Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501160079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``While there is an explanation for my conduct, I've come to recognize that there is no excuse,'' Leonard Garment wrote to Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's longtime secretary.
The January 1974 letter turned up among 35,500 pages of Woods' White House papers, opened to the public last week at the National Archives. It captures some of the beleaguered White House's atmosphere in the months of the Watergate investigations by Congress, a special prosecutor and the court system.
Garment on Thursday described himself as a longtime friend of Woods, but Watergate's effect on their friendship shows in his letter:
``Dear Rose,
``Of all the unhappy things that have happened in the past year, nothing has bothered me more than the souring of our relationship. I've thought about it a great deal, talked with mutual friends, and while there is an explanation for my conduct, I've come to recognize that there is no excuse. After all these years, after all we've been through, I owed you more than the frightened, arms-length treatment I gave you. I dealt with you very badly and I'm deeply sorry. I hope you can understand how much this means to me. There is nobody - but nobody - in this whole damned place who means half as much to me as you do - and nobody for whom I have half the admiration and affection.''
``Sincerely, Len''
Woods, 77, could not be reached for comment.
Garment and fellow White House lawyer J. Fred Buzhardt had gone to federal Judge John Sirica contending that Woods intentionally caused the mysterious gap in a crucial tape, according to an unsigned memo in the Archives file. Garment said he is virtually certain the memo was written by her lawyer, Charles Rhyne.
The erased tape covered a conversation between Nixon and chief of staff H.R. Haldeman three days after the June 17, 1972, break-in at Democratic Party headquarters.
Woods denied causing the 181/2-minute gap, though she testified she accidentally erased four to five minutes of the tape.
Garment, on Thursday, denied blaming Woods for the tape gap.
A typed memo, dated Nov. 21, 1973, from Garment to Woods, passed along a subpoena eliciting Woods' testimony before the Watergate grand jury.
In its entirety, it read:
``Dear Rose:
``Enclosed is the subpoena we discussed on the phone today.''
``Love, Len''
Thursday, Garment said: ``It would not go into the book of great love letters.''
by CNB