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North Carolina's very own debutantes,
Stevens
erjury
by Joel Brinkley
News Editor
RALEIGH Republican U.S. Senate
candidate William E. Stevens Jr. announced
Friday he thought his Democratic opponent
Robert Morgan should clear up conflicts in
testimony presented by Morgan and others
during last month's Personnel Board
hearings on the dismissal of James R. Ladd.
"I challenge Mr. Morgan to clear up the
question of who actually committed perjury
at the hearing," Stevens said during a
Raleigh press conference.
Morgan responded three hours later,
saying Stevens was indulging in "political
slander."
lt has become clear, even this early in the
; i : . 1
campaign, morgan saiu in a picptucu
statement, "that the Republicans', intend to
conduct their campaign" with smear,
falsehoods and innuendo.
I . had hoped Mr. Stevens and his
associates would let the people of this state
decide the senate race on the issues and not
inject scurrilous . political and personal
attacks into the campaign."
Stevens charge centers around two areas
of testimony presented during Ladd's appeal
of his dismissal as director of the North
Carolina Justice Academy. Ladd testified
under oath he thought "a major component
of why I was fired" was because he failed to
work for or contribute to Morgan's Senate
campaign. , (
He said Morgan questioned his loyaltyi
and told him, "I've worked hard to get youj
(and others at the Academy) high salaries,;
and 1 haven't seen any' of it come back."
Another justice department official, N:C.
Training and Standards Council Director
John Faircloth, testified at the hearing that
he had a similar conversation with Morgan
in May.
"Mr. Morgan said he was upset that he
went to the General Assembly and got high
salaries for some of us at the Department of
Justice and then had to campaign all by
himself," Faircloth said Morgan told him.
Morgan denied these charges under oath.
Another conflict in testimony occurred
when Morgan said Ladd was fired because
he failed to consult him or members of the
Academy's administrative council on plans
for the proposed 'Academy.
Ladd testified Morgan told him during a
January council meeting that he should
Ih .'scope-off the case
How Nixon figured in Watergate
by Jane Denlson
United Press International .
WAS HINGTON By the stroke of one
President's pen, possible criminal
prosecution against another has been barred
forever and the scope of any case against
News analysis
Richard M. Nixon may never be known. '
But tucked away in file drawers and rolled
on reels of tape is a host of evidence
damning or exculpatory, depending on how
it is interpreted that details the myriad
crimes known as Watergate and how Nixon
figured in it. ' ;
As long as six months ago, the Watergate
grand jury concluded 19-0 that the evidence
justified naming Nixon as a conspirator in
the plo't to hush up the bugging scandal. The
jurors did . not indict because the
Constitution apparently forecloses
175 in all, "came out" into society Friday
declares
occurre
William E. Stevens Jr.
worry about making the Academy
Operational before Morgan left office. He
said Morgan told him, "Take the ball and
run with it," while Morgan handled the
council.
Morgan denied this charge under oath,
but four other justice department officials
testified they heard Morgan make this
statement.
Lying under oath constitutes perjury and
is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in
jail. : .' ,'.' .
Stevens did not specifically say Morgan
committed perjury, but said, "Someone is
lying. When a person lies under oath, it is
called perjury, a word which has become all
too familiar to the American people recently
in connection with Watergate."
He said Morgan should "make a
statement that is believable and clear."
The Personnel Board recommended that
Morgan's firing be overturned and Ladd be
reinstated as Academy director. The Board
found that Morgan did have cause to
discipline Ladd but not sufficient cause to
fire him. The Board, therefore,
recommended Ladd not be given back pay.
The Board made no recommendations
about conflicts of testimony presented at the
hearing. A Board spokesman said, "The
Board simply didn't want , to discuss any
political matters."
prosecuting a president while in office.
Instead, they named him an unindicted co
conspirator. With President Ford's decision Sunday to
pardon Nixon for all crimes "he has
committed or may have committed or taken
part in" during his presidency, Special
Prosecutor Leon Jaworski no longer has the,
option of seeking Nixon's indictment as a
private citizen.
Legal sources said he may have the option
of issuing a report summarizing the evidence
against the former President, though that
was unclear and there was no indication
Jaworski would take such a tack. .
