1973 Watergate Hearings; 1973-07-24; Part 1 of 5

season it's

been it is i don't know what their motives were as well those will appear in the course of the procedures are

and i stated that that was my understanding will happen in the senate of the united states he's a senior correspondent the long awaited john ehrlichman appeared on capitol hill today to defend the nixon white house and himself on a multitude of charges concerning watergate he claimed his own innocence of any cover up activity stood ready to refute all charges against him and protested that the ervin committee needed a clearer view what was really

remarkable white house last summer watergate as pictured by erlichman was merely a slightly embarrassing campaign issue which involved a tiny part of the time of the president and his key aides with many other matters on their minds only john dean had time to mess with the details and ehrlichman added slightly to plan the most expensive honeymoon in the history of the white house that the president elect and said was not paranoid or weird about demonstrators are justly concerned with an unprecedented assault on crucial state secret as berkman appeared combative and confident and his cross examination turned into a series of flare ups firstly council sam dash and then with chairman sam irvin and one erlichman appeared to go far beyond the president's own version it claimed the bike and by libyan hunter the psychologists office searching for daniel ellsberg's medical records was legally justified under the president's powers to protect national security that was hotly contested by sam irvin brandishing a

copy of the constitution would challenge that means lawyers to prove the oregon law that response in the rest of the eloquence customer that promises to provide the most heated moments the committee has yet produced watergate prosecutor archibald cox went to court today as specifically for the white house documents he requires and that the white house says it will not surrender gox today extended his shopping list and nine tapes was relevant documents involving the tapes and the watergate yesterday you asked for only eight tapes and at the white house itself today the press office said that a thursday morning deadline for applying disabilities would be met and that the president was involved in determining exactly what that response would be the continuing friction between a senate committee in the white house set off some additional sparks today skin republican national chairman george bush issued a statement charging that republicans have been spied on a nineteen sixty he said the surveillance have been ordered by the man who is now the chief investigator for the committee

the uk has more on that story in this lengthy statement accompanied by three after day that was chosen the committee's chief investigator hotline bling all directed spying against republican presidential candidate richard nixon in nineteen sixty specifically but said telephones of three pro nixon ministers were tapped he said the key republican officials were shadowed and most important surveillance programs information with senator john f kennedy was in a critical television debate against nixon categorically and unequivocally deny ordering any electronics surveillance he said this was fair city and maliciously trying to distract him from one of the most important jobs of his life republican former congressmen who had set up a meeting members of the mayflower hotel that was about the norman vincent peale the speaker and there's just something in writing the speech

for you we were etched didn't find out where he would blow when they get to washington the only you can say that with the surveillance they lost the airport what about the knicks' uncanny the oceans i was on the next step is a press aide in nineteen sixty in every part of politics ever since and this is a first ever heard about any such charges in the second place the headquarters of the nixon campaign in nineteen sixty were not at the woodland park hotel of mr bush says they were into buildings on nineteenth street in northwest washington the official was ordered shadow that common word for the republican national committee and really didn't have any major role in the nixon campaign as far as i know there are now finished was wrapping up the debates during the first debate the one that everybody thinks it's critical the one that everyone thinks senator kennedy won the phoenix was campaigning throughout the midwest the debate was held in

chicago so i don't know how you use surveillance in washington would've affected the first debate i say this not to refute mr bush noted at my puzzlement what is already a very puzzling story baines johnson author prize winning reporter and editor with the washington post that with a stern today's session thing so what would be your advice on what to look for watching john ehrlichman action tonight and there were several threat mr heckman comes up here a very poised to that hill is a strong defense of the nixon administration including the president president has not paranoid psychotic he says he tries to dispute the testimony of john dean the president using derogatory terms described in the one one point is making statements false of them all a false evidence a man at the most expensive honeymoon industry the white house and then as the testimony unfolds and interrogation it's very highly dramatic moment prickly when center tremor that many villages along the mosel

