Thursday, June 6, 1974
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Fie
Young aides unsure about Nixon
WASHINGTON (R') - Five
years ago, dozens of young peo-
ple flocked to the White House
to serve President Nixon. They
had supped on the headiness of
the 1968 campaign and were
full of energy, ambition, ideas
and ideals.
It had been, as one of them
put it, "an extraordinary van-
tage point," a chance to be in-
volved in the highest levels of
government, a tremendous ca-
what they were doing was good
for the country," said one dis-
illusioned former Nixon aide.
"I found myself saying so many
times, the bureaucracy isn't go-
ing to help these people. t'm go-
ing to help them with the pow-
er of the White House. But it
was illegal. Where do you draw
the line?
"IF YOU did it by the rules
and regulations, you'd be there
'You got so carried away in the White House
with a feeling of moral righteousness that it's
understandable some thought what they were
doing was good for the country. I found myself
saying so many times, the bureaucracy isn't go-
ing to help these people. I'm going to help them
with the power of the White House. But it was
illegal. Where do you draw the line?'
reer boost, an ego trip beyond
their wildest dreams.
TODAY MOST have departed,
their rose - colored vision shat-
tered or shredding at the
seams. And they are bewilder-
ed, saddened, betrayed and
confused by the complexities
surrounding the W a t e r-
gate scandal.
And, with the release of the
transcripts, it is soul search-
ing time again, more whats
and whys and hows.
"You got so carried away in
that place with a feeling of
moral righteousness that it's
understandable some thought
25 years. We didn't have that
time. So sometimes you'd fudge
and say, 'The President wants
this done,"'
Even so, the aide and most of
his departed colleagues do not
agree with Gordon Strachan, the
tall, sad-eyed young man who
fought tears as he told the
Senate Watergate committee
last summer that based on his
experience at the White House,
he had this advice for young
people interested in govern-
ment service: "Stay away."
The White House often point-
ed out that almost one-third of
the President's staff was 30
or under. In 1969 a reporter in-
terviewed some of 30 White
House aides with the title of
staff assistant, deputy secretary
or research assistant. Today,
only about a half dozen remain.
JOHN PRICE, a former ex-
ecutive secretary of the Urban
Affairs Council and special as-
sistant to the President, left the
administration in 1971. Price,
now 35 and a vice president of
Manufacturers Trust Co. in
New York, was interviewed aft-
er reading the edited tran-
scripts of Nixon's Watergate
conversations.
"It's very depressing there
w a s not more leadership
shown," he said. "The only
things that come out of is the
instinct for survival . . .
"The irony of the Nixon years
was brought home to me by a
memorandum (Daniel) Moyni-
ham wrote to Nixon just before
he was inaugurated. The gist of
it was that it was Nixon's task
to restore confidence and re-
spect to the office of the presi-
dency and American institu-
tions.'
THEN PRICE added: "It is
time for the President to step
aside in favor of Vice President
Ford."
Of the dozen former Nixon
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t a f f e r s interviewed, all
between the ages of 28 and 35,
most said they left the White
House with mixed emotions:
proud of having worked for the
president of the United States,
sickened to see so many of their
colleagues facing indictments,
court trials and jail, and re-
lieved not to have been sucked
into the whirlpool themselves.
Lee Huebner, a former Nix-
on speechwriter, offered these
reflection on his five years in
the White House: "When I first
came to Washington, it was a
great, glittering, glamorous and
exciting place. When I left, it
was sad and depressing.
"EVERYONE who re-
members what it might have
been is saddened it hasn't turn-
ed out the way we wanted it
to."
See AIDES, Page 9
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Next time you see
someone polluting,
point it out.{
It's a spewing smokestack. It's litter
In the streets. It's a river where fish
can't live.
You know what pollution is.
But not everyone does.
So the next time you see pollution,
don't close your eyes to it.
Write a letter. Make a call. Point it
out to someone who can do something
about it.
People start pollution. People can stop it.
Keep America Beautiful
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A POI.cSerieo t D wepr Th Ars qCoueal
Ann Arbor - 1974!
Greek Festival
Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8
GREEK FOOD BAKE SALE
11:00 a.m. to Midnight 9:00 a.m. to Midnight
ance to the Music of "WCe Rhodians "
Entertainment
Live Bouzouki Band
Evening Admission: $1.50
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
414 N. Main Street