38 IN HOUSE BEGIN
TO HEAR EVIDENCE
ON IMPEACHMENT
Leaders of JEggicic7ry Committee
Pledge a Wise Use of Power
—Closed Sessic Is Held
NYTimes
By JAMES M. NAUGHTON MAY 1 0
Special
to The New York Times
'
1974
WASHINGTON, May 9—The the members today and the docHouse Judiciary Committee be- uments and testimony supportgan examining in secret today ing the findings.
the evidence that may ultimate- If the committee recommends
ly lead to a judgment of Presi- impeachment •and the House
dent Nixon's fitness to serve votes to bring charges, the Senout his second term in office. ate will hold a trial and deCide'
The impeachment herrings,: whether Mr. Nixon is to. be
the second in the nation's hig- ousted from the' Presidencf.
tory to involve a President; "We understand our high
began with an austere 18-min- constitutional responsibility. We
ute public pledge by the com- will faithfully Ave up to it,"
mittee's leaders to use the the committee chairman, Rep"awesome" impeachment pow- resentative Peter W. Rodin Jr.,
er 'wisely.
Democrat of New Jersey, inThen the committee quickly
went into a closed three-hour Transcript of the committee
session is 'on Page 16.
session in which it heard a recitation of the events that led
up to the burglary of the Dem- toned to a national television
ocratic headquarters in the audience moments after rapping
Watergate complex on June 17, a gavel six times to start the
historic hearings.
1972.
"For some time," Mr. Rodino
Evidence on April, 1972
added, "we have known "that
The investigation of that the real security of this nation
burglary and of the attempt to lies in the integrity of its insticover it up led to resigna- tutions and the trust and intions of high Nixon Administra- formed confidence of its people.
tion officials, criminal charges We conduct our deliberations in
against some of them and, ul- that, spirit."
timately, to the hearings today. The ranking Republican,
RepWell-placed sources disclosed resentative Edward -Hutchinson
after the closed meeting that of Michigan, echoed the tone
the committee briefly discussed set by the chairman.
the possibility thbt evidenceexWill Abide by the Rules
isted showing that the President
was'informed in April, 1972, of "The power of impeachment,"
the political intelligence-gath- he said, "is one of those great
ering scheme that led to the checks and balances written in
our Constitution to ameliorate
Watergate break-in.
Committee lawyers gave each the stark doctrine of the sepaof the panel's 38 members, as ration of powers. But impeachwell as_ Mr. Nixon's chief de- ment of a President is most
fense attorney, James D. St. drastic, for it can bring down
an Administration of the GovClair, two thick binders.
One contained an index of ernment."
the massive amounts of evi- Mr. St. Clair played no role
dence accumulated in six in the initial day's proceedings
months of investigation of al- other than to listen and to
legations of wrongdoing by Mr. pledge, in the private portion
Nixon. The second labeled of the briefing, that he would
"Notebook No. 1," listed two abide by the committee's rules
statements of fact outlined to Continued on Page 16, Column 1
enntinued From Page 1, Col. 8 former White House aide to
Mr. Haldeman, has testified
under oath that he sent a merno4, secrecy and procedure.
Just before the hearings orandum to Mr. Haldeman in
b4gan, however, Mr. St. Clair early April advising him an the
tdld newsmen, in response to intelligence operation and that
qilestions, that he was confi- it was referred to in a "talking
dent Mr. Nixon would survive paper" that Mr. Haldeman took
with him to the April 4 meetthe test of the vidence brought ing
with the President.
before the committee.
As described by Mr. Rodino
rile President will not be after the closed meeting, the
impeached," he predicted. "The material presented this afterHouse of. Representatives will noon .to the 21 Democrats and
17 Republicans on the panel
not impeach."
the
Authoritative sources ' said merely set the stage :
mined
serious
that the most substnatial issue later. .issues to be xa
raised in the first day's private
Mr. Rodino said that John
session was whether Mr. Nixon M. Doer, the Committee's spewas given a general briefing cial counsel, had read a memoon the 1972 campaign intelli- randum outlining the relationgence operation when he met
on April 4 that year, with John ship ibetweem the upper eche-I
N., Mitchell, then the Attorney lOns of the White House and
General, and H. R. Haldeman, the leaders of the President's
then the White House chief of 1972 re-election campaign.
