Nixon on Nixon: Tough Decisions

h7riPtect PFr,q "The leader has to whip them up. The team goes just as fast as the leader, as the quarterback and coach, and I am both." here. I have none here or in my bed- room. "I find to handle crises the most im- portant qualities one needs are balance, Require calm objectivity, an ability to act coolly." The President's hands had left his lap and, characteristically, he was now By Saul Kett "I've been blessed with a strong phy- beginning to gesture with both arms or Assedabed Press sical makeup, probably as a result of right fist pumping or one hand count- Dec. 20, shortly after 3 p.m., a rare inheritance. You know, I've never had ing off points on the fingers of the springlike day. A benign sun warmed a headache in my life and my stomach other, body tilting slightly right, left never bothers me. the gardens visible through the win- or forward. dows of glass one and a half inches "I believe in the battle, whether it's His mood seemed to be one of confi- thick, which were installed in Franklin the battle of a campaign or the battle dence and, as his points developed, Roosevelt's time. The Oval Office, in of this office, which is a continuing rising stimulation, perhaps even ex- this time, has a serene, unused tone, battle. It's always there wherever you hilaration. Aware that it has become like a city street on a Sunday morning. go. I, perhaps, carry it more than others an abject of parody, aides report, the The President wore a light blue suit, because that's my way." President now restrains himself from white shirt, blue 'tie and, as usual, a saying, "Let me make this perfectly small metal American flag in his lapel, "I've never before met a man who clear." But he still gives the impres- and blue and white cuff links bearing didn't even have a headache," said Dr. sion of a man who can't help saying it the presidential seaL He seated his Walter Tkach, the President's physic- viscerally, with subconscious body Eng- visitor and himself in the two chairs ian. His plc t u r e of the President's lish. with their backs to the fireplace. health at 80, after four bruising years He spoke of some of the "tough de- "Will you have something—toffee or in office and four more to go, appeared tea?" cisions" he has made, mentioning, the remarkable: movement into Cambodia and the de- His visitor hesitated. Weight: 173, precisely what it was rision May 8 to bomb North Vietnam "Oh, have something," Richard Nixon 20 years ago. Varies only by a pound or and mine Haiphong Harbor on the eve said, pressing a button, Black coffee two gained on weekends and dropped of his trip to Moscow. soon arrived. The President' folded his the following week. "People," he said, "probably think hands neatly in his lap and we began. the President was jumping up and "How do you feel in this job after None of the usual medical signs of four years?" tension. Blood pressure: 110-80. Pulse: down, barking orders, at those times. 72. Variance: only about five points, Actually, I have a reputation for being '•I've been fortunate. I haven't had to the coolest person in the room. In a miss a day because of illness. I thought even in times of intensity, said the doctor, and that includes the crLsia way I am—I have trained myself to be I that was some kind of a record but I that. The great decisions in this office find• that Truman beat it, except he over Cambodia, the trips to China and Russia. The doctor examines the Presi- require calm. didn't do it in an elected four-year "I could go up the wall watching TV term. So, I'm the first four-year Presi- dent once a week. Allergies: None. Takes no vitamins commentators. I don't. I get my news dent who hasn't missed a day in office. from the news summary the staff pre- providing I make it to January 20. See NIXON, A14, Col. 1 pares every day and it's great; it gives all sides. "I never watch TV commentators or the news shows when they are about me, That's because I don't want de- cisions influenced by personal emo- , NIXON, From Al tional reactions."

