Blind Ambition
Page 48
“Thanks, but I’ve got a bunch of letters I’ve got to write this afternoon. So maybe I’ll take a rain check.” I would have enjoyed the visit, but I was afraid to get involved with the drinking.
“Sure. Just wanted you to know you were welcome, since your old lady ain’t here.”
He left. I went back to my book. Only a few minutes passed before there was another knock.
“It’s me again,” he said.
I opened the door.
“Hey, I just heard on the radio that the jury found Mitchell and those other guys guilty.* Their ball game is over. You think they’ll put Mitchell in here? I’d love to talk to that bastard. I’ve got some friends he’s sent up that’d like to do more than talk to him. His ass is in big trouble in the slammer. I’m not sure he’ll ever come out.”
“It’ll be a long time before Mitchell’s ever put in jail, Vinny. He’s got years of appeals. Maybe Ford will pardon him. It wouldn’t surprise me, particularly if he loses the election. Anyway, if Mitchell goes to jail they’ll make special arrangements for him, I’m sure. The Bureau of Prisons knows Mitchell’s going to be in trouble.”
“That’s too bad. I’d like to meet the old fart.”
I’d been vindicated one more time. The jury had believed me. That gave me a wave of satisfaction long enough for me to go down to Colson’s room and tell him the verdict. But I didn’t ride the wave long. When I returned to my room, I saw The Summing Up lying on my bed, open to the page I’d just read. I picked it up:
At first sight it is curious that our own offences should seem to us so much less heinous than the offences of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and the bad in ourselves together. But when we come to judge others it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he had never told not one, but a hundred? We are shocked when we discover that great men were weak and petty, dishonest or selfish, sexually vicious, vain or intemperate; and many people think it disgraceful to disclose to the public its heroes’ failings. There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but potentially they are the same. For my part I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind the world would consider me a monster of depravity.
January 8, 1975
“Hey, Dean, telephone!” a voice shouted up the stairs.
“Okay, be right down,” I called back, and gathered up the papers I’d spread out on my small desk. I had been computing the debts I’d amassed in the twenty months I’d been without a pay check. We’d sold everything we could sell, except the house in California. Mo had told me she was ready to get a job if I, thought it was necessary. I slipped the papers into the drawer hurriedly, and ran. “Okay, okay, I’m coming,” I answered again. I headed down the stairs to the wall phone in the main hall. “Hello.”
“You standing or sitting?” It was Charlie. I didn’t like his opening question. During the last week he had been in discussions with Henry Ruth about where I was going to be sent to serve the rest of my jail term. Holabird was being closed down.
“I’m standing. Why?”
“Well, sit down!” he ordered.
I untangled the cord and sat on the bottom step. “Okay. Let’s hear it. I’m sitting.”
“You’re about to find out what a fine goddam lawyer you’ve got, and I hope you appreciate it.”
“We’ll see,” I said tartly. “What do you have?”
“I just had a call from Sirica’s clerk, and the good judge has seen the wisdom of our motion to reduce sentence, and, to get right to the point, you’re a free man!”
“Charlie, don’t play around. Tell me what the hell the judge has done.”
“I just did. He’s freed you. He granted our motion and reduced your sentence to time served.”
“You’re shitting me?”
“No, sir. Now go pack your bags and I’ll make sure the judge’s order is out there as fast as possible.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“You bet your ass. I told you I was a good lawyer! No, the reason you’re free is that you …”
I listened but didn’t hear. It was true. Charlie wasn’t kidding. I was free. I’m free, was all I could think about. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or scream, or what to do next. When Charlie said he’d call back, all I could say was, “Thank you, I’ll talk to you then.”
I hung up the telephone. Jeb was coming down the hall. I wondered how he’d receive the news. Maybe Sirica had freed him too, and Herb. Or maybe he hadn’t. I wanted to avoid Jeb and hurried back to my room. I stood looking out the window.
“The nightmare is over.” I was talking out loud to myself. “It really is over,” I repeated and listened to my own words. I couldn’t stop shaking my head as I gazed out the window, nor could I stop the tears.