staff. This was more than two
months before the Watergate Facts 'String Out Like Beads'
In addition, the committee
burglary.
staff presented documents and
• Tape Termed 'Key'
testimony bearing on the plan' The sources said that a tape ning, by agents of the Presirecording of that meeting might dent's 1972 campaign, for the
be a "key" piece of evidence in political intelligence-gathering
the impeachment hearings. The operation that came to grief in
committee has asked for the the Watergate break-in.
recordng, but it is among 75
"Doar strung the facts out
Watergate-related tapes that ike a string of beads," one DemMr. St. Clair said Tuesday ocrat said later. "I've heard
would not be turned over to nearly all of it before, but , not
the Judiciary Committee.
in such detail and such precise
The. April 4 meeting, which chronology."
was said to have involved the
The committee member said
1972 campaign that Mr. Mitchell that "the stuff today stopped
allegedly approved, a broad- at the Oval Office" of the
scale intelligence-gathering operation. Gordon C. Strachan, a
President:but that it had whet- to remove a President from
resentatives Jerome R. Waldie S
ted his,appetite to hear the tape office. On May 16, 1868, the Transcript Paperbacks of California, Robert F. Drinan r
recordings of conversations in- Senate, by a one-votemargin, Being Sold at Fast Rate of Massachusetts, Charles B.
Rangel of Manhattan and Elizavolving Mr. Nixon after the acquitted President Andrew
Paperback versions of the beth Holtzman of Brooklyn.
Johnson- of charges brought
Watergate break-in.
Mr. Rodino said that the
EaCh of the committee mem- against hi mby the House in a Watergate transcripts are be- closed meetings
were in acing sold faster in New York
bers and lawyers was bound, controversy growing out of
cordance with a House rule
as was Mr. St. Clair, to keep, the Reconstruction after the and Washington than they providing
for private consideracan be produced.
secret all the evid6nce submit- Civil War.
tion of any evidence or testiA
normal
for
big
first
run
ted privately.
The current impeachment
mony that might "tend to deMr. St. Clair told newsmen proceedings, by contrast, are a paperback publisher is grade or defame" individuals.
100,000
copies,
but
Dell
said
he would "regularly" report to centered on some5 6 separate
Committee
said that
the"-President, but he declined allegations of criminal orco n- it had printed 700,000 in a at the meetingsources
today, at least,
to answer substantive questions. stitutional misconduct by Pres- first run and had started a the panel's
lawyers—John M.
second, according to United
Mr. Rodino, responding to a ident Nixon.
Doar, the special counsel, and
Press International.
question, said that under the
6 Areas of Inquiry
Bantam said it had •in- Albert E. Jenner Jr., the chief
panel's rules of confidentiality
Mr. Nixon was "the only person Mr. Rodino emphasized that creased its first printing from elements of the Watergate evito whom [Mr. St. Clair] can the watergate break-in on June 450,000 to 600,000 because it dence. For the record, the
talk" about the secret proceed- 17, 1972, and its aftermath was being flooded with re- record, the sources said, the
represented only one of the orders by bookstore owners. committee must establish that
ings.
The Government Printing there was a Watergate burglary
Although committee officials six broad areas of the inquiry.
had feared that information "We expect to continueou r in- Office •is selling the official in 1972, that therewas a Presiabout the proceedings would quiry until each area has been volume, a bulky softbound dential election that November,
seep into public print, most of thoroughly examined," he said. package of 1,308 typewritten and other uncontested facts dethe members said late today The President's chief defense double-spaced pages, for scribed as "the ABC's of the
case.
that they would not violate the attorney sat impassive during $12.25.
Dell is selling the tranThe sobriety of the event was
'rules of secrecy. However, they the opening ritual. At Mr.St .
said they saw nothing secret in Clair's side was one assistant, scripts printed in 693 pages, diminished, to some extent, by
the evidence presented today. John A. McCahill, and in the with added material from its circumstances. News photo"It's been reported a hundred audience was another, Malcolm The Washington Post, for graphers sat' or hunched in a
large cluster between the 38
times before," said Representa- Howard. Mr. St. Clair glanced $2.45.
