2. James Kilpatrick Interview with Nixon, May 14, 1974, Washington Star; NYT, May 2, 1973; Richard Kleindienst, Justice (Ottawa, IL, 1985), 169–70; Garment to the President, May 1, 1973, Garment MS, LC; Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, All the President’s Men (New York, 1974), 311.
3. TT, Telephone Conversation, the President and Haldeman, June 4, 1973, in H. R. Haldeman, The Ends of Power (New York, 1978), 198–200; TT, the President, Haig, and Ziegler, June 4, 1973, HJC, Statement of Information, 9:177–236, and additional excerpt in WP, May 1, 1977; Henry Kissinger, Years of Upheaval (Boston, 1982), 110; “Tapes Chronology,” Memo in Graham MS, LC. Ehrlichman also remained, drafting statements for Ziegler and generally expressing contempt for the new staff: TT, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Ziegler, April 30, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 28, NP.
4. Congressman John Moss (D–CA) to Elmer B. Staats (Comptroller General), June 7, 1973; to Elliot Richardson, June 21, 1973; to Archibald Cox, July 30, 1973; and replies, all in Haig Witness File, WGSPF Records, NA; St. Clair Interview, April 10, 1987; Garment Interview, April 12, 1988; Whitehead Interview, May 25, 1988.
5. Agnew Interview, January 14, 1989; Spiro Agnew, Go Quietly … Or Else (New York, 1980), 190–91; Garment Interview, April 12, 1988; Haig to Haldeman, April 26, 1971, Haldeman Papers, Box 273, NP.
6. General Bruce Palmer, Jr., The 25-Year War: America’s Military Role in Vietnam (Lexington, KY, 1984), 98, 135–36.
7. See Chapter V, supra; Haldeman Talking Paper to Haig, January 8, 1973, Haldeman Papers, Box 179, NP.
8. Agnew Interview, January 14, 1989; Bull Interviews, May 7, July 20, 1987; Richardson Interviews, May 14, 30, 1985; Nguyen Tien Hung and Jerrold L. Schechter, The Palace File (New York, 1986), 139; Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, 107.
9. Ehrlichman Notes, June 16, 1972, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 6, NP.
10. Richardson Interviews, May 14, 30, 1985; Richardson to Nixon, January 8, 1973, Haldeman Papers, Box 110, NP; Richardson Notes, April 29, 1973, Richardson MS, LC.
11. Richardson Interviews, May 14, 30, 1985; Elliot L. Richardson, The Creative Balance (New York, 1976), 3, 5.
12. Richardson Notes, April 29, 1973, Richardson MS, LC.
13. TT, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Richardson, April 30, 1973, Richardson MS, LC. Richardson’s extensive notes of his briefings and inquiries during the first week in May are in the WGSPF Records, Administrative Files, NA, as well as in the Richardson MS, LC.
14. Richardson Notes, April 29, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; TT, April 14, 1973, NP.
15. WRH [Wilmot Hastings] to Richardson, May 4, 1973; Memo to Richardson, May 9, 1973; Griswold to Richardson, undated memo, Richardson MS, LC; Richardson Interview, May 30, 1985; Leon Jaworski, The Right and the Power (New York, 1976), 2; Tyler to Author, August 21, 1987.
16. Richardson Memo, October 19, 1973; Titus, et al. to Richardson, April 30, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; Silbert Diary.
17. Nomination of Elliot L. Richardson to be Attorney General, Hearings, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 93 Cong., 1 Sess. (May 21, 1973), 146–225.
18. Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (paperback ed., New York, 1979), 2:461–64, 486; Bork Interview, June 17, 1987; Lukas Interview, November 20, 1987; Garment Interview, April 12, 1988; Human Events, August 4, 1973, 611.
19. Richardson Testimony, Special Prosecutor, Hearings, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 93 Cong., 1 Sess., 405–07.
20. Petersen Interview, August 23, 1985; Petersen Testimony, SSC, Hearings (August 9, 1973), 9:3639; Griswold Interview, May 4, 1987.
21. Ruckelshaus Interview, August 21, 1986; Agnew, Go Quietly, 60; Richardson Interviews, May 14, 30, 1985; Richardson Memo, October 19, 1973, Richardson MS, LC.
