The persistence of a fool By JEFF RISTINE W ASlIIN(,T0N - PERSISTENCE, the trait that pushes certain men and women forward long after others lose the will to do battle, generally falls into one of two distinct categories. One is the persistence of heroes and winners. As these people ultimately attain their tantalizing goal. others look on with jealousy, admiration or awe. Persistence rewards these fighters hand- somely. Then there's Rabbi Baruch Korff, leader of the President Nixon Justice Fund. Korff, hardly a winner and not much of a hero, persists toward his aim of restoring Richard Nixon's soiled name to the level of popularity and rever- ance it enjoyed before the White House tapes prov- ed the President was a bald-faced liar. Two years after Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace, Korff maintains the man was unfairly hounded from of- fice in a cotp d'etat by opportunistic Democrats and the liberal Eastern press. 6INCE THE ERVIN Committee hearings over three years ago, the rabbi has headed various organizations with various names, first to attack Nixon critics, then to stem the impeachment drive and finally, to help raise money to pay -the ex- president's debts. He has yet to drop his defense of the San Clemente recluse. It came as no surprise, therefore, when shortly before the bicentennial weekend Korff offered his 26-page "Birthday Gift to the American People" -a 142-point rebuttal of "The Final Days", the bestseller account of Nixon's decline and fall by reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The document is a long list of errors Korff dis- covered in the book, minor mistakes he believes compromise the integrity of the entire journalistic effort. He offered the "Birthday Gift" as an "ex- clusive" to a national correspondent for Knight newspapers, who asked me to pick up the material for him at Korff's suite in Washington's semi- fashionable Fairfax Iotel, near "embassy row". Korff, smoking a cigar and wearing a rumpled dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar, did not have the document when he greeted me at his cluttered, dimly-lit apartment, which held stacks and stacks of old newspapers. magazines and correspondence. He directed me to Edward Cooperstein, a colleague of Korff's at the Justice Fund headquarters on Con- necticut Avenue a few blocks away. Before I left, I asked Korff if his list was simply a reaction to the strong popularity "The Final Days" had earned. " DO NOT REACT," Korff said indignantly. "I act." The Justice Fund office, squirreled away in a dark fifth-floor corner of an old building, is lined with pro-Nixon pamphlets and color pictures of the ex-president and his family in their happiest days. Cooperstein, seated at the front desk, eyed me suspiciously and asked for some identification prov- 'So why did Korff do it? ... Persist- ence.. Korff has that rare quality which keeps people plugging away long after all hope has evaporated. Korff honestly believes Nixon was innocent and, by God, he's going to keep working until everyone else feels that way, too.' ing I was who I said I was. I wasn't carrying any. He telephoned my office, asked for me, and be- came satisfied as to my identity when he was told I wasn't there. "We have to be careful," he explained, as if the list was in danger of falling into enemy hands. Finally he produced a Xerox copy of the "exclu- sive", which was also given to UPI and probably a handful of other news agencies. Woodstein fans need not be alarmed. The errors are little more than a mishmash of incorrect trivia and unsubstantiated denials. Embarrassing in some respects - how the reporters missed President Ford's middle initial is almost incomprehensible- but Korff picks nits smaller than the eye can see. Examples: The book refers to Leon Jaworski as 'the son of a Baptist minister." "This is wrong," Korff contends. "His father was a Methodist minister." t5/OODSTEIN: "Nixon sent his strip steak back to the galley because there was fat on it. A steward cut the fat off and returned the steak to the Presi- dent." Korff: "This is not possible. Manolo Sanchez always served." Woodstein: "He looked up at Scowcraft's soft grey eyes." Korff: "Scoweraft's eyes are brown" (but presumably, soft.) And this Agnewesque shot at the book's statement that "it was the first time both doctors had ac- companied him on a trip"-"There were always two doctors," Korff reveals, "but one often rode with the press to cure their hangovers." Korff raises technical challenges, too. The book states that "Thirty minutes out of Damascus, the President's plane was cruising at fifteen thousand feet." Asks Korff: "Does the plane cruise at 1S,eoe feet?" (According to TWA, the answer is yes.) KORFF REBUTS the book's innocuous statement the "Rebozo, as he usually did, went off to chat with the crew." One can see the clergyman's face turn sizzling red with rage. "This statement, in both present and past tenses, is not true," he writes. And where Woodward and Bernstein dare sug- gest Rose Mary Woods "was anguished," Korff maintains "this is not true." Period. Korff's document received almost no attention over the July 4 weekend. It was not news, and