Watergate Recalled

Almost two years after resigning as Watergate Special Prosecutor, Leon Jaworski has finally produced his long-expected account of the anxious, turbulent, year-long investigation that he directed into the worst scandal in American history. His book The Right and The Power (Gulf Publishing Co. and Reader's Digest Press; $9.95) is a straightforward, rather dry rendering, often made even drier by lengthy quotes from legal documents. Jaworski, who is donating the royalties to his own nonprofit foundation (which supports religious and educational projects), nonetheless offers some intriguing anecdotes and pungent observations. Among them:

> On the bait that Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff, General Alexander Haig, offered to Jaworski to become Special Prosecutor: "Haig said, 'You're highly regarded, and it's no secret that you're high on the list for appointment to the Supreme Court.' I suppressed a smile. The remark could have been part flattery, part fact, but I suspected it was all bait."

> On John Ehrlichman's reaction to the 13 charges Jaworski read against him during a plea-bargaining session: "I read, 'The last possible charge is mutilation of a Government document Ehrlichman's face twisted. He hurled the pencil to the floor forcefully and said, 'That I did not do! ' "

> On Haldeman's offer to testify against Ehrlichman and others in exchange for pleading guilty only to a single felony charge: "[Haldeman's lawyer John] Wilson sought to keep the conversation going, trying a number of times to get the judge [John Sirica] to give some hint of the length of sentence Haldeman could expect. Each time the judge waved the query aside, repeating, 'He'll have to take his chances . . .' "

> On the taped conversations between Nixon and Special Counsel Charles Colson: " 'Sleazy' was the first word that came to my mind as I listened . . . It sounded like two cheap ward heelers talking in the rear room of a neighborhood dive."

> On Haig's threat that Nixon's lawyer, James St. Clair, would make things "bloody" for Jaworski: "I finally said, 'I don't care how tough he is. I've come to grips with tough lawyers many times in many places, and some of them--well, St. Clair wouldn't make a pimple on their butts.' "

> On Nixon's role in the Watergate coverup: "I had expected to find all sorts of wrongdoing by his aides, conduct unbecoming and even criminal, but it had never occurred to me that the President was in the driver's seat."

> On Nixon's resignation speech: "It was not the speech of a President who had violated his constitutional oath and duty by obstructing justice, by abusing the power of his office, by transforming the Oval Office into a mean den where perjury and low scheming became a way of life."

> On Senator James Eastland's report of a call from Nixon after the President had resigned: " 'He [Nixon] was crying,' Eastland said. 'He said, "Jim. don't let Jaworski put me in that trial with Haldeman and Ehrlichman. I can't take any more." ' Eastland shook his head. 'He's in bad shape, Leon.' "

> On whether Nixon could have received a fair trial: "I knew in my own mind that if an indictment were returned, and the court asked me if I believed Nixon could receive a prompt, fair trial as guaranteed by the Constitution, I would have to answer, as an officer of the court, in the negative."

> On what happened to the tapes: "Haig said, 'I don't mind telling you that I haven't the slightest doubt that the tapes were screwed with. The ones with gaps and other problems.' "

> On why Nixon did not destroy the tapes: "He hoped to realize a fortune from them. And his background showed him to be a man greedy for both money and power."

> On the lesson of Watergate: "From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known: our Constitution works. And during the Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one--absolutely no one--is above the law."

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