Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 26, 1973
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, June 26, 1973
[00.02.00-In to DEAN testifying about WHITE HOUSE press secretary ZIEGLER'S briefings on WATERGATE] Senator MONTOYA. And did you also state that the President received news summaries periodically -with respect to commentaries about him, in the news media or other media?, Mr. DEAN. The President received a daily news summary that was composed of basically the wire service stories from the preceding evening. I do not know what time the cutoff was, generally about 12 or 1 o'clock at night, and then it -was produced so it would be on his desk in the morning, summarizing all the preceding day's news. Senator MONTOYA. Are these, also filed in the archives of the White House? Mr. DEAN. Yes, they are. I might make a comment with regard to those,. The news summaries were really a source of a lot of action by White House staff. When the President read the news summaries, he would make notations on the news summaries, and in turn, those would be transcribed into action memorandums for various members of the staff to follow up on. Reading the news summary would prompt the President to take certain actions. These are, of course, kept in the possession of the White House. Senator MONTOYA. I would like to make a similar request with respect to these, news summaries, Mr. Chairman. Now, going back to Mr. Ziegler, on October 16, 1972, a statement appeared in the New York Times on October 17. The statement reads as follows: "The opposition has been making charges which have not been substantiated." Would you say that this is correct? Mr. DEAN. I think that probably at, that time, they had not been substantiated, no, so it probably is correct. Senator MONTOYA. On October 25, 1972, another statement by Mr. Ziegler appeared in the Washington Post, -where he termed the reports, the Post reports, "a blatant effort at character assassination that I do not think has been witnessed in the political process in some time." Mr. DEAN. What was the date on that, please, Senator? Senator MONTOYA. October 25, 1972. Senator ERVIN. We will have to go and vote. Mr. DEAN. Fine. [00.05.57-MacNEILL v.o. states that Sen. MONTOYA apparently wants to compare DEAN'S testimony, NIXON'S statements, and documents the PRESIDENT received about WATERGATE.] [00.06.05-MacNEILL in studio] MacNEILL states that the committee has recessed for a Senate vote [PBS network ID-title screen "SENATE HEARINGS ON CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES"] [00.08.29-MacNEILL] MacNEILL introduces more questions by Sen. MONTOYA. [00.08.40]