Nixon tries to restore power

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33253, 16 June 1973, Page 18

Nixon tries to restore power

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON. Weakened by Watergate, President Nixon appears to be trying to restore his power by giving some bits and pieces of power away, United Press International reported. He has given his new domestic affairs adviser, Mr Melvin Laird, far more authority than Mr Laird’s predecessor, Mr John Ehrlichman, had. ; Before agreeing to return jto the Administration, Mr I Laird, the former Secretary i —

lof Defence, got the President i [to promise him Cabinet rank,, : a seat on the National Secur-

lity Council and free access 'to the President day or night. President Nixon also had ito assure Mr Laird that he was not implicated in the Watergate bugging or aware of its cover-up. Mr Nixon gave the same assurances to Mr William Ruckelshaus when he asked him to take over the F. 8.1. temporarily and to Mr Elliot Richardson when he asked him to be Attorney General. It probably is unique in White House history that a President would have to protest his innocence while handing out high Government jobs. Republican Congressional leaders urged the President to appoint Mr Laird, informed sources report, because they wanted a man in the White House they could work with. Mr Nixon, still angry over Mr Laird’s opposition to the Christmas bombing of North Vietnam, is said to have made the choice _J

Another example of the' President dealing out new! power in an effort to heal his administration, is the case of the Senate Republican leader, Senator Hugh Scott and the House Republican < leader. Mr Gerald Ford. i They told reporters that they had served notice on 1 the President that they would ; hereafter set their own < agenda for the weekly leader- : ship meetings they hold with him. Senator Scott and Mr Ford i also have been invited to sit 1 in from time to time on 1 Cabinet meetings. I By agreeing to such inno- :

(vations, Mr Nixon apears to Ibe trying to better his contacts with Congress and get away from the Watergate image of a President isolated from the outside by a cordon of Ehrlichman - Haldeman types. Bringing back Mr Laird, a former Congressman who has a considerable following on Capitol Hill, fits into the same pattern. The role of the former Treasury Secretary, Mr John Connally, in the new White House setup is still unclear. Friends of the former Texas Governor, who recently switched his political affiliation from Democratic to Republican, say he is disenchanted and may, by stages, leave. The acting press secretary (Mr Gerald Warren) says that iMr Connally will not leave soon but will not stay “forever.”