WXPost

A 10 Thursday. May 24,1973 • • • Dean's 'same Constantly

By John Hanrahan Washington Post Staff Writer From the planning stage of the Watergate break-in and bugging to the subse- quent, cover-up and to the present day, the name of John W. Dean III persist- ently appears at key points in the public testimony and private statements of per- sons involved in the Water- gate affair. Through associates and his own occasional public statements, the former chief Cropping Up presidential counsel has pic- tured himself as a loyal aide who was only following orders and who, as time went on, ago- nized over what 'Watergate was doing to President Nixon. 'Conflicting with this im- age are statements by other Watergate figures that ap- pear to implicate Dean deeply in the bugging and its aftermath and show him to be something more than a reluctant participant who was only trying to please in Watergate the boss. Dean was brought once again to center stage Tues- day when former White House aide John J. Caul- • Jeb Stuart Magruder, field testified before the former White House aide Senate select Watergate- and later deputy campaign committee that he was act- chief for the Nixon re-elec- ing at Dean's direction tion committee, has told in- when he offered executive vestigators that Dean partic- clemency to Watergate con- ipated in the planning ses- spirator James W. McCord sion for the Watergate bug- Jr. Caulfield described sev- ging, along with former At- eral conversations he had torney General John N. with Dean concerning the Mitchell, convicted Water- overtures to McCord, which gate conspirator G. Gordon Caulfield admitted yester- Liddy and Magruder. day were wrong. • Convicted Watergate And President Nixon, on conspirator McCord has tes- the same day, said that tified that Liddy told him Dean had been a member of that Dean, Mitchell, Magru- a supersecret unit within , der and Liddy were in the White House designed volved in the Watergate to protect national' security interests. Nixon said he had instructed the FBI, the CIA and his top White House aides, after the Watergate arrests last year, to avoid in- vestigating areas that might harm national security. Caulfield's testimony and the President's statement once again raised a central question about Dean: Was he acting under orders from superiors in the Watergate affair, as he and his associ- ates have indicated, or did he seize the initiative and commit apparently illegal acts on his own without re- ceiving orders from higher- ups? Or was it a little of both?. A sampling of testimony and news stories to date shoWs the extent of Dean's involvement in Watergate, even if it does not give a clear picture of his motives: planning. McCord has said that he assumed the opera- tion was legal because it had the approval of the top legal experts in the adminis- tration,,, Mitchell and Dean. • Dean was named by President Nixon last sum- mer to condUct an in-house investigation of the Water- gate affair. The President said last Aug. 29 that Dean's investigation cleared "present employees" of the White House of having ad- vance knowledge of the Watergate bugging, Dean now says he never prepared such a report. In his statement Tuesday, the President said that, in the aftermath of Watergate, "I asked for, and received, repeated assurances that Mr. Dean's own investiga- tion (which included review- ing files and sitting in on FBI interviews with White House personnel) had cleared everyone then em- ployed by the White House of involvement." • Dean, 'in leaving his White House post, took with him documents that, associ- ates indicated, could show clandestine, illegal 'activities dating back to the early days of Nixon's first term. In his statement Tuesday, Mr. Nixon said the docu- ments taken by Dean re- lated to a 1970 plan for ex- panded intelligence opera- tions, including breaking and entering. The plan was never put into effect, the United Press Inl;ernationid President said. U. S. Dis- trict Court Judge John J. John W. Dean III, former presidential counsel, is a key Watergate figure. Sirica, who presided over the Watergate trial in Jan- *Dean tried to get him to exchange for his agreement tered 'to allow former aides uary, ordered that the .docu- have the CIA go bail for the to plead guilty, remain si- to testify.) ments be kept in a court- Watergate defendants and In addition to his involve- house safe. lent and serve some time in pay their salaries while they prison. Caulfield testified he ment in the main Watergate • Magruder has told in- were in jail and thereby cre- was acting under instruc- attraction, Dean has also vestigators that Dean and ate the impression that the tions'from Dean, but that he played a role in some of the Mitchell arranged for pay- Watergate affair was a CIA did not tell McCord he had other 1972 campaign politi- ments to the seven con- project. to remain silent, cal espionage and sabotage victed Watergate conspira- Dean's approach to Wal- that is still somewhat Dean has said publicly shrouded in mystery. tors to buy their silence and ters came after top White that he held little power at keep them from implicating House aides Ehrlichman and the White House and had a In a sworn deposition Dean and. Mitchell and H. H. Haldeman tried to get difficult' time getting his made public last Friday, Other higher-ups. Walters to have the CIA ask thoughts across to the Presi- Dean's top assistant in the the FBI to drop its investi- dent. Until he was named to White Hou:se, Fred F. Field- • Last June 28, Dean and gation of Nixon campaign lag, told of .help Dean gave top presidential aide John conduct the in-house probe money that had been laun- of the Watergate affair last to Donald H. Segretti, al- D. Ehrlichman