Word: subpoenae
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That was not what had been asked of him. He was acting against the deadline of a subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee, which is weighing his impeachment, for the actual tapes of 42 White House conversations. But he would or could not deliver the tapes, for reasons he did not explain in his speech. (Later the White House said that tapes of eleven of the requested discussions had been lost or never, in fact, existed.) Instead, the President chose to gamble that he could defy the subpoena and go over the heads of the Congressmen to protest his innocence...
There was much negative reaction as well, centered mostly on the fact that the President was not obeying the law by complying fully with the subpoena. The Gallup poll surveyed some 700 adults by telephone following Nixon's speech and found that it had left 17% with a more favorable opinion of Nixon but 42% with a less favorable view. By 44% to 41%, those interviewed said that they thought there was now enough evidence for the House to impeach the President, though by 49% to 38% they said Nixon's actions were not serious enough to justify the Senate...
Members of the House Judiciary Committee agreed that Nixon had not satisfactorily met the terms of their subpoena. They also resented the fact that he had replied to it with a public speech. Democrat John F. Seiberling of Ohio complained: "To respond to a lawful subpoena by going on television was not a decent thing to do." But the committee members split over what their reaction should be. Republicans urged another attempt at negotiation. Michigan Congressman Edward Hutchinson, the committee's ranking Republican, argued: "In our system of government, it was never contemplated that the separate branches should confront each...
...that his delivery of edited transcripts instead of tapes "failed to comply" with the committee's subpoena. Even on that relatively innocuous rejoinder, the committee split 20-18, by party (although two Democrats and one Republican crossed party lines). But Rodino had succeeded in keeping the committee from being diverted from the hearings on Nixon's impeachment that it will open this week...
White Paper. What was certain was that Nixon was orchestrating a major campaign to win public support for a limited response to the subpoena, apparently in hopes of forcing the committee to accept it. An aide said that the blitz probably would include a prime-time television speech. In addition, White House Speechwriter Ray Price worked all week on a White Paper to explain Nixon's reasons for not turning the tapes over to the committee. Senior presidential aides-among them Dean Burch and St. Clair-were offered to television networks for interviews this week...