interrogation about whether the president had the right to authorize any blacks specifically the burglary of the psychiatrist's office that's quite dramatic or the high points of the state by liza johnson will be back at the close tonight's broadcast to talk about today and more detail the abidjan at that time by john kramer the georgetown university law center john erlichman occupied the committee's entire day to help you plan your watching here is and that's regular schedule work to look for the former white house aide reads his opening statement in the first hour saying he's appearing before the committee to review every charge against him and as the questioning begins <unk> gather political intelligence for richard nixon in nineteen sixty by serving as a driver and a rockefeller motorcade in north dakota and the second hour ehrlichman discusses the houston domestic intelligence says it was never implemented because j edgar hoover's special day he says there was a special emphasis on the pentagon papers because of the suspicion those involved had ties to the communist

party in the third hour says he suspected murderer was involved in the watergate incident soon after that he says it is necessary to keep the existence of the white house farmers avoid a recurrence of a massive meets protected within the federal government of the nation and in the final and says he's morally certain that he never sure to come but raising money for the cover up was legal and proper on the same topic he admits he made a tape of a telephone conversation in april not telecom he was being recorded senator evan is not ready to begin today's mm mm mm you're welcome

nice job oh yeah well since this week

the time honored tradition in a statement the truth of these matters now before this committee as i was that i willingly and fully testified before several other official in court because i sincerely do not believe i'm guilty of any wrongdoing i've not invoke the fifth amendment negotiate immunity for myself for many a member of this committee senator and always suggested by a question he asked a witness to that

i had invoked executive privilege in some form and thereby have sought to avoid answering questions on occasion they're no longer in effect with an executive agreement on a number so these questions have been legitimately raised others are created by leads to the us forces and us understand i'm here to review every charge of illegal conduct on my part which has been made during the course of these hearings including the material leaked to the news media but it may be different from what you've been reading in the papers

i've testified falsely before three rangers one in this city one in new york and one in los angeles a given month opposition and civil cases to which i'm not part of i testify before the committee i had an off the record on public meeting with us that this committee and i've been interviewed by agents of the fbi and a number of occasions in addition and requests to the staff of this committee have made available records and my possessions including transcripts of telephone conversations and meetings which i have various people in the course of an inquiry which i conducted for the book what i say here will not be different from my testimony and evidence in each other for finally innovation when requested by the committee staff i supplied my complete financial records and tax returns from january one nineteen sixty nine i did this despite my attorneys advise of the scope of the thirty of this committee is limited to a study of the extent to which illegal improper or unethical activities were engaged in that

person's vote in the presidential election of nineteen seventy two or any campaign canvas awning and our activity related to oppose quote setting the record straight opponent answering your questions concerning about range of subjects including the final exam being investigated twenty five if you exhibit thirty nines description of the findings that one was the so called special human concern with the leaks and that defense and foreign affairs documents secret and top secret files of patient that was the uniform what i know about the reagan attacked in california and its bearing on the watergate event whether there is any real connection between the california great again and the involvement of any white house employee in the watergate

cover and that connection whether the california reagan ever really could have been covered in view of the authorities actual knowledge or alternatively whether it was necessarily and you were the national security aspects of the matter is legally determined by the president what i knew the purposes for which the calm walk away with the people while and when i agreed to his fundraising and what assurances i gave mr camargo july nineteen seventy the story or should i say stories of the meeting to discuss florida and the contents of one state and john dean's effort to plant one of those stories about leaving the pack what i found out about the destruction of solos not from hindsight and more important when i thought that the president's instructions to me regarding executive clemency and i carried them

up the average i maybe get a full public disclosure of the facts of this format wise summer and fall nineteen seventy the reasons for the meeting with the cia director in june nineteen seventy two and what instructions were really given the fbi as a result why i requested the assistant attorney general peterson the permit secretary stands to give testimony by the position instead of a grand jury what i do when the president signed the white house aspects of the watergate problems remain on march thirtieth of this year when the various individuals told an interview why the president did not immediately fire jundi and why i take some of the interviews and telephone conversations i've turned over to this committee and the grinder when i first learned of the libyan intelligence meetings held early in nineteen seventy two and the other ex leading deliberate been awarded when i first learned of the actions comprising the concealment of the truth about