or regular medication. Worst thing he's Between two gold couches, I could had in four years was a cold and sore see the President's big, very neat, oak throat, desk, "the Wilson desk." Long an ad- "My only concern is that he's work- mirer of Woodrow Wilson, he told an ing more and exercising less," said the interviewer in 1968: "I think he was doctor. "He's given up bowling. No our greatest President of this century golf. He used to run 400 strides in place . . Wilson had the greatest vision of every morning. Now it's between 200 America's world role. But he wasn't and 400. practical enough. Take his 'open agree- "But aside from graying a little, he ments openly arrived at' That is not shows less change accelerated by his the way diplomacy is conducted. The office than most of his predecessors. Vietnamese war, for instance, will be He's probably one of the healthiest. settled in secret high-level negotia- Presidents we've ever had." tions!' Richard Nixon has used "the Wilson "It's important to live like a Spar- desk" for 12 years, ei g h t as Vice tan," the President was saying, "to President and four in the White House. have moderate eating and drinking But a few days before our talks, an habits. That's not to say I don't enjoy aide whispered to me: a good time. "It turns out that was not Woodrow Wilson's desk but was used by Henry "But the worst thing you can do in Wilson, who was Grant's Vice Presi- this job is to relax, to let up. dent. I'm not sure the President has "One must have physical and mental been told yet." discipline here. This office as presently furnished probably would drive Presi- "The major weakness of inexperi- dent Johnson up the wall. He liked things going on. He kept three TV sets the danger of not recognizing bluff in emcee' people," the President was say- is done 'in one of three places, where international negotiations. ing," is that, they take things personally, he thinks, studies papers, makes notes There were also Noel Busch's bio- especially in politics, and that can de- on the yellow legal pad and is either graphy of Theodore Roosevelt, whom stroy you . . . alone or working with only a few peo- President Nixon admires; "The Throne of Saturn," a novel by Allen Drury, "Years ago, when I was a young ple. These are his two-room suite in congressman, things got under my skim the Executive Office Building across and "Creed or Chaos?," a collection of Herblock the cartoonist got to me _ from the White theological essays and talks by Doro- But now when I walk into this office House, the Lincoln Sitting Room in the residence and thy L. Sayers, who is better known as 1 am cool and calm. I read the news Camp David, the presidential retreat a mystery writer. summary and get both sides. That's high and well isolated in the forests of According to the publisher's resume, important because there are so many the Drury book concerns this; emotional issues these days, such as the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, "The U.S. races to put the first man the war and busing and welfare. where the uninvited are discouraged by on the Planet Mars. . . . There is a "But I never allow myself to get a double steel fence and United States maverick veteran astronaut who de- emotional. Now, there are congressmen Marines with sidearms. mands a place on the crew; a moody, and senators who cut me up; Fulbright, Explaining his increasing use of race-centered Negro doctor, whose re- for example. But when be comes here, Camp Daviu, greater than that of any fusal to cooperate jeopardizes the lives we're the best of friends, at least, I of his predecessors, the President told of his crew mates; a union leader who feel I am. reporters: tries to sabotage the flight for sinis- "Now, it's not true that I don't feel "I find that getting away from the eter political purposes; and, most of all, emotional or pay attention to what White House, from the Oval Office, a constant barrage of critical opposi- others feel. But the most important from that 100 yards that one walks tion from the nation's press, broad- thing I can do is to make decisions for every day from the President's bed- cast media and advantage-seeking the long run. room to the President's office or the politicians." "Vietnam, for example. Now, we're extra 50 yards across to the EOB, having a difficult time. Things don't getting away gives a sense of per- The President continued his dis- 1seem as bright as they did. So, we've iepective which is very, very useful. cussion of crisis-handling, a subject he had to continue the May B policy to "One constantly has the problem of has found compelling for years. }bomb the North. either getting on top of the job or "I'll probably do better in the next "We will obtain the right kind of having the job get on top of you. I find four years having gone through a few )peace but we won't get it because of that up here on top of a mountain it crises' in the White House, having artificial deadlines, such as the election is easier for me to get on top of the weathered them and learned how to or Christmas or the inaugural." job, to think in a more certainly re- handle them coolly and not subjec- This was said on the third day of the laxed way . also in a way in which tively. bombing resumption ordered by the one, if not interrupted either physi- ". . I probably am more objective President and eight days b e f Ore