Haldeman says secret tapes
exonerate President Nixon
WASHINGTON (UPI) — H. R.
Haldeman told the Senate
Watergate committee Monday he
has listened to tapes of some of
the conversations secretly
recorded in President Nixon’s
Oval Office and that they do not
support John Dean Ill’s claim
that Nixon knew of the Watergate
cover-up.
Haldeman, once so powerful in
the White House that he was
known as “the assistant
president,” said in April and
again this month Nixon ^ave him
permission to review some of the
tapes.
He said he listened to what had
been said about Watergate on the
two dates central to Dean’s
charge that Nixon was aware of
his administration involvement
in concealing the full Watergate
story from the courts and the
public.
He said the tape recordings
dispute Dean’s account of:
— The Sept. 15, 1972 meeting,
attended by Dean, Haldeman and
Nixon, where Dean said Nixon
congratulated him for “con
taining” Watergate to the seven
original defendants.
— The March 21, 1973 meeting
at which Dean said he warned
Nixon that Watergate threatened
to become “a cancer on the
presidency’’ and that Dean,
Haldeman and John Ehrlichman
were all “indictable.”
Haldeman went to the witness
table after Ehrlichman finished
his fifth and final day of
testimony before the committee.
In effect, Haldeman supported
the content of what Dean had
testified, but disagreed sharply
with Dean on interpretation.
Haldeman said Dean
misconstrued what Nixon had
said on Sept. 15. He said Nixon
did give his counsel a pat on the
back for his handling of the
Watergate matter, “which was a
perfectly natural thing for him to
do.” But he said the President did
not express interest in delaying
the trial in the Democrats’
potentially embarrassing civil
suit against the Committee to Re
Elect the President (CRP) — as
Dean testified.
As for the meeting March 21,
Haldeman’s version differed with
Dean’s on many key points. For
example, he quoted Dean as
telling the President that Gordon
Liddy, convicted as the
mastermind of the wiretapping
scheme, had told him “that no
one in the White House was in
volved.”
Haldeman said Nixon
authorized him to listen to the
tapes and the Secret Service
issued them to him. He said he
listened to one tape in his office in
April when he was still in the
White House and to the other at
his home this month — after
Dean had testified. He kept it
overnight, he said.
Before Haldeman went into
that portion of his written
statement dealing with the tapes,
his lawyer, John Wilson, read a
letter from White House counsel
Fred Buzhardt instructing
Haldeman to invoke executive
privilege if asked about anything
on the tapes which was said when
he was absent from the
discussions.
Committee Chairman Sam
Ervin, Jr. (D-N.C.) grumbled
about that condition — but the
accepted it, for the time being.
Haldeman then read about the
tapes.
“The claim of executive
privelege is not valid,” said
Ervin. “If you were permitted to
hear what the tapes said, then
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you can tell us what the tapes
said.”
When Haldeman said his notes
on the tapes had been turned over
to the President, Ervin said:
“Oh, the President keeps the
notes, and keeps the tapes.”
Sen. Daniel Inouye, (D
Hawaii), said later that the in
cident, in his view, meant Nixon
“has waived his right to the
tapes.”
The President has refused to
honor subpoenas from the
committee and Archibald Cox,
special Watergate prosecutor, for
the tapes, and the issue appears
headed for a Supreme Court
decision. Nixon said he reviewed
the tapes and while they
sustained his view that he was a
victim of the cover-up and not its
perpetuator, they were subject to
misinterpretation.
Haldeman, 46, a former West
Coast advertising executive,
followed his long-time associate,
Seattle lawyer Ehrlichman, to
the witness stand. Ehrlichman
ended nearly five full days there
with an emotional appeal to the
young people of America to shun
the advice of an earlier youthful
witness, Gordon Strachan.
Strachan, who served as
Haldeman’s liaison to the CRP,
had urged the young to “stay
away” from Washington. Tears
filled his eyes. Haldeman urged
them to come — but to be
prepared to take criticism.
The crew-cut Haldeman
disputed Strachan’s testimony
that he had instructed Strachan,
on the Monday morning after the
Watergate arrests of June 17,
1972, to destroy political in
telligence documents in White
House files. He said he recalled
giving no such instructions.
According to Haldeman’s
version of the March 21 meeting
— based on his notes taken while
listening to the tape of it — the
main topics had been money paid
to the defendants and alleged
clemency offers to them.
‘ ‘The President confirmed that
he could not offer clemency and
Dean agreed,” Haldeman said.