everything my working relationship industry is actually has a motto and his acts as the first one really happened then was so that were cast in the war and why the president began meeting with mr dean after that presidents continued effort to obtain and a full factual account of watergate in several aspects and why you never know he's been repeatedly said that this is going to come anyway at the same time the sounds and integrity of the president his staff and medical sources of an indian indirectly one issue here many important questions about the white house the presidency and it's that system but also been asked here but not and i hope and believe i can contribute a few of those answers and also perhaps some

major respect yesterday began his position at all concern about that richard bean's explanation is simply that we were all suffering from some advanced form of neurosis nothing else some strange white house might you suggest he was the only sane one in the months since he began his statement there let me take a i submit that and this general sense that there are some realities of government like to be wearing your deliberations on his birthday is the next administration sought a stable peace to get these results reported president to undertake foreign policy moves and initiatives which were completely interrelated and extremely delicate in pursuit of this result we

necessarily gave orders detention of the stabbing of radical dharma positions with people over the president's objectives and the problems of leaves demonstrations bombings and terrorism public opinion and congressional support or understandably on the president's mind today the presidency is the only place in the nation where all the conflicting considerations domestic and international politics economics and society were it's there street violence civil rights relations with russia and their effect on china and the cambodian military situation than a thousand other factors in the vans are brought together in the surface of one that must be resolved some of these events in nineteen sixty nine to nineteen seventy includes hundreds of bombings in public buildings in this kind of highly organized attempt to shut down the

federal debt which will remember political candidates and violent street demonstrations which endangered life and property taken as isolated incidents these events were serious taken as a part of an air campaign to force upon the president a foreign policy favorable of the north vietnamese in their lives these demonstrations were more than just garden variety exercise of the first name just as and because they affect the president's ability to conduct foreign policy they require the president's attention and concern and he and his happening learn of the significance of such a campaign or merely in the time it would've been subject that they that is the resonance that would have been subject of a proper criticism of all citizens interested in securing a stable peace in southeast asia and the return of a beloved but the president didn't understand these events to be important in the

overall foreign policy picture and they receive balanced attention along with other events in fact in nineteen sixty nine when he first came in a lot most of this nation into a new international in which the stakes were extremely high from close observation i can testify that the president is not paranoid we're a psychotic on the subject of demonstrators they're sensitive to criticism is an international competition able to integrate many diverse elements and see the interrelationship is a minute and apparently disassociated articles of information in advance and my limited experience with in the trial of a long lawsuit with a great number of witnesses becomes harder for the lawyers witnesses judge and jury to remember than anything else ever really happened in the community

back at the time of the disputed event except that event itself the collapse of a total collision of the trains rich or the contract in a case which is being tried in part of actually appears to have occupied the very center of the stage i said some are less likely to respect and some of the questions here and in some of the comments that people thought there is what appears to be this great big thing witness after witness goes over the exquisite detail as of a few meetings phone calls memos of conversations ned activated one begins to think so all of this could not possibly have passed and seen by anyone even average or worms how then people on the white house staff have failed to know all of these so obvious and often repeated significant details and failed to blow the whistle on the wrongdoers long before the

ninth month john dean said one thing in his testimony age twenty nine twenty nine false or all the other also syrian when he said that watergate vote was probably the major thing that was occurring at this point of time meaning in the context of sen gregg there's a question in the white house between june seventeen in september fifteen nineteen seventy two to demonstrate the absurdity of that important in a statement i need only briefly develop a few facts which are perhaps a broader view of the most violent june seventeen nineteen seventy two and it's been as willing to take steps to this and i would like to briefly describe the white house i experienced there is a few things about the presidents in order to make more understandable some of the questions before you including access to the president yesterday and roll

and who reported and you need a clearer picture than you'd have so far what was really going on at the white house in june nineteen seventy two following months i do not suggest that we were all just too busy to have those we get loans and we kept informed through jogging among other sources on the assumption that he was giving us complete and accurate information but it's important to know that in the days right i had a delegation of responsibility and is this narrative goes to the question how could also been avoided and those that important point that a senate delegation he's only a strong as its weakest like white house after nineteen sixty nine the senate i came to the white house as counsel of the president i'm a civil law practice was i took a substantial financial that come into the government i came because the