he cally or personally or any other way, —I don't mean this as self-serving— stopped it. In asking for the interview, can . think objectively with percep- than most leaders ... When you're too I had told his staff I would not ask I tion. . ." subjective, you tend to make mis- substantive questions about public is- Among his think-work places report- takes." sues but would seek only to elicit his ers have been permitted to see, the "Mr. President, despite the continu- personality and mood these days. EOB suite seems the most lived-in. The ing problem, is it possible to relax Could I now, wondered, ask about walls of the outer room are covered at all in this job after four years?" Vietnam since he had brought it up? with cartoons involving the tenant. The President thought a moment. But Presidents are not easily inter- "In speeches or press conferencei rupted and this one on this day was "Any Herblocks here?" I asked the aide showing me through. "You kid- or interviews," he said, "you have to now stressing the importance of per- ding" be up and sharp. You can't be re. spective and that his reading of history The inner office is heavy with souve- laxed. The Redskins were relaxed in and biography help in maintaining a nir gavels, footballs, elephants, family their last game of the regular season perspective. pictures, a signed golf card recording and they were flat and they got clob- Then. he said: ' a hole in one for Richard Nixon in bered. "Now when Henry Kissinger comes 1961 and, among plaques, one attest- '"You must 'be up for the great in here in the morning and brings up ing to the fact that he was made an events. Up but not up tight. what Scotty Reston and the other "honorary special agent of the FBI" "Having done it so often, I perhaps columnists are saying, I tell him, by .7. Edgar Hoover. have a finer honed sense of this. But Smeary, all that matters is that it comes you can overdo it, overtrain and leave out all right. Six months from now, There is a beige lounge chair in the your fight in the dressing room." nobody will remember what the col- corner near a dictaphone and a hi-fi He cited as an example a law school umnists wrote.' set on which the President is said to exam which he had over-studied for "Decision makers can't be affected enjoy musical comedy tunes and at Duke University, one he apparently by current opinion, by TV barking at i the music of Tchaikovsky and Liszt didn't score well in. But then, if you're you and commentators banging away while he is working. relaxed at a press conference, he said, with the idea that World War III is On the desk were four books which "you can muff one." coming because of the mining of Hai- appeared to be current presidential The President returned to his larger reading when I was there, or books theme. being called to his attention. On top "When I came into office, I'd been phong. Nor can decisions be affected was one In which about two dozen through enough—those shattering de- by the demonstrators outside." pages were marked with paper clips. feats in 1960 and 1962, and then those This was Herman Wouk's "The Winds eight years 'in the wilderness,' the In his relentless effort to avoid of War," a romantic best seller about way deGaulle and Churchill were. emotional distraction, to find and hold World War II in which the ubiquitous "The result was I was able to con- perspective, Richard Nixon spends hero commutes 'between Roosevelt, front tough problems without flapping. more and more time away from the Churchill, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, I don't flap easily. An individual tends and Oval Office of the White House. Thus, just about everybody else who to go to pieces when he's inexperi- its unlived-in look, being used pri- counted then. He is in constant motion enced . . . marily for ceremony, official visits and in more world capitals than even "Now, there are just not many kinds Henry Kissinger. One theme of the staff discussions. of tough problems I haven't had to book is the danger of weakness and His more important work, it is said, face one way or another. In that re- spect, the fact that my political career

a blessing."

Victory and defeat, conflict and competition, challenge and test, con- trol and constant vigilance against mis- takes, tile battle and "the arena" as Teddy Roos'velt called it—these are continually recurring motifs. "He almost scintillates in adversity," said a former assistant, who has known Richard Nixon for years in and out of the White House. He cited "The Nixon fund" of 1952, when Dwight Eisenhower came close to dropping Nixon as his vice presidential can- didate: "the torment of 1956," when Mr. Eisenhower again threatened to dump him; the narrow defeat for President by John Kennedy and, per haps bitterest of all, the defeat for governor of California in 1962 in his native state. "He's tough, he's unwilling to lose," said John Ehrlichman, presidential assistant for domestic affairs. "He's not one to make assumptions based on optimism. He very much believes you make your own successes." "He's a man continually testing him- self." said another member of the staff. "Usually that was the next elec- tion. Now he's taking on and reorga- nizing the federal bureaucracy, which, • of course, needs it. He needs the sense of battle. If it weren't the bureaucracy, he'd find a surrogate target." In 1968, in the afterglow