with specification of
which segments he believes
may, be disclosed and` which
not. This can be accomplish-
ed by itemizing and index-
ing the material, and cor-
relating indexed items with
particular claims of pri-
vilege. On request of either.
counsel, the district court/
shall hold a hearing in cham-
bers on the claims. There-
after the court shall itself
inspect the disputed items.
"Given the nature of the
inquiry that this inspection
involves, the district, court
may give the special prose-
cutor access to the material
for the limited purpose of
aiding the court in determin-
ing the relevance of the mate-
rial to the grand jury's inves-
tigations. Counsel's arguments
directed to the specifics of
the portions of material in
dispute may help the district
court immeasurably in mak-
ing its difficult and necessr
By detailed decisions.
Moreover, the?preliminary
resicient an opport.unity to
appeal." ?
Appeal by President
There is a reference to
footnote 100. I will read the
footnote:
"Since the subpoened re-
cordings will already, have
been submitted to the dis-
trict court, the opportunity
to test the court's ruling in
contempt proceedings would
be foreclosed. And any rul-
ing adverse to the Special
'Prosecutor would clearly be
a pre-trial "decision or order
suppressing or excluding evi-?
Approved For Release 2001/08/07 : CIA-RDP77-00432R0001
ing? "
Thus the district court's
ruling on particularized claims
would be 'appealable by the
President as final judgments
under 28 U.S.C., Section
1291."
And it cites three Federal
cases.
In case of an appeal to this
court of an order either al-
lowing or refusing disclosure,
this court will provide for ,
sealed records and confidenz'
tiality of presentations.
Now, are counsel for the
President prepared at this
time to file with the court
the response of the President
to the modified order of the
court?
? MR. WRIGHT: Mr. chief
judge, may it please the court:
I am not prepared at this time
to file a response. I am, how-
ever, authoried to say that
the President of the United
States would comply in all
respects with the order of ?
August 29th as modified by
the order of the court of
appeals.
It will require some time,
as your honor realizes, to put.:
those materials together, to
do the indexing, itemizing as'
the court of appeals calls for.
JUDGE SIRICA: As I un-
derstand your statement,
that will be delivered to this
court.
MR. WRIGHT: To the
court in camera.
JUDGE SIRICA: You will
follow the decisions or state-
ments- delineated by me.
MR. WRIGHT:. Will comply
in all respects with what
your honor has just read.
As the court is aware, the
President 'yesterday filed
0026000-1-8
? -Approved For Release 2001/08/07 : CIA-RDP77-00432R00010026000118
t with the clerk of the court a
response along different
lines, along the lines indi-
cated in the statement to the
country on Friday. That
statement, if it was ever offi-
cially filed with the court, is
s, now withdrawn.
3. The response that was
made yesterday, the Presi-
dent's statement on Friday,
was what we hoped would
?- be a satisfactory method of
accommodating the needs
t' that led your honor and the
court of appeals to rule as
they did; while minimizing
the danger to confidentiality,
we had hoped that that kind
`." of a solution would end a
. constitutional crisis.
The events of the week-
end, I think, have made it
very apparent that it would
not. Fven if I had been suc-
cessful, as I hoped I would
be in persuading you, Mr.
Chief Judge, that this did
adequately satisfy the spirit
,?of the Court of Appeals rul-
ing there would have been
those who would have said
,? the President is defying the
, law.
This President does not
defy the law, and he has au-
thorized me to say he will ,
i comply in full with the or-.
t ders of the court.
JUDGE SIRICA: Mr. Wright,
the court is very happy the
President has reached this
decision. I appreciate the ef-
forts in that.
Can you give the court
some idea approximately
when the court might expect
? the matters and things called
- ? 7 for in the subpoena duces
- tecum pursuant to the deci-
. the,court;_of appeals?
NEW YORK TIMES
24 October 1973
MR. WRIGHT: Mr. Chief
Judge, I honestly can't do
so except to say it will be
done as expeditiously as pos-
sible, and I would hope it
would be a matter of a few
days. But I am not myself
familiar with the materials in
question. I do not know how
' much time is required. We
will proceed as quickly as
we can.
JUDGE SIRICA: All right.
Thank you very much. Any-
thing further, gentlemen?
? The court is adjourned.
, .
? Sirica Statement
Members of the grand jur-
ies:
? I thought it prudent to call
you here this morning to ex-
plain, insofar as possible,
-
your present status. I ima-
gine that in view of events
that have recently transpired,
many or perhaps all of you
may be experiencing some
? anxiety regarding your role
as grand jurors and the role
of the grand juries them-
selves. My brief remarks per-
haps, may alleviate some of
that anxiety. Such, at least, -
is my intent this morning.
You are advised first, that
the grand juries of which you
? serve remain operative and
intact. You are still grand
jurors, and the grand juries
'You constitute still function.,
In this regard you should be
aware that the oath you
took upon entering this serv-
ice remains binding. You
must all be especially careful
at this time to fully and
strictly adhere to that oath
which states:
"You and each of you' as
a member of the grand jury'
for the District of Columbia,
do solemnly swear that you
will diligently, fully, and im-
partially inquire into and
true presentment make of all
offenses which shall come
to your knowledge and of
which the United States Dis-
trict Court for the District
of Columbia has cognizance;
that you will present no one
from 'hatred or malice nor
leave anyone represented
from fear, favor, affection,
reward, or hope of reward;
that the counsel of the At-
torney of the United States,
your fellows and your own,
you will keep secret and that
you will to the best of your
ability perform all the duties
enjoined upon you as grand ,
juror, so help you God."
Praise for Past Work
As I instructed you at the
time you took this oath, ?
"Your* deliberations, as well
as the business before you,
you will treat as absolutely
sacred and secret; and you
will, of course, permit no one
one the outside to talk with
you concerning any matter
relating to the discharge of
your duties. You are at lib-
erty to apply to the court for
any needed further instate-
tions." ,
To my knowledge, each of
you has been true to your
oath and the trust reposed in
you as grand jurors. You are
to be commended for the or-
derly,'efficient and honorable
manner in which you have
conducted your affairs. I im-?
plore you to carry your work
forward in the future as you
have in the past.
This brings me to my sec-'
ond point, these two grand '
juries will continue to func-
tion and pursue their work,
You are not dismissed and'
will not be dismissed except'?
as provided by law upon the
completion of your work Or
the conclusion of your term:
? Your service to date, I real-*
ize, has occasioned personal,
sacrifices for many, of you
and inconvenience for all of
you. , ?
You did not choose this.'
assignment; it is an abliga-:
tion of citizenship which it
fell your lot to bear at this':
time, and you have borne it
well. The court and the coun-',
try are grateful to you. Never.;
theless, you must be prepared
to press forward. We rely on
your continued integrity and
' perserverance, ?
Finally, 1 urge you to be, :
patient while the various '
problems surrounding your
investigations are resolved. I-
I
understand that the August,
1973? grand jury will be,
meeting this morning to
hear testimony, and that the?
June, 1972, grand jury will,;
similarly convene tomorrow.
I hope you will proceed in
your regular fashion. In due
?course, the questions which'
now plague us will be an-
swered, and you may rely on
the court to safeguard your.
rights and to preserve the
integrity of your proceedings.
Meanwhile, you roust stead-
ily, and deliberately pursue
your investigations. .
Thank you for being here,
this morning. You may now,
be excused.
Excerpts From a News Conference by Richardson and an
Exchange of Nixon and Richardson`Letters
Following,'are excerpts
from a matuscript of a con-
ference held in Washington
yesterday by former Attorney
General Elliott L. Richardson,
? as recorded by The New
York Times, and the texts of
t letters exchanged last week
by President Nixon and Mr.
Richardson:
Richardson
Richardson Statement
? 'There can be no greater
privilege and there is no
; greater satisfaction than the
' opportunity to serve one's
? country.
1 shall always be grateful
?-? to President Nixon' for giving
me that opportunity in sev-
eral demanding positions.
' ? Although I strongly believe
in the general purposes and
priorities of his Administra-
tion, I have been compelled
to conclude that I could
better serve my country by
? resigning my public office
than by continuing in it:
? This is true for two rea-
sons: First, because to, .con-
tinue would have forced me
to refuse to carry out a
,. direct order of the President.
Second, because I dicil not
agree with the decisions
which brought about the
necessity for the issuance of
that order. ? '
Approve
In order to make clear how
this dilemma came about,. I)
wish to set forth as plainly
as I can the facts of the un-
, folding drama which came to
a climax last Saturday eve-
ning. .
' Ruling by Two Courts'
To begin, I shall go back
to Monday of last week. Two
courts ? the District Court,
and the Court of Appeals of
the District of Columbia ?
