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On Sunday, both Haldeman and Ehrlichman asked to see Nixon, still resisting the idea of quitting. Nixon said he had no choice. The meeting was intensely emotional. Explained one White House aide: "That was a traumatic thing to do. The President had seen more of them than he had of his own family. And they had seen more of him than they had of their families."
Attorney General Richard Kleindienst was also summoned to Camp David. Though he had not been implicated in the Watergate scandal, many of his associates had been—so many that he had, properly, withdrawn from the investigation. Also, under his direction, the original Justice Department investigation and prosecution of the Watergate wiretappers had been lax and limited. No serious attempt had been made to find out who had ordered the wiretappers to break into and bug the Democratic National Headquarters last June, who had paid them, or who had approved the whole operation. Kleindienst offered his resignation voluntarily, but he was dismayed when Nixon insisted that his departure be announced at the same time as those of Ehrlichman, Haldeman and John Dean.
Dean, handsome and a smooth operator, had risen to his high-level post with virtually no experience as a practicing attorney, but with frequent demonstrations of loyalty to Nixon. But when his name became deeply involved with Watergate, he started scurrying for self-protection. He went to Justice Department prosecutors and told about the meetings he had attended at which the Watergate wiretapping plans were discussed. He revealed that former Attorney General John Mitchell had attended the meetings. Dean has asked for immunity against prosecution from the Justice Department in return for telling all he knows. So far, it has not been granted. He now could be making his sensational charges in an attempt to convince prosecutors that the knowledge he has would be worth their giving him the immunity.
The Speech. On Monday, Ziegler announced the stunning staff changes in Washington. Nixon remained at Camp David to craft his TV speech with Writer Price. He arrived at his Oval Office just 90 seconds before air time, looking and sounding nervous. A bust of Abraham Lincoln and a photo of Nixon's family had been placed within camera range. The occasion was reminiscent of Nixon's celebrated Checkers speech of 1952, in which he admitted that he had drawn on a secret $18,000 campaign fund (an almost touchingly modest figure by current measurement) that had been donated by California political supporters, but denied using it for any personal, nonpolitical purpose.
The Watergate speech was disconcertingly ambivalent. Nixon resorted to an odd and habitual rhetorical device, explaining—as he often has done in his past speeches on Viet Nam—that he was rejecting "the easiest course" and pursuing the more difficult one. In this case, "the easiest course would be for me to blame those to whom I delegated the responsibility to run the campaign." Placing the entire blame on subordinates, however, would not have been the easier course—because it would not have washed. To avoid accepting responsibility for the actions of so many men acting in his name would have been impossible.
Nevertheless, Nixon proceeded, in effect, to blame others by distancing himself from their activities. He had been