ITT: No Charges

For a year, Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski's staff has investigated whether ITT Corp.'s pledge of financial sup port for the 1972 Republican National Convention influenced a controversial antitrust settlement in the company's favor. Last week, in a letter to a Congressman who had complained that the ITT probe appeared dormant, Jaworski disclosed that his staff had uncovered no evidence of any criminal conduct by ITT executives in the case.

But Jaworski said that his staff is still investigating whether ITT improperly influenced the Internal Revenue Service and the Securities and Exchange Commission. His office is also continuing its inquiry of possible perjury by ITT executives and former federal officials in the case. Last month former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that President Nixon ordered him not to appeal an antitrust court decision favoring ITT. He asks only that he have two olives in his martinis at the end of his 16-hour days and that when he arrives at an event, the band strike up the Michigan fight song rather than a more pompous ceremonial fanfare. He travels light. His airborne office is bare except for a Bible, a Congressional Directory and the World Almanac.

Soft Touch. Ford likes to call his perpetual motion "missionary work" for the G.O.P. Aides say also that Ford stays on the move because it gives him a chance to accumulate national exposure, it allows him to keep his distance from the embattled White House, and because he cannot say no to a speaking engagement, especially when the invitation comes from a political crony. Admits Ford: "I'm a soft touch."

His critics and some of his friends worry that this gregarious, obliging, uncomplicated man who likes to call himself the first "instant Vice President" might be too soft for the presidency. Ford of course disagrees. After reiterating his by now ritual disclaimers ("I don't want the job; I don't plan on it"), he told Angelo: "I see no reason why I shouldn't be a good President ... If I should find myself in that job some day, I feel prepared. I've worked at it. I've got friends, Republicans and Democrats, who would be helpful. I know the policies I believe in would be sound."

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