, had ruled that the privilege
protecting Presidential coin-
? munications must ? give way.
? to the criminal process but
? only to the extent that a,'
compelling necessity has been
? shown. ? ?
- The President had a right
of further review in the Su-
preme Court of the United
States. He had a right, in
'---other words, to try to per-
suade the Supreme Court that
? the long-term public,interest
in maintaining the confiden-'
tiality of Presidential corn- ,
munications is more impor-
tant than the public interest
in the prosecution of a par-
, ticular criminal Case, espe-
? daily where other evidence is
available. \
Other Records Barred
I Had he insisted on exercis-
d For Release 2001/08/0i
ing that right, however, the ?able but I did' not think it
issue would have been sub-; should be tied to the foreclos-
ject to continued litigation'; tire of the right of the Spe-
i and controversy for a pro- ? cial Prosecutor to invoke ??
longed additional period. And judicial process in future sit-
this at a time of acute inter- ? uations.
? national crisis. Accordingly, I outlined the
Against this background Stennis proposal to Mr. Cox .1
the President decided on' later on Monday afternoon''
Monday afternoon to make a and proposed that the ques-
new effort to resolve the im- EI tion of other tapes and docu-
passe. He would ask Senator :ments be.deferred.
John Stennis, a man of im- Mr. Cox and I discussed
peccable reputation for truth- the Stennis proposal again on-
fu.ness and integrity c:o listen Tuesday morning.
;
to the tapes and verify the - On Wednesday afternoon,
responding to Mr. Cox's sug-
completeness and accuracy of ,
't
estion, that he could deal ? a record of all pertinent pot g
more concretely with the pro-:
,t ions.
;
This record vrould then be' 4 posal if he had it on paper
available to the grand jury I sent him the document cap-
andt
for any 'other purpose for ioned "A Proposal" which he'
which it was 'needed. Believ-' released at his Saturday''
ing, however, that only the press conference.
? issue of his 'own involvement , On the afternoon of the';
justified any breach of the
next day he sent me his corn-
principle of confidentiality, ments on the proposal in-
and wishing to avoid continu-
cluding the requirements that",
?
ing litigation, he made itaJ he have assured access to
condition of the offer to pro-
t other tapes and- documents.-
,
vide a verified record of the lawyers re-
The President's
subpoenaed tapes, but access , garded Mr: Cox's comments
as amounting to a ? rejection
to any other tapes or records
? of the Stennis proposal and
.would be barred.
? I regarded the propsal to ? ; there followed the .breakoff
? rely on Senator Stennis for .? ? of negotiations reflected in
a verified record for the sake the correspondence ' with
Charles Alan Wright released
of brevity. I will call it the
ti7-MCR5737*(037KielYei 60b20(.1CFr$
nged V irp, d For WelsEme alclOAANA7 : ? p iesijmuslilomg,Ria
7[ Stand Cha 1 INV02#p0M-8becinning of ,. the'l
and access to particular notes, week was in the context of
My position at that time This is a great department,
-: was ' that Senator Stennis's I ;devoted to great ends. You' ; ; Memoranda, documents and one m ay of moving the case
, verified record of the . tape .: .
and thereby in effect resolv-
have served it and I know , , so on. And these were the
v should nevertheless be pre- ?g .
you will continue to serve it ; subject ..of considerable con-
sented to the District Court with, integrity, with loyalty . versation between Mr. Cox .' in the constitutional impasse.
?
, for the court's determination , and .with high professional - and Mr. Buzhardt, as Mr. Cox ' Q. Mr. Richardson, you
?/ ,
of its adequacy to satisfy the ?? competence. ? ? ' ? ? said on Saturday. Yes: ? didn't make clear earlier,
-,, subpoenas, still leaving other This has been one: of the :? Q. In the matter of those ;? whether or not the $100,000
.
it' questions to be dealt with as :i :great joys of my life even ' documents, the agreement that remained in Mr. Rebo-
t they , arose. That was still my . though briefly to, have served seems to cover only the tapes. ? zo's safe for over three years
The Special Prosecutor and was, one of the problems of
(view when at 8 P.M. Friday ', with you and to have.known
::.-evening the President issued jurisdiction that the White
you and 1 hope that at least the Watergate Committee are ..
House had in mind. Would;
'
his statement directing Mr. ? for many of you will be an ., after further documents. Do you comment on that, and.
.`? Cox to make no further Sat- .. opportunity - for. us to get ' " you think that they will now : also comment on the report'
tempt by judicial process to - together. again .from ,time to. 'be denied access to them un-..
,
"? obtain tape, notes or mem- ,,time. , ? "der this agreement as it's op- that the White' House was
'.., also concerned about records
versations.
oranda of Presidential con- : , / Q.,. Your speech suggests, ; erative in the. eyes of the
. i
l''
. . ' that it was ratherlate in the ' White. House? ? ? were kept by his per-
, that sonal secretary, Rosemary ,
r; A half hour before this drama that the President de-' ., A. Of course, the question ? Woods. . ?
statement was issued I re- cided he would have to fire now is how , the issue is
v.
,. , ceived a letter from the Mr. Cox. What do you say - going to be raised and by .'i. . A. On the $100,000, this:
, ' :-
President instructing me to .to those who take a differ"whom? my assumption is
'was never a problem that be-',.
. ?
' give Mr. Cox this order. I . 4 eat v;ew, who say that .there '? 'that, in .one Way camp an issue of Mr. Cox's: or another, jurisdiction. There had been
,,
.?, did not act on the instruc- . was a long campaign to get', through the judicial process : : e very thorough investigation '
, bona but instead, shortly. .Cox .and, speclically, :' the issue will get raised. And . , of this?or so I am told?by ;
' aftei noon on Saturday sent' ,what do you say - to those ' ., of course, the question of '
!.
the President a letter restat- : who suggest that attempts':' (what is required for the ,iii:-!' the Internal Revenue Service,
. ;
' ing my position. You have, .I Avere directly or' indirectly' tegrity of these investigations ..andI think the question ofI,. whether or .not Mr. Cox had i
- - ? - -
? believe, copies both of the-, ;made to use you as an agent. ; and prosecutions is now, at 'J
':whether
,, an interest in it and what he
:'. President's. letter, and of mV -i ;to that end? \ - : ;' least for the , time being,:
. ? ? ' i would do about it has only 1
? A. I would say to that that . matter resting under the Jur- ,,
recently developed and I..:'
. reply: ; , .
the firing of Mr. Cox came as- . isdiction of the Acting Attor- . just
' never got into the question of .
.The President, however,, ,. kind f climaxo thee-; ney General and Mr. Petersen.
,I' whether Or not he had juris- ;
Y.deeided to hold fast to . the 0,
' aquen
ce I) havedesctribed. I'm ( ' , Q. Did you atany time dur- '. , diction Over this, .or what he :
? tposition he had announced ?I ?
? not in .a position, of course, , ing the "course :of these dis- 1
I would do about it,
-. the night- before. ? When, .5
1 to know what the motives of i.: tussion's as to Mr. Cox's?
On the matter of :the Pres--!:
% therefore, Mr. Cox rejected ..-; others were. I can only. say, the extent of his authority .'
r i
k that position and gave his i
;', that the initial suggestion 'of ,---did you at any time divert, ident's, secretary, Rosemary
., ? ,
objections to the Stennis
proposal as well as his ma.' 7 a Move toward firing cox. / ??or try to divert' him, from Woods, this was a situation
came in the context of an ,i any phase of the investiga-
' actually quite simpy resolved_
. ; , ' ' ?
:sons for insisting on assured effort to break the constitu...-i "bon that he was? conducting? It arose because in the Vesco
lists of political campaign
case in New York, '
access to other tapes and - , . tional impasse and, of course, - A.-No. Although I did par-z... certain
'
'.' memoranda, the issue of :,..
one way to do that was by ticipate in discussions of ju:- ?
itttoors to-Miss
which were re we
dre;:
,Presidential authority versus :-;' firing Mr. Cox, as it may risdictional issues with ? him,' co
4.
the independence and public -'f have been to make the con- along the lines that 1 have:. livered, contributors
..?accotintability 'of the Special.' 'istiutional issues moot. ; ;. touched on earlier. But there needed in the course of the:
Prosecutor was squarely,,,
?.1. Q. Did you conclude.andlor was certainly never any'' upcoming trial; and thei
United,' States, Attorney in ?
