Word: ervin
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Oval Office and the office in the Executive Office Building were also bugged for general conversations among persons on the premises. Alexander Butterfield told the Ervin committee that the bugs were voiceactivated, a term which means that a tape starts running as soon as someone speaks. But TIME has learned that his testimony was incorrect. Voice-activated recording (VOX in the jargon of the snooper's trade) has one major drawback: a slight time lag between the beginning of conversation and the start of recording. As part of the quest for simple, sure fidelity, Nixon's mikes were...
That 1792 precedent has stood. As Senator Sam Ervin's committee grapples with the problem of getting Nixon's presidential papers, tape transcripts or the tapes themselves, the legal situation is much as Washington left...
...transcripts are legally the same as documents for the purposes of subpoena. And, for that matter, there is no major legal difference between a request for presidential papers and a request for his personal testimony. To date, there has never been a congressional subpoena issued to a President. Senator Ervin is confident that one could be, however. Such a subpoena, he argues, would not violate Executive privilege if it sought specified material that related only to campaign or allegedly illegal activity. Besides, he adds, the President has already waived his Executive privilege by allowing aides to testify; having opened...
...Ervin is fond of citing a subpoena for certain papers and testimony issued to President Thomas Jefferson. But Jefferson's information was sought not by Congress but by a court for the criminal trial of Aaron Burr on treason charges. The situation is different when the Legislative Branch is locked in direct conflict with the Executive. Only last year Justice William O. Douglas argued that it is "no concern of the courts, as I see it whether a committee of Congress can obtain [an Executive Department document]. The federal courts do not sit as an ombudsman, refereeing the disputes...
Though they are not likely to, the two men who could do most to untangle the contradictions of all the Watergate testimony are due to face the Ervin committee this week. Until their resignations April 30, H.R. Haldeman as White House Chief of Staff and John D. Ehrlichman as Domestic Affairs Adviser were, along with Henry Kissinger, the men closest to Richard Nixon. Both are Christian Scientists; they attended U.C.L.A. together, share a passion for photography, a longtime friendship -and unswerving loyalty to Nixon...