Veterans of Watergate in Line at 4 a.m. : Crowd Eager to Watch History Unfold

The line of 250 people waiting to see Lt. Col. Oliver L. North testify Tuesday began forming Monday night when Michael Volchok, a 19-year-old college student from New York City, set up camp on the steps of the Senate office building where the Iran- contra hearings are being held.

By 4 a.m. Tuesday, Volchok, a passionate critic of the Reagan Administration, had been joined by two kindred spirits, Dave March of Salisbury, N.C., and Doug Eilers of San Mateo, Calif. For March and Eilers, it was a reunion of sorts. The two men stood on the same steps 14 years ago waiting to hear the Watergate testimony of former Atty. Gen. John N. Mitchell and White House counsel John D. Ehrlichman.

The passage of time had not dimmed their capacity for outrage.

“Watergate was shocking. But this is even more grave,” March said.

The line of college students, retired people, tourists and pre-teen-age children from around the country reflected the keen anticipation that had built up over the weeks preceding the appearance of the central figure in the Iran scandal.

Those waiting said they came to watch history unfold, to be entertained, to witness North’s vilification or his vindication, and to find out exactly what the President knew about the diversion of money to the rebels in Nicaragua.

“I came to see live history in the making,” said Christopher M. Gooch Jr., a retired real estate developer from Clarksville, Tenn.

“I came here today because I believe in liberty, and I believe that underneath it all President Reagan and Oliver North believe in the same thing,” said Eloise Buford, who said she worked as a secretary in the White House in 1981 and 1982.

There was a carnival air to the waiting crowd. A boisterous group of Vietnam veterans, calling themselves Veterans United to Prevent World War III, made their way through the line looking for North supporters to harangue.

‘Original Deep Throat’

A black man in a straw cowboy hat insisted he was “the original Deep Throat,” the legendary secret source credited with revealing important details of the Watergate scandal.

Among the out-of-town visitors was a doctor from Louisiana, a bail bondsman from Visalia, Calif., a rabbi from Houston, an Air Force major from St. Louis, a registered nurse from Buffalo, N.Y., three students from UC Berkeley, an assistant school principal from nearby Montgomery County, Md., and 12-year-old Clint Ruoho, who came with his mother from Gillette, Wyo.

Like many people in line, Clint and his mother said they traveled to Washington specifically to see and hear North testify.

“I don’t think Ollie is going to tell the truth,” said Clint, who stopped snapping photographs long enough to share his views on the issue of the day.

“Reagan knew about the diversion of the funds to the contras. He had to. But I don’t think you’re going to hear that from Ollie,” Clint said.

Clint’s mother, a teacher’s aide, said she and her husband, a mine worker, were mystified by their son’s interest in politics.

“I don’t know where he got it. He didn’t inherit it,” she said. “ . . . We were going to send him to some sort of political camp but we couldn’t find one for children. So, we brought him here.”

There were probably more critics than supporters of North and Reagan on hand, including several people who saw North as an ogre.

“Oliver North is a malevolent man of an extremely high order of intelligence,” March said.

Others took a more charitable view.

“North is a fine Marine but not such a good diplomat,” said Helen Gene Wilson of Buffalo.

“He may have used more initiative than he should have. But that’s what we train people for at the academies. It’s what we want our leaders to do. North just got into the wrong venue,” said Air Force Maj. Gugy Irving of St. Louis.

“Basically, North is a good individual who will be able to explain his way out of this,” said a Louisiana man who did not want to give his name.

“I think doing your own thing, breaking the law, is a way of life in Washington,” the man said.