Rose Mary Woods ROSE MARY WOODS RE-ENACTS "MISTAKE," KEEPING FOOT ON PEDAL WHILE ANSWERING PHONE (RECORDER IS AT FAR LEFT) THE CRISIS/COVER STORY The Secretary and the Tapes Tangle "Next to a man's wife, his secretary which is aimed at explaining away his tape of a talk between Nixon and H.R. is the most important person in his ca- multiple Watergate woes. Her state- Haldeman, then his Chief of Staff, on reer. She has to understand every detail ments posed a new threat to Nixon's sur- June 20, 1972, just three days after the of his job; to have unquestioning loyalty vival in office. For if Miss Woods' story Watergate burglary. Archibald Cox, the and absolute discretion. On every count is shown to be untrue, the inescapable fired Watergate special prosecutor, had Rose measures up. I'm a lucky man." conclusion would be that at least one of asked for the tape last July 23, contend- —Richard Nixon, in a press the subpoenaed Nixon tapes has been ing that "the inference is almost irre- interview, 1957 deliberately and criminally altered. sistible" that Haldeman and former Do- Since the President has sworn that those mestic Affairs Adviser John Ehrlich- "The buttons said on and off, forward recordings were in "my sole personal man had reported to Nixon on that day and backward. I caught on to that fairly control," he presumably would be legal- whatever they knew about the Water- fast. I don't think I'm so stupid as to erase ly responsible for any such destruction gate wiretapping operation. Further, what's on a tape. '" of evidence. said Cox, Haldeman and Ehrlichman —Rose Mary Woods, in court Scientific Scrutiny. As the Presi- THE NEW YORK TIMES testimony, Nov. 8, 1973 dent's attorneys finally delivered some of those subpoenaed tapes to Federal Precisely because her loyalty to her Judge John J. Sirica, a new phase be- boss has never been questioned and she gan in the legal controversy over wheth- never makes stupid errors, Rose Mary er Nixon was innocent of any knowl- Woods was deeply enmeshed last week edge of the wiretapping of Democratic in the Watergate toils that have touched National Committee headquarters in the lives of so many who tied their ca- June 1972, and of the many efforts of reers to Richard Nixon's political fate. his closest aides to conceal the higher or- The President's personal and personable igins of that crime. Now the critical secretary sat uncomfortably in a Wash- question of whether a cover-up might ington federal courtroom and told a con- even still be in progress can be subject- fused and tangled story of how she had, ed to scientific scrutiny. Technical ex- after all, made "a terrible mistake." perts disagree on their proficiency at de- Contrary to her testimony of Nov. 8, tecting tape alterations. But they very she said that she apparently had pushed likely can determine whether the mys- the wrong button on a recorder and terious tone that obliterated a crucial erased a potentially crucial portion of conversation on one of those tapes came one of Nixon's Watergate-related tape about precisely as Miss Woods said it recordings. did. By raising new doubts and suspi- In Judge Sirica's court last week, cions, Miss Woods' testimony sharp- Miss Woods testified that she must have ly nipped any budding success of the been responsible for at least 4%2 min- UHER RECORDER MODEL USED BY MISS WOODS President's ongoing Operation Candor, utes of a raspy, overriding hum on the "I am dreadfully sorry." TIME, DECEMBER 10, 1973 15 THE NATION WALTER GATES--WASN I N RION STAR-NEWS. "may well have received instructions" plained that Alexander Haig, from the President on how to handle Nixon's Chief of Staff, had ad- the affair. vised her to hire her own attor- Through three months of an extraor- ney. Ostensibly, this might have dinary struggle in the courts, Nixon re- been wise because she could be in sisted subpoenas for his tapes, yielding danger of personal indictment for only when he seemed in imminent dan- any conflict with her previous tes- ger of being cited for contempt of court timony. She hired Charles S. if he did not. Then the nine subpoenaed Rhyne, a former president of the tapes dwindled like nine little Indians. American Bar Association. The The number slipped to seven when the break also seemed to signal some White House contended that two were potential disagreement between "nonexistent." Nixon claimed that one the secretary and the White of them—a telephone call on June 20, House lawyers. Last week Miss 1972 to John Mitchell, then re-election Woods reappeared in court, and committee chief—was not taped