,joined. \I - :. ?? - .suspect as reported this. ? -
question of heading off an
her in order to get from'
,
;.., ? The President at that' point , - 'morning that there were at ' investigation. The question, :withwanted to talk f
New York
'?'thought he had no choice but ',tempts by the President or . as I 'said, was one of whose
, ? '
'to . direct the Attorney Gen-, Presidential aides to limit . job it would be. . . , her whateverinformation she.;
? ' ,could give about receiving:
eral to discharge Mr. Cox. - the lists. And this has been
1 the Cox investigation through Protection of Former Aides , ,
And I, given my role in guar-- ?i ' vote
Q. Mr. Cox made clear as 'arranged, that an assistant:
,
anteeing the . independence . "
A. No. There were, of ' , special investigator he wasn't: ? United .States Attorney /will .
of the Special Prosecutor, as '; course, continuing concerns ., getting, access to any of the 1, talk with her. . .
,well as my beliefs in the pub- ,... on the part of President's White House investigation. -' - Discussions' On. Ouster
file interest embodied in-that':
io.counsel, particularly, with re- This' raises ? the possibilityr,
role felt equally clear that /.. .spect to issues of jurisdiction, that this would hinder or Q. If I Can go back for a
: I could not discharge him.,-:. And although I had started .even block the prosecution of - Minuteto this discussion of
'and so I resigned. . out right after my confirma- Mr. Haldeman and Mr. Ehr- ? the firing of Mr. Cox, you;
At stake in the final an- -, .
?.tion 'with a totally hand's-off - lichman, all those former. ? said:that on Monday, or Tues-,,
:anlysis is the very integrity .. -position; one essentially of no. ? White House aides. And of 'day you were not ordered'
, of the governmental proc- 'communication' either with ' course you specifically ob- ? ; to fire Mr. Cox, but that at
', esses I came to the ,Depart-' ? ;Mr. Cox or with counsel , jected in the 'President's comb - this time before he had vio- ,
-tient of Justice to help re- for the president, the role I'd promise to the order to Cox ; lated any Presidential order.'
store. My own singl , most . .had. in 'the drafting of his , .to cease seeking these docu- before the order, had been,
? important commitment -to , charter made it appropriate . , ments.
Do you think the' given, ' that there were dis- ,
' this ' objective was my corn- ? ' .for me, :I thought, to try to ' president is 'tryingto protect cussions about the firing of',
:?? mitment to ,the independ- ? serve as a means of recon- the former tdp White House Mr. Cox. Who was discussing
? "rt ence of the, Special, Prose- :, :' citing differences over the officials? ? , this with you? Was the White-
. . ? ,,, ,:question of what fell within ' ? House, General Haig, the.:
/ cutor. .A. Let me deal first with
. ,
- : For Public- to Judge ? 'Mr. Cox's jurisdiction. This the point you made about President? Were they discuss-
t
.;? was a . continuing problem refusal of papers. 'Actually, ing it on the basis of firing
I Could not be faithful to 'r
this commitment-and also- ac- ?? and was the subjedt of a good of course, .a great many, Mr; Cox to get rid of this ,?,,
quiesce in the curtailment of
deal of communication. papers were at times turned , entire problem, back before fi
' ?
,_his authority. To say 'this, '
But there was a recogni- over to Mr. Cox, including
I
: the order was given? Or',
however, is not to charge the ?What? i :
tion always that wherever a ?by the .White House?in- :
'
:President with a failure to %. lead pointing toward possible eluding all the I. T. T. papers, A. It was discussed with
respect the claims of the in-
. ' criminal conduct existed, it for example, and there was ? members of the President's
,vestigative process.
.; would be somebody's respon- , still under negotiation access ? staff and counsel.-I might add
:importance he attached
the ached to
sibility to pursue that lead / to papers that had ncit yet : that I made clear that I
-the principle of Presidential
and if it were not Mr. Cox's, i been turned over at the time thought it was a totally un-
confidentiality, he believed;
then, of course, it would have he was discharged. I don't' acceptable way of dealing.,
that his willingness to allow
been the responsibility of'the think that the failure to turn 'with it.
. ?
Criminal Division. . .?
Q. Can you tell us, Mr.
.'Senator Stennis to verify over papers in any given case can be attributed to any new Richardson, on what day of
subpoenaed tapes fully. met' Data Sought By Cox. cover-up of anybody in the last week which employe of "
,.,,,
.these claims. ... ? Q. Where did he [Mr. Nix- White House. - ; . i the White House suggested '
The rest is for the Amen- '
on] say there was the in- , Q. Going back to your first ! that the way to resolve the ,?
. can people to judge. On' the trusion [by Mr. Cox]? Was answer on whether the White dispute between Mr. Cox and
'fairness with which you do '
; there any specific thing Mr. House told you to fire Mr.. the President was by firing
' so may well rest the future cox, any specific evidence Cox. Are you saying that on , Mr. Cox? And whether any !
wellbeing and security of our , . that he wanted? For example, Monday or Tuesday of , last other such suggestion had
beloved country. , the Bebe Rebozo material week you were not told by a ever been made previously by'
Now, in 'conclusion I would.'" that you ?had an indication White House aide to.fire Mr.
like to say just :
a' word of : was over the line as far as Cox? ... .
thanks and respect to my :. th ePresident was concerned? A. yes,! am saying I was ',
former colleagueS in the De- : A. No, there was no such not told to fire him on Mon."
partment of Justice. - ? ? '
specific thing. There were, as day or Tuesday of last week. ."
? . I said, continuing arguments ,Th a only mention of firing,''
? ? ? - ? IS I: I
a ?S a
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NEW YORK TIMES
25 October 1973 ,
President's Capitulation
Sets $ome Precedents
,
? 7
? any official of the White .. that his ultimate accounta-r
House or representative of bility issto the American peo-,;
!"? the President? " , ' pie.". .
,;? i A. I don't this is a possi- .. At . many points ? through0
bility that can, be attributed ? Out the nomination hearings,'
:-,.. to any one person. Indeed it E I' reaffirmed my intention toil
',. has been suggested at, least assure the independence ofa
,... in theory by Professor Alex . the special prosecutor, ane
' Bckel of Yale Law School. s . in my statement of his chitieSt
? Nixon Letter'
? Dear Elliott: authority" for "determiningl
You are aware of the
., actions I am taking today to
bring to an end the contro-
versy over the so-called
? Watergate tapes and ?that I
have reluctantly agreed to a
? limited breach of Presidential
confidentiality in order that
our country may be spared
d
? and responsibilities I spe-3
fied that he would have quill)
? whether or not to contest the
assertion of 'executive priv-
ilege' or any other testimonft4
al privilege:
; 4tt
And while the special pros7.3
? ecutor can be removed frorni
? ,office for "extraordinary in
proprieties," his charter spesi
cifically states that "the At-i
? the a,g011Y of further indeci- torney General will not court-4
' sion send litigation about ' ,
termand or-interfere with the?
those 1 tapes at a time when
!- we are), confrontedwith other
. issues ,,of much greater
'mo-
ment to the country and the
world.
.As a part of these actions,
am instructing you to direct
, Special Prosecutor Archibald
Cox of the Watergate special
prosecution force that he is
? to make no further attempts
by judicial process to obtain
tapes, notes, or memoranda
- of Presidential conversations.
I regret the necessity of
intruding, to this very limited
E extent, on the independence
that I promised you with
?. regard to Watergate when I
announced your appointment.
a This would not have been
necessary if the special pros-
ecutor? had agreed to the
very reasonable proposal you
made to him this week.
, .
special prosecutor's decision? k
or actions." .
Quite obviously, therefores,i
, the instruction :contained it
- your letter of October, 19.g
gives me serious difficulty,!
As you know, I regarded ass
, reasonable and constructive,.
' the proposal to rely on Sen-
ator Stennis to prepare %
, verified record, of the E sole
' called Watergate tapes and'
I did my best to persuade:
Mr. Cox of the desirability of
this solution of that issue: &'?
, I did notbelieve, however4I
:that the price of access tO.,.
the tapes in 'this manner
should be the renunciation
any further attempt by hint.,
to resort to judicial process,'i
and the proposal I submitteds
'.to him did not purport to'i
'? deal with other tapes, notes,. -
Sincerely,T. ? ; .or memoranda of Presidentiatl
conversations.
RICHARD NIXON
, . . . ? .
, ? In the 'circumstances
? . ri.
,
Richardson Letter ? would hope that some fur;i4
' ther accommodation could be
?! Dear Mr. President: , found along the followingr
Thank you for your letter r lines: ? ? _ 0
-;
!i of October 19, 1973, instruct- First, that an effort to. w,
,. ing me to direct, Mr. Cox , made to persuade Judge Si-.:.