most newspapers treated it accordingly. So why did Korff do it? Why did he spend much time researching and "correcting" 142 etrors in the bestseller? Why is he still defending Nixon' Persistence. Korff has that rare quality wtih keeps people plugging away long after all hope tins evaporated. Korff honestly believes Nixon sas in- nocent and, by God, he's going to keep working un- til everyone else feels that way, too. But it is not the category of persistence tvich inspires jealously or admiration, or even mae Korff's is not the persistence of a winner or a tvro It is the persistence of a fool. Daily Manain t 1di/or eff R'/ine is a 1C/ ington based in/ern for the Knigh/-Rid,,r c piaper 'hamn. The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Tuesday, July 20, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552 bA s Anembarrassing display THE RECENT DONNYBROOK precipitated by last week's brawl between Sheriff Frederick Postill, Wash- tenaw County Sheriff's Deputy Basil Baysinger and his wife, and County Jail Administrator Frank Donley is an embarrassing episode which threatens to discredit the name of law and order in this county. The quartet demonstrated its pre-school type antics at a reception ten days ago. Counsel for Postill claimed the incident was a "political dirty trick" aimed to be-* smerch the sheriff in an election year. Meanwhile, the Baysingers claim that Postill mistreated Mrs.,Baysinger and Donley attempted to choke Baysinger with, of all things, a pair of handcuffs, Whatever reason is behind this incident, we cannot condone such behavior. Officials such as the sheriff, Don- ley and Baysinger, who are in the public eye, must uphold behavior which sets an example for the commun- ity. Clearly, throwing punches, strangling people with handcuffs and trading accusations may be accepted in a nursey school classroom, but is an appalling display among people who purport to be community leaders. The Daily urges the State Attorney General's office to speedily and carefully continue its review of the in- cident before it further develops as a blot on the com- munity. Health Handbook: On reversin vasectormies, X-ray radiation T/>e Daily ill occasionally re-run sote of las/ year's maost frequently asked ques/ions of the IHealth Ser e Ilandbook Serice. Sylvia and Nancy will bc I'ack in the fall with a new week- ly olumn on the Edit Page. By SYLVIA HACKER and NANCY PALCHIK Question: I read about a San Francisco re- searcher who was doing vasectomy operations that were highly reversible. After reversal the males had reasonable sperm counts and most were able to impregnate their wives. As a young, single male, I would like to know: what is the word on vasectomy and is anyone around the University doing them with a high potential for reversibility? Answer: His technique is very new and in- volves microsurgery which utilizes a high-pow- ered microscope and very finely-honed, small surgical instruments. These enable the surgeon to rejoin, more exactly than before, the sev- ered sperm ducts (vas deferens) in men who had undergone vasectomies. A vasectomy is a simple, quick and safe operation which is highly effective. By cut- ting the tubes which carry sperm from the testes, the male ejaculate remains as copious as before but becomes free of sperm (sperm is actually only about 5% of the male ejacu- late). Up until now attempts at re-connecting the severed ends of the sperm ducts have been relatively unsuccessful. The success rate for reversal has only been about 30%. Because of this, young single, males have been generally discouraged from having the operation. The new microsurgical techniques for re- versal look very promising and may oftfer u hope for vasectomized men who change the' minds at some later date. Iowever, a urologO whom we contacted at University lospital, wb does many vasectomies and who has also us microsurgery for reversal, still feels very stron ly that vasectomy should be considered an sentially irreversible procedure. As he said. ev though techniques will continue to improve, vase tomies in general reduce fertility. Damage the vas deferens (even when repaired) for man physiological reasons cause a diminished spet production. Perhaps in the near future a ne birth control method will be discovered whic will make surgery unnecessary. Question: I recently had a compound fra tare in my right arm and many X-rays we taken to check for healing. How safe was th for my body? Answer: We consulted our in-house radiat expert, Brad Pearse, whose office is easy find because radiations of friendliness and formation issue forth from there. He explai that X-rays, unlike natural radiation, are c trolled to produce a picture for diagnosis. Ra ation protection procedures are routine here Health Service and any radiation received a patient is limited only to the area of intere To quote Robert 0. Gorson of the Bureau Radiologic Health: "Many-of us intuitively d that the risks (however defined) to the indiviu and probably to the human race, from expos, arising from diagnostic uses of radiation cam out under optimum conditions are so incons tial that practically any medical benefit is predominating factor."