president asked me to because i became convinced that there was an opportunity to really is assisting my wife and family made a great sacrifices for their lives totally disrupted year i worked long hours and every day they were asked to make new lives around that's good the only real compensation for all this is a greater sense of the cops as we saw the president's ideas begin the table and his goals began to victory in my view always talkative whitehouse power status is meaningless terms which cannot possibly pay for one's last time with his family and a lost really one reason why the go as i once was a counsel of the president i know what the president has going into the one rubles that specifically in this county aside from being the president lives on the partisan agency's concern that legal matters the counsel of the president is

supposed to meet the absence of the white house it is his job to keep a sharp eye out for wrongdoing such as potential conflicts of interest it's a presidential appointees cannot tell us millan says the heaviest of the public environmental matters he reviews the fbi checks of all potent all presidential appointees for justice from the rest of the legal questions with a record executive power to be able to answer questions one after the prisoners' that the reviews for the president resign in a tizzy as a conduit for all kinds of miscellaneous information relating to federal law regulatory agency's legal technicalities legislation it's his job to keep the white house informed of a whole rap accent it's within the general areas and perhaps most important he must be a seltzer he must take the initiative because in the nixon white house there is no one else who

is going to have the time to supervise make assigns the site recently looked into everyone else's fully occupied with his own very responsible that's the council is a vital i think the allegation in my view when an acquisition must bring the job sufficient training and experience to know what to do and when to do it the council also has and has had political duties president is the nation's chief executive and he's also by longstanding tradition his political parties leave any president has a political role players don't run for reelection or not he is a candidate that he is both an executive and attraction politician every such a politician wants information and the president in his politician rose no different from the others he needs and wants information about issues supporters opponents at every other political subject for the year nineteen sixty nine to nineteen

seventy one of the post of counsel i attempted to gather isn't purely political information for the prison as i was expected a real concern for the propriety accepted the use only conventional nongovernmental sources of information as one might hire politically than a political campaign tony alessi which was hired to do this your information that he was painting from existing nixon political money by check among other things opposition so far as i'm aware during my tenure is absolutely last decade has assignments legally and the office of the president to meaningfully meaningfully begin to answer the question what the president no one should have a clearer picture of what the president really does one witness years suggested that we define a presidency in

constitutional terms but the true up the big picture will not only found in the pages of the constitution or even in the modern textbook son's addiction there obviously is the chief executive responsible for the administration of the departments and agencies and offices of the executive branch with their millions of employees and billions of dollars in spending and movies include the conduct of the nation's foreign policy in a troubled world he's commander in chief of the armed forces frequently works with the joint chiefs is that a personal basis sits with a national security and the military intelligence gatherers makes the decision and is responsible for you must also some of the nation's multimillion dollar what progress every genuine every activity of the federal government in britain set at

easier month by month for the president in decisions that really cannot be validated anyone else and what that has never really gotten all this is known for most citizens and shirley to that is the new senators i'm sure you also realize the presidency has been dramatically changed in recent years by the increasing complexity of the nation's foreign minister crops a domestic issue with simply could be considered and resolved by one agency had a nineteen thirty five to nineteen forty without involving the white house today probably have also conflicting interests of two or three major department for the federal government and frequently results in disputes with only the white house counsel for example five or six departments today are directly concern what important aspect of the subjunctive help consumers and britain's indian affairs and the creation of more prosperous times all in baltimore more than what the subjects are more complex because the

nation a society and government is larger and more complex than fourteen hundred categorical programs administered by the executive branch of the day twenty years ago our nation's concept of government's role has changed and with it the presidency has changed qualitatively and in terms of the work as this dimension and complexity has come from the demands and claims from the president's personal time and attention and his personal decision has steadily escalated there's the actual conflict between levels of government i find in conversation that some longtime washington who've been here many years still do not have a true realistic understanding of the quality and quantity of the demands of a president's time more of

the fact that they continued as dylan with everyday the us and so the president was that somehow this is that you must have some system for delegate and for determining which i'm always claims deserve and require his time prior events for example has been some surprise expressed fear that mr dean his counsel is not an easy answer to the president's office robin to discuss the council's concerns the fact is that was senior staff of about twenty individuals that have over four hundred and given the real demands on his time the president necessarily must operate on the bases and his staff comes to one call only and all others in business on this last is a very important point about men and women even those considerably jr nestor be known as that

