Letter from Washington

The impression here is that Senator Henry Jack-son may have helped himself with some people, but certainly hurt himself with others as a result of his televised hearings involving the executives of the seven largest oil companies. The hearings helped his public recognition and may have won him support with an inattentive public that is anxious to think the oil companies are getting a well-deserved kicking around. But a smaller, more attentive “public,” composed of some reflective editors and academics, has been dismayed by the flamboyance of the hearings, and by the inability of any of the senators, Jackson certainly included, to respond sensibly to the economic evidence presented by the company executives.

Mr. Nixon may face an unexpectedly tough threat from Congressman Wilbur Mills. The Arkansas Democrat is not getting any less vain in his advancing years. He is getting more bored with the normal business of Congress. How to get some excitement and glory, in one fell swoop? Make the investigation of Mr. Nixon’s tax returns the focus of the impeachment effort. Indeed, Mr. Mills has already been quoted as saying that the investigation of Mr. Nixon’s taxes is the “real impeachment.” There is no doubt (and certainly no doubt in the mind of a politician as canny as Mr. Mills) that the public resents Mr. Nixon’s tax avoidance more than anything else. Mr. Mills, who is widely regarded as the Congress’ leading authority on taxes, is, along with Senator Russell Long (D., La.), the leader of the joint House-Senate Committee invited by Mr. Nixon to decide if Mr. Nixon has done anything wrong in his tax returns over the past four years. If Mr. Mills wants to seize the spotlight and the initiative in the swirling Watergate affair, he can try to turn the tax investigation into a hard anti-Nixon thrust.

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The impression here is that Senator Henry Jack-son may have helped himself with some people, but certainly hurt himself with others as a result of his televised hearings involving the executives of the seven largest oil companies. The hearings helped his public recognition and may have won him support with an inattentive public that is anxious to think the oil companies are getting a well-deserved kicking around. But a smaller, more attentive “public,” composed of some reflective editors and academics, has been dismayed by the flamboyance of the hearings, and by the inability of any of the senators, Jackson certainly included, to respond sensibly to the economic evidence presented by the company executives.

Mr. Nixon may face an unexpectedly tough threat from Congressman Wilbur Mills. The Arkansas Democrat is not getting any less vain in his advancing years. He is getting more bored with the normal business of Congress. How to get some excitement and glory, in one fell swoop? Make the investigation of Mr. Nixon’s tax returns the focus of the impeachment effort. Indeed, Mr. Mills has already been quoted as saying that the investigation of Mr. Nixon’s taxes is the “real impeachment.” There is no doubt (and certainly no doubt in the mind of a politician as canny as Mr. Mills) that the public resents Mr. Nixon’s tax avoidance more than anything else. Mr. Mills, who is widely regarded as the Congress’ leading authority on taxes, is, along with Senator Russell Long (D., La.), the leader of the joint House-Senate Committee invited by Mr. Nixon to decide if Mr. Nixon has done anything wrong in his tax returns over the past four years. If Mr. Mills wants to seize the spotlight and the initiative in the swirling Watergate affair, he can try to turn the tax investigation into a hard anti-Nixon thrust.