California's Republican Representative Pat Hillings ushered into his office one day last week a man with a Russian accent. The caller was an aide to retiring Soviet Ambassador Georgy Zarubin, and he needed some advice. The situation : Zarubin, headed home to the Kremlin, wanted to pay his protocol farewell visit not to the President of the U.S. but to Hillings' good friend and patron Vice President Richard Nixon. Could this be arranged? Hillings said he would seeĀand did. The White House had no objections. Nixon was agreeable. The State Department said "sure."
In Nixon's ornate reception room-office just off the...