of his first presidential victory, his first triumph in an election in 12 years and the first on his own in 18, Richard Nixon was talking to friends of his youth in California. He said he had learned "so much" from football in college. "You get knocked down day after day and you keep coming back. You get knocked down enough and keep fighting back, you learn you can't win them all. But you learn that if you keep trying that some day you may be able to win." In the introduction to his book, "Six Crises," Mr. Nixon wrote in 1961: "A man who has never lost h in- self in a cause bigger than himself has missed one of life's mountaintop experiences. Only in losing himself does he find himself. . . ." And on the last page: "Those who have known great crisis —its challenge and, tension, its vietcry and defeat—can never become ad- justed to a more leisurely and orderly pace. They have drunk too deeply of the stuff which really makes life ex- citing and worth living to be satisfied with the froth." Until some time after 1962, Richard Nixon apparently was a climber who was unable to trust anyone else in his battle to reach the top of the mountain. He had been battered and bruised. He had come so close in 1960—within a few feet—and in 1962 36snclated Press couldn't even scale a lesser peak that had seemed a sure thing. "1 have a reputation for being the coolest person in the room." "He was up tight in the campaigns required a comeback may have been But there is this letdown." of '60 and '62," said EhrHellman. "He was unable to delegate authority. He porters see the President informally. didn't feel he could rely on anyone - A man who should know said, "Elec- One such was New Year's Eve, 1970, else fully to take some responsibility tion night the President was in agony. when he invited a few in for drinks for his political future. But by the '68 A tooth had broken off and medica- in the EOB office. He delivered a small campaign, he had come to see that he tion didn't help the pain. But don't talk on how to make "the world's couldn't hold all the strings in his quote me." best martinis," made them and, while hands, that that was self-defeating." Another man who should know said, they drank his approvingly, he nursed "It was nothing. Part of a cap broke a glass of wine. Now, in our talk in the Oval Office, off. There was no pain, no medication "He was quite pleasant but you had required. But don't quote me." the feeling this was a chore for him, Election day, the President happen- to show us his informal side," one ed to drop his ballot in his voting reporter recalled. the President was making the point booth. As he bent down to recover it, that it is important to spend less At a news briefing last month, photographers took pictures. Over the Ziegler was asked about a report that time on unimportant matters in his loud objections of Ron Ziegler, the job by delegating authority. He said: the President was seen "strolling in press secretary. purple flared trousers." "If somebody here can do it better, Does the President wear glasses at Ziegler: "Flared is a bit of an exag- he does. Now, Grover Cleveland read all for reading? "Now and then," said geration." every bill that came before him. an authoritative source, "but don't He did confirm that the President These days you can't. You'd go blind; quote me." Does he cat-nap at all? owni pants without cuffs, adding, "he's there are so many. He'd rather do "Yes," said another man, "but get it a regular guy; he wears sports clothes." something poorly himself than some- from somebody else." body else do it well. I am the reverse. Nonetheless, Richard Nixon remains It is a hallmark of the Nixon admin- a formal, serious man, who is rarely "But I make all the important decis- seen without jacket and tie even while ions, domestic or foreign. And when flying in Air Force One, strolling at major decisions are involved, I put istration that even innocuous human his home in San Clemente, Calif., or everything else out of my mind." details about the leader are hard to sitting alone, reading, under a palm "I'd been thinking of that long, long come by. The timidity of his staff in tree in Key Biscayne, Fla. climb to the top, the bitter fights, the passing them on is most commonly at- Even in private moments of im- tantalizing near-miss, the first ascen- tributed to the boss's unusual sense patience, his staff insists, the Presi- sion to the White House as a minority of privacy. In the world's most public dent rarely goes farther than an President. job, the President maintains a moat occasional "damn." making him quite "Mr. President, considering your around himself. He is, he has said, "an different from his four immediate political career and those defeats you introvert in an extrovert profession." predecessors in the White House. On mentioned, the landslide this year "He doesn't invite affection because some of the few occasions he goes must have been doubly sweet. Can he is not at ease with people," said a beyond, says one aide, "he does it you tell me some of your feelings elec- former assistant. "He has been bruised deliberately for emphasis and seems tion night?" too much. It might be that if you, think to have to steel himself to bring the Richard Nixon smiled an looked you're liked you become likable. word out" down at his hands, which were tempor- Maybe the landslide will do that for