Watergate

AFTER ONLY two months of his second term, President Nixon has already become a lame duck President. The Watergate crisis has seriously undermined the credibility of his Administration, and has doomed any domestic and foreign policy programs that Nixon intended to push through the slightly Democratic Congress.

Yesterday's mass resignation came 13 days after the President announced that his own investigation of the bugging scandal had brought "major developments" to his attention. Thirteen days of innuendo, 13 days of leaks to the press, 13 days of endless rumor. Although the recent revelations clearly demanded immediate honest and forthright action, the President chose to retire to the solitude of Camp David, Md., to contemplate the effect of the Watergate affair, and to decide what moves must be made to save his Administration from ruination.

When he emerged, Nixon finally took the course everyone expected him to take. He asked for the resignations of his top aides, fired his legal counsel, and delivered a nationwide address on television. In that speech, he accepted responsibility, but did not pinpoint blame. He again shillyshallied on the issue, stressing domestic and foreign policy goals instead of taking a positive stand.

Nixon may be too late. When the crisis called for directness, Nixon answered with evasiveness. When it became clear that his chief legal counsel supervised a coverup, Nixon answered with a phone call "you're still my counsel." When the situation called for leadership, Nixon answered by further isolating himself from the American people.

Instead of asking 13 days ago for the resignation of his aides involved with the break-in at Democratic National Headquarters or those implicated in the alleged coverup attempt, Nixon asked Henry A. Kissinger '50, his foreign policy adviser, to give a major speech on European relations. Kissinger's speech momentarily displaced the Watergate affair as the top news story, but it proved the detrimental effect the Watergate affair is having on Nixon's programs. When Kissinger pleaded for "compassion," it was not only for the convicted conspirators, but for Nixon's floundering Administration as well.

Those familiar with Nixon's career know that political double-dealing is not above Nixon. In the 1962 California gubernatorial race, the Nixon campaign sent postcards to 500,000 Democrats soliciting funds. The postcard did not mention Nixon's name, or the Republican party. It asked: "Please send a contribution to preserve the Democratic Party in California." A California court ruled that Nixon "reviewed, amended, and finally approved" the operation. But more importantly, the court found that a number of present Nixon associates were involved in the project, including Nixon's personal lawyer Herbert Kalmbach, HEW's Caspar Weinberger '38, communications director Herb Klein, and Maurice Stans. The director of the project was H.R. Haldeman.

Nixon knew of the 1962 attempt at political sabatoge, and there is no doubt that his 1972 re-election committee ran one of the most suspect campaigns in American political history. But to conjure up political tricks from Nixon's past is not enough to implicate the President himself. Even now, The Washington Post asserts the Nixon Administration is devising a strategy to offset the full disclosure planned by legal counsel John W. Dean.

The resignation of attorney general Richard G. Kleindienst '47 demonstrates an important distinction that must be emphasized in the Watergate case or any other public scandal. Behavior need not be criminal to be disreputable, and men may be unfit for public trust before being convicted on crime like perjury or obstruction of justice. If President Nixon recognized the necessity of accepting Kleindienst's resignation--submitted because of the attorney general's "close association" with those involved in the scandal, he must also recognize the unsavory light this logic casts on his entire Administration.

As President, Nixon is ultimately responsible for both his Administration and his party. The Watergate affair has discounted any possibility that he could effectively lead either. The unusual circumstances brought on by the Watergate scandal calls for unusual measures to meet the crisis. In keeping with his own sense of decency, the President must resign his office, and Vice-President Agnew must resign as well.