22. Archibald Cox, The Court and the Constitution (Boston, 1987), 2; Sam Ervin, The Whole Truth (New York, 1980), 94, 118; Bork Interview, June 17, 1987.
23. Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1973; Ervin, The Whole Truth, 12, 98–99; Jack Anderson Column in WP, May 25, 1973; Titus to Richardson, April 30, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; Silbert Interview, November 20, 1987. Two accounts, reflecting the point of view of the Special Prosecutor’s office, give some credit to the U.S. Attorney’s office, but somewhat grudgingly: Richard Ben-Veniste and George Frampton, Jr., Stonewall: The Real Story of the Watergate Prosecution (New York, 1977), 24; James Doyle, Not Above the Law: The Battle of Watergate Prosecutors Cox and Jaworski (New York, 1977), 51–52, 80–81. A more detached and balanced assessment is in George V. Higgins, “The Judge Who Tried Harder,” Atlantic, April 1974, 102–03.
24. Silbert Interviews, September 30, 1988, February 23, 1989; Titus to Richardson, May 15, 1973; Richardson to Titus, May 17, 1973; Titus to Richardson, May 18, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; Silbert Diary.
25. Samuel Dash, Chief Counsel (New York, 1976), 71–73, 152; Armstrong Interview, February 9, 1987; Silbert Diary; Cox, The Court and the Constitution, 3.
26. Silbert Diary.
27. Silbert to Cox, June 7, 1973, WGSPF Records, NA. This extraordinary memo is summarily acknowledged in the Special Prosecutor’s Final Report, October 1975, 193. It is treated with other data as reflecting the attempt of Silbert and his colleagues to stay in the case or to get Cox to accept their theories—altogether, a wrong, ungracious, and territorial interpretation. Dash, Chief Counsel, 143.
28. Silbert, Glanzer, and Campbell to Cox, June 29, 1973; Cox to Silbert, et al., June 29, 1973, WGSPF Records, NA.
29. L. M. Walters to Cox, May 29, 1973; Phil Heymann to Cox and Vorenberg, June 18, 1973; Jim Doyle to Senior Staff, June 25, 1973 and August 15, 1973, WGSPF Records, Administrative Files, NA.
30. Dash, Chief Counsel, 141–46; Dash Interview, February 5, 1986; Minutes, February 7, 1973, SSC Records, NA; Cox to Ervin, June 4, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; Minutes, June 5, 1973, SSC Records, NA; Ervin, The Whole Truth, 116–17.
31. Dean Testimony, SSC, Hearings (June 25, 1973), 3:983–89, 1243–1246, including White House agendas for Baker meeting; Ehrlichman Notes, February 23, 24, March 13, 16, 20, 23, 29, 30, April 8, 11, 14, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 14, NP.
32. TT, Telephone Conversations, Ehrlichman and Colson, March 30, April 20, 1973; Ehrlichman and Mitchell, April 11, 1973; Ehrlichman and Baker, April 2, 13, 16, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 28, NP.
33. Ehrlichman Notes, April 4, 17, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 14, NP; TT, the President, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman, March 27, 1973, WHT; TT, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Gray, March 27, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 28, NP; TT, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Kleindienst, March 28, 1973, WHT.
34. TT, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Gray, March 27, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 28, NP; Khachigian Memo, April 14, 1973, and Khachigian to Higby, April 16, 1973, Haldeman Papers, Box 181, NP.
35. William Timmons to Haldeman, March 29, 1973, Haldeman Papers, Box 47, NP; “Potential Matters for Discussion with Senator Baker,” n.d., John Dean File, NPF, Box 7, NP; Dash, Chief Counsel, 112, 153–54; TT, Telephone Conversation, Colson and Nixon, March 21, 1973, WP, May 1, 1977; TT, the President, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman, April 14, 1973 (8:55 A.M.–11:31 A.M.), Nixon Papers, Box 172, NP; Ehrlichman Notes, March 29, 30, April 6, 16, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 14, NP; TT, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Baker, April 16, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 28, NP; Bull Interview, May 7, 1987.
36. Dash, Chief Counsel, 89, 95–98, 101–03, 118; Ervin, The Whole Truth, 25, 115; Fred D. Thompson, At That Point in Time (New York, 1975), 43; Minutes, May 2, 8, 1973, SSC Records, NA.