met with dered in Mexico. The two leged director of a wide- then-acting FBI Director L. . summer, his name was only aides, Walters said, wanted rarely in the newspapers. spread political espionage Patrick Gray III. They re- the CIA to tell the FBI that operation. portedly told Gray that doc- such a probe would Generally, the chief coun- Fielding said that he and uments belonging to Water- "uncover some of the agen- •sel at -the White House ad- Dean met with Segretti one gate conspirator E. Howard cy's (CIA's) clandestine ac- vises the President on a Sunday night late last Octo- Hunt Jr. should "never see tivities" in Mexico. myriad of legal matters. ber in Dean's 'White House the light of day." The docu- When a President is contem- Walters said he met with office to discuss newspaper ments, including phony plating new programs or stories naming Segretti as a State Department cables fab- Dean in late June after first legislation, he consults his confirMing with Ehrlichman political saboteur. On Oct. ricated by Hunt to link the counsel to determine the au- 10, The Washington Post that it was all right to do so. thority for such an action or late President Kennedy to • first reported that Segretti the 1963 assassination of Dean, in February of to draw up legislation. this year, called new CIA was apparently an under- South Vietnamese President As the Watergate affair cover agent in the Nixon Ngo Dinh Diem, were de- Director James R. Schle- singer and tried to get dragged on, Dean's name be- campaign, stroyed by Gray in Decem- gan to appear in the press The next day, Fielding ber. Schlesinger to retrieve from the FBI some material con- more frequently as the Pres- said, Dean sent him to Seg- • Dean sat in on the FBI cerning CIA assistance to ident's authority in the retti's motel to go over a questioning of 14 White . Hunt the previous year. growing battle between the press release, Segretti was House *aides, according to (Schlesinger has acknowl- legislative and executive preparing to deny the Gray. Gray also testified be- edged the CIA provided spy branches over impoundment charges against him. Field- fore a Senate committee equipment to Hunt and of funds, pocket vetoes and, ing said he then took the that he had laid out virtu- Liddy in 1971.) Schlesinger finally, a matter central to press release back to the ally the entire FBI investi- refused to retrieve the mate- the Watergate investigation White House and into a gation for Dean 'by turning rial. —executive privilege. meeting already in progress. over to him 82 basic files on It was Dean who first ar Among those attending the Waterfront case. • McCord, in testimony ticulated this doctrine on the meeting were Dean, before the Senate select behalf of the administration, Ehrlichman, Press Secretary • Lt. Gen. 'Vernon Wal- committee, said former Mr. Nixon, acting under Ronald Ziegler and Dwight ters, deputy director of the White House aide 's advice, prohibited. Chapin, the aide who alleg- Central Intelligence Agency, Caulfield contacted him dur-. White House aides from tes- edly hired Segretti. Fielding testified earlier this month ing the Watergate trial ear- tifying before the Senate's said there was some general before the Senate Armed lier this year and offered Watergate inquiry, (That discussion about Segretti, Services Committee that him executive clemency in doctrine has since been al- but it was not clear from his. deposition whether the ates are quick to point out friend said, Dean meeting was called for the that Dean was the first high- -tried to specific purpose of discuss- get others to listen, but his ranking person to go to fed- messages just weren't get- ingSegretti's problem. eral prosecutors after Mc- ting through." Once the At any rate, the depo- Cord had broken the ice and POWs came home, the sition did indicate that Dean agreed to cooperate in the friend said, Dean felt that had played a role in assist- continuing investigation. much of the President's ing Segretti. The news re- They say that Dean also at- great work was done and lease, however, was never is- tempted to warn the Presi- sued. the time had finally come dent of a coverup in March, when the Watergate issue Segretti, according to before he went to the fed- must be faced squarely. This some news accounts, also eral prosecutors. led him to go to the Presi- was shown copies of his own Other reports have said dent in March to warn him FBI report by White House that Dean, knowing that he of a coverup, he said. aides last August. This was is deeply involved and fac- Conflicting with this are among the reports Dean had ing a possible prison sen- obtained from Gray. the statements of some fed- tence, is making a bid for eral investigators that Dean Dean's name has also sur- ,immunity from prosecution repeatedly took steps to ob- faced in another of the spin- by using news leaks selec- struct justice, to thwart the offs from Watergate: the tively. Associates have Watergate investigation, to ITT antitrust dispute with cated he is prepared to im- cover up White House in- the Justice Department in plica,te Haldeman and Ehrl- volvement. Rather than pas- 1971. In the aftermath of the ichman in the Watergate af- sively covering up, Dean agreement that let ITT keep fair, and to say even that he was actively taking steps to Hartford Fire Insurance Co. believed even the President suppress information, in exchange for other dives- was aware of the cover-up— sources have said. titures, Dean reportedly ar- but that he might withhold In interviews with some ranged to have politically such testimony if he is not sensitive secret ITT papers friends and former associ-: granted immunity. ates of Dean, a general pic- sent to