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WASHINGTON>>Atabout5:15p.m.on June 17, 1971, in the Oval Office, the presi- dent ordered a crime: "I want it implement- ed on a thievery basis. Goddamn it, get in and get those files. Blow the safe and get it." Theburglaryhede- manded was not the one that would occur ex- actly one year later at the Democratic National Committee's office in the Watergate complex. Richard Nixon was or- dering a break-in at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, to seize material concerning U.S. diplomacy re- garding North Vietnam dur- ing the closing weeks of the 1968 presidential campaign. As they sometimes did re- garding his intemperate com- mands, Nixon's aides disre- garded the one concerning Brookings. But from a White House atmosphere that li- censed illegality came enough of it to destroy him. Forty years have passed since Aug. 9, 1974, when a he- licopter whisked Nixon off the White House lawn, and ques- tions remain concerning why he became complicit in crimi- nality. Ken Hughes has a the- ory. Working at the University of Virginia, in the Miller Cen- ter's Presidential Recording Program, Hughes has stud- ied the Nixon tapes for more than a decade. In his new book, "Chasing Shadows: The Nixon Tapes, the Chennault Affair, and the Origins of Wa- tergate," Hughes argues that Nixon ordered a crime in 1971 hoping to prevent public knowledge of a crime he com- mitted in 1968. In October 1968, Nixon's lead over his Democratic op- ponent, Vice President Hu- bert Humphrey, was dwin- dling, partly because Hum- phrey had proposed a halt to U.S. bombing of North Viet- nam. Five days before the elec- tion, President Lyndon John- son announced the halt, hop- ing to convene peace talks. One impediment, however, was South Vietnam's reluc- tance to participate. Its re- calcitrance reflected its hope that it would be better sup- ported by a Nixon adminis- tration. On July 3, 1968, a Nixon campaign aide, Dick Al- len, sent a memo proposing a meeting with Nixon and Anna Chennault, a Chinese-Ameri- can active in Republican pol- itics. She would bring to the meeting South Vietnam's am- bassador to Washington. The memo said the meeting must be "top secret." Nixon wrote on the memo: "Should be but I don't see how — with the S.S. [Secret Service]." On July 12, however, she and the ambassa- dor did meet secretly in New York with Nixon who, she later said, designated her his "sole representative" to the Saigon government. The National Security Agency (NSA) was reading diplomatic cables sent from South Vietnam's Washing- ton embassy to Sai- gon, where the CIA had a listening device in the office of South Vietnam's president. The FBI was wiretap- ping South Vietnam's embassy and monitor- ing Chennault's move- ments in Washington, including her visit to that em- bassy on Oct. 30. On Nov. 2 at 8:34 p.m., a teleprinter at Johnson's ranch delivered an FBI report on the embassy wiretap: Chennault had told South Vietnam's am- bassador "she had received a message from her boss (not further identified). ... She said the message was that the am- bassador is to 'hold on, we are gonna win.'" The Logan Act of 1799 makes it a crime for a pri- vate U.S. citizen, which Nixon then was, to interfere with U.S. government diplomatic negotiations. On June 26, 1973, during the Senate Watergate hearings, Walt Rostow, who had been Johnson's national security adviser, gave the head of the LBJ library a sealed envelope to be opened in 50 years, say- ing: "The file concerns the ac- tivities of Mrs. Chennault and others before and immediately after the election of 1968." Rostow died in 2003. Based on examination of the available evidence, Hughes concludes that Chen- nault was following Nixon's directives (which Nixon de- nied in his 1977 interviews with David Frost). Hughes' theory is: June 17, 1971, was four days after The New York Times be- gan publishing the leaked "Pentagon Papers," the classi- fied Defense Department his- tory of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Nixon worried that further leaks, including docu- ments supposedly in a Brook- ings safe, would reveal his role in sabotaging negotiations that might have shortened the war. This fear caused Nixon to create the Special Investiga- tions Unit — aka "the plumb- ers" — and to direct an aide to devise other proposals such as the one concerning Brookings. This aide suggested using the IRS against political adversar- ies, but added: "The truth is we don't have any reliable political friends at IRS. ... We won't be ... in a position of effective leverage until such time as we have complete and total control of the top three slots at IRS." Forty years later, the IRS has punished conservative groups, and evidence that might prove its criminality has been destroyed. Happy anniversary. Clarification In a previous column, us- ing data reported by an orga- nization sponsored by the De- partment of Labor, I included employment figures for Ore- gon and several cities. Because those figures were based on the employee size of employ- ers' individual locations, sev- eral employers with multiple locations may not have been represented. In addition, some of those figures may not have been recently updated. GeorgeWill'semailaddressis georgewill@washpost.com. GeorgeF.Will The reason for Watergate? Cartoonist's take This just in. If you're willing to spend more money than you currently drop on Netflix, you can now get the Sarah Palin Channel online, which prom- ises to "discuss the great issues of the day and work towards so- lutions." Wait, solutions? How