frequently avail themselves of access to the president even reading by the important papers and very radical and our response so politicians are in the rest of his seldom if ever saw a president unless he called for us the other hand my staff and i'm a wreck and easy access to the president's attention whatever the reason he simply by sending in a memorandum or massive asking for a decision on the appointment or calling attention to factor that for example mr bean admits he informed the president even hourly some appearances in this way it was an open channel and humans the president necessarily delegate responsibility to resemble a delegation had some problems must be lonely at the white house they need not be handled by the president himself and the minute these subjects are properly validated in the white house people to act in libya

for the president or anyone person in his behalf to keep informed of everything being done once that even in areas of major concern before i leave this matter of access to the presentation battles that in my experience any member of the white house staff having vital or sensitive information from the present all good and would be seen by the president at the request of marketing and of a number of instances in which certainly was not assistant of the bridge in early nineteen seventy my job change i left the counsel's office became one of the several assistance to the isi met with domestic affairs those of us working in that area were given the job bringing to the president those domestic presidential decisions which requires attention along with as much information advice and

opinions as we could gather from all sources to enable them to consider an issue ron we were the lesson between the president and the departments and agencies dealing with the entire range of domestic problems well the president follows the news of the day closely and constantly community police departments and agencies concerned the problems they currently face this is done usually through the responsible white house that person whose assignment includes the subject matter please visit the president has sent between twenty and fifty domestic legislative packages to each year they arranged their problems of this legislation was usually the product of many meetings apple scraps of redress and active participation of the president is that the office of management and

budget and the departments having jurisdiction subject as you know the federal budget is also an instrument bows next year's budget begins in preparation the day after those years those declines all through this plain and summer months the budget decisions are fine and moved to the president's ranch in september nineteen seventy two presented president formulating this budget strategy for the months of january to march nineteen seventy three in the fall the final months of the arts and then the president considers specific appeals from the cabinet members or agency head who feel they have been shortchanged throughout this process the assistant for national security affairs affairs and domestic affairs us work closely with the president and the director of the budget on the maneuvers to pay and then there's the congress a legislative packages and apple's other decisions with us that the cameras are affected by that emotion time and attention what's the

president been given their explanation and his advocacy with individual members of britain's president but i'm sure that every waking moment of this law and still not satisfied every demand is not even mentioned the presidents necessarily narrative form of domestic economic problems import export restrictions the level of federal spending and unemployment all through the night and the counter use the meeting after meeting devoted to the problem of rising food prices with his council of economic advisors for the artist principally of all these problems and with a key committees are the kinds of an increasingly frequent basis as i work within this it wasn't easy

i want it that love it expiration dates of existing laws are continuing resolutions and my subject of the day was frequently determined by something as i and other prison when i got to work that day as liaison for the domestic operating environments and agencies that frequently character than presidents expressions of criticism and suggestions for change the uninformed and this undoubtedly would appear to create tensions between a cabinet secretary and actually i think i maintained a good and frequent contact and good relations with our domestic secretaries including several attorneys general on every year since inception i confess i do then i feared a mutual objectives i think that was to do all we can to help but they don't as many here not not everyone in the executive branch in the first term for

these bills there were a number of holdovers an executive branch who actively opposed the president's policies especially his foreign policy but also an area domestic affairs these people come back to the kind of internal guerilla warfare against the president there in the first term trying to frustrate his goals by unauthorized leaks of artifacts of the story or military and other secrets or writers plane falls the object was to create hostility in the congress broad affect public opinion henry kissinger's of veracruz and others were seriously concerned that this kind of internal sabotage of administration policy that actually run our chances to negotiate a strategic arms limitation treaty or terminate the situation stabilizes similar threat to a good result in vietnam was opposed by the combination of street demonstrations terrorism violence and their effect on public and congressional support for the president's policy

president and politics in his nineteen sixty campaign in nineteen sixty eight when he invited me to work in the sixty eight campaign as the manager of the campaign to agree to manage the tour after securing as promised it would completely valid in the unfolding events were logistics instead and his resignation at the nineteen sixty eight in nineteen seventy two with a foreign situation as it was the president decided whether it be simply could not and would not involve himself in the day today details of the presidential primaries convention in the campaign in a very deliberate effort to detach himself from that they did a strategic and tactical problems it's already one of the nation's continued unabated if anything we on

