Back in the early '50s, just after Richard M. Nixon had been elected to the Senate, Rose Mary Woods came to him for a job as his per- Rose Mary sonal secretary. They had known each other from Nixon's days on the House committee set up to study overseas relief, which is where Rose Mary Woods: Woods had worked as a secretary after leaving Sebring, . Nixon was impressed with the pale 32-year-old woman, that much was evident. His own mother, Hannah Nixon, was later to in- Facing Her form her son that Rose Mary Woods was "our kind of people," and perhaps the young secre- tary sensed this at the time. "She knew she would be hired," says one close friend who tells the story. "But Rose just Two Crises felt she had to tell him two things before he hired her." By Judy Bachrach "There are two things I must tell you," Rose Woods told her future boss. "The first is that

I'm a Democrat. And the second is that I'm "But nobody believes it.. Including a Catholic." me. Rose would never do anything she "You see," the friend explains, "Rose remem- wasn't told to do. I don't 'lmow," sighs the woman who employed Rose Mary bered a time, back when she was growing up Woods for more than seven years. "If in Sebring—well, she a cross burn- I ever heard that she really did [erase the tape] I wouldn't ever believe in ing on her family's lawn one time, see, and she • anyone ever again." figured that might work against her being Mrs: Miller, who has had many con- versations with Rose Woods over the hired." years, says she knows a thing or two about the relationship between and his faithful employee. The people of Sebring (pop. 5,000) say they "Rose would die for him," she says are very proud of Rose Woods and they simply flatly. "Rose would just lay down her life and die for him." do not remember a cross burning on her lawn, but it might have happened, they add. Most of - Just a few weeks ago the latest, re- the people in Sebring are Protestant ("I didn't Port of the tape experts came out. It was 287 pages long, but the gist of really know Rose," says one. "We went to dif- what it said was this: that a June 20, ferent churches."), most are Democrats, like 1972, tape-recorded 'conversation be- Thomas Woods Sr., Rose Mary's father, a big tween Mr. Nixon and H. R. Haldeman had definitely been manually erased at hulking redhead with a temper. least five times, causing an 181/2 "A true Irishman," concedes James Birch minute deletion. That was one of the tapes Rose Mary See WOODS, 112, Col. 5 Woods had transcribed, and her lawyer, Charles Rhyne, called the findings "re- plete with error," but then he is less than pleased with the way much of the tape problem has been handled. Back at Thanksgiving, the day the WOODS, From HI missing tape portion first hit the with a chuckle. Birch is Rase Mary headlines, Rhyne received a phone call Wood's first cousin. "But her mother, from Alexander Haig who told him that Mary, was very quiet. A sort of settling Rose Mary Woods needed a lawyer. influence.v "Haig told me a day later," says Toni Woods, a prominent citizen (ev- Rhyne, "that White House lawyers had eryone in Sebring refers to him as a arrived at the conclusion that Rose "prominenf citizen") who had'a park had erased the tape and they were not named after him, lived in a pleasant, going to defend her." shingled house across the street from Rhyne looks grim. "They (lawyers St. Ann's Church and worked as a man- Leonard Garment and J. Fred ager for the Royal China Co. It was the Buzhardt) told this, that it was no acci- firm that was to provide the redheaded dent, to both (Judge John) Sirica and child who resembled him most with her (Special Prosecutor Leon) Jaworski. Of first clerical job after high school. course to be fair, they were basing this "No, I did not hire Rose because she on (the theory) that the high-intensity was Tom Woods' daughter," says Beat- lamp and her electric typewriter put rice Lucille Miller who ran the com- the buzz on it. Anyway, I called Rose. pany and was an old family friend. "I • hired her because she was a very quiet' girl and never a pusher. A model young woman, really. I never knew Rose to •do anything dishonest." Mrs. Miller pauses because she knows there are people around who, unlike her, do not comprehend the full depths of her old employee's integrity. She knows there are people who wonder about the 18% minutes of erased tape. WOODS, From H2 ping-mate to Gen. Dwight D. Eisen- hoWer, Richard Nixon underwent one of his crises. It was called "The ,Secret Fund Scandal" and it broke while he and Pat and his adviser, Murray Cho- tiner, and Rose Woods—the old, hardy regulars—Nere riding the campaign train out West. ;It.was a crucial time for