E Howard Hunt

Eugene Fodor, the Hungarian-born travel guru whose guidebooks gave tourists insight into both the sights and the sense of 170 lands around the world, has died. Fodor was 85 when he died of a brain tumor Monday at a hospital in Torrington, Conn. Robert Fisher, a business associate and publisher of Fisher's Travel Guides, said his longtime friend had lived in nearby Litchfield for the past 26 years.

Bernard Barker, a Cuban-born CIA operative who participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was later a Watergate burglar, died Friday in suburban Miami. He was 92. Barker died at his home after being taken to the Veterans Administration Medical Center on Thursday night, his stepdaughter, Kelly Andrad, told the Associated Press. He appeared to have died from complications of lung cancer, and he had also experienced heart problems.

Three weeks after White House agents were caught inside the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, President Richard M. Nixon gave orders that whatever action was taken should not appear to be a cover-up. Notes from the conversation came from the files of John D. Ehrlichman, then the No. 2 man on Nixon's staff. The document was among 252,000 pages of materials made public today in the first release of Nixon's Watergate papers since his resignation 13 years ago.

Forget Disney World, Miami's South Beach or the Florida Keys. For some of corporate America's best-known bad acts, the Florida destination of choice this year may be a spot just outside Fort Walton Beach, where they can relax in the sun, make a few phone calls or play an occasional game of tennis or softball. Welcome to Eglin Federal Prison, a minimum security facility where white-collar criminals dress in khaki uniforms, do manual labor and reside in dormitory-style facilities.

Less than two months after the 1972 Watergate break-in, President Richard M. Nixon directed his aides to search for embarrassing information in the income tax files of Democratic presidential nominee George S. McGovern and Lawrence F. O'Brien, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, according to Nixon White House papers released Monday by the National Archives.

L. Patrick Gray III, acting director of the FBI in the early months of the Watergate investigation, said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he had resisted repeated orders to fire FBI Deputy Director W. Mark Felt, who the White House believed was leaking information about the case.

Four days after the 1972 Watergate break-in, former President Richard Nixon told top aides he was inclined to dismiss the importance of the Republican operatives being caught inside Democratic national headquarters, newly released White House tape recordings showed Monday. "The reaction is going to be primarily in Washington and not the country because I think the country doesn't give much of a ---- about bugging," Nixon said at an Oval Office meeting.

Richard M. Nixon Then: President of the United States; White House tapes show he had early knowledge of cover-up; resigned in August, 1974. Now: Author of nine books; carefully trying to restore his image as elder statesman; lives in Park Ridge, N.J. John W. Dean III Then: presidential counsel; pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the cover-up; served 127 days; star witness for Senate Watergate Committee. Now: investment banker living in Beverly Hills. H. R.

"Living well is the best revenge," said 17th-century poet George Herbert. In the 1995 publishing year, living well and dining well also had their rewards. Year-end figures released last week by the Publishers Information Bureau showed that Elle Decor and Metropolitan Home were among the big gainers in advertising revenue, along with the culinary magazines Food & Wine, Cooking Light, Eating Well and Bon Appetit. Elle Decor (up 47.7% to $19.2 million for 1995) and Metropolitan Home (up 33% to $20.

Las Vegas Sun publisher Hank Greenspun, who built a communications empire and helped transform Las Vegas from a small desert town into an entertainment mecca, died Saturday of cancer. He was 79. Greenspun died at his home in Regency Towers at the exclusive Las Vegas Country Club after a yearlong battle with the disease. He was a man of contrast, reckless and reasoning, combative and compassionate, a news writer and a news maker.