Everything is different now.
* There had been an intense debate in the Special Prosecutor’s office. Jaworski was convinced that such action was unconstitutional. Finally he persuaded the jurors to name Richard Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator, along with Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Strachan, Colson, Mardian and Parkinson, who were indicted.
† On May 10, 1973, John Mitchell and Maurice Stans were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for conspiring to obstruct justice and for perjury in relation to a $200,000 campaign contribution from financier Robert Vesco. Later they were acquitted on all charges. On November 29, 1973, Dwight Chapin was indicted for lying to the Watergate grand jury about his knowledge of Donald Segretti’s political sabotage activities in the 1972 campaign. He was found guilty and went to prison.
* St. Clair committed a grievous error at the beginning of his examination of Dean. Quoting from Dean’s testimony before the Ervin Committee that “the money matter was left very much hanging” in the March 21 meeting in the Oval Office, St. Clair suggested aggressively that Dean himself had removed the President from the chain of events that had led to a payment that same day to Hunt. In fact, as Dean at once made clear, his testimony had referred to a discussion at that same meeting of an eventual million dollars that might be needed to pay off all the Watergate burglars, and that payment of Hunt’s demand of an immediate $120,000 had been authorized by the President. Seventy-five thousand dollars was paid Hunt that very day. St. Clair continued to demonstrate his confusion about sequence and previous testimony. Firmly corrected several times by Dean, he resorted to tactics that led several members of the committee to object that he was browbeating the witness. Finally, demoralized, he relinquished his witness to the members of the committee, and the potential “classic battle between a great cross-examiner and a great witness,” as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein characterized the White House’s hopes, never materialized. St. Clair’s failure marked the end of the Administration’s chance to break Dean as a witness. [Ed.]
* Mitchell, Ehrlichman, Haldeman and Mardian were found guilty. Parkinson was acquitted.
INDEX
Acree, Mike, 74
Adams, Sherman, 110
Agnew, Spiro T., 32–34, 61, 105, 157, 339
Air Force One, 66, 151, 172, 236
Alcohol, Tax and Firearms Division, IRS, 73
Ale
xandria, Va., 356
Allenwood Prison, 355, 359
Alsop, Joseph, 286
American Bar Association, 50, 345
Anderson, Jack, 52, 55–56, 58, 88, 320
column about Dean, 273–74
Andreas, Dwayne, 145–46
antiwar demonstrations, 14, 17, 28, 52fn., 66, 71, 76
in Washington, 26, 29, 42–44
Liddy plan and, 81, 85
Antonio, Emile de, 40
Army Signal Corps, 40, 332
Baker, Howard H., Jr., 291, 302–3, 310, 318, 322–23, 390
Barker, Bernard L., 133fn., 145fn.; see also Cubans
Barth, Roger, 74
Beard, Dita, 52–54, 56–58, 94
Bennett, Robert F., 67–70, 77, 390–92
Bennett, Wallace, 67
Ben-Veniste, Richard, 336, 341–45, 347, 352, 383
Berger v. U.S., 257
Bernstein, Carl, 91, 144, 289–90, 353fn.