Nixon. He wo:s.accused of having his lifestyle sup- pOrted by a "secret club of million- aires," and Ike was not exactly sup- arting his running-mate. so it seemed like the end of the ride when Nixon dictated to Rose Mary Woodi his letter of resignation to FA senhower and told her to send it out immediately.' Upon hearing the news, Chotiner came racing out of his com- partment, whirled t h e secretary around and ripped the letter out of •her hands, tearing it to shreds. e.'You didn't have to do that," she saitt simply. "I wouldn't have sent it out anyway." ,`?What you've got to understand," says Henry D. Spalding who tells the stoiy, "what you should know is that if ROse and Chotiner hadn't done that, the 'whole history of our nation would have been altered." . Spalding; who wrote "The Nixon No- bodY Knows," and was reporting on the Nixon campaign in those days, says tliat on the train "Rose didn't have hours. Boy, she was around the clock. '1'6 bed at 3 a.m. and up at 6. She was more than his secretary. She was his right-hand man. And when she wanted, she could be as closed-mouthed as 13y 'Ff;■ rry Nal I.chay. n—Thr• Warr' insann Pnr•l• Coolidge." Rose Mary Woods arrives at 0 party with, her frequent escort, Robert. Gray. Asked who Rose Woods was dating back when she was 32 and had a corn- "Yes, she was in tears—" Rhyne stares Plexion that reporters insisted on de- scribing as "china-white," Spalding at the interviewer—"Wouldn't you The other Rose Mary Woods crisis be?" chuckles. [On Nov. 21, J. Fred Buzhardt en- occurred about two months ago when "I dunno," he says. "I tried and tered Judge 's chambers Herbert W. Kalmbach, Nixon's former didn't get anywhere. Well, I asked and in a classic bit of understatement laiwyer, testified that Charles (Bebe) Rose out for a couple of drinks. And told him, "Judge, we have a problem." you know what she said? She said, `We 'Rebozo had told him that portions of a have all the drinks we need right here He then went on to say that there was secret $100,000 campaign contribution an 18-minute gap and that "It doesn't on the train, courtesy of the Republi- from Howard Hughes were either can Party.' " appear from what we know at this loaned or given to the President's sec- point that it could have been acciden- retary. Well, everyone wants to know about tal." Rose Woods, said Buzhardt, had °Reporters who had known that Rose said she had made "a slight erasure."' Rose Mary Woods' love life. It is a sub- Mary Woods lived in a comfortable ject veiled in as much mystery as sur- In fact, Rose Mary Woods told Judge two-bedroom apartment she had pur- rounds the tape deletion, and it is of Sikca and the world that she might chased at the Watergate in October, abiding interest to her friends. have erased about five minutes of that 1969, suddenly began to wonder how tape by doing a number of simultan- "Rose left Sebring because her boy- she got the money to afford it. EVen friend died," confides Mrs. Miller, her eous and intricate contortions while some of the administration people old employer. "Oh she was heartbro- talking on the telephone. wondered... ken. I don't think she'll ever marry. Do A lot of people did not believe this "It could be," sighs one White House you?" scenario. They called it The Rose Mary source. "Listen. I don't think anyone is "He was a high school basketball Stretch. John Bennett, a former White incapable of taking [the money]. T star," says Joe Woods, her older House aide who was in charge of the mean any guy who was around the ad- brother, who says that's not why Rose tapes, didn't know what to believe at ministration for the '72 election—if the time. left Sebring. "And they were supposed he's totally honest with himself— to get married after graduation. But "I was puzzled," Bennett admits. "At would say. 'There but for the grace of then he died of spinal meningitis the first I figured it was some uninten- God go I! . . . '" February after graduation." tional action. Now I figure there must Rose Mary Woods' friends seem to have been sortie intentional action. be divided into two categories: those Rose is as .good a candidate as any. In September. 