The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 21

The Age, Saturday 7 March 1981 53 weekend review ho i Nine years ago, Ron Ziegler called Watergate 4a third rate nave cavesi moo-ancvrars, burglary, never RON ZIEGLER would like to make one thing perfectly clear. He never lied to tbaj Presf about, Watergate. "It's necessary to fudge sometimes," says too 41 year old former Press Secretary to Richard Nixon. "You have to give political answers. You have to give non-answers.

But I never walked out on that podium and lied." Ziegler, once the White House Press corps' human pin cushion and now president of the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, takes another swig of his scotch. "I don't know why I'm doing this interview," he says over lunch in a restaurant. "I'm going to go home tonight and start thinking about all these questions. Okay, so what's Ron Ziegler doing as head of the National Association: of Truck Stop Operators when AI Haig is Secretary of State?" Ifs a good question. A question even, his mother would ask.

"She did," Ziegler deadpans, his baby face breaking into a grin. Ronald L. Ziegler who served as Nixon's confidant, alter ego and mouthpiece from 1968 to 1975 now drives eight minutes to work in a Buick station wagon, rides to meetings and restaurants in the company's Cadillac, -plays golf and tennis at a country club, -takes his Honda 750 motorcycle out for a spin and lives in a modest suburban house with his wife Nancy and two teenage daughters. He says he doesn't miss the White House, though his office is filled with the memorabilia of those grand and heated days when the evening news was not complete without a comment or no comment from Ronald Ziegler. He also put pen to paper, spending eight months writing his White House "reflections" not, he points out, another Watergate apologia.

"I was the only one on that plane to San Clemente with Nixon when power changed hands," he "I was there with Nixon jn exile. I will publish a good book someday. I'm proud of what I did as Press' Secretary. I don't feel the need to apolo gise. There are some things, however, I would have done differently." Such as? "Well I don't want to go Into that," he says.

The familiar face has gone from lean to round and his chin now has a twin. Thick black once slickly parted ex- ecutive-style, curls around the collar of his dark pin-striped suit. Silver patches at the temples soften the ice-blue eyes. Ziegler clearly hopes to do for the truck stop operators what he tried to do for Richard Nixon. "This is a challenge," he says over his second scotch and water.

"This is a very exciting industry. The American trucker is an underestimated man I'm going to do for NASTO what needs to be done, to turn around that negative Image of what a truck stop is." He has travelled to truck stops across the country. He has eaten truck-stop food and filled up with truck-stop fuel. A truck stop, says Zielger, "is a great place to For the "photo opportunity" later, Ziegler grabs a toy Mack truck and sets it on his desk. He smiles and sucks in his bulging stomach.

Was Richard Nixon a father figure? "No. That's the first question everybody always asks me." What did Ron Ziegler know and when did he know it? "You can't oversimplify Watergate. It happened in stages," he Of course he was lied to, he says. Of course he was misled, misused and abused. "That's the essence of a cover-up." Ronald L.

Ziegler grew up in Cincinnati, moved to California in 1958, and enrolled at the University of Southern California. In his spare time, he took a job at Disneyland as a tour guide. The Jungle Tour guide. It was good experience, Zielger says with a rueful laugh. In 1962, he tagged on to Nixon's California gubernatorial campaign as Press assistant.

When Nixon lost; Ziegler letting the White House has seen between a Press Secretary and the news White House briefings often ended in shouting matches. Newspapers were guilty of "shoddy and shabby phrases like "bottom line" and "stonewall" joined a litany of others commonly referred to In that atmosphere of acrimony as Then, on 17 April 1973, while announcing that all future statements on Watergate would be he agreed with "New York Times' reporter R. W. Apple that all his past statements were, well, "I said it," Ziegler says. "I agreed, but I said it." He's not glad he said it, but he knows it has stuck to him like Krazy Glue ever since.

