WHITE HOUSE: Nixon's Thin Defense: The Need for Secrecy

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With ever-increasing force, the waves of Watergate had been slamming for weeks against the doors of the Oval Office. Neither the repeated denials of presidential involvement in the scandal nor Richard Nixon's all-too-general television address of April 30 had stilled the pounding of multiple congressional hearings, grand jury investigations and relentless press probings. If the President was not to be rendered totally incapable of governing, he would have to grapple more directly with the specific charges against him.

In the court of public opinion, he stood accused of participating in or at least knowing of a massive conspiracy to conceal White House involvement in the political espionage, burglaries, wiretapping, campaign disruption and illegal use of donated funds that are all part of the Watergate squalor.

Last week, seemingly cornered, Nixon simultaneously fought back and fell back by issuing one of the strangest presidential documents in U.S. history—a 4,000-word statement that presented his defense. The document contained confessions that no other U.S. President has had to make. In it, Nixon cloaked his conduct in the claim that he had consistently acted to protect "national security."

That mystique-enveloped term carries such a patriotic appeal, and reflects so much legitimate public concern, that Nixon may well have won over many people—or at least bought himself some debating time—by evoking it. Indeed, 22 top congressional Republicans gave Nixon an ovation when they met in his office and he vowed "to continue measures to ensure secrecy." Said Senate G.O.P. Leader Hugh Scott: "I hope that the President will receive the same credence that is sometimes given to thieves who purloin documents."

Yet with his tendency to overstate a case, Nixon immediately carried his new theme to illogical lengths. Two days after the statement was released, Nixon brought his national-security argument to an ideally tailored audience—a bemedalled gathering of returned American prisoners of war. Without ever mentioning Watergate he declared:

"I am going to meet my responsibility to protect the national security of the United States insofar as our secrets are concerned." If negotiations with the North Vietnamese had not been protected by secrecy, he said bluntly, "You men would still be in Hanoi rather than Washington today." Then, assailing Daniel Ellsberg (though not by name) for releasing the secret Pentagon history of the Viet Nam War, he added:

"I think it is time in this country to quit making national heroes out of those who steal secrets and publish them in newspapers." The ex-P.O.W.s rose and cheered for a full minute.

The President was flirting with demagoguery in his speech to the returned prisoners, who enjoyed a well-earned celebration of dining, dancing and entertainment at the White House. It was an occasion of deep national appreciation that was used by Nixon for a self-serving purpose. As he emphasized in his press statement, there is no proper connection between his efforts to plug leaks of state secrets—including the Pentagon papers—and the political espionage at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee last June. One purpose of his press release, he said, was to "draw the