American Notes WASHINGTON

Within a week after Edwin Meese announced his resignation as Attorney General, President Reagan moved to clean up the Justice Department by nominating a man of "proven integrity": former Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh. "The President wanted to raise the morale of the Justice Department," said a top White House aide, indirectly acknowledging the Meese mess. "He wanted to get it back in working order."

A moderate Republican, Thornburgh, 56, was respected as chief of the department's criminal division under Gerald Ford. He won election to two terms as Pennsylvania Governor, earning a reputation for steadiness in his handling of the 1979 nuclear-power-plant crisis at Three Mile Island. Asked what he would do if required to review the ethics of his predecessor, Thornburgh replied that he would "follow the evidence wherever it may lead."