Then, four months later in New Orleans, Nixon shoved him, right in front of the cameras, an act of frustration frozen forever with Ziegler playing Presidential punching bags. "Obviously I was humiliated," Ziegler says with a short laugh. "I more or less blended into the crowd. But afterward, on. the plane going home, he came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, in front of the whole staff, and apologised.

I was embarrassed, but I understood the situation fully." His detractors still hostile after all these years say Ziegler as Press Secretary was power-hungry and arrogant, a man who made life miserable for his staff when he wasn't doing his imitation of a brick wall for the Press. "I must say there were elements of arrogance about me," he says. "I'm a tough manager. Sure I wanted my coffee served in a Limoges china cup with the Presidential seal. Sure I asked my secretaries to take my clothes to the laundry.

But what are you supposed to do? Say you're sorry you're 20 minutes late for the briefing, but you were down getting your shoes shined at the Black Star valet?" In the end, Ziegler hurt by the calls for his own resignation survived until his leader resigned. Aside from General Alexander Haig, Ziegler was the one aide Nixon relied on. And on that steamy August day in 1974, when Nixon left the White House, Ron Ziegler was by his side. The 1000-member truck stop association has its headquarters in a small suite of rooms. Ziegler's office is the biggest On the door is a brass name-plate: THE PRESIDENT.

But his office holds few, if any, references to his current position. The Williamsburg-blue walls are plastered with White House memorabilia and of-ficai photographs: Ziegler and John Connally, Ziegler and de Gaulle, Ziegler and Henry Kissinger, and a haunting black and white portrait by OIlie Atkins of Ziegler and Nixon walking beneath the palm trees at San- Clemente. There is a strange sense of deja vb Inside the cosy room almost as if it had been transported from the White House itself. In the bookshelf are rows of Presidential papers. On the coffee table is ar silver cigarette box engraved with Nixon's The One.

"I still see him once in a while in New York," Ziegler says, lighting his third Marlboro in as many minutes. "We're still friends." He doesn't see his former mentor, Haldeman, or his former tormentor, John Ehrlichman, or any of the Watergate players. Still the tight-lipped loyalist, Ziegler won't discuss what happened on that flight out to San Clemente with Nixon. That will be in the book. He won't discuss the negotiations over the pardon for the same reason.

"I will say this, his mental and emotional strength was incredible. Most men would have walked into the sea at San Clemente. I think he truly knows his mistakes of his Presidency." Ron Ziegler says he has many friends, and sometimes people even ask for his autograph. "I think," he says quietly, "that people understand." Stephanie Mansfield Washington Post Joined the J. Walter Thompson advertising firm at the behest of his once and future mentor, H.

R. Haldeman. Six years later, he joined the Nixon Presidential campaign and wound up, at 29, the youngest White House Press Secretary in history. "Of course I was naive," he says. "But I think I was better prepared than most Press secretaries.

And I wouldn't have traded those years for anything." Not the controversial years of the Vietnam war. Not the delicate years of opening diplomatic relations with China. Not even the Watergate years, when Ziegler was criticised for calling the 1972 break-in "a third-rate "I was right" he says. "It was a third-rate burglary. Who knew it was going to be anything more than that?" "The Secret Service gave me a code name while I was In the White House," he says.

His name? "Whaleboat. Somebody obviously thought it was funny," he says. Ziegler's greatest mistake, former White House communications director Herbert Klein wrote in his recent book, 'Making It Perfectly Clear, "was that he allowed himself to be duped by those who were covering up the Watergate case. He accepted too many of their answers blindly and thus lost his credibility as the spokesman for the White House." Ziegler knows that now. There were moments, he says of "shock and anger" though he will not be specific as to who caused these moments.

