Packwood Discusses Republican Party

Senator Robert W. Packwood (R-Ore.) said yesterday he does not care if the Republican Club invites former President Richard M. Nixon to speak at Harvard, but suggested from personal experience that "you shouldn't necessarily put your reputation on the line when you invite him."

Speaking to 25 students at an Institute of Politics study group meeting last night. Packwood cited three instances where Nixon lied to him. Packwood charged that:

I Nixon lied to him about the qualifications of Judge Clement F. Haynsworth, whom Nixon had nominated to serve on the Supreme Court.

I During "Operation Candor" in the Watergate period, Nixon assured a numbers of senators, including Packwood, that there were no new gaps in the Watergate tapes.

I Nixon agreed to halt administration lobbying for a labor bill--a bill which Packwood led the fight for in the Senate--in exchange for an endorsement by the Teamsters Union in the 1972 election.

The Ties That Bind

In his speech, Packwood also criticized the Democratic Party for what he called a "conspiracy of silence" regarding bribes allegedly paid to Democratic members of Congress by Korean investors.

"I've always thought there was more to Koreagate than came out." Packwood said. The matter was not fully investigated because the Democrats controlled the Congress, he said.

Packwood has been targeted by Right-to-Life as the number-one public official it hopes to defeat in 1980. "Right-to-Life doesn't need to get 55 per cent of the vote to win," Packwood said. "In a swing district, if you lose just 4 or 5 per cent, you've lost the election," he added.

Packwood said he expects anti-abortion groups to contribute 10 to 20 out-of-state volunteers and more than $200,000 in the effort to defeat him. "I'll try to turn this into a strength," Packwood said. "I'll say, 'If there's going to be war, let it be here and let it be now,'" he added.

Packwood, who is ending his term as chairman of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, predicted there would be five additional Republican senators--and perhaps a Republican president--after the 1980 elections.

Packwood proposed that to recapture public support, the Republican Party shoud endorse social programs, but should insist that they be run by private businesses. He cited health care and day care for working mothers as programs which could be financed by government but implemented by private companies to eliminate waste