American Notes WASHINGTON

His children were taunted by schoolmates, so they were sent to stay with friends. He received more than 500 angry telephone calls, including some death threats. Women members of Congress demanded his resignation.

Last week John Mack, 35, gave in and quit as the top legislative aide to House Speaker Jim Wright. The furor had stemmed from the Washington Post's curiously timed recounting of Mack's savage knife and hammer assault on college student Pamela Small more than 15 years ago. After serving only 27 months in a county jail for the felony, he had been hired as a $9,000-a-year clerk by Wright, whose daughter was married to Mack's brother.

"I wish I could rewrite the past, but unfortunately I can't," said Mack, probably the most influential staffer on Capitol Hill. Insisted Speaker Wright, who loses his right-hand man as he faces a bitter survival struggle over his ethics problems: "I was willing to give this young man another chance, and I have never had occasion to regret it."