Still, he had the one qualification crucial to performing the duties of Press Secretary: the confidence of the President. He also knows now that a Press Secretary's credibility is only as good as the President's. Ziegler's failure to realise the "dup-plicity" of those who were advising him, Klein writes, "led to the greatest blood THE AMBASSADOR AND THE PRETTY GIRL nn wi Vladimir Petrov in Canberra many years ago who held the lowly post of third secretary of the By ALAN RENOUF Former Australian ambassador to the United States a soviet tmrjassy. The precautions seem to have paid off; Very few cases of an Australian diplomat being compromised are known. Some at MvKYTO nn tempts on their integrity have been made, but even these have PES been rare.

The reason is that Australia has 'been security- UVJ irai fosea sow th affair J5 Two recurring pieces of evidence pointed to it: (1) Every time I wanted to get somewhere in a hurry he drove at high speed through every red traffic light in his path yet he was never stopped by the police. (2) He spoke several languages, which in itself was unusual, but whenever my wife and I wanted to have a private conversation in the car we spoke Spanish which he didn't understand. Our speaking Spanish used to make him furious, causing him to drive and behave erratically. Because it involved sex, the case of Sir Geoffrey Harrison was titillating for the public. But sex is only one of the human weaknesses which intelligence agencies seek to exploit in trying to enlist informers.

In fact, any human weakness is fair game: an excessive interest in money or gambling, ideological dispositions (for example, the famous instances of the British trio of Philby, Bulrgess and Maclean), addiction to alcohol or drugs all are equally open to exploitation. And don't think that just because Australia is a relatively minor world power Australian diplomats are not prime targets for communist intelligence agencies. They are and successive Governments have acted in the belief that Australia's diplomats in sensitive postings arm vulnerable. While it may be true that the conscious and the whole panoply of precautions against betrayal have invariably been employed. The notable exception is well-known after the defection of Petrov, the Royal Commission on Espionage reported that his predecessor in the Soviet Embassy in Canberra had been successful in getting secrets out of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Presumably, the source was an officer who had by that time found his way to Czechoslovakia. An abortive effort to compromise a diplomat may have an amusing sequel. The offending country feels obliged, after failure, to expel the diplomat and trumps up a charge. Once, years ago, an Australian diplomat was expelled from a communist country on the ground that he had been caught trafficking in ladies' underwear. And even Sir Geoffrey Harrison would smile, I suspect, at the recent case of an ambassador of a newly independent country who was stationed in a major communist country.

His Excellency, who found evident pleasure in the company of several attractive local women, staggered his hosts when they presented him with the photographic evidence of his exploits. "These are excellent photographs," he told senior officials of the host Government. "It is very kind of you to offer to publish them because sexual prowess is highly regarded in my SIR GEOFFREY HARRISON discovered to his great cost, life as a senior diplomat in an Iron Curtain country can be full of temptations and dangers. The surprising aspect of the Harrison case was not that a sexual lure was dangled before a diplomat that sort of thing is always possible in the secret war which is conducted between East and West. No, what is unusual about this case is that the Soviet Union actually made an attempt, thwarted by the victim himself, to compromise the ambassador of a major power.

Had it succeeded, this would have been a major coup for the Soviets, for ambassadors are normally regarded as above temptation. I cannot profess intimate knowledge of other diplomatic incidents involving ambassadors and sex behind the Iron Curtain. What I do know is that Western diplomats posted in Soviet bloc countries are always conscious of the possibility of being caught out by their hosts. During my period as Australian ambassador in Belgrade, for ample, I was convinced that my chauffeur was an agent planted by the Yugoslav Government. sensitive conversations only when a radio is blaring loudly or to go for a walk and a talk in a park.

As another precaution, prospective diplomats are usually screened psychologically before selection in an attempt to discover actual or potential faults of character. Where possible, unmarried officers are rarely assigned to a post hording special risks. Or if they are, the posting is of shorter duration than for others, and out-of-country leave there is more generous. Diplomats are warned to assume that all members of the household staff in communist countries, who are supplied by the Government of the country, are operatives. Diplomats are also told that the targets of the intelligence agencies of either East or West are usually more junior officers than ambassadors.