Bethany, Md., 284, 293, 294
Bittman, William O., 162, 173–77, 179, 180, 192, 249
Black, Hugo L., 49
Blair House, 39
Boston Globe, 346
Boudin, Leonard, 352
Boyle, Anthony, 373
Brasco, Frank J., 143
Brezhnev, Leonid, 305
Brookings Institution, 45, 47–48, 87
Brown, John, 33
Buchanan, Patrick J., 72, 286
Buckley, John R., 75
Bull, Stephen, 265–66, 300–301, 331
Bureau of Prisons, 80, 396
Burger, Warren, 28
Burning Tree Country Club, 109
Butterfield, Alexander P., 136, 137, 300–301, 331–33, 336
Buzhardt, J. Fred, 318, 321, 346
Byrne, Matthew, 257fn., 295
Cabinet, 27, 148, 184
Calley, William, 44
Cambodia, 66
Campaign Act violations, 62, 100, 113, 121, 127
campaign intelligence, 70–88
Campbell, Donald E., 227, 235, 239–241, 252–53, 255–57, 283
Camp David, 155–58, 161, 163, 187, 213–22, 379
“cancer on the Presidency,” 196, 201, 211, 262
Carswell, G. Harrold, 49, 50
Castro, Fidel, 70
Caulfield, John J., 34–35, 40–41, 56, 93, 100, 124, 146
Kennedy investigation, 35, 73, 77, 78
and Brookings, 44–47, 48
O’Brien-Hughes matter, 66–67, 69–70
his campaign-intelligence plan, 72, 73–75, 77, 78, 248
undercover apartment of, 77–78
tells of Watergate arrests, 90–91
and McCord, 91, 177, 204
Central Intelligence Agency, see CIA
Chambers, Arden, 132
Chambers, Whittaker, 187
Chapin, Dwight L., 17, 18, 23, 72, 133, 189
and Segretti, 72–73, 140, 144, 150
trial of, 345–46, 348
Chappaquiddick, 35, 78
Checkers Speech, 40
Chenow, Kathleen, 122–23
Cheshire, Maxine, 286
Chicago Seven, 352
China, 87, 141, 150, 152
Chotiner, Murray, 22–23, 33–34, 59
CIA, 70, 81, 155, 174
and Huston Plan, 36, 37
and Watergate, 177, 234, 295, 390, 392
and Liddy pictures, 198, 255
Bennett and, 390–92
Civil Service Commission, 314, 319
Clark, Ramsey, 386
Clawson, Ken W., 103, 104, 288
Colson, Charles W., 30, 40–41, 43, 64, 80, 88, 131
proposes Brookings break-in, 44–47
and Kleindienst-ITT case, 52–59, 94
and Town House, 60
O’Brien-Hughes matter, 66, 67, 68
presses for campaign intelligence, 73, 75, 115–16, 224, 294
claims non-involvement with Hunt, 90, 93–96, 101–6, 118, 119, 120, 146
intervenes in labor case, 111
illegal ads placed by, 113
and fake JFK cable, 115
“stonewall” meeting with Nixon, 119–21
his taped conversation with Hunt, 152–55, 156, 160, 239–41, 379
Hunt’s lawyer and, 174–75
and clemency for Hunt, 175–80, 204, 263, 301
vulnerability of, 185, 189, 249
leaves White House, 186, 193
and Hunt’s extortion threat, 192, 197
and grand jury, 217
suspected by prosecutors, 231
lie-detector test, 237, 273
anti-Dean publicity by, 273–74, 286, 288
and Ervin hearings, 316, 317, 322
indicted, 154, 348fn.
sentencing of, 355
at Holabird, 364, 366, 368–69, 372, 373, 381–82, 388–92, 396
Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP), 52, 161
Magruder appointed to, 56, 80
campaign-intelligence operations, 73, 75–76, 99
and Liddy plan, 84, 224, 300
and McCord, 90, 91, 105, 119–20, 123
break-in financed by, 100, 121, 132–133
war of nerves with White House, 108, 123–25
Mitchell removed from, 126
civil suits against, 131, 136, 145, 146, 293
Finance Committee, 132–33, 137, 159
and 1st Watergate indictments, 133
burning of documents at, 383
Common Cause, 159, 293
Connally, John B., Jr., 110, 136, 142–143, 190
Cook, Marlow W., 56
Cook, Richard, 143
Cooper, Lance, 327
Court of Appeals, U.S., 337, 343
cover-up trial, see Watergate cover-up trial
Cox, Archibald, 297fn., 299, 317, 336
and the tapes, 338, 340
and Dean’s plea, 338, 340–42
Cox, Edward, 29
Cox, Tricia Nixon, 29, 161, 213
Cronkite, Walter, 293, 304–5, 309
CRP, see Committee to Re-elect the President
Crystal, Operation, 83
Cuban Committee, 203, 206
Cubans (of Watergate break-in case), 90, 93, 97, 171, 182, 203
and Ellsberg break-in, 117
indicted, 133fn.