37. Buchanan to Nixon, May 4, 1973, NPF, Box 6, NP.
38. Minutes, February 21, 1973, SSC Records, NA.
39. Higgins, “Judge Who Tried Harder,” 100.
40. Thompson, At That Point in Time, 25–26, 46–48; Dash, Chief Counsel, 46–47, 55–56; Higgins, “Judge Who Tried Harder,” 99–100.
41. Higgins, “Judge Who Tried Harder,” 99–100.
42. Ehrlichman Notes, November 29, 1972, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 7,
NP; Transcript, Telephone Conversation, Ehrlichman and Ervin, January 8, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 28, NP; Ehrlichman Notes, February 16, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 114, NP; Ervin, The Whole Truth, 25–26.
43. Dash, Chief Counsel, 87.
44. NYT, May 11, 17, 25, 26, 1973; WP, May 18, 19, 1973.
45. WP, May 22, 1973; PPPUS:RN, 1973, “Statements about the Watergate Investigation,” (May 22, 1973), 547–55; (April 17, 1973), 298–99.
46. Ehrlichman Notes, February 5, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 14, NP; Ehrlichman to Dean, March 22, 1973, Dean Papers, Box 7, NP; Executive Privilege, Hearings, Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, U.S. Senate, 93 Cong., 1 Sess. (April 10, 1973), 18–52.
XIV: “WHAT DID THE PRESIDENT KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?” THE SENATE COMMITTEE: SUMMER 1973
1. Minutes, June 5, 1973, SSC Records, NA. Various participants have described the hearings from their perspectives, including Ervin, Dash, Thompson, Dean, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Magruder, Stans, and Kleindienst. Mary McCarthy, The Mask of State (New York, 1975) has some vivid characterizations, as does the novelist and former prosecutor George V. Higgins, “The Judge Who Tried Harder,” Atlantic, April 1974, 83–106. Higgins (106) summed up the hearings as a “lame imitation” of the work of the U.S. Attorney, the FBI, and the grand jury; “it was not a good job,” he concluded.
2. SSC, Hearings, 1:1–9, 8:3181.
3. SSC, Hearings, 1:27, 82.
4. SSC, Hearings, 1:128–243.
5. SSC, Hearings, 1:267–91.
6. SSC, Hearings, 1:159–60, 167, 128–33.
7. SSC, Hearings, 1:358–72.
8. Ruckelshaus Address, Columbus, Ohio, June 8, 1973, Department of Justice Press Release.
9. SSC, Hearings, 2:568–85.
10. SSC, Hearings, 2:632–78.
11. SSC, Hearings, 2:726–81.
12. SSC, Hearings, 2:489–530.
13. SSC, Hearings, 2:818.
14. SSC, Hearings, 2:785–875.
15. Minutes, June 5, 1973, SSC Records, NA; WP, June 17, 1973.
16. SSC, Hearings, 4:1434–35.
17. SSC, Hearings, 3:991–1020. Higby Interviews, May 11, June 24, 1973, SSC Records, NA; Bull Interview, May 7, 1987; Henry Kissinger, Years of Upheaval (Boston, 1982) 113; Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (paperback ed., New York, 1979), 2:336–40.
18. SSC, Hearings, 3:914, 1030.
19. SSC, Hearings, 4:1389, 1407–08, 1460–61.
20. Larry Speakes, Speaking Out: Inside the Reagan White House (New York, 1988), 40; SSC, Hearings, 4:1412–51. A few weeks later, White House lawyers prepared a memo, popularly known as “Golden Boy,” again attempting to discredit Dean’s testimony. Garment MS, LC.
21. SSC, Hearings, 4:1466–67, 1469, 1488, 1493–94, 1507–08.
22. SSC, Hearings, 4:1496–1505.
23. SSC, Hearings, 3:1085–86; 4:1515, 1518–19, 1599.
24. WP, July 5, May 19, June 7, 13, 1973.
25. Nixon to Haig, July 7, 1973, NPF, Box 4, NP.
26. PPPUS:RN, 1973, 636–39; SSC, Hearings, 5:1937–38; Minutes, July 12, 1973, SSC Records, NA.
27. Rowland Evans, Jr., and Robert D. Novak, Nixon in the White House (New York, 1971), 28; Ehrlichman Notes, April 24, 1973, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 14, NP; SSC, Hearings, 3:1050; ibid., 4:1754; WP, June 29, 1973. Years later, Mitchell remained troubled by the origins of the memo. Mitchell Interview, December 30, 1987.
