NYTimes
JAN 2 6 1976
now that our optimism was excessive.
For all around us are signs that official lawbreaking continues to be
sprinkled with curses, Mr. Nixon di- treated with a nudge and a wink, not
' rected him to drop a pending appeal with the special concern that Brandeis
to the Supreme Court and to leave rightly demanded.
I.T.T. alone.
The man responsible for so much
r",lyly order is to drop the god- abuse sits in San Clemente, making
d mned thing," Mr. Nixon said. "Is television contracts and offering homithat clear?" Mr. Kleindienst replied: lies about the American spirit.' Our
intelligence agencies foreign and do" eah, I understand that."
That conversation took place less mestic, have admitted committil nuthan a-year before Mr. Kleindienst de- merous crimes; but has anyone yet
hied under oath that he had had any been charged with personal responsiWhite House orders on I.T.T. And he bility for one? Has President Ford even
By Anthony Lewis
had, not forgotten the pungent tele- expressed regret at that lawlessness?
Senator Mathias, Republican of
phone call; as he made clear later, it
BOSTON, Jan. 25—In a corridor
Maryland,
found it "remarkable" that
was an event engraved on his mem'outside the Attorney General's office
the President in his State of the Union
.
ory.
He.
just
lied
about
it.
Telling
the
in Washington there hang portraits of
truth would have kept him from be- message had "failed to address the
•the past Attorneys General of the
fact that these agencies must be made
coming Attorney General.
United States. They go back to Edto act lawfully." It is easy to denounce
When
the
truth came out in 1974 Mr. private crime, as Mr. Ford did. But
mund Randolph, who served President
it
Kleindienst was allowed to plead guilty a Tore important,
Washington from 1789 to 1794.
now, for
to a misdemeanor instead of the fel- thent to commit itself to law. GovernLast week the Justice Department
ony oft perjury, and he was given a
held a ceremony for the unveiling of
suspended sentence. That result was
the latest painting. It was of Richard
widely '• criticized as too lenient, but
G. Kleindienst, Attorney General: 1972there were complicated reasons for
73. Mr. Kleindienst was there, along
acceptance of the plea by the Waterwith 150 friends and department
gate special prosecutor, Leon Jaworemployees.
sky. In any event, that cannot change
The present Attorney General, Edthe facts--or their implications for
ward H. Levi, told the audience that
our system of law.
when he came to the department last
- year, "I was struck by the rich vein
Richard Kleindienst is not an evil
of affection I found for Richard
man. There is no evidence that, like his
Kleindienst." Mr. Kleindienst spoke of
President, he wanted to subvert the
our "government of law and not of
American system. He is said to be
men" and said the Justice Department , personally kind, and it is doubtless
was "the protector of that law."
true that some in the Government who
lived through real evil remember him
Less than two years ago—on May 16,
1974—Richard Kleindienst stood in a with affection. He is just a weak man,
Washington courtroom and pleaded insensitive, and unfaithful to the pringuilty to a violation of Federal criminal ciples of i1i profession.
law. Memories are seemingly so short,
It is the symbol that matters. An
these days, that the facts of that case Attorney General of the United States,
may be worth recalling.
the country's highest law officer, lied
At his Senate confirmation hearings to the Senate on a matter crucial to
in 1972, Mr. Kleindienst was ques- his office. He knowingly and delibtioned about Justice Department anti- erately violated his oath.
trust action against the International
"If the Government becomes a lawTelephone and Telegraph Corporation. breaker," Mr. Justice Brandeis warned,
A principal issue was whether Ole "it breeds contempt for law." Except
White House had intervened in the for the President himself, there cat
department's handling of the litigation, be no more powerful symbol of "fir
Mr. Kleindienst swore that it had Government" in that sense than the`
On March 8, 1972, he testified:,.
Attorney General. Personal forgiveness
-is one thing. It seems to me quite
"In the discharge of my respo
bilities as acting Attorney General in another for the Justice Department to
these cases, I was not interfered with hotfor an Attorney General who at
by anybody at the White House. I was tamed his office by committing a.
not importuned; I was not pressured; crime.
If it.were Richard Kleindienst alone,
I was not directed."
In fact—as a White House tape later one might excuse the episode as an
showed—President Nixon had tele- isolated one, motivated by kindness.
phoned Mr. Kleindienst about II4T. But those of us who saw the end of
on April 19, 19/I^. In a conversation Watergate as a pOwerful new Ameri. can commitment to law have to admit
Symbol
Of
Justice
ABROAD AT HOME,