1952. while he was campaigning as vice presidential run- who insist she never had a steady boy- But then I am a better one, and I know friend (and attribute this to the de- I didn't do it." See iVOODS, H3, Col. 1 parted beau of her youth) and those who claim she's had, as one of her dear pals says, "plenty of chances," but A photo released by the White House last November demonstrating the "Rose Mary Stretch." She told Judge Sirica she may have erased part of a tape while reaching for the telephone. never married because there is some And there she is. Rose Mary Woods mysterious man out in the Midwest maybe this is the only life she could waiting patiently for her. No one has been there more than 23 years. have had." thinks she'll marry Robert Gray, the She and swap clothes; they Rose Mary Woods' loyalty has con- perfectly groomed, perfectly mannered chat while the President works deep ferred upon her the kind of license executive vice president of Hill and into the night. She occasionally selects permitted few others in the President's Knowlton (he was Secretary to the Richard Nixon's shirts. Julie and Tri- rarefied circle. Former presidential Cabinet during the Eisenhower admin- cia call her "Aunt Rose." Rose Woods assistant Robert Finch remembers her istration) who is her steady escort was there when her boss suffered de- "giving a good Irish piece of her mind" these days. feat in his first presidential campaign. to senators, governors. Others have "Bob Gray" echoes Wiley Buchanan, And again, two years later, when he seen her snap back at Nixon. a former chief of protocol and a buddy was walloped by Edmund (Pat) Brown "I remember," says one former loyal- of Rose Woods. "Oh no. He's just an in the California gubernatorial race. ist, "during the '68 campaign when escort. Nice manners. He won't fall Nixon wasn't the only one who felt Nixon would blow up at her, she'd do down drunk on a date and have to be kicked around. the same to him with a freeze glare carried home or anything." "I think it's no, secret that Rose was and a few tart comments. She had a very, very bitter," says Ann Whitman, willingness to sass him back that was "Once," says another friend. "Once I too absent among others. met this great diplomat and I called Eisenhower's former secretary and a Rose and said, `Rose. Got this great close friend. "I remember she had a "Rose knew,, you see," the source terrific fight with (newsman) Bill continues. "She knew who everyone guy for you.' But she said no, there Law- was, what their relationship to the was this businessman out in Chicago rence. She felt he'd been unfair to President was, all the secrets of the and they'll marry within a month after Nixon." past. Who contributes ideas. Who con- she leaves the White House. And I can Rose Woods has been there consist- only hope and pray that the minute tributes money. Who makes a big noise ently. Steadfastly. And she hates with and couldn't be counted on. And to Nixon leaves, that's exactly what she'll a very real passion the people who dis- have somebody like that when you're do." like her boss. When Niion came to not very good at it yourself is invalua.t But Richard Nixon is still in office. New York to work as a lawyer, she and ble. And Nixon wasn't very good at Pat Nixon would take turns answering that." Steve Martindale, another perfectly the phone, the secretary passing ex- Because that is Rose Mary Woods' groomed man who works for Bob Gray cess calls to the wife who would iden- at the public-relations• firm of Hill and main function: knowing. She knew old tify herself inevitably as "Miss Ryan." friends and grew distressed when she Knowlton, and has double-dated with couldn't usher them past the Halde- Ole older couple, compares his boss's It is impossible to question Rose Mary Woods' loyalty. The real ques- man blockade. ("She has more savvy," companion to a nun. says someone still at the White House, "Well if you stay with someone like tion, the monumental question is, rather•, why the loyalty? What makes a "than all those p-r types put (Richard Nixon) that long, it's sort of together.") She knew speeches and like being a nun. You give up every- woman devote 23 years of her life to the exclusive service of one man? would regularly dissect each one. She thing for the Church and you are loyal knew who to invite to White House to the Church no matter what. Yours "You've hit it there," says someone functions and those who were left out isn't really to question why. He needs still at the White House. "But Rose— in the cold put her high on their en- you, you're committed and there you she worked her way up from the grass emy lists. are." roots. And you must consider this: Inviting and not inviting eventually