because Rhyne was conspicuously present. he had placed it from his White House When Mrs. Volner linked Rhyne living quarters, on a phone that had no with the other White House at- taping apparatus. Another conversation torneys, he jumped up and de- with former White House Counsel John clared: "I don't want to be asso- Dean on April 15 was not secretly re- ciated with White House counsel. corded because, Nixon says, the equip- I'm a private lawyer." ment ran out of tape. On the stand, Miss Woods was Of the remaining seven tapes, the far more subdued and apologetic one at the center of attention last week than before, but still combative at ROSE MARY WOODS WITH ARTHUR BURNS was rendered apparently useless by the times. She was jolted by Mrs. Vol- blanked-out conversation with Halde- ner's opening reminder that she had a behind her and at arm's length to her man. Two other tapes, Nixon argues, constitutional right to remain silent, and left, rang. She took off her earphones should be withheld from the Watergate that anything she said could possibly be with both her hands, reached for the stop grand jury because of special executive- used against her in future proceedings. button with her right hand but by mis- privilege considerations. Silica ordered Yet she remained cool enough to dis- take must have hit the record button, that arguments on this claimed privi- play her wit. Asked why she hired which is next to the stop button but of a lege be held this week, sending the re- Rhyne, she replied with a smile: "There lighter gray color. With her left hand maining four tapes on to the Watergate aren't many attorneys left around town." she reached back for the phone, cradled grand jury. Miss Woods explained that on the it under her chin and talked to the caller Self-Assured. It was during Sirica's weekend of Sept. 29 and 30 she had —although she could not remember who hearings on whether two of the tapes worked at Camp David to transcribe it was. She estimated the length of the could not be produced at all that Rose some of the subpoenaed tapes for Nix- call variously from 4%. to 6 minutes. Mary Woods, 55, publicly entered the on's use and possible transmittal to the Throughout, she said at first, she kept controversy on Nov. 8 for the first time: court. She played the recordings back her left foot on the pedal. She agreed In her first court appearance of a long on- a Sony 800B portable tape recorder with Mrs. Volner that she could have career in high-pressure politics, she was —the same model used to make the stopped the recorder by merely lifting self-assured. She was also testy and President's office recordings. Since her her foot. "Then why did you push the openly antagonistic toward her ques- machine had no foot pedal, she had to button?" asked Mrs. Volner. "Because tioner: Jill Wine Volner, 30, a persis- press various buttons to reverse and re- I've done it both ways," Miss Woods re- tent courtroom lawyer and member of play portions of the tapes. She found the plied. In any event, when both the re- the Watergate special prosecutor's staff. job hard, she said, because there were cord button and the pedal are depressed, Miss Woods, her green eyes flashing loud sounds on the tapes, and the speak- any sound on the tape is erased. with Irish indignation, grimaced at what ers' voices often overlapped. She testi- Explaining that she did not notice she considered repetitive questioning, fied that Nixon dropped in to see how the reels turning because the top of the shook her head, pointed a finger at Mrs. she was doing. "He pushed a button back recorder was closed, Miss Woods said Volner and spoke sarcastically. Could and forth and said, 'I don't see how that she discovered her error only when Miss Woods have accidentally erased you're getting any of this.' " She labored she hung up the phone and then listened anything? for some 29 hours on just one conver- to the tape. She was horrified to hear Miss Woods: I think I used every sation—between Nixon and Ehrlich- the loud hum instead of conversation. possible precaution. man on June 20. She said she rushed right into the Oval Mrs. Volner: What precautions? She returned to her office in the Office and told Nixon. "I've made a ter- Miss Woods: I used my head—the White House the following Monday, rible mistake. I accidentally pushed the only one I had to use. Oct. 1, to complete work on the tape. record button and part of the tape is The secretary was drawn reluctantly Now she had a West German Uher 5000 empty." He replied: "Don't worry about back into Sirica's courtroom last week recorder.