THE VICE PRESIDENCY: The Veep Most Likely to Succeed?

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With his complete cooperation, 350 FBI agents from 33 field offices dug into his finances, his friendships, his correspondence—none of which produced any evidence of misconduct. At his confirmation hearings, Witness Ford came across as a banal speaker, but he also impressed his questioners with his openness, candor and competence in the glare of sudden attention. More, he did not hesitate to differ with Nixon's approach on several important matters. He urged the White House to produce all documents that would be necessary to clear the President. When asked what he would do if, like Prosecutor Cox, he had been ordered to submit to a "compromise" that would cut off further Watergate investigation, Ford replied: "I would prob ably do the same." That is, he would refuse the President's order. All in all, the ordeal of digging and grilling enhanced Ford's standing with the Congress and with the nation—in obvious contrast to the fate of his new boss.

On the day of his inaugural and the day after, the stock market's recently leaden Dow Jones industrial average shot up almost 50 points, its largest two-day gam ever; Wall Street analysts attributed part of it to a boost in political confidence caused by Ford's swearing-in. In Washington, an AFL-CIO lobbyist said that Ford's arrival was "our go-ahead" for a broadened labor push for impeachment. In addition, the two dailies owned by Chicago's Field Enterprises chose Ford's inauguration day as the occasion to urge in editorials the "vigorous pursuit" of impeachment proceedings against Nixon. Said the Sun-Times:

"Nixon sought and won a mandate from the American voters and he has debauched it... The President's culpability seems to us to be beyond question."

Watergate Panic. Under Chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr., the House Judiciary Committee holds its second meeting this week on the impeachment inquiry. The Constitution requires that the process begin in the House, precisely where Ford is liked and trusted most.

Moreover, since any Congressman who is seeking re-election must face the voters in less than eleven months, the House is also where political panic over Watergate is first being sensed. House Republicans are worried that Nixon's troubles will wipe them out at the polls next year. After a secret survey, G.O.P. strategists calculated that the party may lose as many as 75 of the 191 House seats that it now holds. In the Senate, they found, Nixon's failure to resolve Watergate problems may cost Republicans six of their 43 seats, those of Kansas' Robert Dole, Colorado's Peter H. Dominick, Kentucky's Marlow W. Cook, Utah's Wallace F. Bennett, North Dakota's Milton R. Young and Florida's Edward F. Gurney (who has scandal problems of his own as well).

New York's liberal Republican Senator Jacob Javits, who is up for reelection next year, predicted that the question of Nixon's resignation "will probably come to the front" now that a logical successor is at hand. More surprising, conservative Ohio Congressman John M. Ashbrook declared bluntly: "I have found an increasing number of people, party loyalists, who believe the only hope for the Republican Party and the country is his resignation."