For the Record

It’s slippage all over the lot: Republican Congressmen Sam Steiger (Ariz.) and Charles Gubser (Calif.), Nixon men from way back, tell presidential counselor Dean Burch that “a stampede [to impeach] is developing in the House,” and urge the President to call on the House for a swift vote to impeach thus getting lots of hard-pressed GOP congressmen off the hook. Rep. Barber Conable of New York, respected head of the GOP Policy Committee in the House, is for it. “The idea [of a presidential call for impeachment] is being revived again in the hope that it will dilute the cup of hemlock we will have to drink.” Lots of House members, until last week counted among the antiimpeachment stalwarts, now hedging their bets. Minority Leader John Rhodes “had not reached any decision,” he “is concerned about the evidence against the President.” Representative William “lighght” Scherle (Iowa), called an ultraconservative by Washington Post, is “undecided,” but he has “every reason in the world to look upon [the White House outfit] with revulsion”; former YAF leader Bob Bauman (Md.) “is deeply disturbed”; John Rousselot (Calif.) can’t “rule out” a possible vote for impeachment; Sam Steiger sums up what most Republican House members are thinking: “It’s a no-win situation. No matter how you vote, you antagonize constituents so you might as well vote your convictions.” David Broder, political columnist for the Washington Post, a man not given to exaggeration, writes on July 31, the day after the final Judiciary Committee votes on impeachment, that “there is very little doubt in their minds [the minds of Gerald Ford’s friends] or almost anyone else’s that he [Ford] will be President before the year is out.”

And Sen. Robert Dole, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, calls for increased security precautions for Jerry Ford. “It would be a tragedy of profound magnitude,” says Dole, “if something should happen to Ford.”

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It’s slippage all over the lot: Republican Congressmen Sam Steiger (Ariz.) and Charles Gubser (Calif.), Nixon men from way back, tell presidential counselor Dean Burch that “a stampede [to impeach] is developing in the House,” and urge the President to call on the House for a swift vote to impeach thus getting lots of hard-pressed GOP congressmen off the hook. Rep. Barber Conable of New York, respected head of the GOP Policy Committee in the House, is for it. “The idea [of a presidential call for impeachment] is being revived again in the hope that it will dilute the cup of hemlock we will have to drink.” Lots of House members, until last week counted among the antiimpeachment stalwarts, now hedging their bets. Minority Leader John Rhodes “had not reached any decision,” he “is concerned about the evidence against the President.” Representative William “lighght” Scherle (Iowa), called an ultraconservative by Washington Post, is “undecided,” but he has “every reason in the world to look upon [the White House outfit] with revulsion”; former YAF leader Bob Bauman (Md.) “is deeply disturbed”; John Rousselot (Calif.) can’t “rule out” a possible vote for impeachment; Sam Steiger sums up what most Republican House members are thinking: “It’s a no-win situation. No matter how you vote, you antagonize constituents so you might as well vote your convictions.” David Broder, political columnist for the Washington Post, a man not given to exaggeration, writes on July 31, the day after the final Judiciary Committee votes on impeachment, that “there is very little doubt in their minds [the minds of Gerald Ford’s friends] or almost anyone else’s that he [Ford] will be President before the year is out.”

And Sen. Robert Dole, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, calls for increased security precautions for Jerry Ford. “It would be a tragedy of profound magnitude,” says Dole, “if something should happen to Ford.”