An Amnesty for Citizen Nixon?

To the Editors:

There is nothing to be gained by further punishment of former President Nixon. He has already suffered enormously, and our society would not benefit from prolonged vindictiveness.

If the public believes that equal justice is violated by prosecution of the underlings and immunization of the alleged No. 1 conspirator, however, then either the former President should be prosecuted or immunity should be extended to all Watergate defendants now caught up in the criminal justice system.

The Watergate episode has vindicated our faith in the collective wisdom of the American people. Public pressure has helped force several vital developments in the case, from the appointment of Leon Jaworski to the collapse of congressional support for the President and his ultimate resignation. Now the public must also determine the Nixon immunity question. It is not a problem that should be dumped solely on Mr. Jaworski. After a period of contemplation, the Congress should gauge public sentiment and advise the special prosecutor.

Politically, it's a no-win situation for the Congress, similar to the impeachment vote prior to the last tapes revelations. But the problem must be faced. An appropriate attitude for Jaworski would be: "I'm going to proceed with the criminal investigation of Ordinary Citizen Nixon until I hear differently from the Congress." In that way, even congressional inaction will represent acquiescence with a course of prosecutorial conduct.

Unfortunately, unfairness is bound to result. Last year not a single witness who admitted giving money to former Vice President Agnew was indicted, because the Justice Department believed it would be grossly unfair to prosecute one-half of the bribery conspiracy while pardoning the other half. It is too late to be as consistent now in Watergate.

The problem shouldn't be decided immediately, in this time of high emotion, but studied soberly and determined on the basis of what best serves the national perception of fairness and justice.

William D. Ruckelshaus

Washington, D.C.

The writer was Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. until Oct. 13,1973, when, in the "Saturday Night Massacre," he was fired by Richard Nixon for refusing to sack Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.

A Gross Insult to Justice

That our country has had to go through the agonies of the recent months is depressing, and yet how fortunate that the very circumstances once again bring to the forefront the basic rights our Constitution guarantees. There comes a time when the only way an unwholesome situation can be treated is by facing it and proceeding through the appropriate legal system if we want to retain our individual rights as well as law and order. Now that President Nixon has resigned rather than subject this country to the trauma of a trial in the Senate, to want to go even further and offer amnesty or "off the record" equivalents would be a gross insult to our system of justice.

To make a "deal" with the former President would be a breach of faith with the future. The American people have had enough secret deals and plea bargaining. There must be no more deals. Now I think we have to go back to Harry Truman's statement, "The buck stops here," and apply it to the prosecutors and the courts. If any deals are made with the ex-President, I fear that much of our agony has been in vain.

Norton Simon

Los Angeles

The writer, a retired industrialist (he was head of Norton Simon Inc.), is an art collector and philanthropist.

On the Side of Mercy

President Ford would be wise to announce that Mr. Nixon will be given a general grant of amnesty because, as a noted jurist once said, there are times when "forgiveness is deemed more expedient for the public welfare than prosecution and punishment." To make such a move palatable to those who believe that justice should be evenhanded, President Ford should couple amnesty for Mr. Nixon with amnesty for the thousands of Viet Nam-era draft evaders still at large. Let us err on the side of mercy. Unless this quarrel between the past and the present is quelled, we shall lose the future.

Bill Simons

Swampscott, Mass.

Historical Perspective

Mr. Nixon's presidency has provided us all with an invaluable lesson in, and respect for, constitutional government. And the conduct of the American people has equally been a credit to the vitality of our Constitution. They have given Mr. Nixon the benefit of the doubt; they have not been swayed by the vocal minority or the powerful media; they have presumed the man innocent until proven guilty.

Mr. Nixon has always stressed the historical perspective. It would be tragic now if the people or their representatives in government were to lose that sense of history and constitutional justice and fail to prosecute fully all suspected criminals, including Richard Nixon.

Paul Seliga, S.J.

Berkeley, Calif.

After the Storm: Restoring Trust

What must be asked of those now in charge is whether they have the capacity to act, and can one trust what they say about what they are going to do. What has happened reminds me of a parable about a disciple who comes to his rabbi and asks him how to become wise. The rabbi advises, "Study and work hard." The disciple says, "But Rabbi, a lot of people study and work hard and they are still not very wise." "Study, work hard and experience," adds the rabbi. "But a lot of people do that and it doesn't make much difference," counters the disciple. Exasperated, the rabbi exhorts, "Study and work hard and experience and have good judgment!" Persisting, the disciple asks, "How do you have good judgment?" "By having bad experience," intones the rabbi.

We have had that bad experience in this country. Perhaps we have taken the first step toward getting good judgment. Whether we have learned anything will be seen if this new Administration ends the practice of twisting major administrative agencies to political purposes. The building of trust will come when we see what kind of model Gerald Ford sets for everyone else. Trust will be restored when we feel that his public rhetoric and private transcripts match each other. While we will not have such transcripts to deal with literally now, people will be watching him more closely and reporting on him.

This close scrutiny of our leaders must be accompanied by a closer scrutiny of ourselves. We have all, and that includes the press, worked on a double standard vis-`a-vis Nixon. Now that we have been rough with him, we must be as rough with other guys. If there is a real gain from recent events, it may be a greater awareness of this double standard as well as the double dealing.

Daniel Bell

Cambridge, Mass.

The writer is a professor of sociology at Harvard and author of the recent The Coming of Post-Industrial Society.

