FAMILIES: Learning to Live With the Scandal

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On a recent Saturday afternoon, one of the men deeply enmeshed in Watergate was driving along 21st Street in downtown Washington, his considerable difficulties very much on his mind. He started a left turn from a center lane and almost caused a wreck. A policeman waved him to the curb and asked to see his driver's license. The officer looked at the name, glanced at the face and said, "Buddy, you've got enough trouble," as he waved Jeb Stuart Magruder on his way.

Such grace notes are rare for those involved in the Watergate scandal. From the grim prospect of the head of the household being carried off to jail to the daily annoyance of newsmen camping on the front lawn, the serial Watergate disclosures have made life for the implicated men and their families a time of anguish, anxiety and day-to-day uncertainty.

The immediate problem faced by most of the men is that they are out of work. Many of them are lawyers, and they face−if ultimately convicted−automatic disbarment and will have to find new professions. Some, like former White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, have simply refused to think about work for a while−and can afford to. He has inherited wealth. Others, like onetime Presidential Adviser John Ehrlichman, would like to take a job but feel they must wait until Watergate is unsnarled. Ehrlichman and his wife Jeanne have five children−Peter, 23; Jan, 20; Thomas, 18; Jody, 15; and Robert, 13−and are planning to move from Washington back home to Seattle next month.

Big Loss. One who found a job was former White House Aide Herbert Porter. In March he landed a $40,000-a-year post with a Los Angeles communications company, but he lost it when a major client raised eyebrows at Porter's presence. Porter, his wife Carol and their three children are now living with his in-laws in Laguna Niguel, Calif. He had bought a $92,000 house in San Marino, Calif., then had to back out of the deal at a loss of almost $10,000. Said a friend: "When you don't have a job, the lending companies aren't keen about providing you with $65,000. He couldn't buy a $92,000 house on his good looks."

Gone for all, of course, are the perks and status of their former high-powered Washington roles. Men who used to travel by chauffeured White House limousine have once again got used to driving the family car. Haldeman was seen not long ago in Washington catching a bus on K Street, and a couple of reporters recently spotted John Ehrlichman on foot−walking across McPherson Square on the way to his lawyer's office, eyes straight ahead. About the only vestige of official advantages left is the gesture made by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President for its former officials; it is helping with their legal fees in preparing their testimony before the Senate, before grand juries, and in fighting the various civil suits growing out of the scandal. The aid does not apply to coping with any criminal charges.