Letter from Washington

The trouble with these clean sweeps is you never know who is going to get swept. First Mr. Nixon was swept out of the White House, and then it was Dan Rather’s turn. CBS has reassigned Rather to New York, away from the White House beat he held, off and on, for a decade. Rather, 42, became famous for his tough questioning of Mr. Nixon in press conferences, and for being the target of Mr. Nixon’s barbed comments. The Rather transfer may be a belated victory for Mr. Nixon, whose obvious strategy was to destroy Rather by making him too controversial—too “hot” a personality for network news. Rather now will be working on CBS documentaries.

Although President Ford says Alexander Haig, Mr. Nixon’s White House chief of staff, will be staying on in that job, Haig probably will be gone soon, if only because that job may be gone soon. Mr. Ford has made a show of keeping Haig in place during the transition period in order to avoid any sign of disrespect for the service Haig gave Mr. Nixon.

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The trouble with these clean sweeps is you never know who is going to get swept. First Mr. Nixon was swept out of the White House, and then it was Dan Rather’s turn. CBS has reassigned Rather to New York, away from the White House beat he held, off and on, for a decade. Rather, 42, became famous for his tough questioning of Mr. Nixon in press conferences, and for being the target of Mr. Nixon’s barbed comments. The Rather transfer may be a belated victory for Mr. Nixon, whose obvious strategy was to destroy Rather by making him too controversial—too “hot” a personality for network news. Rather now will be working on CBS documentaries.

Although President Ford says Alexander Haig, Mr. Nixon’s White House chief of staff, will be staying on in that job, Haig probably will be gone soon, if only because that job may be gone soon. Mr. Ford has made a show of keeping Haig in place during the transition period in order to avoid any sign of disrespect for the service Haig gave Mr. Nixon.