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But Nixon could scarcely have anticipated the breadth of criticism that the speech produced. The Atlanta Constitution somewhat hyperbolically called it "one of the low points in the history of American democracy." The Boston Globe headlined a news analysis of the speech ANOTHER SUMMER RERUN. The Scripps-Howard papers, which customarily support Nixon, dismissed the speech as "regrettable, not to say disappointing," branded his policy on the tapes "a grave mistake," and added that "people with nothing to hide do not hide things." On the other hand, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, a loyal Nixon supporter, pleaded for restraint to prevent "the current overkill" from damaging the President's ability to govern.
The most common reaction among both liberals and conservatives alike was that the President had disappointed the country by saying nothing new. Senator Edward Brooke, a moderate Republican, was one of the unimpressed: "The President did not answer these serious charges with any specifics. We wanted facts; he gave us rhetoric." Michigan Republican Governor William Milliken, similarly, said he had hoped that Nixon "might be willing, in a more tangible way, to confirm what he was saying." Republican Congressman Mark Andrews of North Dakota agrees that the public is more concerned about high food prices than about Watergate, but he also believes that the two different problems "make a most potent political combination."
In the middle were tens of millions of Americans who, while they might be tiring of Watergate, had not been sufficiently reassured to put their minds at rest. "I'd like to believe he's innocent," said Raven I. McDavid Jr., an English professor at the University of Chicago, "but he sure isn't giving me much opportunity." An industrial engineer from Holyoke, Mass., Joe Cahill, agreed: "You want to believe him, but you cannot." Jim Brandon, a Little Rock advertising man, referred to an Arkansas expression, "That dog won't hunt." He added: "Well, that sums up my reaction. Nixon attempted to get off the hook, but he didn't make it."
At week's end, the Gallup poll reported that, of the unusually large number of Americans who had watched the address, 44% found it "not at all" convincing, while 15% concluded that it was "completely" convincing, and the rest were scattered in between. In response to other questions, 66% said that the speech had not increased their confidence in the Nixon Administration, 56% believed that Nixon should turn over the presidential tapes, and 58% disagreed with his assertion that civil rights and antiwar protests helped create the atmosphere that led to Watergate.
In Doubt. Despite such indications from the hustings, Nixon and his advisers seem to believe that the crisis is past, and that the President can now emerge from his isolation. This week in New Orleans he will address the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and soon after that will hold his first press conference since March 15. Lest reporters become overly optimistic, however, Deputy Press Secretary Gerald Warren let it be known last week that Nixon may choose not to respond to detailed questions about Watergate, on the ground that he has already spoken "forthrightly" on the subject.