Harry R. Haldeman

I think like the President, and that's why I believe I can serve him well." By that, Harry Robbins ("Bob") Haldeman means that he shares with Richard Nixon a deep-rooted belief in hard work, loyalty and efficiency. The identification began early. Haldeman was a student at U.C.L.A. in the late '40s. Alarm about the Communist threats was approaching its zenith, and his hero then was Congressman Richard Nixon. Today, at 43, still trim, tan and crewcut, Haldeman very much resembles that student of decades past.

Around the White House, Haldeman is noted for his discipline and dedication to duty, traits acquired from his grandfather, who in 1922 founded an anti-Communist organization named the Better America Foundation, and a father whose abiding interest was the Salvation Army. His organizational talents appeared early: when he was 14, Haldeman turned the family's Toluca Lake, Calif., home into a summer camp for neighborhood children. Later, while at U.C.L.A. (B.S. in business administration), he managed the unsuccessful campaign for student body vice president of Jeanne Fisher, John Ehrlichman's wife-to-be.

Haldeman joined the advertising firm of J. Walter Thompson in 1949, just as the Alger Hiss trial was in full swing, and again found himself under the spell of a crusading Nixon. By 1956 he had joined Nixon as an advance man and within four years, he was chief of the advance men in the presidential campaign. "I labeled him the chief of the frogmen because he and his crew were always hopping about," says Herb Klein. "His wife collects artificial frogs even now."

Bacharach and Guitars. Haldeman's dedication to work carries over into his private life. Like Nixon, he is a stereo music fan, and prefers to work at home for an hour or two each evening with Burt Bacharach or guitar music in the background. Photography is his passion. He began shooting movies of the President and big state events last year with a camera he bought in a Bonn PX, and has since virtually filmed Nixon's every step. What socializing Haldeman does tends to be with like-minded members of the Administration. His closest friend in Washington is Ehrlichman, a former classmate at U.C.L.A., whom Haldeman enlisted as an advance man in the 1960 campaign. Haldeman was working with Nixon on a fund-raiser in Chicago in 1959 and invited Ehrlichman to come along to "find out what this is all about." In Washington, Haldeman, his wife Jo and their four children are frequent visitors at the Ehrlichmans, and sometimes join them for trips to Key Biscayne and Camp David.

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