arily grounded. him, the way the first few years in the Back in the Oval Office. "Well, the greatest pleasure was the White House caused Pat Nixon to "Sir, do you find that the presi- kick the young people — Tricia and emerge and become more spontaneous dency is a continuous learning proc- Julie — and Pat got out of it. Those and self assured." ess?" defeats in 1960 and 1962 were so trau- Despite years in politics requiring "Oh, absolutely, certainly," he said. matic for them. To most women, things the gregariousness of a hyperthyroid "It is for everyone in this job." He look black or white; a man tends to Rotarian, chit-chat does not come turned the conversation to matters roll with events. easily to the President, most aides of more immediate interest to him , "Oh sure, I took it pretty hard myself. agree, and he seems to have to work "Now, there are some people leav- But then there was 1968 and 1972 at it. During the last campaign, he met ing the administration and some stay- capped it all, despite all that talk for a few moments of informal con- ing. I try to recharge them. There can about a one-term presidency. versation and pictures with James and never be a letdown in this office. "After four years of the, most dev- John Roosevelt, two sons of the Demo- That's the danger of a landslide. I cratic President who were now en- want everyone to have a new charge, astating attacks on TV, in much of a new sense of challenge. the media, in editorials and columns, dorsing Mr. Nixon. "The boss boned up the night before," said an assistant, .. There are those who, say there and the all that talk in the last two or are no restraints on a President if three weeks of the campaign of the "by watching two and a half hours of film clips of Franklin Roosevelt." he doesn't have to run again. That is gap narrowing . . . and then when! A really a fatuous and superficial an- landslide, 49 states, 61 per cent of the In Rome, chatting with some Ameri- can bishops, the President remarked alysis of the presidency. . . . vote!" "Individuals who serve here do not The President paused. that he sometimes awakened with the odd feeling that there was something serve to get re-elected but to do great "You'd think I'd be elated then. But things. And they could be even greater it has always been my experience that important he had to tell the President, when you don't have to worry about it doesn't really come to that. an instant before remembering he was "But the family — David and Eddie President. The remark was derivative re-election. (sons-in-law) — kept running to me in of one made once by Pope John, re- "Now, what we want to do, we want the Lincoln Sitting Room with the re- searched and supplied by presidential everybody to think the challenge is just as great. The leader has to whip sults. They were so excited they made speech writers. They also supplied, and as fast me feel excited. Then, after my TV talk the President used in Rome, "the three them up. The team goes just here and at the Shoreham Hotel and greatest loyalties" of Vince Lombardi, as the leader, as the quarterback and staying up for the California returns the late football coach: One, God; Two, coach, and I am both." . Well, you're so drained emotional- his family; three, the Green Bay Pack- ly at the end, you can't feel much. ers. Richard Nixon began to "whip them You'd think that just when the time On rare occasion, rarer even than his up" the morning after election, after comes you'd have your greatest day. news conferences, White House re- a few hours of enjoying what one man called "measured pleasure" in his what might surprise me?" landslide. On Nov. 9, at staff and His aides and assistants appear sik- Cabinet meetings, be thanked his pathetic to the question; they seenr3o people for their efforts and stressed realize that much does not come the need for renewed vitality in the through in the public image, much *- second term. mains invisible behind a mist curt Pro forma resignations came in, of design and circumstance. some much less formal than others. They say this, that beyond what Ape Some were accepted with no regret public may see in intense effort, am- expressed, others with "regret," "deep bition, ability, courage and dedicathip; regret," "very special regret," "sin- that he is privately a man of warmth cere personal regret" and other care- and kindness. fully calibrated expressions of sorrow. They speak of his many acts of per The President was letting the bureau- and the administration, wno are -*a sonal thoughtfulness: of refusing b cracy know who was in charge. He or 45. who should run for higher Wirt go to any more-football games becatile was determined, it was said, to make but they get too cautious, they wait "20 people have to be displaced"; of it more responsive to him in his to stick to the safe jobs. You can'elp sending an encouraging letter and second term. afraid to take chances in politics. Jitgb, autographed picture to the ill mother After four years in the job' he Is not foolish chances . . . .111k.v. at an assistant; of making a point .of more self assured but is "less relaxed "This -game affects the life of Itte meeting an aide's family and sayfag in the sense that be is working harder nation and the world. For that reasffn, "they're nice"; of making available-, and longer," according to Robert an individual, whether he's a Presicat within a half-hour of hearing of Hart, Haldeman, his chief of staff. I or a member of Congress or the Sete Truman's illness, a plane for his dau&h.