1' that he is to make -no fur- ? ? rice to accept for purposestof '
ther attempts by judicial . \ the grand jury the record ofil,
?: process to obtain tapes, . the Watergate tapes verified(
notes or memoranda of Pres- , by Senator Stennis. In thats
idential conversations. \ event, Mr. Cox would, as he',
As you point out, this in- has said, abide by Judge Sis3
" struction does intrude on the
; rice's decision. ? s't0
',. independence you promised. Second, agreement sheuld!
-. Me with regard to Water-- be sought with Mr. Cox flan
! gate when you announced to 'press any outstandingb
rny appointment. And, of subpoenas which are directed'
1 course, you have every right merely to notes on memo-?lias President to withdraw or' randa covering the same cons
,.'''? modify any upderstanding on : versations that would haves!:
C. which I hold office under been ? furnished in full ?
:C you. The situation stands on through the verified record-A
Third, any future situation,
-where Mr. Cox seeks judicial.:
process, to obtain the recorde
of Presidential conversationr
would be approached on thest
basis of the precedent estabq
lished with respect ' to the i
Watergate tapes. This would
leave to be handled in- thiC?
way only situations where as
showing of compelling necesny
!! a different footing, however,
with respect to the role of
the special prosecutor.
" Acting on your instruction
, that if I should consider it
: appropriate, I would have
, the authority to name a spe-
cial prosecutor, I announced
a few days before my confir-?
? mation hearing began that I
would, if confirmed; "appoint
; a special prosecutor and give sity comparable to that made
, him all the ' independence., . with respect to the Water-.
' 'authority, and staff support ?gate 'tapes had been made al
needed to carry out the tasks If you feel it would be usesAl
I entrusted to him." ' ful to do so, I would welcomes
I added, "Although he will the opportunity to discuss'
be in the Department of Jus- this matter with you.
tice and report to me?',..hd , Respectfully,
' only to me---The will be aware ELLIOT L. RICHARDSON
?1.
By WARREN WEAVER' Jr.
Swift' to The New York rams
WASHINGTON, Oct. .24 ? ?
The past weeks's climactic
events in' the custody battle
over .secret White House tape
, recordings may have averted a
dangerous , constitutional dead-
, lock between President Nixon
, and the Supreme ? Court, but
they resolved only some of the
complex and controversial legal
? issues involved.
The heavy overlay , of
., political rhetoric that enveloped
both Mr. Nixon's defiance of
? the courts last Friday, and his
f?capitulation four days later left
both lawyers and laymen un-
certain as to just where the
E. law stood in the 'wake of the'
, final Presidential decision.
Although the legal' contest
between the White .House and
the Watergate special prose-
? tutor was stopped short of the
" dignity and finality ? of a
Supreme Court ruling? it 'did
, establish a number . of prece-
-dents in a hitherto uncharted
area that now stand as the law
of the land.
But the Federal court de-
.
asions finally acknowledged by
t. the President yesterday leave
unanswered a number of seris
out questions about the power
of Mr. Nixon and his successors
to , keep their records confi-
dential and of the courts to,
enforce rulings involving ,
calcitrant Presidents.
, Picture May Clear
The legal picture may ? be-
come somewhat clearer as the
, order of the 'United States
. Court of Appeals for the Dis-
trict of Columbia is ,carried out
and the President Submits the
tapes, with national security'
, material deleted, to Judge John
J. Sirica and Judge Sirica sub-
'Mils' them, with privileged ma-
terial deleted, to the Watergate
grand jury. "
, In the ,course of these
screenings. it appears likely
that subsidiary court cases may
develop over what 'constitutes
--national'security .' ' what
-formeCon: is. legitimately nro-
tected ,byexecutive privilege
and what, Parts of thee recorded
White House. -conversations
constitute, potentially ? releVant
evidence for the critriinal?,in-
,vestigators., , : .
But,' as Of now, ? independent
of extracurricular political'in.
? terpretation; ,the courts have
establ'shed the following princ7,
fiples that will control future
relations.' between: Presidents
? and grand juries; ? Unless they
are overruled -by the Supreme
Court in. some .future lawsuit...,
.: sine Federal' ? courts; have
jurisdiction' over controversy
that arises'. when a President'
?, refuses to submit records of
his private conversations to A
?E; grand jury seeking evidence of
crime and claims his right tat,
confidentiality is controlling.
, 41A President is not absolute-
ly immune to: process. -such as
a subpoena, requiring him to
. produce certain ? White House
documents , or a show-cause
; order. asking his 'attorneys, to
Approved For Release 2001/04#/ : ClteittY1StWOCTIIS2FoOolietti
not comply .with' a, court order.
(1The President. does -enjoy
some Aneasure of executive
privilege, the right to keep his
records and conversations con-
fidential,' but the right iS not
absolute ? and the courts may
preperly decide when it' is, be-
ing legitimately .invoked' and
when it: is being abused. "' ;
(1To protect ? the ?confidentl
iality. of Presidential records 'as:
much as possible, a judge may
determine in private' what por-
tions. he? :considers privileged
and pass the rest on. confident-
Jelly to .grand fury. ?
qA judge conducting such a
screening ,of Presidential records
may show them to a special
Proketitor, again in a closed
'proceeding, to obtain' advice on
:what information is relevant to
the grand jury investigation.
;The prosecutor also has the
tight to contest the President's
'classification Of part 'of a record
as privileged. ? ? ? ? .?-,
As a practical matter, the
resolution of ? the tapes contro-,
versy, set 'a number of histori-
cal' precedents that are likely
to provex influential in the fu-
ture althoogh they do not carry
the authority .of any ,court rulL
ing. . ; !..,
,. 'For one, President Nixon's
agreement to accept the Court
of Appeals decision', however re
luctantly, was' tacit acknewl,-;
edgement that a President' can-
not adopt as his policy the dis-
senting opinion,of a . court by
asserting his cofidence that it
would be adopted, by the Stf-
preme Court if he chose to ap-
peal the case.
, For another,. a President can-
:not expect to ignore court dead-
lines,"repudiate court decisions
'and then expect the courts to
'adopt. unilaterally, , after the
'fact, . what the special prose-
.
:cutorc Archibald Cox, dismissed
:as "some private arrangement,"
more favorable to him. ,
, But left totally unresolved
is the basic question of how
'broad, executive privilege is and.
what kind of. Presidential in-
formation' it properly protects.
Judge Sirica, in his first deci-
sion requiring Mr. Nixon to
submit the tapes, said he could
not decide this until he heard
the recordings themselves.
, The Court 'of Appeals, in Up-
holding Judge Sirica, did not
attempt to give 'him any guide-
lines for such a Sensitive deci-
sion. Executive privilege is not
recognized in the Constitution
or any statute, and no court
has ever previously attempted
to define its limits. ?
An Unanswered Question
Also unanswered is a ques-?
tion that has' troubled the
courts since Aaron Burr sub--
?poenaed President Thomas Jef?
,fersonin 1807 to obtain a Pres-
idential letter: Even if a Federal
icourt 'has 'the legal right to
.serve a President with legal
process; how can 'it enforce
this or any other .order, if he
.
60001-8
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z.--7.MoSt'" legal ' authoritiei ?ha4;
.. .
'oriciuded, 'as , thief ., ,Justice
'John Marshall indicated in the
!;Burr 'case, , that- the judicial.
1,branch does .not have. the pew
'erito enforce an order-against
a,':President . but midst rely' 'on'
Ilis' . recognition of the moral'
obligation or political necessity.
4et.complY. ,' . ::. ' - ? ' :.) '. .',. ',.
i.? Perhaps most troublesothe- it
the fact that the nation remains
iNiijon feels, under. .any, legal.
compulsion ti) obey any decision
pf .The Supreme Court, either in
they area involved in the 'tapes
case or in some .other 'challenge
to ' twhat he believes ,to. be ,hlt.
;Constitutional. authoritY.:::, , ; . .'.:.,
,.-,J,Iirst,' his deputy press seer&
/tag?, Gerald L. ,Warren, andthert
iWri ...Nixon, himself announced.
;while the Case was pending that
the,Presldent would . Obey Only-
* Vefieitive, ruling by the Su-;
Owe tourt: Now.:tbere 4,vill he
no, "decision ? from the 'Supreme'
!Court and. thuS, no clarification'
Of; *hat "definitive" means: in'
Ithe, current ,White . House- lex-
Con...,
,t
4
",Sometime next year the:. Su;
Preen Court 'is expected to. de-
cide . one . or more', cases ..involvl
hi . the President's power .to im-
:j3bund funds . appropriated,. by
tongrest.:Then - it may become
'Critically ' iinnortant .. ,to, know
1 'whether Mr. Nixon:WiWreeoen:
izesonjething less than a unani,
inous ruling; that limits. his p:t
.Acutive .porst
,
WASHINGTON POST
25 October 1973
,z7
Nixon Critics
Assured of
Full Inquiry
By Richard L. Lyons
Washington Post Staff writer
Even President Nixon's
;.severest 'critics on the,
,,..THciuse Judiciary Committee
,
were persuaded yesterday,
that Chairman Peter Rodino.; '4
(D-N.J.) is committed to a,.