can that be the Sarah Palin Chan- nel? To some conservatives, Palin tells it like it is and is irresist- ible. To many other Americans, she's a lightweight and a turn- off. Since being on John Mc- Cain's losing 2008 Presidential ticket she hasn't lifted a finger to add to her existing constit- uency, and most of her policy ideas fit in — or barely fill — a 140-character Tweet. The New York Times' Re- publican pundit David Brooks recently noted Palin's role as queen of political polem- ics. On the PBS News Hour, he pointed to the Tea Party-influ- enced House of Representa- tives' success in disemboweling the House leadership's conser- vative proposal for a bill to cope with illegal immigrant children and said: "This is about Palin-ization of parts of the GOP. This is not about passing legislation, not about...we're in a party. We should pay attention to our leaders. We should craft some compromise. We should com- promise with the other side. This is about making a state- ment that will sound good on Fox. And so they want to make a statement that will sound good on TV or will sound good at a town meeting, but it's not actually about governing." Palin is the embodiment of the GOP's talk radio allied wing that has virtually consumed the party, and a living, breathing manifestation of the damaged political legacy of Arizona Sen. John McCain. McCain's putting her on the ticket was a political mistake that unleashed upon his party someone who has helped purge the party of its al- ready dwindling contingent of moderates and conservatives willing to reach across the aisle — the very kinds of GOPers the 2000 incarnation of McCain re- spected. Satirist Andy Borowitz couldn't resist, writing: "Sarah Palin's online video service starring herself had a hugely successful launch on Monday, as millions of Americans paid $9.95 for the rare opportunity of hearing the former Alaska Governor speak." Those who don't think much of Palin — centrists, moderates, many independents and many women voters — could come up with some suggested shows for the channel. Here are a few that immediately come to mind: TheBiggestLoser: See which Republican politico can lose the biggest chunk of the growing Latino vote. The competition is already fierce to see who can wipe out gains made by George W. Bush in 2000 in winning over Hispanic voters. Contes- tants will compete to see who can most insult, disdain and stereotype Latinos. The 223 House Republicans voting for the conservative border bill have already placed themselves on top in the competition. The likely Presidential candidate in the lead: Texas. Sen. Ted Cruz. The Blame Game: Who can most blame Barack Obama for things such as losing China to the Communists, the heart- break of psoriasis and the single sock that vanished in the dryer? American Ideologue: Early auditions will feature bloggers, comments section trolls and talk show fanatics. Who can be declared the purest mem- ber of the far right and hit all the right notes so loved by the political choir? RINO Hunter: Sarah Palin and Jim DeMint don pith helmets as they stalk and eliminate those dangerous RINOS that lurk on the East Coast, in country clubs, at lunches with Demo- crats and on Wall Street. Arrested Development: An exploration of the constructive ideas of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh. America's Got Polarization: Who can make the most over- the-top, patently false asser- tions about Barack Obama, Democrats and anyone per- ceived as "going moderate?" Winner gets a $10 million talk radio show contract, a private jet and a seven-hour lunch with Limbaugh. Conservative Looney Tunes: Re-runs of the 2012 Republican Presidential primary debates, plus live coverage of the 2016 Republican Presidential pri- mary debates. Palin is creating the chan- nel in partnership with the on- line company Tapp, run by for- mer NBC/Universal Television chairman Jeff Gaspin and for- mer CNN U.S. President Joe Klein. Will it make money? You betcha. Will it offer seri- ous, thoughtful solutions? I bet- cha not. Joe Gandelman is a veteran journalist who wrote for news- papers overseas and in the United States. He has appeared on cable news show political panels and is Editor-in-Chief of The Moderate Voice, an Internet hub for independents, centrists and moderates. He also writes for The Week's online edition. CNN's John Avlon named him as one of the top 25 Centrists Columnists and Commentators. He can be reached at jgandel- man@themoderatevoice.com. Follow him on Twitter: www. twitter.com/joegandelman. Joe Gandelman Will the Sarah Palin Channel rival Comedy Central? Nixon worried that further leaks, including documents supposedly in a Brookings safe, would reveal his role in sabotaging negotiations that might have shortened the war. Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. These years kicked all of us down the road. I had to abandon a fair event that had been put on for 10years. It was not the Fair Man- ager's fault. Red Bluff has yet to recover from the recession so why is one person be- ing held accountable of a national economic event? Irene Fuller: On a report of years of financial losses at the Tehama District Fairground Pat, read your letter and you will find out why Dennis Graton won by a landslide. To blame the collapse of an ancient oak tree on the supervisors for voting for the State of Jefferson is a little over the top, even for you. Les Wolfe: On letter to the editor by former supervisor candidate Pat Johnston Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. 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