- The whip is cracking. or the Cabinet must always play...- ter; of inviting, on learning he liked. la "He now tells us," says Ehrlichman, game of politics and statesman fish, one of the White House elevatr ..s.. operators to Key Biscayne with him; "there are only 1,000 days left—this right up to the hilt. , Aw assumes a President can't get much "As to a sense of relief over isr of writing a three-page letter of grl- done in his last year—and that we've having to face another 'election . .s. . vice to the son of an assistant on leant- got to remind ourselves every day Well, I still have a responsibility :to ing the boy was entering law schonr: how much time is left to get things help my party-and others who share i In an introduction to a small picture done." views. I will meet that. book about her father. Julie NiQi. In all this, the self discipline of the "There is some relief not to have4e Eisenhower told readers she hoed quarterback-coach would appear to spend time with people from state afar they would get "the impression of my be legendary. Another assistant quotes state who say you have to do this't father that so many people miss—ca- him as saying, "People don't under- that or you won't win. How a campaisci, nified when he needs to be, but never stand; I always have to be up, or at might he affected does have some stngr stuffy." Several of his aides make the least appear that way." influence. But now that is gone. I delft same point in discussing the difference ' This assistant was talking about the have to think of all those niggling,*- between the public and private man... President's self-control. tails, such as who should get wha,r. "What is most different," said Ste "For example, he gets irregular but port." ow aide, "is that in private he is unafraid terrible attacks of hay fever, and he—" The President paused and smileC. to let his intellectual sophisticatilin "But, his doctor says he has no "But it's also true that when you wist come through. In public, in his allergies, definitely no hay fever." 49 states, they'll all get good treatrnelk. speeches, he thinks that the best way Now, about Massachusetts, I've got2T0 to reach people is through the lowett many Harvard men in the administaa- common demoninator. In private, he "He doesn't tell the doctor; rog:d1S- ton, Massachusetts will be treated sees distinctions and subtleties. a4d guises it. I've been with him in meet- right. ak gets behind language. ings when he looked perfectly fihe. " . . . There is some relief not to hde "He is strong on using the s a tie . Then, as soon as the other people to do something solely for political phrases over and over again in NS left, he was sneezing and his eyes purposes. You still have to leadra,0 speeches, like in an advertising C1314:• were watering." travel to the country and get the ep. paign. And if a speech writer wanta3o be certain he'll get a paragraph -M; So, back to Dr. Tkach. port of the people. But taking the per sonal factor out is, indeed, one of tte he'll find an historic first. 'a "The President does not have 1y "He is privately sophisticated encash fever," he said. "The symptoms c4n major dividends of not having to ilea again." . ,.. to be a bit embarrassed by this. He mill not be disguised without medicatiO -0 write in the margins of a submitted and he gets no medication." It speech `not enough cheer lines' ,..or That would seem to have done it:- After many years of bitter contitl- 'not enough grabbers.' Discussing 'Ms, versy, of attack and counterattack, of he will do it with a grin that implies But a few days later, I was rereal- char g e s of "the plastic man" ada ing portions of "Six Crises" by Richatd that this or that may be over-simplh. cliches about 'the "old Nixon, -1e cation but you need a little show bitf Nixon and there on page 393, he w- "new Nixon" and the "new-now called that tears came to his eyes'as Nixon," a reporter who pursues te a result of a touching cornmentwify essence of his personality feels seine- Back in the Oval Office, Ron Zier his daughter, Julie, in the sad sa had come in a second- time to remind at how vaguely dissatisfied. at each tan math of his 1960 defeat. in the trail. He opens one door to open the President that he was running Igte And in the sixth paragraph, Wasp another door and yet another door, for his next appointment. The Presi- author wrote, "I told Julie my liff dent, who had been generous with.,las fever was bothering me." .at and asks, finally, the people who wzk ze closest to him: "1.1 I knew him as wal time, wanted to make another -fit as you do, what else might I kndAv. about a man in his position. Back in the Oval Office.... Z Rising and leading me across Ze "Mr. President, surely there is z office, he said: . sense of relief being out from "It's important never to look Ida the pressure of re-election?" unless you can learn about the future, "Well, campaigning- is a great fa- Once a thing is done, it's done, anctr perience, win or lose. People &maid look ahead. And you can't look to, tile not be afraid to step up to it. Ytu future myopically. It's important -4o know, there are people in the Home have the long view here. That's why Cs. a good thing this office is oval; ifs easier to get the long view."