Poisoning The Press

by Mark Feldstein

  “go after” to “you hadn’t located them”: Hume, 272, 273, 275; “heavy into denial”: Les Whitten, “Eulogy for a Muckraker,” Huffington Post (Dec. 27, 2005); “horrible,” “prayed”: Whitten intv.

  “first time” to “first place”: “Excerpts from the Eagleton-Anderson Exchange,” WP (Aug. 1, 1972), A18.

  Anderson’s “apology”: “Jack Anderson’s ‘Apology,’ ” WP (Aug. 1, 1972), A18; “astonishing hedge”: Charles Bartlett, “Anderson Takes Prize in Parade of Inhumanity,” Chicago Daily News; “Disgrace the Nation”: Kiernan intv.; “acted terribly”: Hume, 278–79.

  “unqualified” to “humble apology”: “Anderson Makes Full Retraction,” WP (Aug. 2, 1972), A4; “raked over the coals”: WH news summary (Aug. 3, 1972), 14, NARA.

  “Any chance”: Hart, 260; “straw that broke the Eagleton back”: “Eagleton: Anderson ‘Last Straw,’ ” WP (Aug. 13, 1972), A2.

  “mean”: Edwin A. Roberts, Jr., “The Eagleton Affair,” National Observer (Aug. 12, 1972); “liar”: “Does Jack Anderson?” Fulton (MO) Daily Star (July 28, 1972), 1; “scurrilous”: Perry, 184; “shameful”: WH news summary (July 31, 1972), 22, NARA; “national disgrace”: WH news summaries (Aug. 4, 1972), 16, #42, NARA; “Unethical?”: Roscoe C. Born, “Reporters, Prizes, and Retribution,” National Observer (Aug. 10, 1972), 10; mail from readers: Stan Rose, “Place for Muckraking,” Shawnee Mission (KS) Scout-Sun (Aug. 23, 1972); “canceled” to “give up journalism”: “Newspaper Drops Anderson Column,” WP (Aug. 6, 1972), D3, and “Anderson Apologizes,” Editor and Publisher (Aug. 5, 1972), 10.

  edge of emotional collapse: Whitten intv.; “deflated,” “prideful”: Harrington, 46, 44; “risen to a position”: Hume, 281.

  “No human hand”: Mary McGrory, “Eagleton Affair Making Nixon’s Cup Run Over,” WS (July 31, 1972), A5.

  “Eagleton affair” to “the political story” (emphasis in original): McGovern, 191, 192.

  coverage of Watergate: Lubars and Wicklein, 5; Halberstam, 651; Leibovich, 88.

  “as if victory”: Kissinger, White House, 1406.

  “Just remember”: Kutler, Abuse, 146, 149–50; “I certainly don’t intend”: WHT #763-15 (Aug. 7, 1972).

  “I think we’ve got”: WHT #780-15 (Sept. 16, 1972).

  $100,000 bribe, “You know my personal feelings”: memo, Charles Colson to John Dean (Nov. 17, 1972), Hughes-Rebozo #86, WSPF.

  traveled to Miami: FBI memo, JA intv. (July 31, 1973), 4, WSPF; “mystery deepens”: JA, MGR (Dec. 26, 1972), JAP.

  “Who started this?”: Woodward and Bernstein, All the President’s Men, 230. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, “Hunt Declares No Higher-ups in Plot,” WP (Jan. 12, 1973), A1, and Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, “Watergate Trial Judge Wants ‘Exploration,’ ” WP (Jan. 10, 1973), A15.

  treated Sturgis to lunch: memo, R. Ben-Veniste and G. Goldman to File, “Interview of JA” (Oct. 3, 1973), 5, USA Witness File #1, WSPF; “We’re having a meeting”: JA intv. Gibson; “If I were nearby”: JA and Gibson, 250.

  flamboyant litigator: Eric Pace, “Henry B. Rothblatt, Watergate Burglars’ Attorney,” NYT (Sept. 3, 1985), D21, and Clifford A. Rieders, “Deep Throat and Me,” www.riederstravis.com/op_ed/june/deep_throat.pdf.

