[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July 1973 - April 1975] Page: 16 of 297
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FRIEDMAN, continued
Cohen, Jordan,
and Steelman:20 HPR
AT the moment, however, the only man in a position to contain
Hartmann, to prevent him from having easy access to the President, is
Phil Buchen. Buchen, 58, a shrewd and successful corporate lawyer and
a member of the Grand Rapids establishment, is crippled by polio. The
relationship he has enjoyed with Ford since they came to know each
other at the University of Michigan more than 30 years ago depends in
part on the contrast between the two men. Where Buchen was handicap-
ped, Ford was the handsome, blond, all-American jock. While Buchen
was studious and obscure, Ford was campus hero. But while Ford was a
plodder and team player, Buchen was brilliant and quick.
Thus with the help of men like Buchen, Ford became the good
looking front man among Grand Rapids Republican reformers who
wrested control of their party from the mossback hacks. Since the day
Ford went to Congress and began his rise toward the Presidency, he has
called on Buchen for help. On his part, Buchen has helped keep Ford in
touch with the heartbeat of Grand Rapids and his Middle American
origins. Ford brought Buchen to Washington last year as executive direc-
tor of the Domestic Council Committee on the Right of Privacy (which
Ford headed as Vice-President). But in reality, Buchen was on hand for
informal and important advice. Ford believes that Buchen, more than the
rest, wants nothing for himself.
But Buchen, during the controversy over the pardon of Richard Nixon,
displayed a couple of weaknesses inherent in his friendship with Ford. He
allowed and even helped Ford to keep the news of the coming pardon
from his press secretary, Jerald terHorst. Probably because he was abid-
ing by the wishes of a friend, Buchen didn't assert himself as counsel, to
prevent Ford from mishandling the privilege of pardoning. In his two
sessions with reporters, Buchen's charm and his small town lawyer's
style, were not successful; he seemed out of his depth. That may be the
reason that Buchen has been given cabinet rank while another more
experienced and independent lawyer, Philip Areeda of Harvard Law
School, has been brought in.
In the wake of the shock aver Nixon's pardon, there may be some
abrupt changes in the Ford White House. After so many plans for a
smooth transition and a more open structure unlike the Berlin Wall that
isolated Nixon, the chances are that Ford will surround himself with
Washington pros who know how to play the White House games of
power. It may well be that Ford, anxious to listen to the advice of experts
and burned by the pardon shock, will become somewhat less dependent
on his old Cronies.rt
FIRST TERM AND THE
'NATURE.OF THE BEAST'
interviewed by Maria J. Miller
When the HPR interviewed Bill Cohen, Barbara Jordan and Alan
Steelman shortly after they were first elected to Congress in 1972, no
one mentioned Watergate, the Judiciary Committee, or then minority
leader Gerald Ford. Less than two years later, these topics were often
discussed subjects when HPR staff writer Mar/a Miller spoke with the
three freshmen members of Congress about their first term in office.
Barbara Jordan (D-Texas) and William Cohen (R-Maine ), as
members of the Judiciary Committee, had just finished a six month im-
peachment inquiry. Alan Steelman (R-Texas), the youngest Republican
in the House, was completing his first term on the Government Opera-
tions and Interior and Insular Affairs Committees. What follows are
selected comments from those interviews.
On Impeachment
JORDAN: I think that the President would not have resigned had it not
been for the cumulative effect of the actions of the House Judiciary
Committee as well as other things. All of us always felt that the process of
impeachment would not go through to conviction in the Senate and re-
moval from office, but that the President would resign before it got to that
point. We all felt a great sense of relief for the country when we could see
this removal from office of the President and the smooth transition over to
a new President.
STEELMAN: I was leaning for impeachment. I was going to reserve
judgment until I could listen to the tapes and read the committee report. I
realized the gravity of the situation and I wanted to leave no stone un-
turned in being sure that my leanings were proper.
There was no pressure from the party at all, but there was pressure
from my constituents. I told several people, including ( House minority
leader) John Rhodes, how I was leaning, but he took the view that this
was an intensely personal decision.
The majority of my constituents were opposed to impeachment,
even at the end. I tried to say in the letters that I wrote home that this was
not an issue where party division or public opinion mattered. This was an
inquisition into the guilt or innocence of a civil officer of the United States
of America, as is provided for in Article 2 of the Constitution. I was virtually
a member of a Grand Jury and I had to make a decision on that basis. If a
constituent had been accused of a crime and heard that a member of the
Grand Jury was talking to people on the street corner to ask what they
thought ought to be done in his case, he'd be pretty upset about it.
COHEN: Following the disclosure of the June 23, 1972 tapes and the
immediate shift in attitude on the part of the full House, there was a
vindication of the 7 of us Republicans who voted for the articles.
My initial reaction following the vote to adopt the articles and follow-
HPR 21
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[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July 1973 - April 1975], book, [1973..1975]; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616547/m1/16/?q=%221973%22: accessed July 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.