WORLD JUNE 2, 1974

WXPosf AN 2 1974

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• ,stIffj.190449.- LA TA By Maxwell Silyersteip Putting It All Together but steadfast editors. Watergate, chiefly tus — the book is appropriately dedicated ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN. By by dint of the Post's sustained, high-risk to "the President's other men and and . Si- investigation, had become the biggest women" — the reporters were able to mon & Schuster. 349 pp. $8.95 . scandal in the history of the presidency. turn up valuable sources among middle- We do not yet know how the national ranking insiders. And then there was tragedy will end, but thanks to this unas- Woodward's super-source — Deep By RICHARD J. WHALEN suming, straightforward narrative, we Throat, so nicknamed because he spoke know how Woodward and Bernstein (as only on a deep-background, no-quote ba- "DON'T GLOAT," Howard Simons, The they refer to themselves) went about their sis. Washington Post's managing editor, told indefatigable, often brilliant journalistic If I did not have such respect for the in- the troops in their hour of Watergate tri- detective work, which produced the stun- tegrity of Woodward and Bernstein, I umph and vindication on April 30, 1973. ning beginning of the unfinished story of would be tempted to suspect that Deep "We can't afford to gloat." Of course, the Watergate. Because they didn't know any Throat is a composite character made up command went unheeded. The next better, and had not been spoiled by daily of several sources — he is too knowing morning's Post carried an eight-column, exposure to the celebrated on terms of about too many very closely held subjects three-deck headline across page one: 3 false intimacy, these two eager-beaver in widely separated political quarters to Top Nixon. Aides, Kleindienst Out; /Presi- city-side reporters tackled the Watergate ring quite true. But Woodward and Bern- dent Accepts Full Responsibility; /Rich-. break-in and its unfolding implications stein are admirably free of the vices of ardson Will Conduct New Probe. on the moral plane of petty criminality, New Journalism, and so we are bound to By that time, the Watergate story had which proved to be the low road directly accept as a real, live source, long since ceased to be the almost exclu- into the dark heart of the Nixon White and therefore to attempt to guess his sive property of the young reporting team House. identity. An informal poll of leading Nix- of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein In this intensely media-conscious city, onologists turns up two nominees: Robert ("Woodstein," as they were known in the the exploits (and rewards) of Woodward Finch and Harry Dent. Neither man "fits" newsroom) and their somewhat nervous and Bernstein are sufficiently well- precisely, but both had the necessary pos- known so that a summary does them no in- ition and motivation. justice. BaSically, the two simply worked The main, often fascinating revelations RICHARD J. WHALEN, a former adviser very hard, which is the essential (and per- to President Nixon, is the author of Catch in this book concern the inner workings,. haps sole) ingredient of so-called investi- not of the White House or the Committee the Falling Flag: A Republican's Chal- gative journalism. lenge to His Party. His newest book, Tak- to Re-Elect the, President, but of .4that Because there were many honest and greit adversary institution, The Washilig- ing Sides: From Kennedy to Nixon to Ken- conscience-stricken individuals in the ton Post. DUring (Continefed wt pride 2) nedy, will be published in the fall. Nixon government and campaign appara- home to declare that it was "almost incon- Watergate ceivable" that he could have authorized (Contirnted from page 1) the wiretapping. While the editors of the Post gave "Henry" the benefit of every doubt, conceivable and inconceivabe, those fantastic weeks in the late winter the clock ticked away. Finally it was tio and early spring of 1973 when the "Wood- late to write a story for the first edition. stein" disclosures were exploding almost Next morning, Seymour Hersh, who al- daily, the front page of the Post became plied the same standard to everybody in the most brutally effective instrument of the Nixon Administration, broke the Kis- government in the capital. Its rule was singer wiretap story in The absolute and terrible. Enemies were sum- Times, and Marder rewrote it a day later. marily executed in cold print while This episode not only sheds light on the friends—especially one highly placed character of Henry Kissinger, but also on friend—were spared by silence. the role of subjective emotion in the That friend of the Post's management, Post's handling of the Nixon scandals. of course, was Dr. Henry Kissinger — Would the paper have done such a splen- dear, indispensable "Henry." Kissinger did job if its publisher and top editors enjoys a unique immunity among Nixon had not hated Nixon so much? Whether or men because he has made himself end- not Nixon deserves to be hated is irrele- lessly accessible to the media on his vant. The anonymous "source" stories terms. that broke open the Watergate cover-up Woodward ran head-on into the gross conspiracy have created precedents and pro-Kissinger double-standard while at- established ground rules for future con- tempting to report the story that Kis- flicts between press and politicians in singer had personally fingered aides for which the balance of power may swing FBI wiretaps. A "top FBI official" told the other way. him wiretap authorizations came orally Woodward and Bernstein and the Post or by letter from Kissinger. A former have recently been overshadowed by the FBI man confirmed it. Kissinger himself, publication of President Nixon's own oral in a telephone interview, refused to deny history of the botched Watergate cover- it, virtually admitted it and then de- up. But nothing has yet come to light in manded that the entire conversation be the White House transcripts or elsewhere put on retroactive background. Wood- to alter the story these remarkable re- ward refused. porters told under extraordinary pres- Kissinger swiftly went over Wood- sures. They and their editors have every ward's head, first to diplomatic writer reason to be proud, but Howard Simons's Murrey Marder and then to executive edi- advice becomes more valid as we move to- tor , whom he telephoned at ward the climactic agony of Watergate. 0