28. SSC, Hearings, 4:1653–55; 5:1856.
29. SSC, Hearings, 4:1606–19.
30. SSC, Hearings, 4:1625–26, 1653. Magruder Telephone Interview, December 2, 1987; Dent Interview, October 31, 1986.
31. SSC, Hearings, 4:1666, 1678, 5:1817, 1829, 1835, 1895.
32. Higby Interview, May 11, 1973, SSC Records, NA; Washington Field Office to Acting Director, FBI, June 17, 1972, FBI Watergate Papers; Hoopes to Ehrlichman, September 14, 1972; Todd Hullin to Hoopes, September 19, 1972; Butterfield to Hullin, September 19, 1972, Ehrlichman Papers, Box 13, NP.
33. Interview Report, with Addendum: Alexander P. Butterfield, July 13, 16, 1973, SSC Records, NA, corrected copies in Butterfield Papers, FL; original report in SSC Records, NA; Armstrong Interview, February 9, 1987. The Secret Service version of the origins of the taping system is in the WGSPF Raymond Zumwalt Interview, October 31, 1973, copy in Buzhardt MS, courtesy of Mrs. J. F. Buzhardt.
34. SSC, Hearings, 5:2090; Dash Interview, February 5, 1986; John Dean, Blind Ambition (New York, 1976), 332; Nixon, Memoirs, 2:449.
35. Fred D. Thompson, At That Point in Time (New York, 1975), 84; Helms Interview, July 14, 1988; TT, the President and Haldeman, April 26, 1973 (8:55 A.M.–10:20 A.M.), WP, May 1, 1977.
36. Nixon to Shultz, July 16, 1973, SSC Records, NA; SSC, Hearings, 5:2136–37, 6:2478–82, 2486, 7:2657–61; Minutes, November 6, 1973, SSC Records, NA; Sam Ervin, The Whole Truth (New York, 1980), 258. The White House’s legal strategy was outlined in a memorandum from Buzhardt, Garment, and Wright to the President, July 24, 1973, Garment MS, LC.
37. SSC, Hearings, 5:2092, 2107–17, 2167–70, 2122–23, 2127, 2130–31, 2153–56, 2172–75.
38. SSC, Hearings, 5:2277–88, 3106–11, 3126–38 (LaRue); 5:2224, 2226, 2247–48, 2263 (Ulasewicz).
39. SSC, Hearings, 6:2438–39, 2488–89, 2477–78.
40. SSC, Hearings, 6:2450–51, 2503, 2491.
41. Krogh Interview, August 20, 1986; Manchester Guardian, June 4, 1987. For some examples of Ehrlichman’s clashes with Dash, Ervin, Inouye, and Weicker, see SSC, Hearings, 6:2537–38, 2624–25, 2632–33, 7:2671–72.
42. “Witness Estimates,” n.d., Buzhardt MS, courtesy of Mrs. J. F. Buzhardt.
43. SSC, Hearings, 6:2529–30.
44. SSC, Hearings, 6:2541–43, 2545–47, 2643–45.
45. SSC, Hearings, 6, 2600–01. Ervin subsequently noted William Pitt the Elder’s precise remark: “The poorest man in his cottage may bid defiance to all the forces of the crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake, the wind may blow through it, the storm may enter, the rain may enter, but the King of England cannot enter. All his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenements.” 6:2631.
46. SSC, Hearings, 6:2608, 2613, 2619–22, 2746–47.
47. SSC, Hearings, 7:2864–66.
48. SSC, Hearings, 7:2867, 3021.
49. SSC, Hearings, 7:2868–69. See Chapter IV, supra.
50. SSC, Hearings, 7:2874–82; 8:3079–81, 3171–74, 3189–90, 3151–53.
51. SSC, Hearings, 7:2893–94; 8:3050–61, 3065–67, 3082–87, 3090, 3107–09, 3122–23, 3114–15, 3164–65, 3207–08. Samuel Dash, Chief Counsel (New York, 1976), 197.
