[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974] Page: 97 of 236
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Thursday, July 25, 1974
The
Day's
Drama:
Big
and
Small
By Lynn Rosellini
Newsday Washington Bureau
Washington-Peter Rodino gulped
down a glass of Tab, stuffed a roll of
butterscotch Lifesavers in his pocket
and opened his office door at 7:25 PM.
It was the big night, and he was hop-
ing it would go smoothly. As Rodino
stepped onto the elevator and. de-
scended to the waiting television cam-
eras, he said of the approaching eve-
ning: "I don't see anything that can go
wrong."
He was right. And he was wrong.
The House Judiciary Committee's
first televised impeachment hearing
last night was an exciting spectacle
and a crushing bore. It was history-in-
the-making and dull speechmaking. It
was a night of unexpected incidents
(two bomb scares) and of carefully
planned oratory (prepared state-
ments).
L i k e other committee members,
Rodino shut himself into his office for
most of the day to write the statement
he would deliver that evening.
Still writing at 6:30 PM, Rodino
gulped down salami, cheese and black
bread. He spoke by telephone with his
wife in Newark. The family,, Mrs. Ro-
dino told him, was already gathered
around the television set, waiting for
him to go on.
At 7 PM, Rodino watched the Presi-
dent's defense lawyer for impeach-
ment, James St. Clair, deliver a tele-
vised statement saying Richard Nixon
would comply with a Supreme Court
decision to turn over additional Water-
gate tapes to special prosecutor Leon
Jaworski. Then Rodino called to an
aide. "Get a white card," he directed,
"and type on it in bigl etters: ' recog-
nize so-and-so for purposes of debate
only and not to exceed 15 minutes.'"
A secretary emerged with a white card
and began typing. Rodino would re-
peat the line on the card 11 times dur-
ing the evening.
Then, another last-minute prepara-
tion. "Can I have a cup of coffee?" Ro-
dino asked his secretary.
"At a time like this?" she said incre-
dulously.
"Just a half a cup," Rodino said.
"It's cold. How about some Tab?"
"Okay. It's for energy."
Shortly afterward, Rodino left hisThe hearing room is packed as the committee gets down to making history
office to walk to the committee room.
He was hoping, he said, that the pres-
ence of television cameras in the room
would not tempt members into grand-
standing. "I hope the members will
consider that they're facing a very seri-
ous issue," he said.
At the same time that Rodino was
walking toward the committee room,
committee impeachment counsel John
Doar was approaching the entrance to
the Rayburn House Office Building. A
group of about 50 young people, clus-
tered by the door, recognized Doar and
began to applaud.' He did not acknowl-
edge the gesture.
A reporter tagged after him. Did
Doar feel this was a special night?
"You know I never comment on things
like that," he replied. Then he pushed
through the door.
Inside, the pale green walls of the
committee room were bright with tele-
vision lights. A huge steel-gray camera
poked from a hole in the wall above
Rodino's chair. Other cameras peered
from the walls or from pipe-and-board
stands draped in green velvet. Twenty
of the committee's 36 male members
wore camera-pleasing blue shirts.
At a table facing the committee, Al-
bert Jenner sat nervously twisting a
handful of black pencils. Jenner, thecommittee's minority counsel, was
musing about the effect of television
on the committee. "They'll all be con-
scious they're on the tube," he said.
In the cramped spectators section,
two White House lawyers were dis-
cussing the merits of their attendance
at the session "It's probably a bad de-
cision," said Mack Howard. John Mc-
Cahill replied: "Well, you get a better
feel for what's happening in the room."
Both attorneys were to report today on
the meeting to their boss, James St.
Clair.
Rodino gaveled the committee to or-
der at 7:43 PM. Rep. Elizabeth Holtz-
m a n (D-Brooklyn), who normally
chain smokes during meetings, sat
without smoking. Rep. Harold Dono-
hue (D-Mass.), who often falls asleep,
remained alert. Rep. Robert F. Drinan
(D-Mass.), who sometimes brings let-
ters to sign, took notes instead on a
green pad.
More than an hour into the meeting,
Rodino interrupted the speeches. "The
chair is going to be compelled to re-
cess," he said. A woman had said in a
telephone call to the capitol police that
there was a bomb in the committee
room.
The room was cleared, and while it'
was being searched, the congressiuen-held impromptu press conferences.
The wives of some gathered to chat in
small groups along the marble corri-
dors.
Rep. M. Caldwell Butler (R-Va.)
wandered down the hallway, looking
for his 17-year-old son Jimmy. Butler
paused to lean against the wall and
comment on the meeting. "The issue,"
he said, "is whether we're going to die
from boredom or exposure."
Ilona Hogan, wife of Larry Hogan,
the Maryland Republican who an-
nounced Tuesday that he will vote for
impeachment, chatted with another
woman. Rep. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ap-
proached. "I want you to know that I
still think your husband is a good guy,"
Lott said.
"Thanks,"i Mrs. Hogan said. "There
are a lot of Republicans who aren't say-
ing that."
The committee resumed its meeting
after about half an hour. But later,
police got another telephone call,
apparently from another woman, an-
nouncing that a bomb would go off in
the room at 11 PM. At 10:40 PM.
Rodino brought his carefully orches-
trated meeting to a close. And the first
night of the impeachment debate ended
with a smiling Rodino announcing:
"It's another bomb scare."Friday, July 26, 1974
1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
Cup
of
Impeachment,
By Martin Schram
Newsday Washington Bureau Chief
S a n Clemente-Two appliances
are working full-time in the mess hall
of the western White House as the
men and women of the Nixon staff
file in to begin their day.
One is a pour-it-yourself percola-
tor, filled to the top with fresh, hot
coffee. The other is a television set,
tuned live and in color to the congres-
sional debate on the impeachment of
the President of the United States.
Since 7 AM (Californ'ia time), the
President's assistants and their secre-
taries have been filing in and out of
the mess hall to have a little coffeeand impeachment. They enter, pour
their coffee, and sit mostly in silence
to catch a few minutes of unpleasant
history from the other end of the
country.
At one point a Nixon aide listens
to a few minutes of sharp criticism of
the President and retires to the com-
parative serenity of the dining-area
patio. "These are not easy times," he
tells a visitor, shaking his head. Then
he speculates on how the country is
receiving the steady drum of 38
speeches by politicians in the opening
debate on impeachment. "Probably
boring," he says, but he hastens to
add that he by no means underesti-mates the importance of the House
Judiciary Committee debate.
The question of just how the coun-
try is reacting to televised perform-
ances is a significant preoccupation
of the President's men these days.
For themselves, -they like to aim for
prime time, and their favorite time is
7 to 7:30 PM.
Yesterday, for the third time this
week the Nixon administration pre-
sented the nation with a live televised
special. On Monday at 7:30, the man
speaking on behalf of President
Nixon was defense attorney James D.
St. Clair, refusing repeatedly to say
whether the President would obey aU. S. Supreme Court order. On
Wednesday at 7, the man speaking
on behalf of the President again was
St. Clair, saying that the President
would obey the order after all. Yes-
terday at 7:30, the man speaking on
behalf of the President was the Presi-
dent.
"I want to discuss with you the ma-
j.or problem confronting America to-
day-inflation," Nixon said.,
The President was addressing a
group of California businessmen in
the Century Plaza Hotel in Los An-
geles in this time of his greatest per-
sonal and political crisis. He spoke
-Continued on Page 7R6 __________________ _________________ ___
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[Barbara Jordan Scrapbook, July - September, 1974], book, 1974; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616583/m1/97/: accessed June 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University.