made scapegoats, 120, 121, 143
Dash, Sam, 304, 305
wants Dean’s testimony, 271, 282, 284, 288
Dean meets with, 290–91, 293
and Nixon’s tapes, 301, 328, 331–333
at hearings, 307–9, 316, 326
Dean, John W., III:
becomes counsel to President, 11–25
and Scanlan’s, 32–35, 65
and Huston Plan, 36–38
builds up office, 38–44, 48, 71–72, 148, 158, 159, 171
opposes Brookings scheme, 44–48
and ITT hearings, 52–55, 57–62, 320
O’Brien-Hughes investigation, 65–70, 77, 88
campaign-intelligence ideas, 70–72, 74–75
recommends Liddy to CRP, 76–77
at meetings on Liddy plan, 79–87
learns of Watergate arrests, 89–91
learns involvement of CRP and White House, 91–100
reports to Ehrlichman, 100–101
at strategy meetings on break-in, 102–7, 108–9
and Hunt’s safe, 104, 107–8, 114–115
Petersen reports to, 110–12, 131, 202–3, 260
holds money for Strachan, 113, 164, 326
learns of “commitments,” 116–18
gets secret FBI reports, 122, 131, 184, 387–88
gives Hunt’s papers to Gray, 122, 182
coaches witnesses, 122–23, 131, 223, 302
hush-money meetings, 123–24, 131, 139–41, 146, 161–66, 323–25; see also Hunt’s extortion threat, hereinbelow
advises Mitchell’s removal, 126
and “Dean investigation,” 129–31, 141, 166, 202, 215, 239
9/15/72 stroking
session, 133–39, 184, 207, 278, 350, 351
and O’Brien’s civil suit, 136, 145–46
and “enemies,” 138, 316–17
and Patman hearings, 139, 141–44, 183
and Segretti, 144, 145, 149–50
marriage, 144–45
is pressed for Dean Report, 166–69, 186–90, 200, 210–12, 221, 230–231
and Hunt’s missing documents, 169–171
and Hunt’s crisis, 173–81
implicated by Gray, 183–84, 195, 212, 238
meets with Nixon on Senate probes, 184–86
dinner with Kleindiensts, 190–91
and Hunt’s extortion threat, 192–200, 204ff., 211
3/21/73 “cancer” meeting, 201–10, 218, 262, 279, 295, 351, 353fn.
at Camp David, 213–22
L. A. Times story on, 218–19
considers giving testimony, 219–25
retains Shaffer, 226ff.
target of grand jury, 231–32
meets with prosecutors, 234–37, 239–41, 255–57, 282–83
last meeting with Mitchell, 243–46
advises Nixon to consult Petersen, 258, 260, 272, 343
4/15/73 meeting with Nixon, 258–263
suspects taping, 260–61, 269, 300–301
resignation question, 261, 264–67, 269
and no-immunity announcement, 267–68, 272, 293
and tape of 4/15/73 meeting, 269, 279, 300–301
issues “scapegoat” statement, 269–270, 277
fired, 274–76
organizes his testimony, 268, 271, 285, 293, 298–99, 300–302
gets bad press, 273–74, 285–86
and Vesco case, 274, 348, 350–51
and safe-deposit box, 278, 293
takes lie-detector test, 280–82
immunity negotiations, 282–93 passim, 313
interviews with media, 287–89, 293–295
his safety in question, 271, 289–90, 305, 348
leans toward Ervin Committee, 290–293
ultimatum from prosecutors, 297–298
takes Fifth Amendment, 299–300, 313
and “honeymoon money,” 302, 326–327
prepares for Ervin hearings, 303–306
at hearings, 307–27
and tapes disclosure, 331–34
pleads guilty, 337–40
and Cox’s firing, 340–43
and Jaworski, 343–47
listens to tapes, 350
and St. Clair, 352–53