Looking back at Watergate.

• Author: Sultan, Allen N.

TWO DECADES have passed since the resignation of Richard Nixon in the aftermath of the break-in at Democratic Party offices at the Watergate complex polarized the American people. Passions, however, usually are transient. The soothing effects of time offer inspection free of the divisive partisan politics that frequently accompany such precipitative events. Today, it is possible to reflect more coolly upon the trying months of Watergate, not as a political crisis, but, rather, as a most important event in the history and constitutional philosophy of the nation.

"I believe this [to be] the strongest government on earth....; the only one where every man ... would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern," stated Thomas Jefferson in his Inaugural address, March 4, 1801.

On Oct. 18, 1973, the American people rose as one and "flew to the standard of the law" with an avalanche of telegrams to Washington, D.C., that would have made Jefferson and his colleagues swell with pride. Responding to what has become known as "The Saturday Night Massacre," they confirmed Jefferson's confidence and prediction that they "would meet an invasion of the public order as [their] own personal concern." They were, in effect, 20th-century minutemen (and women), armed with their freedoms of expression and petition, rather than a musket. On behalf of themselves and posterity, they kept faith with the heritage of liberty secured by the constitutional rule of law.

A second, fascinating parallel exists between pre-revolutionary colonial experience and the events leading up to that autumn evening 21 years ago. In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson referred to the "history of repeated injuries and usurpations" by King George III. He also pointed out that human nature is more "disposed to suffer" endurable evils than to take politically precipitous action--until, in the words of Edmund Burke, "forbearance ceases to be a virtue."

Most are familiar with the injuries and usurpations of George III that are expressed so ably in the Declaration. Yet, how many, especially the voters of tomorrow, remember or have since learned about the transgressions of Richard Nixon and his immediate subordinates? Consider, as illustrations:

* An enemies list, declaring certain citizens to be "enemies" because they may not agree with some of the policies of their public servants.

* The political surveillance of citizens--the violation of their private lives and personal communications because they may hold independent views of public policy.

* Attempts at special tax audits to destroy various citizens whose only crime was to disagree with those who were temporarily in power.

* The stamp of national security and the claim of "implied powers" that were misused time and again for political gain.

* The sale of government favors--a premeditated campaign of Nixon officialdom furrowing out customers. Like so many magazine salesmen, they sought their patron in his nest with the message: Buy a piece of the people's government--or else! (Not surprisingly, the manager of that effort, former Secretary of Commerce Maurice Stans, proved to be the most successful money-raiser in the history of American politics.)

* A top government position being dangled before a Federal judge who was presiding over a major trial involving the reach or extent of the powers of the presidency.

* A secret, huge cache of funds to be used at the whim of those in power.

* Key documents involving possible criminal fraud that, for some strange reason, simply could not be found.

* An incredulous series of "flip-flops" by Nixon, one time claiming to have acted as president, another as an individual--whichever would have best served his particular dilemma at the time.

* Being told that seeking out the truth would permanently wound the office of the presidency, when, in fact, the President held the integrity of that office in his own hands. (All he had to do was speak the truth.)

* Being told about Nixon's two luxurious estates, of his half-million dollars in back taxes, of his White House guards ostentatiously dressed in the manner befitting the Austrian Hapsburgs, of blasting trumpets announcing his entrance at state dinners, and of the exorbitant refitting of Air Force One so his family would not have to pass through a public area on the plane.

* The deepest cut of all, the desecration of the vote--the refutation of democracy itself--by dirty tricks, burglary, and similar acts amounting to a vast conspiracy to destory the fundamental constitutional right of all citizens to their free choice in an election.

Stonewalling

After these many experiences, Americans still clung to...