The Nation: Source of Strength

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HOW DOES HE VIEW THE PRESS? Admitting that many newsmen had acted responsibly, Nixon added that he knew some White House correspondents "hate my guts with a passion. The point is that if I were basically a liberal by their standards, if I had bugged out of Viet Nam, which they wanted, Watergate would have been a blip. They wouldn't have cared, but it is because I have not gone down the line with them that they care."

WHAT SUSTAINS HIM DURING WATERGATE? Nixon cited his inheritance —"strong mother, strong father"—and the toughening experience of having weathered past crises during his career.

"In more personal terms," he said, "it gets down to what the Quakers call peace at the center—[which] means that whatever the storms are that may be roaring up or down, that the individual must have and retain that peace within him, and that will see him through all adversity."

HAS THE WATERGATE INVESTIGATION BEEN FAIR? The President found no fault with Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski "whom I respect very much." But Nixon criticized "some of the activities of some of his eager-beaver staffers" for unfairly harassing witnesses during Watergate investigations.

WHAT WOULD MAKE THE RABBI TURN AGAINST THE PRESIDENT? "Treason, and it would have to be proved beyond the flicker of an eyelash." Says Korff:

"I regard him as a man who has been vilified, savaged, brutalized, whose blood has been sapped by vampires. I see him holding out against willful people who are unworthy of polishing his shoes."