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Show The Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday, March ft I 5, 1978 f rV' ' si Gave Them a Sword A J ' , r World in Focus . ) Soviet Seeking Frost, Nixon Fascination Begins in Sydney Continued From Page One tion of the book by a minimum of three months. A lot of these points are new," said ; Swifty. Til be back to you " Within ; days, the word came back the response was not unfavorable. Swifty returned to his magic figure of $750,000. I said I could not really go beyond my f original figure unless I had more time on the air. We compromised at $00,0i0 plus 20 percent of the profits, if any, for shows, with $200, Out) of four 1 that to be paid on signature. However, Uie financial side Ca our ' negotiations took the least amount of our time. First, the sine qua non. What was the position on absolute editorial control? "Agreed, barked Swifty. Foreign Versions The foreign versions were not a problem. But did 1 really need all that time for the interviewing? Yes, I said, knowing it was imjiortant. (Though not yet knowing just how important.) The former president was worried about the exclusivity. Other television and radio interviews being out is understandable, but how about one- - or statements for the news asked Swifty. bulletins? Only by mutual agreement, I told Swifty. Next, did the former president understand the need for me to be protected from the book? Yes, he does, said Swifty, to my relief. Though, naturally, the former president felt very strongly that the publishers had to be protected, too, when it came to the Watergate material. Watergate," said Swifty, is the mam problem." It was not that the former president had any objection to Watergate being part of the contract, it was just that he felt he could not possibly speak out freely on the subject as long as he might affect the appeals of Mitchell and Haldeman and Ehrlichman, which were still in progress. It seemed a fair point. Main Points after several more telephone Finally, calls between Swifty in Los Angeles and myself in London, I was able to cable him on July 31 confirming the main points. What remained to be done now was to have Paul Ziffren, my California counsel, draft a contract reflecting precisely the terms we had agreed upon, to review it with Swifty and then, of course, to present it to the former president himself. We decided to convene at Pauls office the afternoon, of Friday, Aug. 8, and to travel to San Clemente to meet with the former president and sign the contract the following day. Aug. 9 was, of course, the first anniversary of the Nixon resignation. That Nixon would choose that particular day to enter into a contract for his electronic memoirs would be viewed widely as an act of singularly Machiavellian plotting, and indeed noncontrition. But on this charge, at was innoany rate, the cent. Aug. 9 was simply the first day I could get there. On that Saturday morning, the four of us Paul Ziffren, Swifty, my executive vice president Marv Minoff and myself set out at 10:30 for San Clemente in Swiftys rented limousine. Met at Compound We were met at the compound, familiar to millions as the Western White House, by Nixon's chief of staff. Jack Brennan, the former Marine Corps colonel who had resigned his commission in order to serve his former commander-in-chie- f. Brennan would become a firm adversary and a good friend, and my principal contact with the Nixon team: Frank Gannon, Diane Sawyer, Ken Khachigian and former speech writer Ray Price. Nixon, dressed in his familiar dark blue suit, was waiting for us in his office. His handshake was firm, his gaze steady, his voice relaxed and confident. We exchanged pleasantries. Small talk. Always the most difficult part of any converstion ith Richard Nixon. But today there was news in the papers of Brezhnev. I mentioned it I would not like to be a Russian leader," said Nixon, shaking his head They never know when theyre being : two-minu- the former President protested. I'll deposit it. No, no, give it to me. That is the customary procedure. But, hut " Will you give it to me . . . please? said Swifty, this time enunciating every word separately and distinctly. Nixon handl'd the check to Swifty with the forlorn look of a little boy not allowed to consume the cookie he has swiped from the jar before dinner. It would he January before I saw Nixon again, and in the meantime there were a lot of plans to be set in motion, and reactions to be explored. o C (? are considerable. But 1 had never felt quite as much of an independent as I did over the next few weeks. By the end of September, it was clear that the initial response from all three networks was Soviet-dominate- no. I say initial response because I had decided I could afford to allow an