Reason for Despair

Institutions get the people they deserve, and people like Richard Nixon, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman got into power with the plaudits of an American majority, who were buying most of the vices they got with their eyes open. The voters did not foresee the details of a Watergate, but they got the kinds of people that our system in its present state is likely to get.

I doubt very much that the Ford Administration will fill the present vacuum of confidence. If the American people took a good hard look at what they got as a result of the Nixon Administration's fiasco they would have more cause for despair than for confidence. The nation that resoundingly voted down Barry Goldwater has managed to see itself survive to be governed by his inferior without an election.

What we need is a much greater filtering down of decision-making competence to lower levels of government, and a beefing up of municipal government rather than state or national government. In the future, we are going to have more of a true federalism, with more coordination among governments and with far more of the important decisions being made at lower levels. Through such a process, there may be some hope of a more broad-based political participation by groups that have been frozen out of it for many years. But if that doesn't happen, I see things getting progressively worse. If power doesn't go back down to a level where people can get a better handle on it, then we will be subject to increasingly abstract decisions made by increasingly powerful people, and the decisions will be increasingly bad.

Anthony Amsterdam

Stanford, Calif.

The writer is a professor at Stanford Law School.

The Resignation: No Disaster

While this historic time is one of personal tragedy for Richard Nixon, it would be a mistake to consider it one of national disaster or disgrace. I can think of no national tragedy more serious than to have overlooked or tacitly accepted the deceptions of his Administration.

In the face of all the ethical obituaries written on our society, it is heartening to realize that we obviously have considerably more than just a passing acquaintance with morality. We're hearing a lot about the wisdom of our founding fathers. It would appear that we have almost come full circle. Rather fitting on the eve of our 200th anniversary.

Carolyn S. Wright

Ft. Bliss, Texas

True to Form

How true to form that this man who removed honor, dignity and outright cash from his office as President would deny his countrymen the peace of knowing that their great constitutional processes had worked justly. How tragic that a President of the United States had not the moral fiber to provide us with a moment of truth.

Ruth Reynolds Palo Alto, Calif.

In the Driver's Seat

I suppose that now some "bleeding-heart" conservatives will say that the press drove Richard Nixon from public office. Let us remember that Nixon was in the driver's seat and he chauffeured himself through the morass of Watergate. I hope that the new model Ford will lead the nation to a more settled America.

Marjorie Cunningham El Paso

They Finally Got Him

Something about Richard Nixon has always seemed to spur his opponents on to unusually harsh attacks. During the whole Watergate affair, the prime thought was not on any real crime the President might have committed, but on how to "get Nixon." Well, they finally "got him," and it makes me sick.

I liken this assassination of Nixon to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and other great men in our history. Yet an overwhelming majority of Americans have delighted in it. As an American, I am ashamed.

Peggy Ashcraft

Westminster, Calif.

Cohen's Forebears

You identify Maine's William Cohen as the son of "a Jewish baker and an Irish mother," implying that a religious identity is one and the same as an identity of national origin. I would not wish to nitpick over a matter of semantics, but this sort of writing could lead to some interesting analogies: Richard M. Nixon, son of a Quaker mother and an American father; Barry Goldwater, son of a Jewish merchant and an American mother; Lyndon B. Johnson, son of a Protestant mother and an American farmer; John Kennedy, son of a Catholic mother and an American politician. I'll quit, if you will.

Faye Anton

Abilene, Texas

Jordan's Manner

I was more than a little surprised to read that you found Congresswoman Barbara Jordan's "cultivated accent and erudition surprising." She is a lawyer and a member of Congress. Did you expect maybe Aunt Jemima?

Judie Weintraub

New York City

The Only Solution

The solution to the Cyprus crisis is not taksim, the partition of the island into Greek and Turkish enclaves. Nor is enosis, union with Greece, feasible. As long as a Turkish minority resides in the midst of a Greek majority only strife and bloodshed will be the legacy for future generations. The mutual hatred that developed during the long centuries of Ottoman domination cannot be easily forgotten.

The 119,000 Turkish Cypriots should be compensated for their property and repatriated to the Anatolian mainland among their Moslem brethren. This is the only lasting solution.

Thomas Spelios

Port Chester, N. Y.

Sheathing the Sword

Reader Peeleman's letter about how Napoleon judged a woman who accused one of his officers of raping her [Aug. 12] reminded me of a similar story about a praetor in Caesar's army who also had a woman complain to him that she had been raped. The praetor handed the woman his sword and asked her to sheathe it while he moved the scabbard. The woman took his sword and lopped off his hand, causing the scabbard to fall to the floor. After that she had no problem sheathing the sword.

It may indeed be difficult to "thread a moving needle," but it takes a person of incredible naivete to imagine that a woman can avoid violence by simply stepping out of the way. Given the choice, most women would submit to a rapist rather than face being disfigured or even murdered. Either way, the victim loses and she gets the added treat of reading letters written by men who either have no understanding of the problem or sympathize with the rapist.

Nan Taylor

Lake Ronkonkoma, N. Y.

Revealing Attitudes

Peeleman's letter is a graphic illustration of what the revolt against rape is all about--not only the physical crime of violence, but the attitudes that perpetuate and nurture the crime. What woman--or man--would move when the gun at their head might go off or the knife at their throat might slip?

Mary Ann Largen

Coordinator, National Rape Task Force

Chicago

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