1, prompt and full investiga-
tion- of ' impeachment
r: charges against the Presi-
dent.
After a two-hour meeting
of committee Democrats to
discuss procedures, Rep. Je-
rome R. Waldie
who filed' an impeachment
t resolution Tuesday?Paid
there was "iny 'indication,'
whatsoever to delay or a
lessening 'of resolve" and .
said he believed Rodino is .
k "completely committed to a.
full, 'thorough and prompt
t' investigation." -Rep. Robert
Drinan (D-Mass.), first
-; House member to file an im-.
peachment ,resolution . last
:'Summer, agreed.
House Democratic leaders
were united in firm declara-
tions that Mr. Nixon's prom- ,
,ise to release his. Watergate
,* conversation tapes has not
.4. taken the steam. out of the
investigation, and that,in
Rodino' t words, it's "full '
steam ahead." "
Speaker Carl 'Albert told
f' reporters that the investiga-
tion, launched by the public"
: outburat against the Presi-
): dent's firing of Watergate'
!;,. Special Prosecutor Archi-
bald Cox, "will not stop be-,,
cause of one actibn," mean-,:
ing the pledge to release the )!'
tapes to. Judge John J.
Si-
rica. '
The Judiciary Committee
has been mandated to make ,
an inquiry, said Albert, "and ?
so an inquiry' they are going'
!. td make. I hope it is expedi-
' tious and I hope it lays this ?
?`, thing to rest one way or an 1
,c "other." Although the promised 1

release of the tapes removed "
f. the most immediate charge ;
z against the President, his ..
r critics said yesterday he has,
I committed other acts Which
constitute obstruction of
justice' and "subversion of ,
$, the Constitution." They in--
I.: elude the firing of Cox and
allegations of illegal acts by
the White House "plumb-
/ ers" and illegal flow of
?
litical money.
, Rodino said the caucus of '
Judiciary Committee Demo-'
crats agreed to ask the full
r committee next Tuesday to!
i
:committee requirement that,
'he give a two-day notice for:
; a committee I meeting. 44, Rodino said no decision:
has been Made as to
whether the committee,1
shotild subpoena Cox's rec-'i
j ords to protect them. He
has asked, but not yet re.-....f
ceived, assurance from the,
Justice
t:Justiee Department that the.
1
r records are safe.
i .
t. Rodino will run into . Re- .
publican opposition in the
i full .committee - but should ..t!
' have enough Democratic
support to win. Rep. Edward .4.
. Hutchinson (II-Mich.). senior,..
: minority member on Judici- 1
: ary, said Republican coin-
- 'mittee members met yester-
day and will oppose giving 4
i. Rodino power to issue sub-
.:
, poenas without going back,
' to the full committee for ap-- ?
)4I proval in each case., Republi- ,
-cans are 'generally opposed '.
f
. to the investigation.
Democrats discussed but' '.
i made no decision on em- '.
c ploying some outside lawyer-,
f. of high repute 'to head the,
staff i' for the impeachment 4 investigation. Rodino said
;. he is requesting investiga-
tive help from the General
I.` Accounting Office and has
,.. been assured leadership sup-
, port for any 'needed expan.
t' sion of his staff.
Rodino said Democrats .
feel that both the impeach- :
ment investigation and the."
' nomination of House Minor-
ity -.
.?
Leader Gerald R. Ford ;
to be Vice President should it
f . I be 'considered by the full
1 committee, rather than be I
! sent for initial consideration
to subcommittees. Ford's .:
nomination is expected to'
-be acted upon first. No '
. dates have been set for
:hearings on either matter, ,.
Yesterday Rep. John J.
Rhodes (R-Ariz.) locked up I
the race to succeed Ford as,
,House Republican leader as
' Rep. Leslie C. Arends (R-
Ill.), the veteran party whip,
bowed out of, the race leav-
-ing Rhodes without oPposi-,
'-tion. . . . A
take several steps to permit':
prompt action. The chair-,
man said he will ask the
committee to give him.
power to subpoena docu-
ments and witnesses, so that
he need not convene the full)
committee every time subJ
poena power is needed. He,
will also seek to phorten the
t
? a,
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NEW YORK TIMES
27 October 1973
Transcript of President Nixon's News
onference on I omestic and Forign Affai
rollowing is a transcript of President
;Nixon's news conference in Washington
lait night, as recorded by The New
York Times:
i; OPENING STATEMENT.
tadies and gentlemen, before going to
'your questions, I have a statement with
regard to the Mideast which I think ,
will anticipate some of the questions
The reason for this is that the two
because this wiil update the informa-
, major powers, the Soviet Union and
' tion which is breaking rather fast, in. the. United States, have agreed-7-this
; that area,' as' you know, for the past: was one of the results of Dr. Kissinger's
to days. trip to Moscow?have agreed that we
; The cease-fitle,js hpAing. There have would participate in trying to expedite
been some violitiOni7 but generally ;
the talks between the parties involved.
s*.king it can be said that it is holding' That does not mean? that the two,
at this time. major powers will impose a settlement.
'M you know, as a result of the U.N. It does, mean,- however, that We will use
Mideast and here the outlook is far
more hopeful than what we have been
through this past week.
I# think I could safely say that the
chances for not just a cease-fire which
we ;presently have and which of course
we .have had in the Mideast for some
time, but the outlook for a permanent
peace is the best that it has been in
20 years.
?
resolution, which was agreed to yester-
daY by a vote of 14 to 0, a peacekeeping-
l'ince will go to the Mideast, and this
force, however, will not include any
forces from the major powers including, ?
of course, the United States and Soviet '
The question, however, has arisen to
' whether observers from major powers .
could go to the Mideast. My up-to-the-
minute report on that?and I just talked',
to Dr. Kissinger five minutes before ,
coining down?is this: We will send ob-
servers to the Mideast if requested by
the Secretary General of the United
Nations, and?we have reason to expect
that we will receive such a request.
With regard to the peace-keeping
foece I think it's important for all of
you ladies and gentlemen and particu-
larly for those listening on radio and
telpvision to know why the United ?
States has insisted that major powers/
not be part of the peacekeeping force -
and that major- powers not introduce.,
military forces into the ,Mideast. ,
Soviet Plan Cited '
A very significant and potentially ex-
plosive crisis developed on', Wednesday ?
of this week.- We obtained information
:Which led us to believe that the Soviet ;
'Union was planning to send a very
substantial force in the Mideast?a ,
military force.
When I received 'that information, I
:orcepred shortly after midnight on
'Thursday morning, a alert for all Amer7
,ican forces around the world. This was
a precautionary alert. The purpose of
'that was to indicate to the Soviet Union
that we could not accept any unilateral
move on their part to move military,
lordes into the Mideast.
At the same time, in the early morn-.
Ing ;hours, I also proceeded on the dip-
lomatic front In a message to Mr. Brezh-
nev:?an urgent message?I indicated
to 4irri our reasoning and I urged that
we snot proceed along that course and
that instead that we join,in the United
?Nations in supporting C---resolution
' whech would exclude any major powers
from participating in a peace-keeping
force. As a .result of that communica-
tion and the return that I received from
Brezhnev?we had several urgent ex-
chatiges, I should say?we reached the
conclusion that we would jointly sup-
port the Resolution which was adopted ,
in the United Nations.
? 'Critical Time'
'We now comeL of t9.the.criti-
cal
cal time in terifiaggrilteeilitifearorelfra
Also, in consultations that we've had ?
:in the White House today, we have del
cided that next week the Acting-Attort"-
; ney General, Mr. Bork, will appoint
new special prosecutor for what is
called the Watergate matter. The special
, prosecutor will have independence, he ,
will have total cooperation from the
executive branch and he will have tis
' his primary responsibility to bring this 1
matter which has so long concerned the ??
American'people?bring it to an expedi-
tious conclusion.
