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