AMERICAN NOTES: A Counsel of Silence

The accelerating drive to impeach President Nixon poses an especially troubling problem for the man who may soon have to succeed him. For months, Gerald Ford has cautiously tried to walk what he called “a fine line.” On the one hand, the Vice President has declared that the evidence was insufficient for impeachment; on the other, he has urged Nixon to turn over all subpoenaed tapes and documents. After the Judiciary Committee vote, however, Ford declared that the vote was “partisan,” and insisted that “the President was right.”

By instinct, Ford would like to continue speaking out in defense of Nixon. Indeed Ford discussed impeachment strategy with Chief of Staff Alexander M. Haig Jr. last week. The Vice President has declared that he will not lobby for Nixon in Congress. He explained: “I am not going out, as I used to when I was minority leader, and affirmatively and aggressively try to convince them they ought to vote this way or that.” But in a gesture of sorts to his own conscience, he has insisted on reserving the right to give his opinion when asked.

Ford’s closest advisers and friends in Congress have counseled him to go further, and not to involve himself any longer in the impeachment fight, that it is a time for his silence. They argue, with reason, that he should not squander in partisanship his potential for bringing the racked nation together again if Nixon is removed from office.