. Because We have to, remember that
under our Conatitution , it has always
been held that diRaYed is justiO
denied, it's time for those who are
. guilty tci be prosecuted and for thoSe
:
who are innocent to be cleared. Arid
I can asure you, ladies and gentleinen,
oug influence with the nations in the and 'all of our listeners tonight, -that I "
area to expedite a settlement. ,, ? have no greater interest than to see
The reason we feel this is important.'?
is that, first, from the standpoint of the: that the new special prosecutor has',
the cooperation from the executive?.
nations in the Mideast, none of them?;:;
Israel, Egypt, Syria?none of them 'can branch and the independence that he
needs to bring about that conclusion.
or .should go through the" agony of ...And I'll gci to Mr. Cormier. -
other war.
The losses in this War on both sides
:hake been very, very 'high; and the QUESTIONS
tragedy must not occur again. There .? Authority-of Prosecutor
have been four of these wars, ,as- your ; 'Q. Mr. President,' would the new
ladies and gentlemen know, .over the, ' special prosecutor have your go-ahead.'
pat 20 years. to go to Court if necessary to obtain '
But beyond that it is vitallyimiortant evidence from' your files if he felt it
to:0e peace of the world that this po- was vital?
tential trouble spot, Which is really one . A. Well, Mr. Cormier, I would anti- d
.,of ;the Rost potentially explosive areas . cipate-that that would not be necessary.
in the world, that it not become an area.- ? I believe that, as we look at the events
in .which the major powers, come 'which led to the dismissal of Mr. Cox,
gether in confrontation. ? we find that these are matters that '?
can be worked out and should be.
1, Confrontation Not Wanted ? worked out in cooperation, and not by'
:What the developments of this week having a suit filed by a special prose-
; cutor within the executive branch .,
against the President of the United -
States.
This, incidentally, is not a new ern.' 4
tude on the part of a President: Every -3
President since George Washington has
tried to protect the confidentiality of
Presidential conversations, and you re-
member the famous case involving
Thomas Jefferson where /lief Justice.
t avoid that it is necessary for us Marshall, theti sitting- as a trial judge,
o
subpoenaed a letter which Jefferson
tct use our influence more than we have',
in the past to get the negotiating track had written, which Marshall thought or
felt was necessary evidence in the trial 1
moving again, but this time moving to %
: of Aaron Burr. Jefferson refused to do ;
alconclusion?not simply a temporary
7
truce but a permanent peace: so, but it did not result in a suit. What
, I do noot mean to suggest that itis :1.1appened was, of course, a compromise .
n
? , which a summary of the contents
of the letter which ?was relevant to the
going to come quickly because the par-
tees involved are still rather far apart,'''
%Mit I do say that now there are' greater
.
incentives within the area to find a
aaceful solution and there are enorm-
ous incentives as far as the United
States is concerned and the Soviet Union
aid other major powers to find such ,a
sptlution. ?
; And there are enormous incentives as
far as the United States is concerned
and the Soviet Union and other major
riowers to find such a solution.
Turriltig now to the subject of our
attempts to get a cease-fire on the
4.ome front. That's a bit more difficult.
t. Today, White House counsel con-
cocted Judge Sirica?we tried yesterday
pot he was in Boston, as you know?
and arrangements were made to meet
with Judge Sirica on Tuesday to work dcoisnecluuscstienthse they
yd onfeeconversations tantod
out the delivery of the tapes of Judge
carry ? on the responsibilities of this
should indicate to all of us is that the
United States and the Soviet Union who
admittedly have very different bbjec-
til,es in the Mideast have now agreed
that it is not in their interest to have
a :confrontation there, a confrontation
wilich might lead to a nuclear confronta-
tion. And neither of the two major,
pcjyvers wants that.
'We' have agreed also that if we are
trial was produced by Jefferson and,
the Chief Justice of the United States,
acting in his capacity as Chief Justice,
accepted that.
, That is exactly, of course, what we ,
,tried to do in this instant case, I think
.it would be well if I could take just a ?
'moment, Mr. Cormier, in answering ,
your question, to point out what we
tried to do and why we feel it was a -?1
proper solution to a very' aggravating
and difficult problem.
, The matter of the tapes has been
one that has concerned me because of
my feeling that I have a constitutional
responsibility to defend the office of
, the Presidency from any encroachments ?
on confidentiality Which might affect
? future Presidents in their abilities to '
Sirica.
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And of course the special prosecutor,'
felt that he needed the tapes for the
purpose of his prosecution. That was .;
? why working with the Attorney Gen-
eral we worked out what we thought
? was an acceptable compromise?one in '
t which Judge Stennis, now Senator ,
Stennis, would . hear the -tapes and
would provide a complete and full dis-
closure not only to Judge Sirica but
also` to the Senate committee.
'I Had No Choice'
? Attorney General? Richardson'ap-
proved this 'proposition, Senator Baker,
;.,Senator Ervin approved of the proposi-
tion. i Mr.' Cox was the only one that
rejected it. '.. ?
? Under the ? circumstances, when he :
rejedted it and indicated that despite;
t the approval of the Attorney General,'
of
ir of course of the President, and of the
two major Senators on the Ervin cora-
l' mittee, when he rejected the proposal.
I had no choice but to dismiss him. ?
Under those ? circumstances Mr.'
1,
Richardson, Mr. ItutkelShaus felt that
becatise of the nature of 'their confirma-
tion that their commitment to Mr% Cox
had to take precedence over any corn- ?
niitm,e,nt they might have to carry out an
order from the President: Under those
A.Well, I'm glad we don't take the
vote of this room, let me say. And I
understand the feelings of people with
regard to impeachment and resignation.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Rather, you
'may remember that when I made the
rather difficult decision I thought the
most difficult decision of my first term
,on Dec. 18? the bombing of?by B52's
?of North Vietnam? that exactly the
same words were used on the networks'
?I don't mean by you, but they were
quoted on the networks?that were,
used now?tyrant, dictator, he's lost his,
senses, he should resign; he should be
Impeached.
'J But I stuck it out and as a result of ? -
that we not only got our prisoners of
war home,. as I've often said on their
feet rather than on their knees, but we
brought peace to Vietnam, something
we haven't had and didn't for over 12
years.
It was a hard decision and it, was one,
that many of my friends in the press
who had consistently supported me on
the war up to that time disagreed with..
Now, in this instance, I realize there ,
are people who feel that the actions.
that I've taken with regard to the dis-
missal of Mr. Cox are grounds for im-
peachment.
I would respectfully- suggest that even',
Mr. Cox and Mr. Richardson have agreed
that the President had the right?the'
constitutional
constitutional right?to dismiss any-
body in the Federal Government.
And second, I should also point out'
-that as far as the tapes are concerned, ;
.rather than being in defiance of the law
:I am in compliance with the law. As
, far as what goes through my mind, I
simply say that I intend to continue ,
to carry out to the best of my ability
the responsibilities I was elected to ?
'carry out. last November. The events ,
'of this past week I know, for example, ?
in your head office in New York 'some
thought it was simply a blown,up ex- ?
ercise, .there wasn't a real crisis. I
? wish it had been that. It was a real "
crisis. It was the most difficult crisis
we've had since the Cuban confronta-
tion of 19G2..
? But because we had had our initiative '
with the ,Soviet Union, because I had
a basis of communication with Mr. '
Brezhnev we not only avoided a con-
frontatiOn btu we moved a great-step ,
forward toward real peace in the Mid-;
east.
Now as long as I can carry out that .
kind Of responsibility, I'm going to con-
tinue to do this job. ;
5, Motives of Mr. Cox
I think that many would think?..
would' speculate?I've noted a lot on ,
the networks, particularly, and some-
,times even in the newspapers?but this 5-
is a very strong country, and the Amer-,,,,
? ican people, I think; can ride through ?.;.
. the shocks that they have. The differ-
ence now from what it was in the days
. of shocks, even when Mr. Lisigor and I ,?;
first met 25 years ago, is the electronic'
-? media. .
I have never heard or seen such out-
rageous, vicious, distorted reporting in
27 years of public life. I'm not blaming r
, anybody for that. Perhaps what hag-
pened is that what we did brought- it
about, and therefore the media .dedided
.:that they would have to take that. pat- 4
ticular line. ? ? ?
But when people are pounded night
after night with that:kind of :frantic,
hysterical reporting, it naturally shakes t?
? ,,,
-their confidence. . . ,
And., yet I: should point.. out that even
7: in this week when many thought' that.
the President was shellshocked, unable
to act, the President acted decisively,
the interests of peace and the interests;i:
of the country, and I can assure youi.;
that whatever shocks gentlemen of.the
press may have, or others--political
: people?these shocks will not affect ine,i
and my tieing my job. . ' ' ? :"*-'
7. Duration of Mideast Crisis
Mr. President, getting ' back to' the!
Middle East crisis for a moment, do'
? you consider .that the crisis is over now ,1
and how much longer will the American ?:
forces be kept on alert around the
world?
