Nixon Attorney in the Court of Public Opinion

Len Garment and Richard Nixon made odd political bedfellows. Garment was liberal, a New York Democrat and Jewish. Nixon was conservative, a California Republican, with no one else Jewish in his inner circle.

Despite their close friendship--they’d been New York law partners in between Nixon’s presidential bids--Garment’s initial role in the Nixon White House was relatively minor. He simply lacked the hardened political instincts, such as those of a Bob Haldeman or a John Ehrlichman, required to be part of Nixon’s top staff.

But after Watergate, Garment quickly emerged as one of the major Nixon players untainted by scandal. He wound up as Nixon’s lawyer and one of the most respected names of the administration.

Garment, who will be 73 in May, will appear at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda on Thursday. He will speak at 10:30 a.m. and sign copies of his new book, “Crazy Rhythm,” which covers in detail his White House days, as well as personal tragedies such as his own bouts with depression and his first wife’s suicide.

The title was borne out of Garment’s early pre-law days, when he played the clarinet with bands such as Woody Herman’s. When I picked up “Crazy Rhythm,” I was skeptical whether there was any light left to be shed on the subject of the Nixon presidency or Watergate, after some 200 published books on those subjects. I was delightfully surprised.

Garment answers well my first question: Given his background, how did he ever wind up with Nixon? His explanation is that the practice of law had become dull for him, and when Nixon joined the firm where he worked in 1963, Garment was impressed with his dynamics. Nixon knew what he wanted--to be president of the United States--and how to go after it.

States Garment: “I couldn’t have cared less that Nixon was the antichrist of eastern liberalism. He was also an opening to a different life.”

It was Garment, in place as counsel to President Nixon after Watergate consumed the Oval Office, who first declared that Haldeman and Ehrlichman had to be fired. It was also Garment who first advised Nixon that destroying the secret White House tapes might be an obstruction of justice.

But Garment believes it was really Haldeman who convinced Nixon to keep the tapes, to help support him in his fight to remain in office.

Garment writes: “Haldeman’s judgment was stunningly wide of the mark. He completely misconstrued the impression the tapes would make.”

Garment doesn’t hedge on criticizing Nixon. But his admiration for Nixon is clear too: “I was exposed mainly to his attractive sides--his intelligence, idealism and generosity. Only by hearsay, mainly tape-recorded, did I see the fulminating stranger I was happy not to know.”

Garment was among those in attendance at Nixon’s funeral in Yorba Linda three years ago. “Flawed, furiously human Richard Nixon, a man of dark nightmares and optimistic dreams,” Garment writes.

No Kidding: If you watched the Academy Awards on Monday night, you saw the great movie director/choreographer Michael Kidd receive an honorary Oscar from his longtime friend Julie Andrews. In her introduction, she ran through numerous Kidd credits--”Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” “Hello Dolly,” “Guys & Dolls.”

But here’s one of Kidd’s credits that didn’t get mentioned: Did you know he was once the director of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller’s “Hour of Power” TV show from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove?

Schuller spokesman Michael Nason was the producer of that show. He recalls that Kidd was brought in during the early 1980s soon after the Crystal Cathedral was erected.

“He was a fan of the show; we thought he might have some ideas how we could best put the show together from the new site,” Nason recalled. “He really was terrific, with great ideas. I loved working with him.”

Putting Cancer Up Front: If your TV news comes from Channel 2, you probably know that its reporter Dave Lopez has been covering Orange County for many years. Lopez has won high praise in the industry for his recent series about his own battle with prostate cancer.

Lopez called the other day to remind me about a major Southland conference on prostate cancer--free to the public--at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel next Saturday. It runs all day and you can get more details at (310) 822-1982. Speakers besides Lopez will include some of the top Southern California doctors in the prostate cancer field. There are also workshops for wives of prostate cancer patients.

For the Record: In a recent column about the “Women’s Hall of Fame” at UC Irvine, I inadvertently used the wrong name for the director of the campus’ Center for Women and Gender Education. Her name is Paula Goldsmid.

Wrap-Up: I called Len Garment at his law office in Washington to discuss his book and told him my one disappointment with it: Garment insists he was not Deep Throat.

I’d always thought it might have been Garment who met with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in secluded spots to pass on White House insider doings related to Watergate.

“It’s not me, honest,” he writes in the book. But in our conversation, Garment predicted that before this century ends the real Deep Throat will come forward, or word will somehow get out. In the book, Garment suggests: “I’m sure there was a chorus of Throats, with one Pavarotti leading the rest.”