Editing 79-11-A7 (section)

= A Different Watergate Story =

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=== Transcript ===
Maurice Stans joined the Nixon administration as it first secretary of commerce.
During the 1968 campaign, he had served the Nixon effort as head of its finance committee.
He did his job so well that when it came time to get the campaign ball rolling for 1972,
Stans was persuaded to leave his position at Commerce -- a job he liked -- to serve as
chairman of the finance committee for the Nixon re-election.

What followed is well-known history. But, it is history Stans would like very much
to correct. Many Americans associate Maurice Stans with that amorphous mass of crimes
and indiscretions known as Watergate. After all, he raised the money in what was the
most successful political fundraising effort in U.S. history. His name rolled off the
tongues of many a newscaster during the days of the fever-pitched reports on Watergate.
He went to trial in New York on conspiracy and perjury charges, along with former Attorney
General John Mitchell. He was acquitted on all charges, though he did plead guilty to
five highly technical fundraising violations, ones which could have been as easily applied
to the Democrats, had the prosecution been so inclined.

Now, Stans has told his story in a new book, "The Terrors of Justice." He gives us
an account of Watergate based on documented facts and a step-by-step unfolding of the
various episodes which have been erroneously lumped together as "Watergate."

Stans' primary theme is that Watergate should not be examined only as a political
scandal in which the "good guys" finally prevailed over the "bad guys." Watergate was
also an episode in which the lives of many innocent individuals were disrupted. He exposes
the tactics of the Ervin committee, which he said had a unique two-category classification
system for witnesses: you were either "guilty with penitence" or "guilty without penitence."
Those who were willing to come before the committee and the national television audience
and bend over backwards to admit their guilt were treated well by the chairman. But those
who had the nerve to insist on their innocence, as Stans did, were subject to plainly
abusive treatment.

Maurice Stans waited for the sensationalism to cool before offering us his orderly,
straightforward account of these events. It is not a spicy account that will provide
Washington gossip-mongers with titilation. But, for those who wish to expand their
understanding of Watergate beyond the one-dimensional accounts, Stans' book is worth
reading.

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>07/27/[[Radio1979|1979]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[rrpl:public/2024-07/40-656-7386263-014-016-2024.pdf#PAGE=25|Online PDF]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD></TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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