Excitements

Two recent events illustrated the kind of summer season this has been. The events concerned two widely—if briefly—asked questions: “Was Alexander Butterfield a CIA agent infiltrated as a spy into the Nixon White House?” and “Is Gerald Ford trying to put some distance between himself and his Vice President?”

Mr. Butterfield, a retired Air Force colonel, is the man who, in July 1973, revealed, under skillful questioning by the Senate Watergate Committee staff, the existence of the White House taping system. This July another retired Air Force colonel, L. Fletcher Prouty, volunteered to CBS News that four years ago several persons told him that Mr. Butterfield was a CIA “contact” in the White House. Sinister, no? No.

About the Author

George F. Will

George F. Will has been a columnist, beginning with National Review, since 1973.

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Two recent events illustrated the kind of summer season this has been. The events concerned two widely—if briefly—asked questions: “Was Alexander Butterfield a CIA agent infiltrated as a spy into the Nixon White House?” and “Is Gerald Ford trying to put some distance between himself and his Vice President?”

Mr. Butterfield, a retired Air Force colonel, is the man who, in July 1973, revealed, under skillful questioning by the Senate Watergate Committee staff, the existence of the White House taping system. This July another retired Air Force colonel, L. Fletcher Prouty, volunteered to CBS News that four years ago several persons told him that Mr. Butterfield was a CIA “contact” in the White House. Sinister, no? No.