Such Good Friends

According to conventional wisdom, James Reston of the New York Times ought to rank high on Spiro Agnew's list of least favorite people. As early as the 1968 campaign, the Times infuriated Agnew by questioning his fitness "to stand one step away from the presidency." Reston, as vice president and chief political columnist of the paper, is a pillar of the Eastern liberal Establishment press that Agnew has been excoriating since 1969; the Times has often replied in stiff editorials. But during his current ordeal, Agnew has turned to Reston for counsel and a sympathetic ear.

Under Reston's byline, the Times on Sept. 28 carried the first--and so far the only--inside view of Agnew's thoughts and plans since the Vice President learned in early August that he was the subject of a Justice Department investigation. Although Reston did not name Agnew as his source, his piece was obviously based on an interview. "He has been destroyed politically and knows it," Reston wrote. "His view is that he was invited [by the Justice Department] to plead guilty to some charges, but this, in his view, was a cop-out." The story also reported Agnew's determination to stay in office even if indicted--a decision Agnew subsequently announced in his fighting speech in Los Angeles.

Private Detente. Agnew and Reston were also in touch two months ago. At that time, the columnist played a small but significant role in formulating Agnew's response to the charges swirling around him. On the night of Aug. 6, Reston advised Agnew that his initial short statement claiming innocence of any wrongdoing would not be enough, that the Vice President's supporters would expect him to stand up and fight.

Two days later Agnew held a televised press conference in which he answered tough questions in a forthright manner. The performance won praise even from Agnew's critics.

The Agnew-Reston relationship is no sudden thing. They first met during the 1968 campaign, when Reston arranged an interview between the candidate and Times editors. After Agnew began his attacks on the press a year later, Reston recalls, "I went to see him and I said, I've never had a feud with anybody in Washington in 30 years. I don't believe in feuds. I think it is our responsibility to stay in touch with people who have authority in the Government.' "

The result over the years has been a series of what Agnew Press Secretary J. Marsh Thompson calls "heart-to-heart talks." Reston, unable to secure a private interview with Richard Nixon since the Oregon primary in 1968, has used his private detente with Agnew to stay abreast of Administration thinking. (Henry Kissinger and Melvin Laird have also "kept in touch," Reston says.) Agnew, in turn, has benefited from rather gentle treatment in Reston's influential column. Last February, for instance, Reston quoted approvingly a remark Agnew made in a speech before the Minnesota Press Association: "The fact is that the Nixon Administration is no more desirous of, nor more capable of, curtailing freedom of the press in America than any of its predecessors." Reston passed over the statement, writing only that "more things could be said about this than the patience of readers would tolerate"; his concern was that Agnew was speaking moderately and being "virtually" ignored by the national press as a result. Other commentators found Agnew's remark highly suspect at the time, and the ensuing Watergate disclosures about wiretapping reporters and "enemies lists" of journalists have done nothing to support Agnew's claim.

Special relationships between senior journalists and high officials are relatively common in Washington. Such bonds are perhaps inevitable and often helpful in obtaining both hard news and perspective. Nonetheless, there can be hazards. Journalists who enjoy unusual entree on the political heights can raise the eyebrows of less-favored colleagues. Even a newsman of Reston's integrity and prestige risks the suspicion that a particular relationship can dull his critical edge when he comments on that official.

In truth, Reston does not write puff pieces for the Veep. Rather, in most cases he seems inclined to give Agnew the benefit of the doubt. When asked if he could recall writing a single column strongly critical of Agnew, Reston said that he could not. He notes, however, that he and Agnew have "entirely a professional relationship. I've never had a meal with him. He's never been in my house, nor I in his." Press Secretary Thompson says that the Vice President admires Reston's "fairness" and adds: "They're friends by now, to be sure. It's a friendship based on strong mutual respect."

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