  Rothblatt was upset, Arlington Towers: memo, R. Ben-Veniste and G. Goldman to File, “Interview of JA” (Oct. 3, 1973), 5–6, USA Witness File #1, WSPF, and deposition, Frank Sturgis (July 26, 1973), 116–17, SWC.

  “They’ve offered”: JA and Gibson, 250; “being bribed” to “[a] duty to his family”: deposition, JA (Nov. 12, 1973), 73, 38, SWC.

  “looking for a scoop”: deposition, Frank Sturgis (July 27, 1973), 124; “follow orders”: memo, R. Ben-Veniste and G. Goldman to File, “Interview of JA” (Oct. 3, 1973), 6, USA Witness File #1, WSPF.

  pled guilty: Kutler, Wars, 254.

  Hersh and Anderson stories: Seymour M. Hersh, “4 Watergate Defendants Reported Still Being Paid,” NYT (Jan. 14, 1973), A1, 44, and JA, MGR (Jan. 15, 1973), JAP.

  Sirica was incensed: Halberstam, 682.

  16: DISGRACE

  V-for-victory salute: Haynes Johnson, “Inaugural Smooth,” WP (Jan. 21, 1973), A14; “Ask not”: “A Transcript of President Nixon’s Second Inaugural Address to the Nation,” NYT (Jan. 21, 1973), 40.

  $100,000 to $200,000: deposition, L. Patrick Gray (Dec. 15, 1977), 88, JA v. RN; “Day after day”: JA and Clifford, 178.

  “Oh my God”: Collins intv.; “shitless”: Whitten intv. Gibson; “swarming”: Les Whitten, “Whispering Avengers and Other Sources,” WP (Aug. 4, 1974), 214ff.

  charged Whitten: John P. MacKenzie and Donald P. Baker, “FBI Arrests Reporter in Stolen Data,” WP (Feb. 1, 1973), A1; “get Jack”: Whitten intv.

  “Be quiet”: Murphy intv.; “outrageous violation”: statement, JA (ND), #00707603, LWP.

  blared: Helen Dudar and Andrew Porte, “U.S. Arrests Aide of Jack Anderson,” New York Post (Jan. 31, 1973), A1; “awful”: AP, “Arrest of Reporter Viewed with Misgivings by Editors,” Chicago Tribune (Feb. 2, 1973), B28; “vendetta”: “Outrage Against Whitten,” Madison (WI) Capital-Times (Feb. 6, 1973); “Free Les Whitten”: JA and Gibson, 253; Whitten in handcuffs: Herblock cartoon, WP (Feb. 7, 1973).

  criminalize unauthorized disclosures: Feldstein, “Jailing a Journalist,” 157.

  “new front”: JA, MGR (Feb. 15, 1973), JAP.

  “You’ve done more”: JA and Gibson, 254.

  always insisted: Donald P. Baker, “Indian Explains Actions,” WP (Feb. 2, 1973), C1, and Adams intv.; “lame story”: Felt, 265; receipt: JA and Clifford, 181.

  “Would one”: “The Arrest of Les Whitten,” WP (Feb. 12, 1973), A20; “If they really”: transcript, “Interview with JA,” WTTG-TV Panorama (Feb. 3, 1973), 14, JAP.

  Anderson testified: Paul Ramirez, “Grand Jury Queries 4 on BIA Papers,” WP (Feb. 15, 1973), D1; “He was just”: JA and Gibson, 254.

  grand jurors: Lawrence Meyer, “U.S. Drops Charges in BIA Thefts,” WP (Feb. 16, 1973), B1, 10; party: Judith Martin, “Celebrating with Toasts and Empathy,” WP (Feb. 16, 1973), B3.