52. SSC, Hearings, 8:3130–32, 3227. Haldeman’s 1987 view was quoted in Newsday, November 20, 1987. “The answers to the unanswered Watergate questions lie in other directions [than Haldeman’s papers]—and I do hope you are able to find out where because so far no one else seems to have done so.” Haldeman to Author, September 17, 1985.
53. SSC, Hearings, 8:3198, 3181, 3169–71, 3200–01, 3227–29, 3231–32; NYT, July 26, August 2, 3, 1973.
54. The poll data are taken from corresponding dates in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Gladys Engel Lang and Kurt Lang, The Battle for Public Opinion: The President, the Press, and the Polls During Watergate (New York, 1983), 53–90, offers some analysis of the surveys.
55. William C. Berman, William Fulbright and the Vietnam War: The Dissent of a Realist (Kent, OH, 1988), 176–78; National Review, August 17, 1973.
XV: “LET OTHERS WALLOW IN WATERGATE.” AGNEW, THE TAPES, AND THE SATURDAY NIGHT MASSACRE: AUGUST–OCTOBER 1973
1. PPPUS:RN, 1973, August 15, 1973, televised speech and additional written statement, 690–703; ibid., August 22, 1973 News Conference, 710–25.
2. Buzhardt, Garment, and Wright to the President, August 22, 1973, Garment MS, LC; NYT, August 18, 1973; National Review, August 3, 1973.
3. Richard Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richar
d Nixon (paperback ed., New York, 1979), 2:451–52; Agnew Interview, January 14, 1989; Agnew to Author, February 1, 1989; Moley to Rose Mary Woods, July 16, 1973, NPF, Box 12, NP; Dr. Arnold A. Hutschneker to Nixon, July 3, 1973, NPF, Box 188, NP.
4. WP, July 17, 1973; Samuel Dash, Chief Counsel (New York, 1976), 179–80; Laird Interview, June 27, 1985.
5. Nixon, Memoirs, 2:452; TT, Nixon and Haldeman, April 26, 1973, in WP, May 1, 1977.
6. Nixon, Memoirs, 2:452–55.
7. Spiro Agnew, Go Quietly … Or Else (New York, 1980), 87; Nixon quoted in Newsweek, April 16, 1985, 37; Garment Interview, April 29, 1986; Robert Pack, Edward Bennett Williams: For the Defense (New York, 1983), 19. The leading precedent at that time indicating that destruction of the tapes would have constituted an obstruction of justice was U.S. v. Solow, 138 F. Supp. 812 (S.D.N.Y., 1956).
8. Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Pat Nixon: The Untold Story (New York, 1986), 380; Nixon, Memoirs, 2:545–46.
9. Nixon, Memoirs, 2:452; Henry Kissinger, Years of Upheaval (Boston, 1982), 111–13. Nixon and Haldeman offered various explanations in their memoirs for why they created the taping system. Haldeman later offered another version: “The Nixon White House Tapes: The Decision to Record Presidential Conversations,” Prologue (Summer 1988), 20:79–87.
10. Ervin to Nixon, July 23, 1973, Nixon to Ervin, July 26, 1973, SSC Records, NA; NYT and WP, July 18, 24, 26, 27, August 23, 30, 1973; In re Grand Jury Subpoena to Nixon, 360 F. Supp. 1 (1973); Nixon, Memoirs, 2:460–61.
11. Nixon, Memoirs, 2:461–65; Jonathan Moore to Richardson, July 9, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; Richardson Interview, May 14, 1985; Elliot Richardson, The Creative Balance: Government, Politics, and the Individual in America’s Third Century (New York, 1976), 16, 26–27; WP, July 25, 1973.
12. Joseph Spear, Presidents and the Press: The Nixon Legacy (Cambridge, MA, 1984), 193; Nixon, Memoirs, 2:456. In his memoirs, Nixon berated CBS for its repetition of the film but never said why the network found it necessary. Ibid., 528.
13. TT, the President, Haldeman, and Ehrlichman, April 14, 1973 (8:55 A.M.–11:31 A.M.), Nixon Papers, Box 172, NP; Jonathan Moore to Richardson, July 9, 1973, Richardson MS, LC; Richardson Interview, May 14, 1985.
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