FOREMAN PLUMBER FOR NIXON

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34041, 3 January 1976, Page 10

FOREMAN PLUMBER FOR NIXON

Llndercover. The Autobiography of America's Most Famous Secret Agent. By E. Howard Hunt. IV. H. Allen. 329p.p. N.Z. price $10.55. In the popular chronicles of the Watergate scandals E. Howard Hunt is < falsified as the foreman of the White House “plumbers" who bungled their iob. Officially Mr Hunt was a consultant to the White House, and the “plumbers’’ who tried to burgle the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate office-apartment-hote! complex were, appropriately, a secret team which investigateo leaks to the news media But before he joined President Nixons team Mr Hunt wore other hats. He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 21 years, and also wrote novels. Now he has written his autobiograph}. described as “the autobiography of Americas most famous secret agent.’ to set his plumbing record straight for the benefits of future historians. To make it clear that he was much more than the bungling foreman Mr Hunt begins his version of Watergate and other events thus: “Because I have been depicted as at best a fumbler, and at worst a pathological criminal. I am writing my personal record of events as I saw them develop, and so illuminate the truth of these events which for all time must bear the scrutiny of history.” The events to which Mr Hunt refers'are the Watergate scandals, but ** the illumination he provides is more of a fainth glowing fluorescence than . a bright light shining on one of the * most extraordinary events in United * States history . The first part or “Undercover" is * very much a name-dropping operation. “ Mr Hunt served in the Second World t War, joined the Office of Strategic t Services, and then moved into the entral Intelligence Agency where he i emained for 21 vears as a spy for the 1 Inited States Government. He was <; arefully trained in the techniques of p hvsical and electronic surveillance, ji holography, document forgerv. and

surreptitious entries into gferded premises to take photograph: S and install electronic devices. Shortly after he left the C. 1.1. to work for a private firm asso dated with it. Mr Hunt became a paniime employee at the White F.ause, performing much the same kind of work he had done for the C.1.A., irathe special investigation unit known astthe “plumbers,” which entered the premises of Dr Ellsberg’s psychiatlst to aid in a conviction. J In May, 1972, he was asked Tto engineer an entry into the DemocMtc Party campaign headquarters in Watergate to ascertain if “the Cutqn Government was supplying funds!’ The entry became a nightmare <jf bungling. One of the burglars actual K carried a signed cheque from Mr Hund After the “plumbers” were caught Ml Hunt was traced through the and eventually sent to prison. \ Mr Hunt glamourises his intelligence's career as much as possible, but he seems to have been an irritant rather than a changer of world policy. For example, his Mexican agents disrupted communist meetings with stink bombs and itching powders manufactured by the C.I.A. In Guatemala he helped to topple the Government on behalf of the C.1.A., which was pushed by the United Fruit Company, whose foreign holdings were threatened by nationalisation. The C.I.A. specially selected a new president. He was very popular for the short time before he was assassinated by his personal bodyguard. In Tokyo Mr Hunt arranged an invitation to every resident to visit a communist trade fair with a guarantee of unlimited free beer and rice. When thousands stormed the hall there was pandemonium. Mr Hunt also played a part in the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. His feelings against the Kennedy Administration and its indecisiveness made him an even firmer Republican. Nevertheless, he saw himself as “a career officer of the C.I.A. whose professionalism required that he

respond to the orders of whatever Administration might be in power.” Some of the actions of the Watergate “plumbers” as Mr Hunt records them, are almost ludicrous. They met difficulties right from the start when a tape recorder hidden in a sofa cushion to record a particular conversation was sat on, and important information was thus compressed. Like a B grade movie actor, foreman Hunt was equipped with thick glasses, a brown wig, and a false palate to produce a lisping effect. Another “plumber” wore a special pair of shoes to make him limp. His feet became so sore that he thought he was going to be permanently crippled. In another episode of his career Mr Hunt was asked to break into the apartment of Bremer who shot Governor George Wallace, of Alabama. The Administration wanted evidence that the would-be assassin was a “Leftie.” At the same time the F. 8.1. was working on the case. Finally, at Watergate the electronics expert, McCord, put “bugs” in the wrong places, and on the wrong telephone line. The batteries were not properly charged, and the “plumbers” had to Ibreak in a second time when they twere caught. | “Undercover” gives the impression That Mr Hunt was a very small pawn in a major political game played by 'brown-up children, manipulated in turn »y men with delusions of grandeur Which put them above any man-made 4ws. There are so many conflicting Tries with individual biases that it is cflfficult to arrive at the truth in Mr Hint's account. It is possible to feel a lisle sorry for him, and the upset of his family life produced by the Witergate scandals. Mr Hunt has many best-selling quickie thjillers based on his life as an intelligence agent. His apology for a failure is a sad commentary on the rufirs of a great nation