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More Disliked. Colson's troubles are not likely to sadden his former White House colleagues. He was probably more disliked, as well as feared, than any other White House aide. Even that awesome guardian of the Oval Office, H.R. Haldeman, was one of Colson's harshest critics. He once complained to a subordinate that "Colson is always doing things behind my back." Explains another former aide: "Haldeman had no control over Colson. He detested him, but he couldn't do anything. John Mitchell hated Colson too. With those two against you, you have to have something powerful going for you to survive that long in the White House."
What Colson had going for him was the ear and the admiration of the President. Colson had avidly cultivated that contact. Shortly after arriving at the White House, he had met Nixon a dozen times but complained, "The President doesn't even know who I am." Once a corporation lawyer and lobbyist, as well as an assistant to former Massachusetts Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Colson had been hired by Presidential Counsellor Bryce Harlow as a political tactician. He proceeded to exploit his friendships with many labor leaders. Colson gained Nixon's appreciation with his advice on how the President could gain labor support for his re-election−advice that seems to have been successful.
Colson's exact duties were always a mystery to most of the staff, but they were almost solely political. "He worked for the President's re-election full time for four years," says one staff member. Colson secretively turned papers face down and closed his desk drawers when colleagues entered his office, which some of them sarcastically termed "the Office of False Impressions."
Nixon liked the fertility of Colson's mind. Dick Howard, Colson's former assistant, used to boast: "The President calls Chuck five or six times a day. Colson is the President's window on the world." A subtle campaign by Haldeman, supported by Mitchell ("I wonder if the President really knows what Colson is like," Mitchell once mused at a small meeting), eventually closed that window by reducing Colson's influence.
The combination of Haldeman's opposition and lucrative private law practice offers led Colson to resign last March.