THE WHITE HOUSE: The Battle for Nixon's Tapes

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system and did not volunteer the information. Higby, however, was asked whether telephone conversations at the White House were recorded and said he knew of only two taped calls. Declared the committee's deputy counsel, Rufus Edmisten, later: "Butterfield is one of the few people in this entire mess who have impressed me as being a completely honest, sincere and upright guy. It's just preposterous to think that it is some kind of White House ploy."

White House reaction to Butterfield's disclosures indicated that officials there were not prepared for it.

Buzhardt on Monday morning sent a brief letter to the committee confirming that the recording reels had been spinning secretly since the spring of 1971. (Butterfield had thought the operation began a year earlier.) The system was still in use and "was similar to that employed by the last Administration." That evening Buzhardt, Garment, Haig and Ziegler met for two hours at the Bethesda hospital. Apparently after talking to Nixon there, they agreed that the tapes would not be released to

Ervin's committee and that no Secret Service officials would be allowed to testify about how the tapes were handled.

Next day when the Ervin committee tried to question Alfred Wong, who was director of the technical security division of the Secret Service at the time of the eavesdropping installation, he was accompanied by no fewer than six Treasury Department officials. One of them, a department counsel, objected to Wong's answering any questions, and read a letter from Treasury Secretary George Shultz, covering an order from Nixon. The President directed that no Secret Service agent could testify "concerning matters observed or learned while performing protective functions for the President or in their duties at the White House." The last phrase was vital, since taping Nixon's talks does not seem to belong to any protective function of the service.

During a closed session of the Watergate committee, some of the Senators were so irked at this presidential gag that they wanted to bring Wong before the TV cameras immediately; that would force him to refuse before the vast audience to answer questions. Georgia's Herman Talmadge objected that this would produce a "circus" atmosphere, and his calm advice prevailed. Rather than battle fruitlessly at such a low level, he suggested, Ervin should appeal directly to the President. Ervin did so in a low-key, conciliatory note, merely requesting "that you provide the committee with all relevant documents and tapes under control of the White House." Although the matter is obviously urgent, Ervin asked courteously: "May we hear from you at your earliest convenience?"

The Hoax. If a negative response from the President is received early this week, as expected, the committee will almost surely agree to issue a subpoena for the White House tapes, perhaps with a list of specific dates and conversation participants. Ervin is not at all certain that any personal meeting then to discuss the matter with Nixon would be worthwhile. Before the revelation of the recordings, Nixon had agreed to discuss with Ervin his refusal to submit requested presidential papers to the committee. Noting that "I have hopes even when my expectations are not too strong," Ervin said that he would tell the