opportunity for second thoughts at least until the middle of 1976. There were indeed some later discussions. But the Nixon Interviews had been classified as news and the three network heads of news stuck firmly to their conviction that the combination of Richard Nixon, a freelance interviewer, and an outside production company made the proposition untenable for their departments. Later in January I thought it was time to make a social call on San Clemente in order to keep in touch, and give what I somewhat ly e. Californian Begins Campaign To Discontinue Use of Celsius 1 Standards decided to call the metric temperature scale Celsius, Emerson . says, most dictionaries and references just called it the centigrade scale." Emerson says "Celsius" was the term used by some esoteric scientists, but that there is no logical reason for pounding into millions of skulls" the name of the Swedish astronomer. Why is he concerned about it? "I guess I just have time to think about things Uka this, answered Emerson. d, n formed basis of Frost's book detailing the former presidents term and his downfall. David Frost and Richard Nixon negotiate at San Clemente prior to interviews that wanted from Zelnick and Reston. In Washington, Birt met first with Zelnick. Birt told Zelnick we wanted four program briefing books, each dealing with a separate aspect of the Nixon administration. While the shape of the programs would be defined finally by the material generated from the interview sessions themselves, it was not too early to be thinking in terms of Nixon's foreign and domestic policies, Watergate, and the other abuse areas. There was also Nixon the man himself. Birts first session with Reston he found less encouraging. Jim regarded Nixon as the epitome of evil and, despite his resignation, a continuing threat to the American body politic. dent of getting a large audience in . August. I dont know about that, said Nixon. We got a hell of an audience on . Aug. 9, 1974. Yes, I said, but what do you do for an encore? Nixon began to see the point. He and Brennan agreed to move back from May to March, for airing in May. Clearly a new meeting had to take place. It was fixed for Thursday, Sept. 14. I came straight to the point. The proposed delay had been received far worse than I had feared. Do you agree, Mr. President, to W'atergate becoming consecutive, becoming the fourth show? I dont mind, but I do have a responsibility to the publishers. I would not want to agree to do this without Explain Mind What Jim seemed to want was a psychohistory of the Nixon presidency v. hich would at once explain the mind of their O K. Richard Nixon and the dark forces in Travel in Germany American society which had carried Bill Sarnoff had told me he would be him to the pinnacle of political power and which could again provide the traveling through Germany until or Friday, v hen I could reach driving force behind a comeback. He Thursday feared that our project could be the him at the Frankfurt Book Fair, at the Warner Books booth. We finally made launching pad for this return to respec- contact on the evening at 8:45, tability, a disaster which could be when he called Friday me back at tie Plaza. I averted only by a shrewd and informed explained the situation to him. exposition of his diabolical mind. Yes, I know." he replied. Ive I was all for providing insight into the heard all about it from the people at San Nixon character, if at all possible. But was Clemente. to make that the be-a- ll and end-aAnd is that O K. with you, Bill? setting the sights far too low. I believed we had to confront all the major issues. Well, Ive thought a lot about it, he said. And the people at San Clemente. On Sept. 9, Marv Minoff and I arrived "And is that O.K. with you, Bill? at San Clemente by helicopter. 1 turned Well, Ive thought a lot about it, he to the subject at hand. The prospect of said. An agonizing pause. And I cant waiting until May or June was devas- think of a logical reason for saying no. tating, I argued. That would mean we The crisis was over. We could make couldnt complete the editing until July our new plans. all and it would be August at the earliest (Copyright, 1979, bv David Parading Televis on, Inc , before the shows would be aired. And no ptjbhsted by William Morrow and Company, Inc. stations or advertisers would be eonfi- - Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc ) ll Truck Seats Inflate, Flip Drivers Reuter News Agency DETROIT Truck drivers afflicted with sore posteriors from spending too much time behind the wheel can get relief from a new inflatable, pulsating massage seat. black-nationab- st The seat, when hooked up to a trucks airbrake system, provides a massaging effect on the rump, according to the developer. In a report to an auto engineering meeting