  “manipulated the situation”: Felt, 265.

  secretly subpoenaing: Barry Kalb, “Anderson Phone Data Seized, U.S. Indicates,” WS (Feb. 27, 1973), A4; three thousand calls: James P. Capitanio, “Certificate Setting Forth Compliance with Court’s Order of 6 July 1973” (July 31, 1973), File 97, Box 1, LWP; twenty-three field offices and Sirica incredulity: Timothy S. Robinson, “Use of Anderson Telephone Records by FBI Blocked,” WP (April 17, 1973), A17; demanding to know: Murphy intv.; “false arrest”: JA, “FBI Used Arrest to Probe Anderson,” WP (Feb. 23, 1973), D17; destroy the Anderson phone logs: “Anderson’s Records Destroyed by Court,” WP (July 7, 1973), E2.

  “nail” to “wrong”: JA, MGR (July 4, 1973), JAP; “pin a crime” to “find one”: memo, JA, “Chronology of a Conspiracy” (ND), JAP; JA intv.

  “hatchetman”: Gray hearings (March 9, 1973), 476.

  “Bobby”: JA and Gibson, 257.

  “I leaked”: Stanley Kutler, “Watergate Misremembered,” Slate (June 18, 2002).

  “jubilant”: JA intv. Gibson; marijuana, “you fucker!”: Downie, 85, 87. “We were all sitting around getting high and putting down everybody,” Hersh said, but Woodward was careful not to indulge in the marijuana joints shared by Bernstein and Hersh. Ibid., Hersh intv.

  trash: Doyle, 70; tried to eavesdrop: Cloherty intv.; “romancing”: memo, Mark Frazier to JA (ND), JAP; sought money: Fleming intv. Colodny, LCP; McQuaid, 211; Swiss bank account: John M. Crewdson, “Rebozo Denies Shifting Funds to Swiss Banks for President,” NYT (March 21, 1974), 32, and Nixon, RN, 953.

  Rebozo money: Dash, 234; Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, “Hughes Gift Tied to Miss Woods, Nixon Kin,” WP (April 6, 1974), A1; Armstrong intv.

  “Hughes money” (emphasis in original): Drosnin, 462, 473–74.

  The Senate Watergate Committee suppressed evidence documenting the Hughes connection to the scandal reported
ly because prominent Democrats—including Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, and Robert Kennedy—were also recipients of Hughes cash. “Everybody was feeding at the same trough,” said Republican senator Lowell Weicker. According to Senate investigator Scott Armstrong, Democratic lobbyist Thomas Corcoran personally persuaded Senator Sam Ervin to delete the Hughes findings from the committee’s final report. Armstrong intv.

  “Jack’s column”: Hume, 284.

  series of columns: JA, MGR (April 16–26, 1973), JAP; “startling”: JA and Gibson, 259; access, authentic: “Column’s Quotes Termed Authentic,” WP (April 20, 1973), A14.

  “shocking”: notes, John Ehrlichman (April 20, 1973), Ehrlichman #7, NARA.

  “ugh—verbatim”: WHT #38-111 (April 19, 1973).

  “major story”: WHT #38-137 (April 25, 1973).

  “Such leaking”: Hunt, Spy, 295; “human blood”: Stans, 419, 428.

  “going crazy”: Kiernan intv.; electronic sweep: FBI memo, R. J. Gallagher to Gebhardt, “Watergate” (April 17, 1973), NSA; “incredible”: diary, Earl Silbert (April 23, 1973), 2, and (April 24, 1973), 2, WSPF; JA intv. Gibson.

  executive session: Lawrence Meyer and Timothy S. Robinson, “Jury Leaks Probed,” WP (April 24, 1973), A1; Sirica directed: statement, Judge John Sirica (April 23, 1973), Silbert #51, WSPF; “All hell”: JA intv. Gibson; “not to[o] optimistic”: diary, Earl Silbert (April 23, 1973), 2, and (April 24, 1973), 2, WSPF; immunity: Glanzer intv.; “clapped behind bars”: Cloherty intv.

  “Under our Constitution”: Lawrence Meyer and Timothy S. Robinson, “Jury Leaks Probed,” WP (April 24, 1973), A10; “singled out”: Hume, 289.

