Nixon Declares He Didn't Profit From Public Life

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Nixon Declares He Didn't Profit From Public Life
Tells A.P. Managing Editors 'I've Earned Every Cent, I'm Not a Crook' DISCUSSES MILK DEAL Predicts Both Haldeman and Ehrlichman Will Eventually 'Come Out All Right' Nixon Tells Editors He has Never Profited From Public Service and Emphasizes, 'I'm Not a Crook'
By R.W. APPLE. JR.
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Disney World, Fla., Nov. 17--President Nixon told a group of newspaper executives tonight that he had never "profited from public service." He added: "I've earned every cent. I'm not a crook."

In a one-hour question-and-answer session with 400 participants in The Associated Press Managing Editors annual convention Mr. Nixon defended himself against all charges of wrongdoing and attempted to regain the political offensive.

After months of torment over the Watergate and allied scandals, the President gave detailed answers to more than a dozen questions. Among his disclosure were the following:

That he paid only "nominal amounts" of taxes in 1970 and 1971, principally because of deductions available to him for the donation of his Vice-Presidential papers. He gave no figures, but did not dispute those reported recently by The Providence, R.I., newspapers-- $792 for 1970 and $878 for 1971.

That an increase in milk prices in 1972 had come about not because of promised campaign contributions from milk producers but because of what he called Congressional pressure from, among others Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, the President's Democratic opponent that year.

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That a recording of his reminiscences for June 20, the contents of which had not previously been disclosed, showed that former Attorney General John N. Mitchell on that date gave him no details of the Watergate case, but merely "expressed his chagrin to me that the organization over which he had control could have gotten out of hand in this way." Later, Mr. Nixon said that "looking back, perhaps I should have cross-examined" Mr. Mitchell about Watergate.

That the system that produced the tape recordings of Mr. Nixon's Watergate conversations at the White House, many of which are of marginal quality, cost only $2,500 and consisted of "a little Sony" tape recorder and some "little lapel-mikes in my desk."

That he believed that when all legal proceedings had been completed, his former key associates, H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, "will come out all right" but that "they've already been convicted in the minds of millions of Americans because of what happened before the Senate Watergate committee."

That the Secret Service had, as previously reported, but never confirmed, placed a tap on the telephone of the President's brother, Donald, in an effort to learn of the activities of foreigners "who were trying to get him to use improper influence."

That after he retires he perhaps would write and would like to try to improve campaign financing.

Mr. Nixon dealt only briefly with non-Watergate topics during the nationally televised interview from the editors' convention at this vast entertainment complex near Orlando. But he did say that a system of gasoline rationing "would be something that the American people would resent very much," and added that his Administration's goal "is to make it not necessary."

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The President seemed composed and on top of the subject throughout the session, faltering perceptibly only during the discussion of his taxes. In contrast with some of his recent appearances he did not berate his critics or his political enemies.

He even had a bit of humor for one of the harshest of these. Harry Rosenfeld, the metropolitan editor of The Washington Post, which carried some of the most damaging early Watergate revelations, asked a question. The President answered it and added: "I like your sports page."

Only once did bitterness emerge. Discussing measures he had taken to alleviate the energy shortage, Mr. Nixon noted that he had left behind the backup plane that usually accompanies his personal jet, the Spirit of '76. If his plane "goes down," he said, "it goes down and then they don't have to impeach."

The editors, who came here from 43 states, clapped tepidly when the President entered the meeting room at the Contemporary Hotel on the Disney World grounds. But they, and particularly their families, responded much more warmly at the conclusion.

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Impressed by Skill

A number of the news executives said that they had been impressed by Nixon's skill in fielding their questions.

He political importance of the occasion and the sober comportment of the editors was in sharp contrast to the setting. Mr. Nixon spoke in a gaudily modern room--blue draperies, orange chairs, mirrors on the ceiling--near the monorail line that passes through the hotel and leads to the "Magic Kingdom."

Invited here for "some straight talk," the President got down to the questions at once, with almost no introductory remarks. Some of his responses were as long as 12 minutes, some as short as one. He kept the session going beyond the allotted hour, remarking that that would not bother the television audience very much because "it's a lousy movie anyway."

Asked at one point what he planned to do when he retired, Mr. Nixon wisecracked. "That depends upon when I leave." But then he continued, more seriously. He would not make any speeches, he would not serve on any boards of directors ("boring"), he would not practice law, the President said.

Perhaps he would write, he added, and then, almost wistfully, said he might try to improve campaign financing. He would like to be remembered, Mr. Nixon remarked, as "a President that did his best to bring peace" to the world.

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Discussing the nonexistence of two of the crucial Watergate tape recordings, the President said that he knew that, to most people, "it appears that it's impossible that when we have an Apollo system" that the White House taping facilities could have failed at a key moment.

But he insisted that his was "not a sophisticated system." He has said that President Johnson had used a much better one. Johnson assistants have denied that any such system existed.

The President prodded his new special Watergate prosecutor, Leon Jaworski, to get on with his investigation, commenting that Assistant Attorney General Henry E. Petersen, in charge of the Criminal Division, told him six months ago that the inquiry was already 90 per cent complete.

'Reputation Damaged'

"Now it's time that the case be brought to a conclusion," Mr. Nixon said. "The reputations of men, who are maybe not guilty, have been irreparably damaged."

But perhaps the most vivid comment came when Mr. Nixon told the editors he was not "a crook"--unusual language from a President, even one under fire. "I've made my mistakes," the President said, "but in all my years of public life I've never profited from public service. I've earned every cent. I'm not a crook."

Again, discussing the milk case, Mr. Nixon used pungent language. The Congress, he said, had "put a gun to our head" by signing petitions and introducing bills calling for better prices for milk producers.

According to the White House officials, the President entered the meeting hoping to demonstrate that he could field the toughest Watergate queries with aplomb. At one point, he even asked himself a question--about the 1972 increase in milk prices--that none of the editors had asked.

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Much the same goal lay behind Mr. Nixon's meetings with Republicans and conservative Democratic members of Congress at the White House this week. An aide described the latest Presidential counteroffensive as an effort to show that Mr. Nixon was "walking, talking, thinking and very much in command."

This evening's session with the editors was the first of three public appearances in a four- day period. Tomorrow, after spending a second straight night at his home in Key Biscayne, Mr. Nixon will continue his comeback campaign in Macon, Ga., where he plans to speak at Mercer University and at a 90th birthday celebration for former Representative Carl M. Vinson, once the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

On Tuesday, on the way back to Washington, the President will meet the Republican Governors at their conference in Memphis.

Even before the President began taking questions at random from the floor at the editors' meeting, it was apparent that the session would not be a no-holds-barred grilling.

For one thing, the White House press corps, whose daily responsibilities include coverage of the minutiae of the Watergate affair, was excluded from the questioning.

Moreover, Presidential aids have made it clear that Mr. Nixon still did not feel he could speak publicly with total candor, although they continued to promise that he would do so at an unspecified time.

According to Gerald. L. Warren, the deputy White House press secretary, the President still feels constrained by at least three circumstances, as follows:

His desire to "protect the rights of all individuals" in the case, including those who might be mentioned in an adverse light on the much-disputed, still-secret Watergate tapes.

Court orders, which Mr. Warren did not identify, that Mr. Nixon feels inhibited despite a memorandum by Judge J [missing text] that seemed to authorize him to do as he liked.

"National security" issues that still bother him.


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