the Justice Depart- Dean himself has said ture that emerges is one of ment instead of to Congress. publicly that he began to be- a person who, once an as- William J. Casey, former come disenchanted with the signment is given to him, Securities and Exchange White House, especially af- pursues it diligently, but al- Commission chairman, told ter the President last Aug. a House Commerce Subcom- ways keeps his superiors in- 29 quoted the nonexistent formed out of a concern mittee last December that report, supposedly prepared he had consulted with Dean that a misstep might dis- by Dean, that exonerated all please them. in October before the SEC present White House offi- decided to send the ITT pa- As this pertains to Water- cials of any wrongdoing in gate, his acquaintances gen- pers to the Justice Depart- the Watergate affiar. ment, rather than to Con- erally feel that Dean may gress. This disenchantment, indeed have taken some ille- A Senate subcommittee though, is somewhat offset gal actions, but that he un- later released several docu- by the allegations by Magru- doubtedly f elt he was ments that it obtained from der and McCord that Dean merely carrying out the or- ITT, rather than the SEC, was involved in the plan- ders of superiors. which detailed several al- ning of the Watergate affair. Ambitious and hard-work- leged contacts ITT officials Some of Dean's associates ing, Dean is not one to be made with top Nixon admin- acknowledge privately that out of step with what his su- istration officials in an ef- this does pose a problem for periors want, his acquain- fort to settle the antitrust his defense. But, they also tances say. case. note that McCord's testi- One occasion when Dean Previously, it had been al- mony implicating Dean is apparently was out of step leged in some news reports based on hearsay from with the boss, though, came that Dean had turned over Liddy, thus leaving only Ma- in his first law job with the to ITT the famous Dita gruder's testimony with firm of Welch and Morgan. Beard memo. Mrs. Beard, which contend. According to civil service the ITT lobbyist, had stated One friend of Dean de- documents, Dean was asked in the memo to her boss scribed him as "not an ideo- to leave that first job by his that ITT was to get a favora- logue" but rather a person boss, intent S. Welch, who ble decision on the antitrust who takes a practical, prob- accused him of "unethical lem-solving approach to is- conduct." suit in exchange for a siza- A year later, in 1968, ble contribution from ITT to sues. Dean, the friend said, believed deeply in the Presi- Welch watered down that help bring the Republican original allegation, accord- National Convention to San dent's goals of opening up communications with China, ing to civil service docu- Diego last year. ments, saying Dean left the Dean reportedly obtained of ending U.S. military in- the memo from the FBI. By volvement in Vietnam and firm after "a basic disagree- giving it to ITT, columnist bringing home the prisoners ment ,over law firm policies of war. regarding the nature and Jack Anderson alleged, scope of an associate's activ- Dean assisted ITT in prepar- Still, the friend said, Dean ities." ing its defense to the memo. became disenchanted with The activity in question Fielding's deposition of the "atmosp here" in the involved Dean and another last week also seems to indi- White House late in 1971 person seeking a license to cate that Dean was handling and also could see he could information pertaining to operate a television station advance no 'higher because in St. Louis, which if it had the grand jury in- the two top jobs were held come about., would have vestigation of Robert L. by Haldeman and Ehrlich- been in competition with Vesco, the alleged interna- man. But, he said, the Presi- Welch .who had already ob- tional swindler who is ac- dent asked him to stay on tained a license for a St. cused of making an illegal, and "It's hard to say no to Louis station. secret $200,000 cash contrib- the power of the Great One former associate of ution to the Nixon re-elec- Seal." tion committee last year in Dean at the firm said. Dean Then, the Watergate ar- viewed his endeavor strictly an effort to block legal pro- rests occurred and Dean was as a business matter and did ceedings against him by the asked to conduct the in= not see it at the time as go- Securities and Exchange house investigation, the ing against his boss' wishes. Commission. friend said. Dean at first Another acquaintance Said Fielding said he received viewed the assignment as an Dean had learned from that a call in mid-April from a annoying, "fire-fighting" op- episode that "you can't cross former White House aide, eration that detracted from the boss." Murray Chotiner, who asked the "work of the President." According to one Justice him to pass on the Dean in- Then came the President's Department source, Dean formation indicating former Aug. 29 statement saying "was hovering throughout Attorney General John N. that Dean's report had the investigation" of Water- Mitchell was about to be in- cleared all present White gate "trying to move a step dicted in the Vesco probe. House employees of wrong- ahead, ready to snatch a Mitchell subsequently was doing "and from that point piece of dirty linen before indicted, as was Maurice on, he (Dean) was kind of the (FBI) investigators." As Stens, former Commerce set in concrete and didn't the Watergate drama un- Secretary and finance chair- know how he could get out folds, it should become man for the re-election com- from under that," the friend clearer whether Dean was mittee. said. doing the boss's bidding or Dean's friends and associ- From that point on, the following his own instincts.