,
circumstances, I accepted. with regret
the resignations of two fine public
"servants. ?
Now, We come to a new special prese-
cutof,- we will cooperate With him and:
L. 'I do not anticipate that we will come
to the time when 'he would consider'
r it necessary to take the, President to;
court. I think our cooperation will be;
adequate.
2. Presidential Documents
Q. This is perhaps another way of
asking Frank's question, but if the spe-
cial prosecutor considers that informa-
tion contained in Presidential docu-
ments is needed to prosecute the Water-
gate case, will you give him the docu-'
ments? Beyond the nine tapes which
,
you have already.
A. Well I answered that question be-
fore. We will not provide Presidential
documents to a special prosecutor. we
will provide, as we have in great num-
bers, all kinds of documents from the
White House. But if it is a document
involving a conversation with the
President I would have to stand on the
principle of confidentiality. However,
information that is needed from such
documents would be provided. And that':
is what we've been trying to do.
3. Opinion in Congress
Q. Mr. President, you know in the
Congress there's a great deal of suspi-
cion over any arrangement which will
, permit the executive branch to investi-
:, gate itself or which will establish the
special prosecutor which you may fire
, again, and 53 Senators, the majority of
these have now co-sponsored a resolit-
tion which would permit Judge Sirica
: to establish and name an independent
prosecutor, separate and apart from the
White House and the executive branch.
, Do you believe this arrangement would
be constitutional and would you go
; along with it? ,
? A. Well, I would suggest that the
'action that we are going to, take ap-t
'pointing a special prosecutor would be
satisfactory to the Congress and they
would not proceed with that particular
matter.
4. Prospect of Resignation
Q. Mr. President,A wonder if you
could share with us your thoughts, tell
us what goes through your mind when
you hear of people wholove this coun-
, try and people who believe in you say:
reluctantly that perhaps you should re-
,.sign or be impeached?,
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Q. There have been reports that you
felt that Mr. Cox was somehow out to
;get you. I would like to ask you if you
did feel that and if so what evidence
did' you have? ,
A. Well, Mr. Lisagor, I understand
Mr. ,Cox is going to testify next week,
under oath before the Judiciary Com-
mittee and I would suggest he perhaps
would be better qualified that question..
As far as I'm concerned we had co-
operated with the special prosecutor,
we tried to work out in a cooperative
, way this matter of the production of
the tapes. He seemed to be more inter-
ested in the issue than he was in the ,
settlement, and under the circumstances
I had no choice but to dismiss him.
But I'm not going to question his
motives as to whether or not he was ,
out to get me. Perhaps the Senators i
would like to ask that question.
6.
6. View of Nation's Mood'
Q. Mr. President, in 1968 before you
were elected you wrote that too many,
shocks can drain a nation of its energy
and even cause a rebellion to get crea-
tive change and progress. Do you think
&earl:EY :thetAP-MIK00432R
A.' With regard to the alert, the alert),
has already been discontinued with
regard to NORAD that's the North i
American Command, and with regard to
SAC. As far as other forces' are con-
cerned, they are being ne..itained in
a state of readiness, and obviously.
Soviet Union forces are being main;',
tamed in a state of readiness..
Now as far as the crisis in the Mid-
east is concerned, I don't want ,to leave
? any impression that we aren't going
to continue to have problems with re-
gard to the cease-fire, there will be
outbreaks because /of the proximity of
the antagonistic forces, and there will
be some very, very tough negotiating in ?
attempting to reach a diplomatic settle-
sober and a more determined attitude
than ever before, because the Mideast '
can't afford, Israel can't afford, Egypt
can't afford, Syria can't afford, another '
war. The world cannot afford a war in*
? that part of the world, and because the
Soviet Union and the United States have.
potentially conflicting interests, there,
we both now realize that we cannot
allow our differences in the Mideast to'
jeopardize even greater interests that
we have, for example, in continuing a
detente in Europe, in continuing the-
' negotiations whcih can lead to a limita-
tion of nuclear arms and eventually re-
ducing the burden of nuclear arms and
in continuing in other ways that can
contribute to the peace of the world. ,
As a matter of fact I would suggest ;
that with all of the criticism of d?nte,'
.' that without that detente, we might
have had a majoi? conflict in the Middle:"
,'East. With detente, we avoided it.
ment.
But I think now that all /parties are ,
going to approach this problem of try-
ing to reach a settlement with a more
8. Shortage of Oil
Q. Mr. President, a question from the
electronic media related to the Middle
East. I have heard that there was a.
meeting at the State Department this'
afternoon of major oil company execu-
tives on the fuel shortage. Whether or
not you can confirm that, has. this con-
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? ti i
ron a on nth
e Middle East caused a
still more severe oil problem; and is
there any thinking now of gasoline
rationing?
, A. Well, we have contingency plans ,
for gasoline rationing and so forth.:
which I hope never have to be put into ?
. place. But with regard to the oil short-
age which you refer to, one of the major
factors which gave enormous urgency '
to our efforts to settle this particular
crisis was the potential of an oil cutoff. '
Let me say that I have also noted
' in' the State Department?or from the.
State Department?today a statement
I- that raised a little difficulty in Europe,
to the effect that our European friends ,
, hadn't been as cooperative as they:
? might've been in attempting to help us
:work out the Middle East settlement?,
at least, the settlement to the extent
that'. we worked it out, as of the resolu-
? tion of yesterday.
' 1 can only say on that score that
.EuiTpe, which gets 80 per cent of its
, oil from the Mideast, would have fro-
zen to death this winter unless there'd
ibeed a settlement. And Japan, of'
' course, gets only approximately 10 per
cent of its oil from the Mideast.
What I am simply suggesting is this:
, that, with regard to the fuel shortage,,
, potentially in the United States and in
; the world, it is indispensable at this.'
l time that we avoid any further Mid-
-'east crisis so that the flow of oil to
? Europe, to Japan and to the United
States can continue.
9. Note From Brezhnev
Q. Mr. President, against this back;
, ground of d?nte, Mr. Brezhnev's note
to you has been described as rough or ?
perhaps brutal by one Senator. Can you -
characterize it for us and for this brief!
? ing an any way?
A. Yes, I could characterize it, but;
Mr. Theis, it wouldn't be in the national
interest to do so. My notes to him he'
. might characterize as being rather
. rough. However, I would rather?per-
' haps it would be best to characterize ?
it, other than saying, Mr. Theis, that.
his note to me was rough and brutal, .
I would say that it was very firm and",?
it left very little to the imagination as
to what he intended.
And my response was also very firm
? end left little to the imagination of how ?
. we would react. And it's because he
and I know each other and it's because ;
we have had this personal contact that
? notes exchanged in that way result in
a settlement rather than a confronta-
tion.
? 10. Funds Held by Rebozo
. Q. Mr. President, is it credible?can
the American people believe?that your
:'close friend, Mr. Rebozo, for three
; years, during which time you saw him,
weekly sometimes, kept from you the
'.fact that he had $100,000 in cash from .
.,Mr. Howard Hughes? Is that credible?
- Is it credible that your personal at-
torney, Mr. Kalmbach, knew about this
"As a Matter of :MO, my Orders to 'Mr;-?- 'takes. " : 4 ' :: ' ."
r Stens :were that, after the campaign
13. Watergate Influence on Mideast
was over; I would then send notes of:
; Q. Mr. President, 'I'd like to ask yeti q
i appreciation, to ;those that contributed; ' ', a question about the Mideast. To? what' ;
, but before the election I did. not want ? . extent do you think your Watergate ;
f to have any Information from ? anybody:. troubles - influenced' '.'Soviet ' thinking
,... with regard to campaign contributions.. ': about your ability to respond in the :
? Now with regard to Mr. Rebozo, let,' , Mideast, and did your ,Watergate prob---,f
;me say that, he showed; I think, very' 'terns convince you that the U.S needed '
good judgment in doing .what he did.. ' .a strong response in, the Mideast- to',
He received a contribution. He was pre- ' convince other: nations ,tiiit, yon -have
!'pared to ' turn:it:0er 'to the finance'. : not been ?weakened?:-
....-chainnin. When the finance' chairinani. ,'. A: Well, I. noted speculation" to the
was appointed. But in that -:iiiterliide', ? effect that the Watergate problems may
I after, he received the cpritribution and,!i. have led the Soviet Union to miscalcu-:-.,?1,
before the finance chairmen was ap, , late. I tend to disagree with that, liowLi
pointed, the Hughes; cOMpany, .as you , ? ever. I think. Mr. B,rezhnev probably
, all know, had an internal fight- of mas,; , can't quite understand: how the Presi;:i
sive proportions, and he felt ;that ;Such ',: dent of the United States wouldn't be
a contribution to the campaign :Might, able to handle the Watergate problem!.