became one of the few means of exer- else fails, make a martyr out of your- cising power left to Rose Mary Woods. self." H. R. Haldeman managed to strip her The source thinks that she is actu• of most of the others. ally enjoying herself "in a morbid sort In 1968, the woman who had been of way. habituated by years of service to exer- "I mean now she's getting all the no- cising considerable influence over toriety, all the recognition that was Richard Nixon was suddenly blocked once denied her as a result of the by the White House chief of staff. Haldeman-Ehrlichman blockade." "What did Haldeman take away?" echoes a former Nixon associate. "Well, proximity is the main thing. Haldeman The notoriety follows Rose Woods. moved into that tiny office outside the Everywhere. Bob Gray, a savvy publW- Oval Room. And with that came ready relations man if there ever was one, access to the President." makes her go to parties these days tO show her face even when she feels It is said that at one point Haldeman tired, just so people can see Ros'e tried to move Mr. Nixon's faithful Woods. Up there. Dancing. Her bright secretary to the Executive Office red hair an indecorous note against Building. diaphanous dark dresses and serpen- "Quite right," says Wiley Buchanan. tine boas. And at whatever party she "Haldeman was very jealous. When- happens to be, reporters will be there ever the President was around, Halde- also. man took every opportunity to keep Rose Woods doesn't have much use Rose occupied and out of the way." for reporters. She equates them with Buchanan says that Rose Woods put bad news, bad luck—and not just Wa.- up with this for a while. But finally tergate-related bad luck, either. she went to Mr. Nixon and told him Just a few months back, she and Bob she was going to quit. Gray went to a return-to-the-tango "Rose said she would go quietly and party at the Argentinian embassy, and not make a fuss. Well Nixon told her an Argentinian TV man was there ask- not to go. And then he called Halde- ing guests when was the last time they man in and really laid him low." ' had tangoed. Gray begged Rose Woods If he did, it didn't work. As one to grant him an interview. . White House source puts it: "Yes there "Well, I thought 'Here's the perfect was a struggle going on. And Rose chance for Rose to talk to a foreign re- lost." porter about nonpolitical things: So j But in April, 1973, almost a year got her to go before the cameras. Well after the Watergate break-in, Richard M. all of a sudden I see the smile die on. Nixon Sorrowfully announced the de- Rose's face and I'm thinking to myself parture of and H. R. `What's that SOB asking her?' And Haldeman, his two most trusted aides. then I see the TV guy whirl around Two months later Richard Nixon and fall." promoted Rose Mary Woods from per- The TV reporter had fainted. sonal secretary to executive assistant. So Rose Woods won't talk. "I'm "Well that's what she was all along, re- sorry," Marjorie Acker, her assistant, ally," declares one indignant friend. told this reporter. "But Miss Woods Maybe that's true. But that's not the feels that since she's refused so many point. The point is that in the end interviews, it would be unfair to grant Rose Mary Woods won. you one." After a fashion. White House communications direC- About five monthS after her promo- tor Ken Clawson calls her "the sym- tion all hell broke loose for Rose Mary bol of continuity," and maybe she is. Woods, and the subsequent testimony For one reason or another, they have about the $100,000 contribution only in- abandoned Richard Nixon—most of the creased her worries. Steve Bull, a others. But Rose Woods who it is said. Nixon aide who believes in her integ- wept with Pat Nixon in a lonely hotel rity, says she "is comporting herself room right after the secret fund scan- with an unusual amount of poise and dal broke, and Rose Woods who was in- confidence these days." jured in Venezuela when they threW But another White House source dis- rocks at Vice President Nixon, and agrees. "She's showing the strain, I Rose Woods who arrives to work each think, in her face. Well, she's become morning at 8 and glances at her office self-indulgent. Feels sorry for herself. wall where Nixon-family photos hang Catch her in an off-moment," he ad- —Rose Woods still remains. vises. "She's been ridiculed nationally. "I think the one thing you've got to She's devoted her whole life—her give her," Clawson says, "is that shers whole life to attaining this national survived." position. And now that she's got it ..." So far, anyway. But how can Rose The voice trails off. Woods survive if Richard Nixon does "Yes, she's been humiliated," agrees not? yet another White House faithful. "But "Boy that's a rough one," says a maybe humiliation is good for her. Did White House source with a sigh. "Rose you ever think of that?" has labored in the vineyards so long Did Rose Woods ever think of that? that I'm worried for her. Let's face it. Of the beneficial aspects of humilia- Rose has hitched her whole life to one tion? star. And right now that star is about "Well," says the first source, "if all 13 degrees below the horizon." WXPod JUL 7 1974

Drawing by Vint Lemrence