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The G.O.P. responded to the Anderson columns with slightly red-faced outrage. Mitchell flatly denied any prior knowledge of ITT underwriting for the convention. Kleindienst, who had been expecting routine confirmation by the Senate next week, quickly requested that the Senate Judiciary Committee, which had earlier given him a 13-0 vote of approval, reopen public hearings on his qualifications so that he might refute the charges.
Crucial Concession. Kleindienst showed up before the committee accompanied by McLaren and Rohatyn. All three denied any wrongdoing. Kleindienst insisted that he knew nothing about the ITT convention contribution until it became public knowledge "on or about Dec. 3" of last year. He also said that he had had nothing to do with the negotiation of the settlement agreed to by McLaren's Antitrust Division. He did, though, admit to several meetings with Rohatyn to discuss "some of the economic consequences" of the suit—meaning the impact on the stock market if the ITT-Hartford merger fell through.
The testimony by Kleindienst, Rohatyn and McLaren was not too well synchronized. In his statement, Kleindienst conceded that, besides Rohatyn, he knew one other ITT employee, a neighbor named John Ryan, who was deputy director of the corporation's Washington office, and whom he had met a few times at parties. But, he said, they had never discussed ITT's troubles with the Antitrust Division. Later, while McLaren was answering questions, Rohatyn and Kleindienst held a whispered consultation, after which Kleindienst cut off the questioning to announce: "My memory has been refreshed." Yes, he said, he had talked to Ryan about ITT's troubles after all; in fact, it was Ryan who had asked him to meet with an ITT executive, who turned out to be Rohatyn. Many in the audience felt that it was a crucial admission.
At the next day's hearing, Committee Member Ted Kennedy produced a letter written to Kleindienst by Reuben Robertson, an associate of Consumer Crusader Ralph Nader, questioning whether there was any connection between the ITT settlement and the company's gift to the G.O.P. Kennedy also produced the reply, dated Sept. 22, 1971, and written by McLaren, insisting that there was no such connection. Kennedy then pointed out that in earlier testimony both men had said that the first they had known of ITT's convention contribution was when it became public, "on or about Dec. 3." Yet here was a letter, dated two months earlier, discussing the gift. Both men denied any recollection of McLaren's or Robertson's letters, but Kennedy's probe had again cast doubt on their testimony.
Meanwhile questions mounted concerning Mrs. Beard, who had dropped out of sight two days after Anderson published her memo. She had told a California Congressman that "where I'm going they won't be able to find me, and I won't be able to talk to them." Late last week, however, she was reported to be in the cardiac unit of the Rocky Mountain Osteopathic Center in Denver. Clearly Mrs. Beard, a divorcee of 53 with five children, and one of Washington's more colorful lobbyists, holds the key to many of the uncertainties surrounding the ITT affair.