European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 19, 1973, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday november 19, 1973 the stars and stripes Page 27 Nixon tells editors he s no Crook continued from Page 1 he takes responsibility for those mistakes and would continue to work for peace and to restore Confidence in his government As Long As i am physically the questions focused initially on issues that have Arisen Over the tapes of his watergate related conversations. Nixon said release of the tapes would Back up three Basic positions first that i had no knowledge whatever before the watergate break in occurred second that he never authorized clemency and had in fact turned it Down when it was brought up and third that he had first heard of a so called blackmail request from convicted watergate conspirator e. Howard Hunt on March 21 this year. Nixon said Hunt once told former White House counsel John w. Dean Iii that he would reveal other information about the White House staff unrelated to watergate if he did not receive some Money. I know i heard it for the first time on the 21st of March Nixon said. He added that Dean give him the information before a meeting. Nixon said he met with Dean at 9 . Sunday april 15 and there should have been a recording of that meeting. But there was none he said because the tape machines during the weekend were geared to record Only six hours of conversations and because of a lengthy meeting earlier with Secretary of state Henry Kissinger in the executive office building the tape ran out. Dean has said under oath that he and Nixon discussed watergate april 15 and he believed the president indicated then he knew about the watergate cover up. Nixon said he tried to reconstruct the conversation and found no dict Abelt ver Sion of it but that he did find his own hand written notes. The following Day at 10 a.m., he added he had another conversation with Dean. That conversation was taped he said and because it covers some of the same ground As the one the night before which was not recorded he had offered to make the tape available to . District court even though it is not among the tapes subpoenaed by the watergate prosecution. District court judge John j. Sirica declined to accept the material on the ground it would be inappropriate for the court to adopt a role of receiving evidence. Nixon admitted that the Story was difficult to explain when the nation can build an Apollo system but not an effective tap ing device. This is no Apollo system he said but a $2,500 tape recorder with Little Lapel mikes stuck inside desk drawers. The system itself was. Not a sophisticated asked his initial reaction when he Dis covered that two of the nine subpoenaed tapes did not exist Nixon replied very great i wanted the evidence out he said adding he knew that when it was announced the tapes did not exist the reaction would be that he was hiding some thing. But he said he would have been More disappointed if any of the other seven tapes did not exist because former special prosecutor Archibald Cox and the Senate watergate committee thought they were More important. He added he wished the recordings had never been made in the first place because i would t have to stand Here and answer these Nixon said he first Learned last sept. 29 or 30 that the two tapes one of a Tele phone Call to former attorney general John n. Mitchell june 20, 1972, and the second of the april 15 White House meeting with Dean could not be found. But he said it was not determined conclusively until oct. 27, after intensive questioning by White House lawyers of secret service agents who had installed the system that the tapes did not exist. He said his dictated recollections of the conversation with Mitchell his former Campaign manager will be offered to Sirica along with the subpoenaed mate rials. He said the dictation Belt says i called John Mitchell to cheer him up be cause i knew he was terribly disheartened Over this watergate matter. He expressed Chagrin to me that an organization Over which he had control had gotten out of hand this chief executive rules out return to Law practice Orlando Fla. Up president Nixon said saturday night he will not return to Law practice or business when he retires from the White House but plans to do some writing and contrib Ute to bettering the political asked about his retirement plans Nixon joked i think that depends on when i leave a reference to an earlier remark about the recent Calls for his impeachment. Niport said he would be 63 in 1977 when his term expires and he is in Good health. He would not return to the prac Tice of Law he said and would not sit on any Board of directors a Job he said he would find very Nixon said that in addition to being known As the president who opened re lations with China achieved detente with the soviet Union helped avoid a War in the Middle East and brought peacetime unemployment below 4l/2 per cent for the first time he wanted to be remembered As the one who did his Best when his own Campaign was out of hand to help prevent similar Campaign abuses in the future. He said neither party was entirely clean during 1972, that some of the democrats contributions came from corporations who knew they were Vio lating the Law. Congressmen and senators know there still should be changes in the current Campaign contributions Laws he said and if no new Campaign rules have been produced before he leaves office ill work on editors spent 2 Days preparing Orlando Fla. Up the editors who questioned president Nixon saturday night spent two Days preparing the questions and organizing a system to ensure follow up queries in Case they were not satisfied with his answers. Mainly we know that he Nixon is using us so we re not going to let him throw us any soft balls said Tom Kelly managing editor of the West Palm Beach Post. A six Man executive committee of the associated press managing editors spent two Days choosing the questions and set up provisions for the follow up questions. The purpose of our invitation to him was to give the editors a Chance to