The evidence that led the grand jury to
conclude that Nixon was involved in the
conspiracy is still secret, locked away by law
that demands the work of grand juries and
prosecutors be hidden from the public view
night, unveiling their beauty in the traditional cartwheel figure of the annuaf ball
HI if J
Vol. 83, No. 8
From UPI wire dispatches
WASHINGTON President Ford
Sunday granted Richard :M. Nixpn
unconditional pardon for any Watergate
offenses to "firmly shut and seal this book"
for the nation and for Nixon himself.
. Stunned Congressmen expressed both
praise and outrage, and Nixon said he was
grateful.
Later in the day, President Ford's Press
Secretary J. F. terHorst resigned on grounds
of conscience in connection with the pardon
granted former President Nixon, a White
House spokesman said Sunday night.
The White House said Ford sweated out
his decision alone over the past week without
consulting Nixon, but the former President
issued a statement within minutes.
J era
mevel MUMejiuiFed.
After fall
by Duston Harvey
United Press International
TWIN FALLS, Idaho Space-age
stuntman Evel Knievel parachuted in his
mini-rocket into the Snake River Canyon
without serious injury Sunday in a futile
but lucrative attempt to soar across the
quarter-mile gorge.
unless used in court to prosecute those
accused of criminal wrong-doing.
Since then, Jaworski has amassed even
more material primarily White House
tapes wrested from Nixon by Supreme Court
orderand Nixon's own Aug. 5 admission
that he had withheld for more than two years
evidence indicating his complicity in the
coverup. . -
Despite the secrecy surrounding
Jaworski's investigation, the House
Judiciary Committee dug up enough "clear
and convincing" evidence of its own to
conclude Nixon should be removed from
office.
It concluded, Nixon "deliberately
co ntrived to deceive the courts, the
Department of Justice and the American
people" and had condoned cover-up acts by
his aides that included "perjury, destruction
of evidence, and obstruction of justice "
The committee also concluded that Nixon
"repeatedly used his power as President to
violate the Constitution and laws of the
-Please turn to EVIDENCE," page 2,
-'
4
" . Stall photo by Martha j
.or
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Chapel Hill's Morning Newspaper .
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Monday, September 9, 1974
don
e (sir.
sorrowing over the mistakes he had made
but conceding no criminal' wrongdoing. ,
Ford anounce3 his historic and
immediately ' controversial decision by
summoning newsmen to his Oval Office on
Sunday morning and reading to them in
solemn and somber tones from a long
prepared statement.
He explained how he had agonized over
See full statement, page 3 . .
what he was about to do. "I dq believe the
buck stops here", Ford said and concluded
with these words of official proclamation:
"Now, therefore, I,: Gerald Ford,;
President of the United States, pursuant to
to gorge
Knievel, at least $6 million richer for his
seconds-long flight, explained later that he
himself triggered the chutes which lowered
the rocket safely to the bottom of the 600-foot-deep
canyon because the rocket had
begun rolling over.
But the producer of the closed-circuit TV.
of the super-ballyhooed event said the chutes
had : been activated accidentally when
Knievel's hand was jolted loose from the
parachute trigger.
Whichever way it happened, Knievel
emerged from the dented "Skycycle XT
waving to the throngs that lined the rims of
the treacherous, lava-walled canyon. He
then was whisked by helicopter back to the .
launch site.
The blastoff came at 5:35 p.m. EDT. The
red, white and blue rocket rose from the
launch pad or 8.7 seconds. Then the drag
parachute popped from the tail, pulling out
the main chute. The rocket floated 600 feet to
the rugged canyon floor alongside "the
swirling waters of the river.
"The shot almost knocked me out,"
Knievel said afterwards. The 34-year-old
cyclist, whose flight made him the highest
priced daredevil in history, had trouble
getting off his seat belt. "Thank God I didn't
go into the river or 1 never would have made
it," he said.
More rain
Mostly cloudy today through Tussdsy
with a S3 per cent chance of showers
today. Jho high temperatures will ba In
the lower 70s end lows In the 3.
The humidity Is 94 pzr csnt end tha
winds are from the North-east et five
miles psr hour.
by Ksnist tuzr
. end EHcn VJlsr.sr
Is it concidental that the North'
Carolina Debutante Ball and the Miss
America Pageant occurred on the same,
weekend?
The pretty gjrb on parade. The
anxious smiles. The bouquets of roses..
But as for the 1 75 beautiful belles who 1
"came out" Friday night at Memorial
Auditorium in Raleigh, nobody seemed
to know how they got there.
