This program is 27 minutes long
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(Studio) President Nixon accepts resignations 3 top aides.
REPORTER: Howard K. Smith
(White House) Nixon goes on television 9 EST tonight to discuss Watergate. Accepts resignations aides H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst also resigns and is replaced by Elliot Richardson. [Press Secretary Ronald ZIEGLER - says resignations should not be seen as evidence of any wrongdoing.] Haldeman and Ehrlichman say they are resigning because their integrity is in question and their authority therefore impeded. John Dean was fired. Kleindienst resigns because says close friends implicated in scandal and he doesn't want to be Attorney General John Mitchell impt. in getting Kleindienst his job.
REPORTER: Tom Jarriel
(Justice Department) [KLEINDIENST - says Nixon needs Attorney General who can help in all cases, especially Watergate.] Kleindienst was less than vigorous in pursuing Watergate case and later took himself off case altogether.
REPORTER: David Schoumacher
(DC) Elliot Richardson, Kleindienst's successor, regarded as man of complete integrity. Has been Department of Health, Education and Welfare Secretary, Defense Secretary and now if confirmed will be Attorney General [RICHARDSON - says felt had duty to President to accept job.]
REPORTER: Roger Peterson
(Capitol Hill) Congress Republicans happy about resignations. [Senator Robert DOLE - says glad Haldeman and Ehrlichman, symbols of arrogance, have resigned.] [Senator William SAXBE - says now perhaps Watergate can be cleared up.] [Senator Barry GOLDWATER - says public will see resignations as sign of guilt.] [Senator Hugh SCOTT - says is glad about resignations.] Senator Sam Ervin's Watergate committee begins investigations in May.
REPORTER: Sam Donaldson
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(Studio) 16 Democrat govs. meeting in Ohio call on Nixon to appoint someone from outside administration to prosecute case. Govs. reject proposal Democratic national committee chairperson Robert Strauss to buy television time to broadcast demands.
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
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(Studio) William Ruckelshaus resigns as Environmental Protection Agency chief to take over post formerly held by L. Pat. Gray, acting FBI chief. Judge Matthew Byrne, Pentagon Papers judge, may be nomination for permanent chief.
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
(Los Angeles, California) Judge Matthew Byrne discloses that he met very briefly with Nixon some time ago and was offered federal job by aide John Ehrlichman. Byrne said he told Ehrlichman he could not consider federal offer while serving as Pentagon papers judge. Defense attorney Leonard Weinglass says meeting was unethical, another example of White House involvement in Pentagon Papers trial. Defense attorney Leonard Boudin asks that Pat. Gray, John Mitchell and others involved in Watergate come to court to tell what they know about spying on defendants of Pentagon Papers trial. [WEINGLASS - says has information Judge Byrne picked up at court in Secret Service car and taken to San Clemente for meeting with Nixon. Was wrong for Byrne to go, even if he didn't know what Ehrlichman was going to propose.] Weinglass says at time of meeting Ehrlichman knew government was giving Judge Byrne info. about case prosecution thought should be kept secret.
REPORTER: Dick Shoemaker Artist: Bill Lignante
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(Studio) Nixon discloses new tax reform proposal.
REPORTER: Howard K. Smith
(DC) Admin. wants simplified tax form, tax relief for elderly and alternative to tax-free municipal bonds. Federal government would subsidize municipalities that would issue bonds paying higher interest rate but with interest taxable. Tax credits would be given to parents with children in private schools, investment credits would be given for oil exploration and administration would establish minimum taxable income and eliminate some tax shelters. [Treasury Secretary George SHULTZ - says is hard to close off tax loopholes.]
REPORTER: Herbert Kaplow
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(Studio) Senator passes compromise measure extending President power over wage and price controls for another year
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
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(Studio) Henry Kissinger goes to Moscow this week for talks with Soviet leaders Communist party leader Leonid Brezhnev scheduled to visit United States soon.
REPORTER: Howard K. Smith
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(Studio) United States bombs drive Communists back from Mekong River near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Congress debates United States role in Cambodia with Secretary of State Rogers.
REPORTER: Howard K. Smith
(Capitol Hill) [William ROGERS - admits nothing in Constitution permits US bombing in Cambodia.] United States position paper states President authority to bomb in Cambodia comes from United States commitment in Vietnam. United States has no formal commitment to Cambodia. United States says Vietnam's right to self-determination threatened by North Vietnam interference in Cambodia.
REPORTER: Ted Koppel
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(Studio) FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recommends tighter controls on 9 barbiturate drugs.
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
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(Studio) Narcotics agents break into 2 homes in Collinsville, Illinois,and rough up and terrorize inhabitants.
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
(Collinsville, Illinois) Herbert Giglotto reenacts first moments of terror when 25 armed men burst into house while family sleeping. [GIGLOTTO - says agents handcuffed him and threw him across bed. Told him they were going to kill him, cursed at him and called his wife a bitch.] [Louise GIGLOTTO - was not allowed any self-respect. Says was laid across bed and handcuffederal Had only nightgown on.] [Herbert GIGLOTTO - says wife asked to be covered up but they wouldn't do it. Then agents discovered they had wrong house ] House of Mr. and Mrs. Don Askew also raided. Askew's unavailable for comment, but have filed suit against federal government Collinsville police confirm raids made without their knowledge and without benefit of search warrents. [Herbert GIGLOTTO - asks how agents could have made 2 mistakes in row, kicked down doors and threatened people. Agents had everything from sawed-off shotguns to pistols.] [Louise GIGLOTTO - says if this is way government operates there is little hope.]
REPORTER: Jim Kincaid (Studio) Yiles J. Ambrose, director Federal Drug Abuse Enforcement Agency, orders investigation of incident.
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
#25618
(Studio) Reporter speculates on how well Nixon will recover from Watergate scandal. Contrasts Nixon's entrusting job of investigation to Attorney General Elliot Richardson when Justice Department image tarnished by John Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst, and when FBI integrity severely damaged by L. Pat. Gray, with Coolidge's handling Teapot Dome scandal. Coolidge gave job of investigation to independent agency. Reporter feels Nixon has used huge victory at polls to pick unnecessary fights, to throw defiance at Congress and show hostility toward press. Nixon's store of good will is very low.
REPORTER: Harry Reasoner
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