Congress Looks Ahead After Nixon Resignation

Congressmen and senators responded to Nixon's resignation last night with great relief and with the prediction that Gerald R. Ford as the new president will have a long "honeymoon" with Congress.

"Ford has no enemies in the House," Rep. Charles W. Sandman Jr. (R-N.J.) told interviewers last night. Rep. Lawrence Hogan (R-Md.) Sandman's colleague on the House Judiciary Committee, said that Ford was "the ideal choice to take up the baton of leadership right now."

"I am sure that Congress and the country will close ranks behind President Ford as America enters a period of national reconciliation," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.) said last night.

Although almost all members of Congress were relieved that Nixon had resigned, several were disappointed at his speech. Rep. Robert F. Drinan (D-Mass.), said that Nixon had left "all of the important questions unanswered."

"I think it's basically unfair that he has once again refused to tell the Congress and the country about his complicity in all of the crimes of Watergate," Drinan said.

But most members of Congress were more interested in the future than in Nixon's speech.

"Tomorrow the sun will rise on a new, revitalized America," Sen. Barry M. Goldwater (R-Ariz.) said last night.

Hogan said that inflation would be Ford's "number 1 problem." Rep. Peter Domenica (R-N.M.) predicted that to control it the new president would pursue a "tough, conservative fiscal policy, bordering on austerity."

Rep. John J. Moakley (D-Mass.) said that he thought Nixon did the right thing. "Now that he's resigned, I think we in Congress can turn all our attention to America's equally grave economic situation. I'm personally looking forward to working with President Ford on programs that will put people back to work, reduce the cost of living and reverse an inflation that threatens the very fabric of our society," Moakley said.