"I guess your father has to own some
high things or something," said a 16-year-old
deb admirer who hopes to be
one herself someday, "Most of the girls
that are in it they're pretty high class."
"You buy your way into it. Money
that's all it takes," remarked a UNC
student 'who dated one of the girls.
L 1
1
the pardon power conferred upon me by
. Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution,
have granted and by these presents do grant
a full, free and absolute pardon , unto
Richard Nixon for all the offenses against
the United States which he, Richard Nixon,
has committed or may have committed or
taken part in during the period from January
20, 1969. through August 9, 1974."
Ford then rose from his desk and left the
room.
In San Clements, Calif., where Nixon has
lived in seclusion and pondered what the
future might hold since he left office Aug. 9,
the former President immediately issued his
response.
. "One thing I can see clearly now is that I
was wrong in not acting more decisively and
more forthrightly in dealing with Watergate,
particularly when it reached the stage of
judicial proceedings and grew from a
political scandal into a national tragedy," he
said in part.
."No words can describe the depths of my
regret and pain at the anguish my mistakes
over Watergate have caused the nation and
the presidency..."
The terHorst reaction came hours afte
Nixon's pardon. He was reported to be upse
as he left the White House Sunday, and hat
said earlier he would not stay on even if the
President refused to accept his resignation.
The press secretary's resignation is made
more shocking because terHorst was the first
appointment made by Ford when he
assumed the Presidency, he is a longtime
personal friend of the President, having
known Ford closely for some 25 years. It is
generally agreed that terHorst was
responsible for the new administration's
apparent openess with" the press and the
public. . '
In Congress, reaction split down party
lines and many legislators were simply
unprepared to express an opinion in the
early hours after the announcement.
Republicans like Sen. William R. Brock of
Tennessee generally praised the act,
reasoning, as Brock did, that Ford had
' "taken a tough road . . . there are times when
you have to make decisions."
Vice President designate Nelson
Rockefeller also congratulated Fordfor "an
act of conscience, compassion and courage,"
but one Republican, Sen. Edward Brooke of
Massachusetts, said ' Ford had made "a
serious mistake."
The harshest words came from Rep. J ohn
Moss, D-Calif., who called it "an outrageous
act," and one of the President's closest
Congressional associates, who declined to be
identified for publication, said "Ford knows
full well that by doing this he's blown up his
honeymoon with Congress."
There were no strings attached to Ford's
pardon, and White House spokesman Philip
Buchen said Ford had also decided, upon the'
recommendation of Attorney General,
William B. Saxbe, that Nixotfs White House
tapes and documents will remain his
personal property and will be destroyed
upon Nixon's death or on Sept. 1, 19S4,
whichever comes sooner.
Buchen said Nixon had agreed, however,
to leave the materials in a federal depository
in California for three years where they may
be subpoenaed for legal processes.
"The girl who is the head of it is the
girl whose father contributes the most
money," said a UNC fraternity member,
who also escorted a deb. "Then the other
top ten girls follow."
According to Mrs. James C. Hill Jr.,
chairman of the girls committee, "The
girls are members of well-respected
North Carolina families who have
contributed to the civic and cultural
tradition of the state."
The evening of the presentation,
reflected this Southern tradition. The
Memorial Auditorium stage was
transformed into a garden not unlike
those of the stately plantation. The
leader of the ball, Anna White Johnson
of Raleigh, sat on a white wrought-iron
love seat amidst rows of greenery.
Please turn to page 4
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Gerald R. Ford
4 ...the pardoner
Ford made clear he had acted both out of
compassion for Nixon and fear that the
nation would be torn apart by "ugly
passions" if Nixon were brought to trial.
He said Nixon had suffered "an American
tragedy in which we have all played a part.
"It can go on and on, and someone must
write the end' to it.
"I have concluded that only I can do that,
and if I can, I must."
Ford indicated Nixon's health was one
factor, saying "serious allegations and
accusations hang like a sword . . . threatening
his health as he tries to reshape his life..."
He also said there seemed no way Nixon
could possibly get a fair trial in .the
passionate setting of the final Watergate
prosecutions.
"But it is not the ultimate fate of Richard
Nixon that most concerns me, though surely
it deeply troubles every decent and every
compassionate person," Ford said.
"My concern is the immediate future of
this great country...! cannot prolong the
bad drearns" of Watergate, '
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