George Bush, Republican National Chairman: "It is grubby. There appears to be growing concern about it, and there is no point hiding it. It is not good for the political party as a whole nor the political party system."
Hugh Scott, Republican Senate Leader: "The facts should all be ascertained and made public. Those of us whose profession is politics are deeply disturbed at any developments which taint the political process."
James Buckley, Conservative-Republican Senator from New York: "I don't think anything should be kept under the table. I want to know what happened. The reports indicate less than wholehearted cooperation by the Administration."
What those leading Republicans were talking about last week was the rapidly expanding Watergate scandal and the Nixon Administration's efforts to keep some of its highest past or present officials from telling the Senate and the public what they know about it. The open rebellion by a wide range of Republicans against the Administration's secretive handling of the affair destroyed claims that the concern about Watergate was limited to partisan Democrats or sensation-seeking newsmen. The President clearly faces a credibility crisis within his own party.
Curt. That crisis was heightened last week by dramatic—and so far unsubstantiated—charges made by a convicted Watergate conspirator. James W. McCord Jr., the former security coordinator of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President, testified that some of Nixon's closest advisers were fully aware of the plan for the breakin and bugging of Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington's Watergate complex last June and had approved of it. In the face of such charges, Republican Congressmen as well as many G.O.P. stalwarts in all walks of life were highly critical of Nixon's decision merely to authorize curt denials through White House spokesmen rather than speak openly and fully. Besides the single court-proven act of spying at the Watergate, there are now broader charges of a covert and systematic attempt by Nixon's re-election officials to disrupt the campaigns of potential Democratic opponents in last year's presidential election.
Republicans were especially bothered by Nixon's contention that no presidential aide, even if no longer on his staff, can appear formally before any congressional committee to answer questions about the affair. That attempt to expand the protection of Executive privilege is unprecedented. Anything that advisers may have told Nixon has traditionally been accorded privilege. But in this case they would be kept from testifying about matters that were purely political, possibly illegal and had nothing to do with their formal Government duties—and thus cannot be privileged. If Nixon indeed had no knowledge of these clandestine political activities, any claim that Executive privilege was involved is further weakened.
One Republican Senate leader reported that virtually every G.O.P. Senator is upset about Nixon's stand. "We're not a unanimous bunch," he explained. "But we are unanimous about Watergate. The President should order anybody whose name is substantively implicated to testify."