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Ton Ac arcrur § ar ‘Mixed feelings’ Q: As vice president for 4% years, what do you con- sider to have been your chief legacy to American political life? ‘A: I suppose what I said, and the points of view that weren't entirely popular at the time, articulated what I believed were the inherent ‘feelings of millions of Americans. | think, for example, what I said about the TV networks had a salu- tary effect on the way they- function, the growth of op- ed pages in newspapers has been attributed partly to some of the things I said in pointing out that advocacy reporting was really not fairly presenting all points of view at that time. May I digress here to tell you that The Star, before the present publisher acquired it, com- mitted what 1 thought was a - tot ttt tte .€Tigvous injustice to me ~ while I was still in office prior to my resignation. In reporting over headlines for couple weeks at a time that some fellow .@ho was eer cooperating with fhe orose- quently sentenced, named Joel Kline, had funneled $100,000 to me. I remember a couple of headlines to that effect. And this kept being written over and over again as though Joel Kline had transferred money to me. I've never met Joel Kline, I've never talked to Joel Kline even on the telephone. No money or anything of ‘value has ever passed be- tween us. Q: On one of these pro- grams, you. were asked if you had it all to do over again would you §e inte politics, and vou said no. A: That's my present reaction. Of course, I just think that political people are sitting ducks for any kind of exploitation by any- one with other interests that comes along. Part of this ‘comes out of the non-disclo- sure of sources by reporters who publish accusatory re- marks of other people, and I know it’s a difficult prob- 4 . lem, it's not a simple one, of i When to protect'sources and : when not to. But the temp- i tation of people with : political aspirations of their | own or hopes for othe ’ple they kaow to create trouble for other people in political life through whi pering something to a re- porter, some accusation and then.not ever being called upon to substantiate it, is a very bad situation. ser Sk Wee Foe ee er ene Q: What about Nixon now? Is-he the victim of a bum rap? A: I've said I wasn't going to talk about Presi- dent Nixon because I men- tioned, and you may have read, I’m going to begin work on the memoirs late this: year, probably Decem- ber, and I want to cover that whole story in the one book. Q: On the Dinah Shore show, you were asked about Nixon and gave a similar answer, but then you added, ‘Had I know then what I found out later, my course of action might have been different.’ A: Again, that’s about as far as I'm willing to Fo in defining that. It will be totally covered when I write thar. cutors and who was subse- ‘ _Q: You may not have re Pa peal ee SIFNCG O40 YUU AIK WI... A: I'm not cing to say anything more beyond that. Q: Have you, as # politi clan, d anythin which youare ashamed: ? “ A: I sure can answer that: No, I have not. I've done things that I don't think were very siviart. In other words I think that the carelessness with which po- litical fund-raising moneys were handied. ing into the future, if I'd recognized what was coming it would have been done differently. I wouldn't have let some fund-raising chairman say,- ‘Hey, you've got to see old Joe because unless he knows this money is for your campaign, he’s not going to give it to me.’ | wouldn't even have. seen the man under the circum- stances. Q: What about your for- mer colleagues? Do you ever talk on the phone with Nixon or Jerry Ford? A. Tea teiad to otay aurav The AU Ase LY ey BT ey from political Washington, even the people I know well and knew sociaily because I don't want the fact that I am talking to them in any way to be used to inflame neople who are dead-set peop ¢ aid ‘against me and ‘commit very, very serious crimes. E don't want this to ‘react against them. They still have te stand for elec- Q: Did you vote in th Maryland primary? _ At No, I didn’t. I was hal prepared to make an issu: over whether I should bi able to vote or whether - shouldn’t. There’s som: doubt, based on the fac ‘that as a result of my nol plea I was found guilty of < single count of tax evasion Whether this allows me t: vote until the period o: unsupervised probation ex fires in October. But any- w, I didn't want to make any issue of that, so T just . let it, go. But I expect to be — I'm still-very interestec in what's going on. .