here, Gulf and Western Manufacturing Co. said the seat helps the blood circulate and is more comfortable for the buttocks than a regular seat A few thousand seats have been sold in an marketinitial ing campaign, and a major auto manufacturer is considering offering the seat with a portable air compressor as an option, a Gulf spokesman said. - Soviet-dominate- d six-mon- th L (CbpyrigM) Grand Opening Sale Continues Elevator Works Fine TENNIS Monopoly Record Falls CHADRON, Neb. (AP) Monopoly is a game with its ups and downs, a group of students at Chadron State College are finding. The 20 students say they have broken the record for playing the game in an elevator. The elevator is located in the womens high-ris- e dormitory. Members of Theta Chi fraternity said SMASH the manufacturer, Parker Brothers, told them the old record was 12 days. The 10 men and 10 women have played the game since Feb. 19, or 14 days, and will continue until 1 p.m. Sunday. The women students play the game between midmght and noon, when men are not allowed in the dorm, and the men take to the boards from noon to midnight. Magnavox Stereo Console Witt WHMI Ratte. Ptoono mi ODYSSEY Tap Ptayw beautiful todite'rtem-tytttCibtnut Motfui 6106 cot), iHni f Turn VIDEO 6AMF TV m Mack mi (any air e aay toai into an aitmnf piayxraurtC 9ftat mkimi acr-m- f acta Maui, automatic mm. aac. a Home Entertainment KING'S MAGNAV0X 2232 South 7th East Bountiful-Coloni- al Square Center 437-412- 9 585 West 2600 So. 290-344- 3 New Hours Mon. -- Thu r. 11:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Fri.-Sa- 1 - By William R. Frye A series of UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. waramgs from the White Youse and State Department has alerted the western world to an incipient crisis in the Horn of Africa. But the full di mensions of that political crisis have not been public- - . ly spelled out. What is involved is a Soviet-Cuba- n bid to establish a major strategic base in Africa. From that base, Soviet power and influence could be projected in several directions southward toward Rhodesia and South Africa, northeastward into the Persian Gulf, and northward into the Sudan and Egypt. The springboard for this expansion would be where an Ethiopia, already estimated 10,000 to 11,000 Cuban troops, plus Soviet tanks, aircraft and leadersliip, are assisting in a war with Somalia Should Ethiopia succeed, with Soviet-Cubahelp, in driving Somali forces out of the Ethiopian province of Ogader., which they invaded last summer to liberate its ethnic Somali majority, Somali President Mohammed Siad Barre, himself born in the Ogaden, would be humiliated. A collapse of his regime would be entirely possible. In exchange for halting the victorious Ethiopian armies at the Somali border and thus sparing Somalia the further disaster of an invasion of its own territory, Moscow might well be able to extract from either Siad Barre or his successor the right to reoccupy the former Soviet naval and air base at Borbera, on Somalias northeastern coast. That would be stage one of the Soviet advance. The Kremlins present base in the Horn of Africa would have been expanded and secured. Next would come a massive weapons pipeline to. the Rhodesian Patriotic Front, the guerrilla alliance It would be a simple logistical exercise to shuttle weapons from Berbera down the East African coast to Tanzania or Mozambique, and thence to guerrilla bases in areas bordering Rhodesia. Front-lin- e African states near Rhodesia have consistently backed the Patriotic Front, considering its leaders the authentic spokesmen for Rhodesias black majority. The net effect would be to fuel and prolong a bloody civil war between the guerrilla armies and a black-whit- e transitional government now being negotiated in Rhodesia. Stage three would consist of political and countries economic pressure on the of the Persian Gulf. The lifehne along which the oil they sell would pass en route to Europe and the Western Hemisphere would include a bottleneck near the entrance to the Red Sea, with Berbera on one side and South Yemen, a Soviet satellite, on the other. This control of the shipping lanes would give the Kremlin significant leverage over the pricing and trading policies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and in a military crisis, an ability to interrupt or harass the flow ol oil to the West. Joys Considerable The joys of being an independent described on the telephone to Brennan as a progress report. Nixon invited my companion, Caroline Cushing, to join us and pose for a photograph. he told There, Caroline, you can put that in your apartment in New York, and all your liberal friends can use it as a dart board!" Caroline laughed, and explained that she was at the time living in Monte Carlo. Lives