the domestic side were busier with the president and the mountains and others in nineteen seventy two the president at the delegate most of his political role didn't want the people not otherwise normal routines as a result i personally saw very little of the campaign activity during spring and early summer of nineteen seventy two president asked me to be sure that the campaign organization and the national committee said or did nothing inconsistent with administration policy and so i had a few meetings with the crp people explain existing domestic paul and his own campaign issue pakistan's lawyers on a regular basis to review apple's position papers and research and we work with the white house writers of the series itself and its great speeches which the president delivered during the campaign on subjects like welfare and the state education i began to spend more time with ryan sickler press secretary white house in the late spring of nineteen seventy

two helping him to understand the campaign issue is reviewing the research center it became more important than ever for me to keep ahead of the valves and in this connection i asked yesterday and to inform me as early as possible significant changes or new offensive the watergate get some runs over an ideal with new issues which would be arising in the press it was for this proposal by talking about watergate in most instances in addition the president form an advisor with that was going to look at the campaign an overview at long range and to discuss any needed changes attending these monday and thursday morning meetings presumably i was a substantive issue man in the group since watergate was a campaign issue it was discussed in these meetings there was never a major subject of discussion however if anyone in the group knew more than the others you could share any secrets sir

at the republican convention can i invest in many many hours on the platform issues in the weeks prior to the convention and our labors only sees it when the convention delegates about what if you take the woman's thereafter i traveled with the president on his campaign pledge to assist in hanoi last minute issue questions and speeches nothing more all of this is superimposed upon active involvement in legislative budget and operational domestic problems through the summer nearly four nineteen seventy three during the summer and fall of nineteen seventy two there were top legislative issues with the president's time and our problems the economic growth now i know you are there are critical issues of the senate

federal government overspending was also a hot issue and we were engaged in documenting a catalog that federal spending programs to justify the congressional review reduction of a great many programs that span great sounds of federal money with little or no benefit to the pub during those months along with a great many others who were trying to understand senator mcgovern thousand dollar your welfare and figure out its true cost and we were researching and analyzing about twenty other major campaign issues ranging from tax reform to these issues were being fined between the two candidates as the campaign went on we were checking into the propriety of a grand sales flexible which had been shot the president negotiated with the new japanese prime minister for today is an alliance of them i made that record had a number of meetings there in my genes responsible other pressing issues the president and the white house staff would work on

a presidential campaign a song included a hijacking ceiling on federal spending both of those problems unemployment surface transportation property disposal a revision of the system for classification of secret documents environmental problems such as clean air water pesticides raising flood damage rehabilitation and countless others issues as my lord will show i spent considerable time every week when the press setting this plan outlined the media the president's domestic polls and programs the september nineteen seventy two that a long day at the convention but for having impose additional burdens on songs after the convention speeches position papers political statements and releases at restaurants was a very busy time and the most expensive

most of my staff and i want to direct phone calls only from those with whom i shared your phone lines president and called the golem have one economy has had a lot of allies that last time over the years as it shows the best percentage of my time was devoted to domestic policy issues lots of time are consumed by a single written literally half of november and half of december nineteen seventy two were devoted to the presidents reorganization of the executive branch and many much of the incoming president in january nineteen seventy three was also developed in those two months as a result of decisions made by the president in the series was set in september october november nineteen seventy two i have attempted in the

statements sure the context in which i worked in the white house during the last three years and heavy duty sooner rather specific area of concern i was not a journalist no one's listening to that and again i know mr dean repeatedly and fascinating with that land and you say and so i and farm although ivan and five songs as if that were possible do with one phone call about it could not really happening in virtually every case to which you referred in testimony it didn't and how much time actually spent yesterday learning about the great for keeping abreast of the vaults just as it is you is or what mr vina said in the weeks following the lord