This is on the assumption that they are likely to be more susceptible to blandishments, 'being younger, less well-off and less experienced, yet knowledgeable enough to warrant an effort at compromise. A good illustration is that of the Russian national secrets of Governments in Canberra are not likely to be of much interest to such agencies, Australia is privy to many Western, especially American, secrets. It is in this sense that Australian diplomats are rated as prime targets. Indeed the fact that they are the repository of the secrets of others, as well as their own, provides good cause for exceptional caution on their part. The Australian Government takes several measures to ensure that diplomats who are posted to an Eastern bloc country don't fall victims to Soviet entrapment.

Among them are these: Senior diplomats are normally sent to ASIO headquarters in Melbourne for an extensive briefing on the latest espionage methods the most recent innovations in listening devices, telex codes, Lower level officers are briefed in Canberra by the Department of Foreign Affairs. All diplomats are told to be cautious when they mix with locals in Eastern bloc countries, and to expect that any local could be an intelligence agent. They are told to be careful where they discuss official business; to assume that office and residence are bugged and either to conduct DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT FACTORIES FISHERMEN'S BEND, VICTORIA your future with WW A BAYER 7 Perc has his say Popular Press writer Percy Jones continues his hardhitting series with a look at the prospects this season for his old team Carlton and how he reckons Hawthorn and Fitzroy will perform. aye AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Dotty dogswear It's the latest fad overseas dressing your dog for winter, Sunday Press has the story. Moomba Magic Get the full Moomba programme for tomorrow and Monday plays an exclusive interview with Moomba King, Lou Richards about his early days as a battler.

Full race guides AUSTRALIA Have the following vacancies: TECHNICAL OFFICER (ENGINEERING) GRADE 2 (SALARY $1 6.328-S1 7.203). TWO POSITIONS Duties: No. NP Undertake maintenance of complex machines and equiments involving electronic and computer controls. Direct tradesmen during maintenance and repair activities. Detect and diagnose faults in NC machines.

Desirable Qualifications: Experience in the electronic maintenance of NC machines desirable. Duties: No. NP Undertake maintenance of complex machines and equipments involving hydraulic and mechanical controls. Direct tradesmen during maintenance and repair activities. Detect and diagnose faults in NC machines.

Desirable Qualifications: Experience in the hydraulicmechanical maintenance of NC machines desirable. TECHNICAL OFFICER (ENGINEERING) GRADE 1 (SALARY $1 3.069-$ 1 5.922) Duties: No. 3560 carry out inspections and tests requiring specialised knowledge and the exercise of independent judgment to ensure the maintenance of quality standards and compliance with specifications, drawings and other applicable data. Qualifications: All Technical Officer Positions. An approved certificate from a technical college or institute of technology or its equivalent, or such other qualifications as the Public Service Board considers appropriate, together with requisite experience.

Applications will be considered from persons who do not possess the above qualifications, provided they have relevant experience over a minimum period of six years. Such an applicant if selected, will be required to pass a test to establish eligibility for the position. Commonwealth Public Services conditions include fout weeks' recreation leave per year, cumulative sick leave, long service leave' and superannuation. Applications quoting duties no. should be forwarded to: Off to the races Monday? Sunday Press has full race guides for all the meetings, plus Danny Power is in Hobart to cover the Interdominion Trotting Championship.

The Service, established under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975, advise! the Commonwealth Government on national nature conservation policies and has responsibility for national park management Applications are Invited from both men and women for the follewlnj positions: CO-ORDINATOR (MarineFreshwater Nature Conservation) Salary Range: $24954-25821 DUTIES: Within the scope of the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service functional charter formulate and develop high level policy proposals related to marine and freshwater nature conservation matters, where appropriate in co-operation with Federal, State and Territory authorities and with Aboriginals. Co-ordinate, supervise and review marine and freshwater strategies. Advise on legislative requirements and implications relating to the protection of whales, and marine and freshwater nature conservation programs. OUALIFICATIONS: Post-graduate qaulifications In marine andor freshwater science, biology, oceanography or related fields highly desirable. Extensive experience in marine andor freshwater research and natural resource planning and preparation of policy recommendation! SENIOR PROJECT OFFICER (Wildlife Management) 6aliry Range: $21411-2235 DUTIES: Develop policy proposals on the conservation of terrestrial bunt and flora populations.