  “You’ve got” to “jail cell”: Hume, 290.

  “Jack Anderson’s column”: Kutler, Abuse, 328.

  “I didn’t trust”: JA and Gibson, 259.

  “terrible significance”: Kutler, Abuse, 328.

  “so excited,” “Mob lookout”: Whitten intv.; “fish on the line”: JA and Gibson, 257; “dirty hands”: Cloherty intv.

  interrogated stenographer, hauled away trash: FBI memos, Edward R. Leary, Daniel C. Mahan, and Robert E. Lill intv. Doris F. Hoover (April 23, 1973), and Robert E. Lill and John W. Hinderman intv. Elizabeth Ann Tipton (April 30, 1973), NSA.

  Prosecutor Earl Silbert wrote in his diary that Anderson’s “bizarre” leak must have come from one of the male stenographers who transcribed the minutes: “a number of the people in the office where copies had been turned in [are] kind of homosexual, etc. they were clearly the kind that might [be] leaking the information.” Diary, Earl Silbert (April 23, 1973), 1–2, NARA.

  “romantic and crazy”: Whitten intv. Gibson; “on your tail”: JA intv. Gibson.

  “diversionary battle”: WHT #38-101 (April 18, 1973).

  “we didn’t want”: Glanzer intv.

  “Jack had been warned” to “passionate point of it”: Hume, 292–95.

  “no intimidation”: John M. Crewdson, “Anderson Won’t Print More Jury Testimony,” NYT (April 26, 1973), 34; “sordid scandal”: statement, JA, United Feature Syndicate release (April 25, 1973), JAP.

  “gallant,” “Houdini”: Hume, 295–96.

  foil cover-up: Chambless, “Muckraker,” 325–27.

  locked them in his office safe: Murphy intv.; investigation failed: Timothy Robinson, “Watergate Jury Leak Probe Fails,” WP (Jan. 25, 1974), A13.

  “cancer,” “million dollars,” “inoperative”: Kutler, Wars, 266, 276, 309; “son of a bitch”: Kutler, Abuse, 419 (emphasis in original).

  “What did,” “Coxsucker,” “Saturday Night Massacre”: Kutler, Wars, 345, 333, 406.

  “Anderson just happened”: Haldeman and DiMona, 129, 131.

  “convinced” to “Mr. Anderson”: F. Thompson, 215, 217.

  “loose cannon”: JA intv.; Anderson swore: deposition, JA (Nov. 12, 1973), passim, SWC; “bore in” to “Anderson appearance”: F. Thompson, 219–23.

  “almost as intensive”: JA, “My Journal on Watergate,” Parade (July 22, 1973), 7; “diabolical”: JA intv.

  journalism fraternity: Hougan, 180–81; “never seen my desk,” “figure out the answer”: JA and Gibson, 247; “big coincidence”: deposition, Frank Sturgis (July 26, 1973), 58, SWC.

  “distract attention”: cable, Richard Helms (Dec. 1973), CIAFOIA.

  leaked to the press: Colodny and Gettlin, 379–80; exaggerated: Zumwalt, 373–74; took place in previous and subsequent administrations: Gentry, 153; JA, “How Our Services Spy on Each Other,” Parade (Dec. 15, 1957); Hersh, Price, 208; Van Atta, 244; Rosen, Strong Man, 166; Welander intv. Gettlin, LCP; Bumiller, 203–04.

  Moorer and Kissinger testimony: Stennis hearings (Feb. 6, 1974), passim.

  Radford swore: Radford testimony, Stennis hearings (Feb. 20, 1974), 9, 15–17, 23; Radford cross-examination by Thurmond and Stennis, “Yeoman Radford” to “No, sir”: Radford testimony, Stennis hearings (Feb. 21, 1974), 231, 229.

