White House Brings in Nixon-Era Counsel

[PhilipShore]

By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
February 22, 2007, 2:06 PM EST

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-bushs-new-lawyer,0,7826896.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

WASHINGTON -- In his first job as a White House lawyer, Fred Fielding, barely in his 30s, broke the news to President Nixon about the Watergate break-in.

Fielding was born in Philadelphia and grew up on a farm in Bucks County, Pa. His father died when he was 11. He attended public schools, played football, fished and worked on neighborhood farms in the summers. He attended Gettysburg College and the University of Virginia School of Law on scholarships.

After law school, he worked with a Philadelphia law firm, and in 1970 became deputy to former White House Counsel John Dean. As news of the break-in at the Democratic national headquarters broke over the capital, Fielding remembers trying to convince Dean, who was on his way back from a trip to the Philippines, that he should return to Washington at once instead of staying over in California to rest.

[peace13]

1. Please God let this be the turn of the page! n/t

[Zenlitened]

2. But... but.... but... Gerald Ford healed the naaaaay-shun!

How could it possibly be that, so many decades later, we are still tangled in all these Nixonian strings, tethers and tentacles?

Ford's pardon healed the nation!

:crazy:

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Why, I do believe, the WH knows we're comin' after 'em! Impeach'07!

[KoKo]

4. Did Fielding work to help cover up Iran/Contra under Reagan?

Fielding did very well after Watergate. John Dean left.....yet Fielding worked under Dean.

[theaudacity]

5. Thats just what this administration needs. Some NixonJuice. Hey, Nixon had higher approval ratings

:thumbsup:

[L. Coyote]

6. Chief Justice Roberts was a Fielding staff lawyer in Reagan's White House.

Who else was in Nixon's White House? Young Richard Cheney from Wyoming. Well, they're back together again:

"... In responding to congressional requests for documents, Fielding will be conferring at times with Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington, who have broadly interpreted the powers of the presidency. Cheney has argued that executive privilege, which lets the president seek advice and deliberate policy without having to disclose the information, has been eroded by Congress in response to the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal.

"There has been some erosion, but this is historic," Fielding said. "Sometimes, the executive branch has more leverage. Sometimes the legislative branch has more."

Some things -- like the office phone number -- haven't changed since Fielding held the job before. He still has some of his old business cards. A photo of Reagan and him on Air Force One is back on the office wall. The two are smiling as Reagan holds up a bumper sticker that says: "My lawyer can beat your lawyer."

Another more recent photo taken at his daughter's wedding is evidence that much time has passed. It shows Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who was one of Fielding's young staff lawyers in the Reagan White House.

...."

[WHAT]

7. Follow the lawyers...

it's just like following the money.

My guess is people given personal confidence can not be allowed to stray.