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Briefs

Rose Mary Woods, faithful Nixon secretary, dies at 87

By Times wire
Published January 24, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rose Mary Woods, the devoted secretary to President Nixon who said she inadvertently erased part of a crucial Watergate tape, has died. She was 87.

Ms. Woods died Saturday night (Jan. 22, 2005) at a nursing home in Alliance, about 60 miles south of Cleveland, funeral home owner Roger Ruzek said Sunday. He did not know the cause of death.

The 181/2-minute gap in the tape of a June 20, 1972, conversation between Richard Nixon and chief of staff H.R. Haldeman was critical to the question of what Nixon knew about the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex three days earlier - and when he knew it.

Ms. Woods, who moved to northeastern Ohio after leaving the disgraced president's staff in 1976, never talked much about her years with the only American president to resign the office.

But Nixon considered her a member of the family. He wrote in his memoirs that it was Ms. Woods he asked to inform first lady Pat Nixon and his daughters in 1974 that he had decided to resign on Aug. 9.

Julie Nixon Eisenhower and Tricia Nixon Cox said in a statement Sunday that Ms. Woods will be remembered for her devotion to the country and their family.

"She was a cherished friend to us and to all who knew her. None of us will forget how she served her country with unswerving loyalty and dedication throughout her entire career," the statement read.

Nixon defended his loyal employee when fingers pointed at Ms. Woods, who had spent weeks transcribing subpoenaed White House tapes.

She denied she caused the full 181/2-minute gap, testifying later that she inadvertently erased four or five minutes. The phone rang while she was transcribing the tape, she said.

She accidentally hit the record button. A picture in which she demonstrated her action - stretching one foot forward while reaching back to get the phone - became one of the most famous images of the era.

A panel of experts set up in the 1970s by federal judge John Sirica, who presided over the Watergate criminal trials, concluded that the erasures were done in at least five - and perhaps as many as nine - separate and contiguous segments. The panel never figured out what was erased.

Who erased the rest of the tape? No one knows.

ATLANTA - States have begun dropping their restrictions on flu shots now that falling demand has led to surpluses, and some health officials want the federal government to take similar action.

The federal government last month eased its restrictions, imposed when production problems in October cut the flu vaccine supply in half, and allowed shots for adults age 50 and older.

Since then, at least 17 states have lifted all previous restrictions, according to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. The states previously had reserved the vaccine for older adults, infants and people with chronic medical conditions.

States that have lifted all restrictions include Alaska, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

EAGLE PASS, Texas - More than 60 years after his plane disappeared during World War II on a mission to raid a Japanese base, an Army Air Corps soldier's remains are coming home.

First Lt. James Walter Carver will be buried with full military honors Saturday at the foot of his mother's grave in Eagle Pass, the family said.

Carver's remains were identified through DNA testing using a blood sample taken from his niece, Kathryn Cunningham, whose mother, June Carver Hansen, 86, is Carver's only remaining sibling.

"When I told her he'd been found, my mom had a look of pure joy," said Cunningham. "None of us ever expected it."

A navigator, Carver had just turned 22 when his plane disappeared while en route to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, after a night raid on a key Japanese base. Seven other men were on board.

Carver, who was promoted to first lieutenant and awarded the Purple Heart while missing in action, flew 19 missions before he was killed.

[Last modified January 24, 2005, 01:32:09]