50 Years Ago

Cluttered Corner Watergate Is Still a Political Hassle By Milt Phillips THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEING fed a continuous barrage of statements from newscasters and politicians in Washington. Constitutional confrontation. Inability to govern. Failure to abide by lase of the nation. The President should resign. Impeachment proceedings should be started at once. These are just a few of the statements we’ve been hearing and reading following President Nixon’s firing of Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox and resignation of the attorney general and his assistant. Many politicians, sensing an opportunity to gain political advantages to themselves or their political party, are rushing into words and print with statements which would indicate the political hassle called Watergate is really a violation of governmental responsibility. Watergate was a burglary by political henchmen in the midst of a partisan political campaign. It was directed at, and concerned only a political party and not a governmental agency or function. One political party hired people to burglarize the headquarters of another political party. No governmental functions were involved. The burglars were caught, tried, and sentenced. Political partisans allegedly attempted to use political contributions to pay attorney fees and family subsistence for the families of the men convicted. Investigations, much of it strictly partisan political, brought out connections leading into the White House. The President was a candidate of the political party which employed the burglars. He was seeking to defeat the candidate of the political party whose headquarters were burglarized and electronically bugged. These are the facts of Watergate. All of the rest of the hassle is the result of charges, counter- charges, political in-fighting and just plain spotlight seeking by ambitious politicians.