ask questions said ape president John Quinn vice president of the Gannett news papers. As we put it in the invitation to encourage some straight talk from the White House " and i think a lot of us have been sitting Back in the newsroom and asking Why weren t certain questions asked and Why did t he answer the format agreed upon was to put five ape com Mittee chairmen at each of four Micro phones. The groups had prepared their questions in Advance and one member was. Designated to ask the follow up questions. An ape executive acted As Micro phone officer and Only after each of these editors had been called on were other members of the association permitted to ask questions. Miami Herald executive editor Larry Jinks a member of the ape executive committee said the president controls the he s an expert at it Jinks said. We Are taking this seriously but it is not some thing we do All the de Miller executive editor of the Allen town pa., Call chronicle said he feels the White House came to the conclusion that since we Don t do it Day by Day that the Range of questions might be More predictable and general than he d get from the Washington press the conversation took place just three Days after the watergate bugging arrests june 17, 1972. Mitchell has testified he apologized to the president for not know ing what the hell had been going on in the Campaign. Nixon denied again that he authorized the White House plumbers squad to Bur Klarize the office of Daniel Ellsberg s psychiatrist. He said he first Learned of the break in last March 17 and i personally thought it was a stupid thing to do apart from an illegal thing to he said the plumbers operation was organized As a unit under the leadership of Egil Bud Krogh because of Security leaks such As disclosure of the Pentagon papers and another leak that Nixon said the watergate committee members have agreed should not be Security tap Nixon said his brother Donald consented to having his Telephone being tap Ped by the secret service for Security he added i will not go beyond that. They were very Good reasons and my brother was aware of an editor asked if it made any sense to tap his brother when he knew about it and Nixon said it did because the purpose was not to learn what Donald was1 doing. It was for others who were trying to get him particularly someone in a foreign country Nixon said. He said the reasons behind the Telephone wiretap eventually would be made Public. Nixon discussed his personal income tax in response to a question from a Providence r.i., journal bulletin editor which first reported that Nixon paid Only Small amounts of income tax in 1970 and 1971. I paid $79,000 in income tax in 1969 and for the next two years i paid nominal amounts. What the amounts Are i Don t know Nixon said. Donated papers he said he had donated his vice presidential papers including his personal files on the Alger Hiss Case the 1952 investigation of a fund that sparked the famous checkers speech president Eisen Hower s illnesses and other incidents in his Early career on the suggestion of former president Lyndon b. Johnson. They were valued at $500,000, he said and so the tax people who prepared the return took that As a he said the internal Revenue service had not questioned the deduction and if they do i la be glad to have the papers Back and i la the tax because i think they re Worth More than presumably the tax Nixon paid in 1969 would be for Calendar year 1968, his last year of private employment As a lawyer before becoming president. Asked if he still Felt former aides John Ehrlichman and h. R. Bob Haldeman were guiltless and among the finest Public servants he has known a description he gave them when they were forced to resign last april because of watergate Nixon said he presumes both Are innocent until proven otherwise. President was prepared to answer Tough questions by Richard e. Lerner Orlando Fla. Up president Nixon both joked and sparred with news paper editors saturday night during his 66-. Minute televised question and answer ses Sion. He obviously came to the meeting of the associated press managing editors pre pared to answer charges against him. In one instance he asked himself a question when the editors did not seize his plea that they pose it. When John c. Quinn Moderator of the program sought to end the news Confer ence at the scheduled one hour limit Nixon remarked that he still had not gotten to the milk Itu take the time he said. To keep me on just a minute. It s a Lousy movie he defended his decision to raise support prices on milk As a step taken while con Gress put a gun to our Heads and denied that it was a favor in Exchange for Large Campaign contributions from milk producers. That is just not True he said adding that Large numbers of democrats had sponsored Bills and petitions calling for such action and that his advisers told him that if he vetoed additional milk Price sup ports Congress would override his action. Nixon made several references to what he considers the shabby treatment his administration has received from Many newspapers and television commentators but his criticism was far less severe than his harsh exchanges with reporters at his last news conference oct. 26. I congratulate you sir for having such a Lively staff he said to a questioner from the Providence r.i., journal bulletin which first reported he paid Only $792 in income taxes in 1970 and $878 in 1971. He confirmed that he had paid Only nominal income taxes in 1970 and 1971, but he eluded the editors for not knowing that he had already published details of his financial Worth. Obviously you Are All so Busy when these things come across your desk you people Don t see them he said. When Harry Rosenfeld an assistant managing editor of the Washington Post a publication frequently critical of the president Rose to ask a question Nixon said May i say to my Friend of the Washington Post i like your sports reporters under Rosenfeld s direction did much of the investigative work that broke open the watergate affair and re lated scandals for which the newspaper won a pulitzer prize