you know and i knew in my house are much more relevant industry calls the exception just for formation of which were a lot of time a lot of police officers mr collins among demonstrate clearly the frequency of my meetings really remember it remember remember i was having with and let's be clear i do not cover anything the things that he does on june seventeenth and here on page twenty seven of the state and the chairman you'll see that

accomplish in the first few weeks june seventeenth of july first which was the period when we're trying to learn about this new campaign is you and whether the white house the cia or anyone else connected with the headline leading the study and the second two weeks i had only one third who ages in a fourteen weeks to in effect two weeks one intersection two weeks in a seven to eight september thirteen to twenty six now and at least one in the night two weeks again and finally from october twenty fifteen election day three years ago you noted that this is the total number of our face to face contacts on all subjects not just watergate these were all contacts including remains a total of twenty two contacts i can reconstruct that at least two related the presidential papers in just a matter of planning one related the convention not

one related to bring insects do on general campaign one one regarding the president's financial statement to be released the remainder i'll get on a siamese twins mr holland i have vastly different areas and methods of operation and many occasions he would be away when i was in the us and many days he was there and i was there the president i did not at a supper club i did many things with and for the president especially in the legislative and now syria which left her column was not are similarly i have very little knowledge of what he was doing day by day i had a number of disturbing about watergate largely because he posted on the campaign issues which i never had occasion to mention the one about that

singing i wanna make a point without over drawing mr allman i live very separate lives in virginia yesterday the conference the vast percentage of my working time was spent on substantive issues and domestic calls about one half of one percent it was that on the campaign and the events with which you have been inserting yourself of that is the context in which i hope you'll receive advanced some early you must measure the president's role in all of this in true perspective the nineteen seventy two campaign the watergate and its investigation completed for his attention with plans of hundreds of members of congress economist diplomats educators scientist labor leaders businessman and public services and within the man's problems of the nation and their medical income complex with a bayonet and endless meetings

or speeches and other communication with about with the need for management leadership and inspiration and the need and desire to study and it was a redeeming aspect and this process i think the end result from lisbon and is that the future criticisms and political campaigns will surely be aware of the history of this time the standards which they will wish to impose upon themselves to be the products of the lessons of that but whenever i had great optimism the lessons of the history of this or will bring only didn't john ehrlichman has aggressively laid out his defense to arrive at the charges in a moment she counsels sand that shrill examine public television's coverage of the senate hearings resume after a brief pause for a station identification

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select committee on presidential campaign activities you again correspondent robert mcneil john erlichman was about to be questioned about his white house duties including his relationship with asarco farmers union it's better to pay you know no way i laid in nineteen fifty nine and go oh yes i was an advance man in nineteen sixty came out of our crew who was

thank you you tell the committee sweden university i'm not terribly close friends in college we kept track of one another carefully over the years and i was a guest at his home in connecticut there in tripoli's in nineteen fifty nine he asked me if i'd be interested in taking a leave from my practice and working in a political plan that it is true then that you were in law yes well first i did flower or a fire or six years and then my practice know and i began to specialize in the problems of real

estate and land use and forty the latter part of my practice before i left private practice and came here i was largely dealing with either environmental problems or problems of land use in the nineteen sixties so the us now that was a that was a prior episode during the during the primaries and pre convention period of that nineteen sixty campaign mr finch who then

was on the vice president's that resonance and then the vice president asked and efforts to rejuvenating been abandoned as he had given running he decided not to be decided to get back in and he was making a tour of the midwest lots of convention delegates so i went there for that purpose through mutual friends i don't imagine that he really created

no need for them and the caribbean because one of them is it's free it was near the beginning of nineteen seventy five i can't recall exactly the first couple months of nineteen seventy

i think he held the same position and again working closely with your form of his position well as closely as a cessna president for domestic conflict well we are all as persistent system president president i haven't buy an area of responsibility in which i was riyadh hamas in the sense that i could like a year so what's that are delegate selection is that if an identity as it developed we have asked a separate bucket so that i went to was not work around through the white house budget request for poland that responsibility for and

then my responsibilities work on a direct line to the president rather than as previously through moscow well i don't think anybody in the white house or anybody else it's a you know sort of a metaphysical concept among the assistance to the president and that was that was a year that on my reporting relationship so this week that was directed the president at that point and only on fb fb