Nixon's Memoirs.- mer President Nixon in California re- minds me of something I nearly forgot. That is the sample chapter of Mr. Nix-. on's memoir of his presidency which came my way not long ago. Joseph Kraft. order partly because there are one. or sentimental trash. But a word seems in

two contentious items in the text, and ..President Ford's phone tall-to for- tion has been spread about the partly because so much false informa-. draft of the sample chapter. that in the first draft, at least, Nixon edges does not deny his guilt. He ack ergate coverup plan, including the of fort to use the CIA to ward off the FBI investigation. lie further admits that him into a long series of lies in which the original decision tb cover up led he used the power of the presidency,

friends. curity, to protect himself and his including responsibility for national se- •

Nixon casual one, made under prodding the

BY itself the document is a piece

Probably the most important pointis

To be sure, the guilt is

chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, for

purpose of preventing the blbwing

that he approved the basic Wat-

has

it, the original decision,was a

minimized,

-

nowl-,

, .

•

from

firxt

.

As of

mise John Mitchell and others. Nixon up of a big scandal that might compro- he was doing, stepped onto the conve- dentally, almost without realizing what gives the impression of a man who inci- ' of letting Nixon off, and that Jaworski yor belt that took him over the chit the pardon, or more specifically the meeting that took place between the White Mese chief of staff, Gen. Alex-

of the resignation'. Tliat meeting has al- Proseciitor Leon Ja orski oil the day ander Haig; and Watergate Special the final report of the, Watergate Spe- stead of clearing them away, cial Prosecutor deepened. doubts in- ways been an object of suspicion, and the sample chapter he claims that Gen.

form him that he had nothing to fear Haig returned from the meeting to.in- from the special prosecutor. That could

tion that Mr. Jaworski was not inter- correct conclusion after his conversa- be an innocuous reassurance—Haig's

ested in prosectifing a f ofmer Presi- dent and, had doubts about whether a fair trial C4 is that Flaig'improperly raised the issue

A second point of interest involves

Nixon deepens the doubts further. In

•

But anotherinterpretation

1,De obtained.

1

g

open. It

'

'

-

•

\ 'long silence and elucidate the matter.

gave him assurances. That point is cen- there was a deal allowing Nixon to get tral to the question of whether or not off before he resigned. Since Nixon, in

his account, tends to support the view that something like a deal had at least been offered, Haig ought to break his

like almost everybody else involved—in speaks of a "mutiny" by Haig at one cavalier fashion. The former President point when the general insisted an re- leasing the tape of the conversation that finally proved beyond a of a doubt Nixon's guilt. Nixon deals in else who at any time gave him less than the same way with virtually everybody alists as Sens. Hugh Scott and Barry total loyalty. Thus such 99-per-cent loy- Goldwater, the then-chairman of the Republican National Committee and mer Attorney General present CIA Director George Bush, for- and numerous other persons in the one point or another fed into the White House and the Congress axe at

flakes. from , and Steve Bull of the White House staff

The more so as Nixon treats Haig—

The only 100.per-cent loyalists—apart

-

William Saxbe

—are the Nixon family, especially sively cited, and her husband Edward daughter Tricia, whose diary is exten-

magic circle. But she is cited almost not Cox. Mrs. Nixon is, of course, also in the at

handful of persons who urged him to on's central claim about the final days. tough it out all the way destroys Nix- resign, but only wanted to do it in a That is that he had made up his mind to

of the presidency. On the contrary, the way that would not weaken the powers internal evidence is that, until the very sible straw that would keep him in the last moment, he clutched at every pos- White House.

himself. He virtually eschews the plea ter is the larger case Nixon makes for that his wrongs were balanced by im-

foreign policy. Instead he plays for portant achievements, particularly in beauties of the White House, the close- tears, going on ad nauseam about the

yacht Sequoia. He argues his last big po- ness of his family, the loveliness of the litical case as he argued his first one—

on the level of the family dog Checkers.

The place of honor given to the tiny

all. Indeed, her silence is deafening.

Perhaps worst of all in the draft chap-

ems.

Yield Enterprises,

Inc.

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