Tax-Fre- e As we left a few minutes later, the former president leaned over to me almost conspiratorially. Marry that girl," he said. Shes a resident of Monaco. She lives tax-freActually, I had very nearly made the mos important piece of progress of all. I had found and almost signed my as we producer or were later to call ourselves on this project John Birt was the most outproducer I had standing current-affair- s ever worked with. I had persuaded him to come over to London Weekend Television (LWT) to produce the 1972 series of The Frost Program. In June, I contacted columnist Joe Kraft, a longtime friend. Kraft recommended James Reston Jr., who had not followed his distinguished father into The New York Times but was pursuing his own successful career as a novelist and English instructor at the University of North Carolina. Reston was eager to join us. A bit later Kraft recommended Bob Zelnick, a veteran reporter and, until recently, National Public Radio bureau chief, hardly known outside Washington but well respected among his colleagues. In Good Heart I set off for the States from Australia in July in good heart, looking forward to a general update with Jack Brennan and Frank Gannon in Los Angeles en route to New York. On this occasion, however, the mood of Nixons two advisers seemed far from carefree. The president, Gannon explained, is a man who has difficulty concentrating on more than a single major endeavor at a given time. And now he had put his total energy and concentration to work on his memoirs but had fallen far behind his October 1976 deadline. Breaking off for the months it would take him to prepare for the Interviews, not to mention the month of arduous taping sessions, was totally unacceptable. There was just no way we could get to that business until May or June of the following year. 1 I'm afraid thats impossible, I made have commitments snapjied taped." on the basis of your commitments to Not a hint of a smile Was he unaware me." of the irony? Or just keeping the Brennan then unveiled his doomsday straightest face in the business? weajion. "If that's the case, then the But the purpose of the meeting was President would prefer to return your business. And for ckse to six hours clieek and call the whole thing oft " Nixon paid attention to the task m hand Breach of Contract Ihe moment came for signatures. And I said, as calmly a, With a but firm a hand check. Fine, the Jack," then, slightly trembling mind, 1 wrote the could. I would say that wall cost him name, Richard M. Nixon, and then lielwecn fifteen and twenty million the words, Two hundred thousand dollars in damages grow mg out of bis dollars." And then the numbers, breach of contract." $200, 000." Brennan had no immediate answer Thank you," I replied, hut said he would carry my response To Nixons Its more than a pleasure. Mr. presi- back to Mr. Nixon and await further dent." I hoped that sounded approp- instructions. riate in the circumstances. I flew on to Iaxukxi, and acquainted for his billfold, but John Dirt with the new crisis. There Nixon reachi-was nothing we could do until we g it a Swifty cut him short Can I have the chet k jhiia" l.e response from San Clemente, mi we turned to the preparatory work we demanded. F. I). KENSINGTON, Calif (LTIi Emerson has launched a campaign to stop the use of the word celsius to describe the metric temperature reading system, saying theres no reason to substitute one unrecognizable, un- spellable, unprorvouncea ile name lor another (fahrenheit). He thinks tlie metric scale of temperatures should be called "centigrade, which defines the scale of 0 to IDO precisely and can be easily and intelligently translated into any language, lip until, toe Metkmal ILsreas W African Power Its made out to me, a any 11:30 12:00 a.m.-11:0- 0 0 p.m. Sunday p.m. ci these locations: 1 540 North Main 1S68 East 4300 South Holladay 2990 West 3500 South Granger Tooele 9 t. a.m.-12:0- SUNDAY SPECIAL 882-083- - 277-825- 1 968-423- 2 5 9 Murray -5- 905 South State 1239 East 2100 South 0 Sugar House 262-405- 9 3041 East 3300 South Millcreek 9 Granite - 420 East 3300 South 465-633- West Jordan Orem 843-192- 1 v J H w 969-230- -1- 601 West 7800 South 121 North State 225-501- 9 Provo 3 346 North University American Fork 665 East State t Springville 5 566-035- - 373-208- 300 North Main 489-58- 0 756-932- 50 Come in to your neighborhood Pizza Hut Restaurant all day o unday and receive: 5 3 7025 South 2000 East Cottonwood klMh Dr Rood RpHAfVlH 77 Iw i ivi ii t Ium vvv ivmJ J 1 655 East 9400 South Sandy 2 Kearns 4153 West 5415 South ncv-i- 9 457-805- ALL 466-971- 1 566-135- 2 V ! medium sized pizza with your choice of a single ingredient. 4 Salads from our Salad Bar. 4 medium sized soft drinks. 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