AICHIGAN DAILY
Wednesday, May S, 1974
~lCHIGAN DAILY Wednesday, May 8, 1974
Tapes indicate Nixon knew
much about cover-up effort
EDITOR'S NOTE - Discussing
Watergate on Aug. 15, 1973, Presi-
dent Nixon said publicly that un-
til March 21 of that year "Not only
was I unaware of any coverup, but
. . . I was unaware that there was
anything to cover up." The White
House says the edited Watergate
transcripts prove that. Here, in the
first ofra series on the transcripts,
is a report on conversations bearing
on the President's knowledge of the
Case and cover-up.
WASHINGTON UP) - For all
their ambiguities, the edited
White House transcripts show
that President Nixon was told
about some of the ingredients of
the Watergate cover-up before
John Dean walked into the Oval
Office with the full story.
The President has maintained
all along that he first learned
of the Watergate cover-up from
Dean, then his White House
counsel, on March 21, 1973-and
says that the transcripts prove
that true.
THE TRANSCRIPTS of tape-
recorded presidential conversa-
tions made before and on that
date show that the President
indeed learned the detailed cov-
er-up story on March 21.
But the documents made pub-
lic by the White House also in-
dicate that he already was
aware of some elements of the
cover-up, and that he suspected
others.
For example:
. On Feb. 28, 1973, Nixon told
Dean that Charles Colson, then
a White House aide, "has a lot
of vulnerability" in the case,
particularly because of his close
relationship w i t h Watergate
conspirator Howard Hunt,
. In that same meeting, the
President said that if the Senate
Watergate hearings got out of
hand "they could ruin John
Mitchell," the former attorney
general who was director of the
1972 Nixon campaign when the
Watergate break-in occurred.
* On March 13, Dean told
Nixon that former campaign
treasurer Hugh Sloan might
give damaging testimony about
Watergate-"but we are giving
him a lot of stroking."
0 Again, on March 13, Dean
said in response to the Presi-
dent's questions that Gordon
Strachan, a White House aide,
knew the whole Watergate story.
But Dean said Strachan was
disclaiming knowledge, "he has
already done it twice, you know,
in interviews."
. And at that meeting, the
President expressed c o n c e r n
about the possible Watergate
knowledge of H. R. "Bob"
Haldeman, then the White
House chief of staff.
* At the March 21 meeting
itself, Dean told the President
that he had sought to contain
the Watergate story. "Sure,"
the President replied.
"To try to bold it right where
it was," Dean said,
"Right," the President said.
In context, the transcript of
the March 21 meeting with Dean
indicates that the President
learned only then of these key
'details:
. That Mitchell, campaign
deputy Jeb Magruder and Dean
were present at meetings in
early 1972 at which Gordon Lid-
dy presented the elaborate in-
telligence - gathering schemes
that led to the Watergate wire-
tapping.
* That Haldeman's as e c r e t
$350,000 cash fund in the White
House was returned to the cam-
paign committee and used to
pay the seven Watergate con-
spirators.
* That at least three White
House and, re-election commit-
tee aides had committed perjury
to keep the full story of Water-
gate and the Ellsberg burglary
from getting out.
Dean talked with Nixon 16
times prior to the March 21
meeting.
The transcripts include five
of those conversations and offer
clues as to what Nixon knew
earlier.
ON SEPT. 15, 1972, the day
the original Watergate burglary
indictments were returned, the
President told Dean, "the way
you have bandled all this seems
to me has been very skillfull in
putting your fingers in the leaks
that have sprung here and
sprung there,"
White House lawyers have
said that statement was in ref-
erence to the political repercus-
sions and the civil suits filed in
the case.
The transcripts indicate they
were talking about the grand
jury, for the next thing Nixon
said was: "The grand jury is
dismissed now?" Dean said it
was,
A FEW minutes later, when
Dean said he was just trying to
tackle one congressional invest-
igation at a time, the President
told him:
See TAPES, Page 7
Ypsilanti
porn law
is upheld
By STEPHEN HERSH
An Ypsilanti ordinance which
prob'hits "any materiel ir
formance whose predominant
appeal is to prurient interests"
has been upheld by 14th District
Couts Judge Thomas Shea.
Shea would not comment on
his ruling yesterday.
THE ORDINANCE was con-
tested by CEK, Inc., owner of
the Michigan Avenue Book
Store in Ypsilanti. CEK con-
tended that the law is in viola-
tion of the First and Fourteenth
Amendments to the Constitution,
which guarantee freedom of the
press and equal protection un-
der the law.
The corporation held that the
law is overly vague, and that,
despite last year's Supreme
Court ruling, local legislation on
obscenity is unconstitutional.
Shea held that obscenity de-
cisions are under the jurisdic-
tion of local governments, and
that the sexual conduct clause
of the ordinance is quite spe-
cific.
The ordinance defines as por-
nographic those materials which
exceed the "community limits
of candor and as a whole lack
political, literary, artistic or
scientific value."
THE LAW specifically prohib-
its the depiction of masturba-
tion, sexual intercourse, homo-
sexuality, and bestiality. The
display of clothed or unclothed
genitals is also prohibited when
for the purpose of stimulation,
gratification, or perversion.
The law applies to all art
forms, including s c u p t u r e,
drawings and recordings.
CEK will stand trial on May
22 for an alleged violation of the
obscenity ordinance. The trial
will determine whether or not
particular materials sold by the
company are obscene.
The attorney for CEK, Steven
Taylor of the Detroit law firm
Taylor and Rubin, commented,
"If the ruling is made against
us, we will appeal."
Brandt exit
may shake
new detente
<Continued from Page 2)
15. It is now postponed, at least,
and the qiestion arises whether
deteriorating relations all over
again between East and West
Germany might move West Ber-
lin to the fore anew as a dan-
gerous world issue.
The crisis likely will sharpen
the Social Democratic party
leadership's difficulties with its
extreme left wing. Brandt had
accused the young radicals of
the party left, with their far-out
Marxist notions, of causing po-
litical setbacks in state and lo-
cal elections. The "young Social-
ists" evidently frighten elements
of the solid German middle
class, whom the Social Demo-
crats long ago had soothed by
shedding the dogmatic trappings
of Marxism in favor of a middle
of the road look.
S T A T E ELECTIONS are
scheduled for lower Saxony in
mid-June, and the spy scandal,
plus the young Socialist noise,
can further damage the party
and sharpen the atmosphere of
uncertainty.
For the Soviet leadership, this
must be irksome. Already it
must wonder about the outcome
of Watergate and what that
might mean to the Soviet-Amer-
ican relations constructed in the
Nixon-Brezhnev summits.