Collate data 'for resource management planning. Participate in specialist advisor committees on terrestrial wildlife management Advise on management implications of International agreements concerned with wildlife. Oversight and control terrestrial conservation studies undertaken on behalf of the Service. QUALIFICATIONS: Tertiary qualifications In zoology, geography er related discipline desirable. Extensive experience in biological data handling, wildlifa management policy formulation related to nature conservation essential.

LOCATION: The above positions are located In Canberra and Involve Interstate travel. PROJECT OFFICER (Kakadu National Park) Salary Range: S15M1-17280 Assist the monitoring and measurement of trends In park conditions with emphasis on change in landscape features and Aboriginal sites. Undertake field research tni observations. Prepare associated reports and make recommendations as appropriate. UALIFICATIONS: Qualifications In geology, geomorphology, anthropology and archaeology, especially in relation to past and present Aboriginal connections an advantage.

Sound understanding of Aboriginal culture and an ability to communicate effectively with Aboriginal essential. LOCATIO The above position I located hi the Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory. CONDITIONS: These positions are permanent and conditions of service Include participation In the Superannuation Scheme, furlough, sick leave benefits, annual leave with bonus payment! and other appropriate allowances. Appointees' fares, removal expenses may be paid and where applicable living quarters provided in the Kakadu National Park on a rental basis. Applications outlining relevant experience and qualifications should be submitted with an 'Application for Permanent Appointment" form (which may be obtained front the Regional Public Service Board in your capital city) to: i The Director, Australian National Park and Wildlife Service.

Box 636, P.O., CANBERRA CITY, A.C.T. 2601. Closing date for applications: 20 March 1981. VETERINARIANS (2) An opportunity existsfor two Veterinariansto join the Veterinary Division of Bayer Australia Ltd. to be involved in the development and registration of new products and the servicing and marketing of existing producta One Veterinarian will be located in Sydney, the other in Melbourne.

LOCATION: Head Office, Botany, N.S.W. Melbourne Office, Glen Waverley, Victoria. DUTIES: The Veterinarian appointed to Sydney will be involved Erimarily in the development registration and mar-eting of growth promotants and other relevant products for use in the pig and poultry industries. Some involvement in nutrition of both monogastrics and ruminants with specialty feedstuffs would be appreciated. The Veterinarian appointed to Melbourne will be involved in product development and registration, particularly as these functions apply to the states of Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia across the entire product range.

Liaison with relevant veterinarians within government departments and universities is important Support would have to be provided to the state sales forces including representative training and extension work. An initial orientation period would be completed at head office in Sydney. QUALIFICATIONS: Deg reein Veterinary Science. For theSydney position interest and preferably experience in intensive pig and poultry production is essential Experience as either a rural practitioner or as a government field officer would be an advantage for the Melbourne position GENERAL CONDITIONS: A salary will be negotiated according to qualifications and experience. Afteraqualifying period thecompany superannuation scheme may be joined Acompany car will be provided APPLICATIONS: Applications will be treated in the strictest confidence and should be made in writing giving details of age, experience, marital status etc and addressed to: Technical Manager, Veterinary Division, BAYER AUSTRALIA LIMITED, P.O.

Box 159, Botany. N.S.W. 2019. ALL IN SUNDAY PRESS OUT TOMORROW liSSlfitfMcfo The Personnel Manager, 1wVotIIMI Hnvprnmpnt Aircraft Fnrtnrlpe The best selling Sunday paper in Victoria. mm Private Bag No.

4 Port Melbourne, Vic. 3297. By: 20th March 1981.