FBI Told Nixon of Coverup in July

Former FBI acting director L. Patrick Gray III warned President Nixon of a White House Watergate coverup attempt in July 1972 only a few weeks after the break-in at Democratic National Headquarters, a CIA memorandum revealed yesterday.

The memorandum, written by then CIA deputy director Lt. Gen. Vernon Walters, said that Gray advised Nixon that top-level advisers were involved in the coverup. The memo was obtained by NBC News.

Walter's memo directly contradicts the President's contention that he had no knowledge of a White House coverup until March 1973. Nixon made this assertion April 30 in a national television address on the Watergate affair.

Gray reportedly told Nixon that he should fire the aides involved in the coverup. Nixon asked how high up the involvement went, and Gray replied, according to the memo, "pretty high."

No Hesitation

Watergate prosecutor designate Archibald Cox '34 testified yesterday he is satisfied he has been granted all the power anyone could ask for as independent special prosecutor in the Watergate case and related matters.

Cox, Williston Professor of Law here who served as U.S. solicitor general from 1961 to 1965, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He was accompanied by Elliot L. Richardson '41, whose nomination to be attorney general is pending before the committee. Richardson announced his selection of Cox last Friday to serve as special Watergate prosecutor.

"The only authority he has retained is to give me hell if I don't to the job, and I think he ought to keep that authority," Cox said of the powers delegated to him by Richardson.

Richardson, now Secretary of Defense, said he is confident that Cox, who is 61 years old, will conduct a "full, fair and impartial investigation of all these matters."

Richardson submitted to the committee revised guidelines under which Cox will serve as special prosecutor in the Justice Department, testifying he had made one final change even as late as this morning at Cox's suggestion.

The memo released by NBC last night was one of two Walters memorandums made public yesterday.

Sen. Stuart Symington (D-Mo.) read a memorandum to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in which Walters said he was ordered by Haldeman, then Nixon's chief of staff, to contact acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray III to ask that the FBI not pursue a Mexican lead in the early investigation of the Watergate break-in.

Haldeman told Walters, "It is the President's wish," the memo said.