.prove to be embarrassing.' ? i.,. ? . ? . He'd be able ;to handle it all sight if::
'
'At the conclusion of the campaign he ,..,,he 110 them. ?
decided that it would 'be' lit?-the best. ,
:'? than to turn the money-direr' then to-be': ' what Mr.' Brezhnpv does understand
But I think what ,happens 4?.,
ens is thta'
: interests- of everybody coneerned, rather .'
used in the '74 campaignsjd'rettirri it : ; the Tower of the-United States. Wha,
"intact. And I would say that' anY in.. .:, .he does know- is the President of .theg,,
- dividtial, and particularly .a, banker who United United States. _ - ? , ? ' . .,,,t,
? would have a contribution of $100,000 3 !. , .,What he also knows is that the Pres'.!
and not touch it because it was turned .:; dent of the United States, when he i.va
back in exactly the forth' it 'Wei re-,. ,? under unmerciful assault at the time of
ceiVed, I think that's a pretty g9oCii,: Cambodia, at the time of May 8th, when,:
dication that he is a totally honest tnin.lil. ,I prderet1.the. bombing and, the mining-
: Which he is.?
. 11. Disposiiion ?Of .T.p.e S.: . '' ? '-' .
; 18th, still went ahead and did what he,
of North Vietnam', at the. time of Dec
Q. Mr. President, after . the t '-' ' 's--are .....,...t.hought was right. The facts that Mc,
presented to Judge Sirica and 4r.e !:: ,,I3rezhnev knew that regardless O ftho
; d
pressures ;at home, regardless of wlitit
?processed tinder the procedure outlined --
. ::
snigh
by the U. S. Cour of Appeals, will you, ion:i
? ?make those tapes ublic? A:. No, that is., "after do What waS
"people 'see' and hear: on' night, he would televi
-1
not the procedure' that, the court has.: eright. That's what' Made Mr. Brezlinct
? ordered and it would not :be proper..;- et as he did. . ?
Judge Sirica under the-tireuif Court's %.*;, ?: 14.. triticisniof Television'
,
is to present to the grand jury the - '''.'r President,
' .1;
Pres you've lambasted':
order is to listen to the tapes and then oi,
. ' .' ' til - ?
pertinent evidence With- regard to its .. ;the television networks pretty well.i
Investigation . Publication of the tapes ,2?,Could,I ask you, at the risk of reopen-
has not been ordered by the Circuit , ing ap. ehviout:Wound--you Say: aft
Court of Appeals and Judge Sirica,' of ,!.. You've: put on a rot :Of .'t, i that yea.,
course, would not do anything, that. ,dont ,? don't blame anYdne:'1, find 'that a' little 4
would be in contravention- of',- What, the: . 'puziling. What is about the televisron
Circuit Court of Appeals haS ordered:'-'-' ' -coverage' of ' YOU in, these past welq,-.,
' ' '.- -- ? '7^ - -.. rind Months. thathii, so arOused youri
. 12, President's Health :?-, , : anger? A. Don ',get the impression tliarn
:
Q. Mr. President, Harry TrarnarfUsed ' You arouse my anger.- Q. ?I have - that:I
to talk about the' heat in 'Vie kitchen; , ' impression. A. You see, one can 'only
and?A. I know what he meant. Q: A .., be angry 'with those he respects. 44_1
lot of people have been wondering how ' 15. Regaining Confidence of People.
. you are bearing up ? emotiOntilly. under, ' (2- Mr. President businessmen in-l.:
the stress of recent events.. Can you,:! oreasingly are Saying that many chief:.
! ?
discuss that? , ,.- t,.: , : - :, executive officers of corporations do
' A. Well, those who saw me during:: net get the latitude you have had, if
the Middle East crisis -thought ,4 ,hoi,e,,, . they hive' the personnel problems that,
' up rather well, and, Mr.. Storrs, i bave. , You have had; to stay in the job and:
,?a quality which is, I guess I niusy-have--
,.money for at least a year and never
. ? .- ? ,
you about it? And if this was' a
. campaign contribution; -as,,,,your 'press ;
secretaries say, Who authOrized
Mr4 Re-
,bozo 'to collect campaign contributions'.
'for your reelection or,for, the Republi-
can party? What,campaign?-eonamittee
. was he' an official :of? ?
.? A. Well, it's obvious net credible to ,
and I suppose that it wOuld
incredible to many people who did, not .?
know how I operate.
; I terms of campaign contributions, I
'rhave had a.rule, .1?11. Deacon, which Mr.:
'Stan's,' Mr. Kalmbach, Mr: Rebozo, and'
; every Contributor, will agree ,.ba5 been
the rule. I have refused alWayito Accept;
contributions myself. I have refused-to.
have any .'discussion of'contributions. ?
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correct them. You have said you 4i.c.
inherited it from my Midwestern mother ;
., going to stay. Do you have any plan.
set out to regain confidence of people:
and father, which is that Vie:tougher- it
Aetoss,e country and these busineSst'
, gets the cooler I get -Of course' it isn't
: men'th
who are beginning to talk about
pleasant to get criticism; some of it. is?
justified, of cource.?It isn't Pleasant to this matter? Po you have any plans:
find your honesty questioned, t
besides' the sPecial. prosecutor, Which'
pleasant to find for example Ahat..spea .flv: ,
i .sn't
211thilti'-backwarci; do you have any plan:
ing of my friend' Mr. Rebozo, that,' 'that look' ,forward for regaining conlW
' : .
despite the fact that those who printed dente Of people? :
A. r Ctrtainly have: First to moW
it and those who said it 'knew it,was ?,
untrue, said that he .had a million-dollar ..forwarci in building a structure of peace'
the World in which we have Ina&
trust fund fro me that?he was 'handling.
enormous', progress in the past,. and
It was nevertheless put on :one of the :
'which .we'r'e- going, to make more, pro-
networks?knowing it was'. :Untrue: It -
,,,gress in the future. ,
isn't pleasant, for example:- tO hear, or :
Our EnroPean initiative; etir"7-CtintiO
read, that a million in ,campaign ued initiative with ?SOViee ?Unfah-;:
fends went into my San Clemente prop': the
erty, and even after we have a People's RepubliC; of thhia''.
Coniplete? that will :be thP major legacy of
audit, to have it repeated., ? . -Administration. ; Moving forward
Those are things which '.of :course do
tend to get under the skin of the man, home in our continuing; battle against.
who holds this office? But Ear as I'm .1 the high.- cost of _living in which q't
concerned, are,
now finally beginning to Mak
- progress and moving forward al
It has been my. lot throughout myPo, . litical life and I suppose because I've on the Matters that you refer to, 'it. 4.1;
? ? trim tey
been through so much, !that,-maybe" one that what'happened: in Waterga
when I have to face :. 'the that
abuses were deplorabliC,Ic
? an international -Crisis 'I.:haye. . what_ it_
of the reasons is They; have been ;very damaging to 04:
2001/08107': CIA=RDP77L00432R066943#126tiositiv,have. been dame
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Ing'certainly to. the country as well. ,,,t;
Let me say too I didn't want tohleay,e.
an impression with my good ftiendsi
:from .C.B.S. over here that I don't re-i
;sped the reporters. What I was Siinp(yi
saying was this: that- when a tom-1
immitator takes a bit of news and theni
r with .knowledge of what the ,facta, are.3
distorts it viciously, I have no respect;
(for that individual. ' ; '
you happen to dodge my'questiOns nfl
the time,, M. President! A. You WV
three last time. ' "
16. 'Waiver of Executiye
Q:Last ,May, you went before thet
American people and you said executilw
not'be 'invoked as to any,.
0:testim0ny concerning possible crimina4
conduct or discussing of possible
nal conduct including the Watergate
affair and the alleged cover-up. If you,
, revised or modified this positioqi
;as you seem, to have done, could you
explain the rationale of a law and order'
, Administration covering up evidence-;-
prima-facie--4Viderice of ,high crimes,:
,!.--tind -misdemeanors? ?
- A. Well, I should point out that per.:
haps all the other reporters in the room.1
are aware of the fact we have waived?;
executive privilege on all individuaW
? Within the Administration?it's been the(
greatest waiver of executive privilege -biz
k:?the whole history of this riation?,, andk"
as far. as, as any other Matters are conr
cerned, the matters of the tapes, . the
;matters of Presidential conversationg,
'.:those are matters in Which the Presidenti
has the responsibility to 'defend this,
office, which I shall continue to de. i
Q. Thank yOtti Mr: President,. ??,,
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,