This contrasted with Dean’s
version, in which he did not
mention any discussion of
clemency at the March 21
meeting. Instead, Dean said he
talked about clemency with the
President eight days earlier. On
that occasion, he said, Nixon
“referred to the fact that bugging
conspirator Howard Hunt had
been promised executive
clemency.”
Haldeman said Nixon asked
Dean a number of leading
questions about payments to the
Watergate defendants, “ob
viously trying to smoke out what
was going on.”
“He asked such things as,
‘Well, this is the thing you would
recommend? We ought to do this,
is that right?’ And he asked
where the money would come
from, and how it would be
delivered, and so on,” Haldeman
said.
“He asked how much money
would be involved over the years
and Dean said probably $1
million, but the problem is that it
is hard to raise. The President
said, ‘There is no problem in
raising $1 million. We can do that,
but it would be wrong.”
UPI Roundup I
Two prime ministers visit Nixon
WASHINGTON — Australian Prime Minister Gough
Whitlam, an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in Indochina, met ;
with President Nixon for more than an hour Monday and
later said he would continue to speak out when the two
governments disagree. Nixon also was preparing to greet
Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka on an official visit
Tuesday. He had only the single informal meeting with
Whitlam.
‘Summer Jam ’ tops Woodstock
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — About 5,000 weary rock fans
remained encamped Sunday night at a garbage strewn grand
prix race course that served as an outdoor dance floor for
more than 600,000 persons. However, police reported that :
many of the winding country roads leading out of this small
Finger Lakes community still were clogged with vehicles
and hitchhikers, resembling a line of refugees. Many
abandoned cars were pushed onto the shoulders of roads to
keep the exodus moving. Many of the travelers carried packs \
on their backs. Some clung to sides of trucks while others sat i
atop cars, looking over the jam of humanity that made the 12- ;
hour “Summer Jam” festival surpass the Woodstock concert
of 1969.
Canada pullout cripples ICCS
SAIGON — The Vietnam international peace-keeping
team will come to a virtual standstill Tuesday when Canada
pulls out, according to the chairman of its Hungarian
delegation. Until a replacement is found, Ference Esztergaly
said Monday, all investigations and supervision of prisoner
releases by the International Commission of Control and
Supervision (ICCS) will be suspended.
Astronauts ’ illness delays spacewalk
HOUSTON — The Skylab 2 astronauts reported Monday
they were still queasy and nauseous and flight controllers
ordered a second delay in the first spacewalk planned for the
39-day research voyage. Mission commander Alan Bean said
he, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma were more than a day
behind schedule. He complained they were having trouble
catching up because of extra work imposed on them due to
minor spacecraft troubles. i
Detroit gets new pollution deadlines
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Monday gave the “Big Three’’ auto makers
until 1977 to turn out cars that will meet federal pollution
standards — the second such delay granted this year. Robert
Fri, acting EPA administrator, said the extension for
emissions of nitrogen oxides — which he said would not pose :
“a significant problem” with respect to air quality — was :
granted the automakers because the technology would not be :
available for the companies to produce 1976 model cars that
would meet the federal standards for nitrogen oxides. In
April, the EPA granted a similar one year delay — also to
1977 — on carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon standards for
1975 model cars. i
Laos accord reached
VIENTIANE, Laos (UPI) — The forces of Prime Minister
Souvanna Phouma and the Communist Pathet Lao have reached
tentative agreement to form a coalition government and begin with
drawal of foreign troops, a high-ranking government source said
Monday. Still to be worked out are some military issues.
Under the Feb. 21 cease-fire agreement, formation of a coalition
government must be completed within 30 days, followed by the 60-day
withdrawal.
The latest accord provides that the present regime under Prince
Souvanna and the Pathet Lao would each receive five ministries in a
coalition government with non-political figures in two additional
ministries, the government source said.
Souvanna, a 72-year-old neutralist, would remain as prime
minister with the Pathet Lao occupying one of the two deputy
premierships, a point that has been a major obstacle to agreement on
political issues in the last five months of negotiations.
The source said it appeared likely that the Pathet Lao deputy
premier would be Prince Souphanouvong, Souvanna’s half-brother
and the nominal head of the Pathet Lao. The second deputy would
likely be Leum Insisiengmay, a cabinet minister considered a leader
of rightist elements in the government.
Signing of a protocol on terms of the agreement starts in motion
provisions in last February’s cease-fire accords for withdrawal of
16,000 U.S.-organized Thai mercenary troops, 350 American advisers
and an estimated 60,000 North Vietnamese troops from the country.