Bantam's version, at 877 members and the laWyers for
tive John Conyers Jr., Democrat at the committee chairman only
of Michigan.
once, when Mr. Robino pointed- pages, with added material the committee and the PresiMaterials Locked Up
ly said that the White House from The New York Times, dent.
All the same, when he re- lawyers understood "and they costs $2.50. A commercial
Only 11 citizens were able
turned to his office, Mr. Con- are bound by" the committee's version similar in format to to find seats inthecrampe d
the
Government's
official
one,
yers locked the two binders of rules of procedure.
hearing room. All other spaces
confidential material in a safe Six Democrats on the panel except that it comes in three were occupied by 90 news revolumes,
is
offered
by Bren- porters, 43 aides or guests of
normally filled only with a voted against the motion to go
small stock of liquor.
the members, and 10 commitinto closed session for the first tano's for $10.95.
Mr. St. Clair appeared un- four days of the hearings. Two
tee staff assistants.
troubled by what he had heard of them, Representatives John years together, we impose the Three live television cameras
so far. He was asked if he was Conyers Jr. of Michigan and Jo- same secrecy on ourselves."
were placed about the room,
relieved to have the first day of shua Eilberg of Pennsylvania, Mr. Eilberg charged that
with technicians and strands
hearings completed and replied, issued statements protesting the the White House
would leak of electronic cables lying
in a nanchalant manner, "It's private examination of evi- secret information
from the around.
alwaYs nice to get started."
dence.
committee to further "a public But there was no mistaking
Moments later, however, he "It is absurd for us to slam relations campaign on his own the seriousness of the occasion,
quipped, "I'd rather be
Bos- the door on the American peo- behalf" and warned that closed no misunderstanding of the ulton practicing law."
ple," Mr. Conyers asserted. "It sessions
only lead to ru- tinate consequences if the JudiThe formal impeachment was exaggerated governmental mor and "-can
at a time ciary Committee should find
hearings began just one week secrecy which led to Water- when thespeculation
public must know grounds to recommend Mr.
before the 106th anniversary gate and now, as we begin to what was truly
said and done." Nixon's impeachment.
of the conclusion of the only hear the information which ties1 The other Democrats
opposing "We are governed by the
previous Congressional effort all the horrors of the past) the private
meetings were Rep- Constitution -of-- the United
tates which vests the sole
dower of impeachment in 'the
(louse," Mr. Rodino said. He
anded his brief public statements with a matter-of-fact remark: "Let us move on."
House Panel's Members
Special to The New Yank Times
WASHINGTON, May 9—Following are the members of
the House Judiciary Committee, which opened hearings today
to consider the impeachment of President Nixon:
DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
Peter W. Rodino Jr., New Jersey, Edward Hutchinson, Michigan
chairman
Harold D. Donohue, Massachusetts Robert McClory, Illinois
Henry P. Smith 3d, New York
Jack Brooks, Texas
Robert W. Kastenmeier, Wisconsin Charles W. Sandman Jr., New Jersey
Don Edwards. California
Thomas F. Railsback, Illinois
William L. Hnngate, Missouri
Charles E. Wiggins, California
John Conyers Jr., Michigan
David W. Dennis, Indiana
Joshua Eklberg, Pennsylvania
Hamilton Fish Jr., New York
Jerome R. Waldie, California.
Wiley Mayne, Iowa
Walter Flowers, Alabama
Lawrence J. Hogan, Maryland
James R. Mann, South Carolina
M. Caldwell Butler, Virginia
Paul S. Sarbanes, Maryland
Williams S. Cohen, Maine
John F. Seiberling Jr.. Ohio
Trent Lott, Mississippi
George E. Danielson, California
Harold V. Froelich, Wisconsin
Robert F. Drinan, Masachusetts
Carlos J. Moorhead, California
Charles B. Rangel, New York
Joseph J. Maraziti, New Jersey
Barbara Jordan, Texas
Delbert L. Latta, Ohio
Ray Thornton. Arkansas
Elizabeth Holtzman, New York
John M. Doar, special counsel
Wayne Owens. Utah
Albert E. Jenner Jr., minority
Edward Mezvinsky, Iowa
counsel