A Question of Fitness

"Richard Nixon may not listen to Dr. Tkach, but he'll certainly take advice from Dr. Miller." That waspish Washington gibe reflected the cynicism, perhaps unfair, that greeted the news that this week the ex-President will finally enter a hospital for treatment of his thrombophlebitis. Dr. Walter Tkach, of course, is the former White House physician who two weeks ago, on a flying trip to California, had no luck at all in persuading Nixon to go into a hospital. Tkach even quoted his patient as saying that he feared he would die if he did so. "Dr." Miller, of course, is Nixon's lawyer, Jack Miller, who knows that health grounds could possibly help Nixon escape taking the stand as a witness in upcoming trials.

In California, Nixon's medical care is being handled by the ex-President's longtime friend and personal physician, Dr. John C. Lungren, an internist and cardiologist. Until 1971 he was chief of staff at the Memorial Hospital Medical Center of Long Beach, 50 miles north of San Clemente. That is where Nixon will be taken this week. Before flying to San Clemente to see her father, Julie Nixon Eisenhower told a press conference in New York City: "Mother says he is more irritable than usual, but that is because of his leg... He is taking medication and getting better, but he has to go in for a checkup."

Newsmen clustered outside the gates of San Clemente were able to pick up only a few crumbs of information. For a while, television crews tuned in on walkie-talkie conversations between Secret Service men patrolling the grounds, including regular reports on the whereabouts of "Searchlight," as Nixon is code-named. Then the Secret Service got wise and all that the TV crews could hear was an electronic hissing. But newsmen did learn that Nixon was still driving a golf cart to his office a short distance from the house. He was seen in the swimming pool and walking about the grounds without crutches or a cane.

While Nixon is in the hospital, his lawyers will be questioned about his health. A California judge must decide whether to grant their motion to quash a subpoena for Nixon to appear in Santa Ana and give a deposition in a civil suit challenging security arrangements at a 1971 rally in Charlotte, N.C. The plaintiffs charge that their civil rights were violated when they were refused entry. Miller & Co. argue that giving the deposition would impose an "unreasonable burden" on their ailing client.

Too III. That proceeding is overshadowed by the Watergate conspiracy trial scheduled to begin Oct. 1. Dr. Tkach has advised the defendants that Nixon is too ill to testify in court and that it might jeopardize his health even to take a deposition from him. But Nixon has been subpoenaed as a witness by both Defendant John Ehrlichman and Prosecutor Leon Jaworski. Federal Judge John J. Sirica has turned down Ehrlichman's motion to delay the trial again because of Nixon's ill health, and the U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld an earlier Sirica ruling turning down six requests for delay on other grounds. To forestall any further postponements, Jaworski suggested last week that Miller "inform the court, if he is able to do so, what Mr. Nixon's present condition is." Despite news reports, Jaworski added pointedly, the court has "no sound basis for concluding that his health is so precarious ... that he will be unable to appear as a witness." Should Miller make such a claim, said Jaworski, the court should consider taking the "customary step" of sending an independent medical team to examine his client. Nixon would be forced to testify if such a team found him fit to do so; if the doctors said that he was too ill, a deposition could be taken. Even serious illness cannot keep witnesses from testifying; in some cases they have been wheeled into the courtroom in their hospital beds.

Salary Cuts. In Washington, after hearings on Nixon's financial needs, the House Appropriations Subcommittee slashed the $850,000 endorsed by President Ford for Nixon's transition funds to $398,000 (see chart page 30). Instead of the $450,000 a year that is now being spent on salaries for 21 Nixon aides, the House proposes to allot him a mere $151,000. Existing legislation sets salary ceilings for such aides at $36,000; that would mean a cut for some, including Ron Ziegler, who now earns $42,500. The $622,000 for Nixon's Secret Service protection is in addition to these funds.

A House Judiciary Subcommittee will begin hearings this week on the "time, manner and circumstances" of President Ford's pardon. The subcommittee will also consider legislation authorizing Jaworski to issue a public report on Nixon's involvement in Watergate, as part of the continuing effort in the wake of Nixon's pardon to find ways of getting the full Watergate story out. Jaworski said last week that he did not think he could make such a report without an explicit congressional directive. A Roper poll to be released this week indicates that most Americans will probably welcome these moves. Of those polled, 78% believe that the charges against Nixon were serious; 82% think he was "clearly" or at least "probably" guilty, and 62% think he should have been prosecuted.

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