  FBI traced, “expressed pride”: Ehrlichman, 309, and Ehrlichman intv. Colodny, LCP.

  secret session, “very likely” to “drop the matter”: transcript, Stennis hearings (Feb. 6, 1974), 62 (March 7, 1974), and 42 (May 7, 1974), 4, 6–8.

  “at least 70” to “deeply regrettable”: Stennis hearings (Dec. 19, 1974), 4–6.

  “White House horrors,” pay back $284,000 in taxes, “I am not a crook”: Kutler, Wars, 81, 433–34.

  “These assholes”: Kutler, Abuse, 489; “outrageous”: Kutler, Wars, 408–09; “lynch mob atmosphere”: David Greenberg, “In Nixon’s Tricks, Rove’s Roots” NYT (May 1, 2007).

  “gap” of eighteen and a half minutes: Kutler, Wars, 429–31; President himself: David Greenberg, “Unsolved Mysteries,” NYT (June 5, 2005), WK4.

  “expletive deleted,” “shabby,” growing chorus: Kutler, Wars, 452–55.

  cited Jack Anderson’s reporting, “contrary to his trust”: House Impeachment Report, 174–76, 141–42, 4.

  smoking gun: Kutler, Wars, 534–38.

  slurred his words, drunken late-night phone calls: R. Dallek, 497, 524; suicide: Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, 447–48.

  shredding, “acrid smell”: Ambrose, Ruin, 449–50.

  “What have I done?”: Woodward and Bernstein, Final Days, 471.

  “Never be petty”: Ambrose, Ruin, 444.

  17: FINAL YEARS

  sat alone, “national nightmare”: Ambrose, Ruin, 445–46.

  shock, “Fiercely proud”: Ambrose, Ruin, 450, 452, 588.

  more than seventy people were convicted: Kutler, Wars, 620; “Statement by the President,” NYT (Sept 9, 1974), A24; “suffered enough,” “more decisively”: Ambrose, Ruin, 461.

  “co-conspirators”: JA and Gibson, 263; “whopping”: JA, “Nixon Costs U.S. $1 Million a Year,” WP (Sept. 25, 1974), D35.

  “been in the forefront”: JA, “Score Is Kept on Games Played Here,” WP (Aug. 8, 1974), G7; “tasteless”: Downie, 163.

  “Jack was overtaken”: Hume intv.; dwindling influence: Jonathan Alter, “Beam Me Up, Scotty,” Washington Monthly (Dec. 2002); “column continues”: letter, Opal Ginn to author (Nov. 25, 1974), JAP.

  “kept the torch burning”: Grady intv.; “didn’t start with Watergate”: JA and Boyd, book jacket.

  assassination plot: Bob Woodward, “Hunt Told Associates of Orders to Kill Jack Anderson,” WP (Sept. 21, 1975), A1; denials: Price, 184–85; “found nothing”: memo, Henry Ruth to Carl B. Feldbaum, “Alleged Plot Against Jack Anderson” (Oct. 3, 1975), Jaworski/Ruth #1, WSPF.

  Howard Hunt told the panel, “many times,” “probably”: Church Report, 134–37; “hair-raising”: testimony, E. Howard Hunt (Jan. 10, 1976), 19, 15, JFKAA; “totally off the wall”: Bob Woodward, “Watergate Unit to Probe Plot on Columnist,” WP (Sept. 30, 1975), A14.

  authorities never really attempted, poison but not murder: Church Report, 133–37.

  staked out Anderson’s home: Hunt intv.

  “if not already dead”: Liddy, 207; “knifed him”: Eric Norden, “Int
erview: G. Gordon Liddy,” Playboy (Oct. 1980), 70.

  fluke: deposition, JA (Jan. 3, 1978), 36–37, JA v. RN.

  “stick our heels in”: Ambrose, Triumph, 660; Kutler, Wars, 252.

  Teamsters, China, “gave them a sword”: Ambrose, Ruin, 487, 491, 506–12.

  memoir . . . HE’S BACK: Ambrose, Ruin, 468, 516, 530, 550, 558–59, 565, 570, 574, 538–40, 554, 561.