Buchanan Outlined Plan to Harass Democrats in '72, Memo Shows

Republican presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan strongly favored a plan of "covert operations" to harass and embarrass Democratic contenders in the heady days at the Nixon White House before the Watergate scandal.

Then a White House speechwriter and enthusiastic member of the Nixon campaign's "attack group," Buchanan laid out his ideas in an April 10, 1972, memo looking ahead to that summer's Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach. It was addressed to Attorney General John N. Mitchell and White House Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman.

On the memo's last page -- one never turned over to Watergate congressional investigators -- Buchanan and his top aide recommended staging counterfeit attacks by one Democrat on another, fouling up scheduled events, arranging demonstrations and spreading rumors to plague the rival party, all the while being careful not to run afoul of the Secret Service.

Buchanan denied in testimony before the Senate Watergate committee in 1973 that he was aware of any "covert operations" that the GOP had sponsored for the Democratic convention.

It is unclear whether the last page of the four-page memo, composed by Buchanan and his chief aide Ken Khachigian, was ever sent. But it shows how the blunt-spoken Buchanan felt about political espionage against the Democrats. It also indicates that he knew that covert operations were being "directed" out of the White House "as they have been in the past."

Now a contender for the GOP nomination, Buchanan was an aggressive, outspoken defender of President Richard M. Nixon during the Watergate scandal but was never caught up in it, in contrast to individuals such as Haldeman and Mitchell, who were convicted in the coverup.

In addition to his speechwriting work, Buchanan was in charge of "opposition research" for the Nixon White House and was, as he put it in one memo, a "regular and enthusiastic member of the campaign 'Attack Group' " that met regularly to discuss 1972 political strategy.

A spokesman for Buchanan's presidential campaign declined to comment Saturday on the April 10, 1972, memo. Buchanan was in Atlanta yesterday with more than seven hours of "downtime" on his schedule, but the spokesman, K.B. Forbes, said he had no intention of disturbing the candidate.

"We're focusing on a national presidential campaign," Forbes said. "Pulling out the 'golden oldies' from 20 years ago is irrelevant." He said "downtime" for Buchanan "means he's untouchable."

On the campaign trail these days, Buchanan, 57, makes only passing references to his time at the Nixon White House. He joined Nixon in 1966 when the former vice president was planning his comeback and stayed with him until Nixon resigned in August 1974. But Buchanan is rarely asked about the experience as he hops from state to state and he rarely speaks about it.

The 1972 document, as well as others offering a glimpse of Buchanan's White House work, are in the custody of the National Archives, preserved under a 1974 law designed to protect records of historical significance and to "provide the public with the full truth, at the earliest reasonable date, of the abuses of governmental power popularly identified under the generic term 'Watergate.' "

Despite that mandate, many of the Nixon records are still tied up as a result of objections by the late president's lawyers and many more, including Buchanan's papers before 1971, have yet to be processed.