FIRST ONE patch of stubble was seen, then another and yet another until the President had developed an awful case of the nubs. Some of the exposed bristles are much more ghastly than that patch of black known as the Watergate affair.

There is the fact that President Nixon spent taxpayers' money for landscaping to beautify--and not to make secure--his San Clemente estate.

There is the fact that the President spent taxpayers' money to pay Bob Haldeman when Haldeman was not working for the government, but was, in fact, working only for the campaign to re-elect the President.

There is the fact that the President improperly offered Ellsberg trial judge Matt Byrne the position of FBI director--an apparent bribe aimed at getting a verdict against Mr. Ellsberg.

There is the fact that the President approved a plan for domestic surveillance which included blatantly illegal activities and which so offended J. Edgar Hoover that Hoover refused to proceed with the plan unless the President gave written permission for FBI agents to break the law in order to carry out the plan.

There is the fact that the President unethically--and perhaps illegally--taped all of his conversations over a period of many months.

There is the fact that the President has carried out bombing raids in Cambodia without informing the American people and, later, without the constitutionally required approval of Congress.

The abuse of authority by the Watergate burglars pales in comparison with the President's abuse of the written laws and Constitution of the United States of America.

It is interesting to note that Sen. Thomas Dodd of Connecticut was censured from the Senate and died of grief because he misused about $4,000 in government funds. Richard M. Nixon shows no signs of remorse about having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of government monies for private purposes.

ANDREW JOHNSON was impeached on the grounds that he failed to follow proper procedure in appointing his Cabinet. Richard M. Nixon allowed L. Patrick Gray to serve--apparently illegally--as "interim" FBI director for almost a year. His new chief aide, Gen. Alexander Haig, is now serving at the White House while allegedly illegally retaining his military commission so that he can accumulate enough military service to qualify for a general's pension.

In spite of all these apparent infractions, Congressmen and Senators have been very careful about impeachment talk. Only a few, like Bella Abzug (D-NY) and John E. Moss (D-Calif.) have openly discussed the possibility of impeachment proceedings. Most are waiting for public opinion to swing against the President and in favor of impeachment before they will participate in such talk. And the Democrats are saying that any impeachment proceedings will have to start with the Republicans.

Recent polls indicate that Nixon's popularity rating is low and going lower. But it is still not as low as Johnson and Truman were during war crises. And surprisingly few Americans favor impeachment proceedings. There is a mystique about the Presidency that retains its grip on the American people in spite of the misdeeds of the man in power.

The misdeeds of Richard M. Nixon make his the sorriest record of any President in American history. His is not a Presidency of incompetent, unwitting error--Nixon is too smart for that. His is a Presidency of total disregard for law and order and human rights--and Watergate is only a tiny part of the dismal story.

[This is the second of a two-part series.]