Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Tuesday
March 31, 1981
L
Slouch
By Jim Earle Shooting results in Austin cri
W£'(?E FU.LIMS
por vou
PRESIDENT
BA*.U
Hiring Haig was
risky from the start
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — If political science
were a real science — which it ain’t — the
mathematical formula that would explain
last week’s strange case of Alexander M.
Haig would be: E +WHE =T. Ego plus
White House experience equals trouble.
The secretary of state is not the first
alumnus of the senior White House staff to
provoke a president by the way he handled
his Cabinet assignment. The Democratic
lawyer who first spotted Haig’s talents in
the army bureaucracy 17 years ago and who
shepherded him through his confirmation
hearings in January — Joseph A. Califano
Jr. — had a very similar experience.
Califano had been Lyndon Johnson’s top
domestic assistant before being named by
Jimmy Carter as secretary of health, educa
tion and welfare. Haig had been Richard
Nixon’s national security adviser and chief
ofstaffbefore Ronald Reagan picked him for
the Cabinet.
Califano wound up being fired from the
Cabinet amid charges of disloyalty. Haig
was tottering on the verge of an angry res
ignation under similar circumstances last
week — and might, in fact, leave at any
time.
To a reporter who knew both men as
talented and energetic operators blessed
with a full appreciation of their own skills, it
seemed more than coincidental that their
Cabinet careers had been skewered by the
same sword: running into conflict with their
successors on the White House staff.
So I asked Califano if he thought there
was an inherent risk for any President in
naming to a major Cabinet position some
one who “knew too much” about the inner
workings of the White House.
“It’s a fascinating question,” he said.
There is no great risk, we quickly agreed, in
a president moving someone from a White
House staff job to a Cabinet secretaryship in
mid-administration. Lyndon Johnson did
that with Larry O’Brien; Richard Nixon,
with Caspar Weinberger; and Jerry Ford,
with Don Rumsfeld — each time with suc-
The problem, Califano said, arises when
someone who has learned his way through
the political maze by working inside a pre
vious White House comes in at the start of a
new administration as the head of a key
Cabinet department. “You can start at 150
miles per hour,” Califano said. “I was able
to go like gangbusters while the Carter
White House staff was still getting up to
speed.
“If you’re a human being,” he added,
“you’ll take advantage of what you know, at
the expense of guys who can’t move that
fast. ”
That is exactly what Haig did. On the day
Reagan was sworn in, Haig handed him a
memo outlining procedures for handling
national security matters that would have
given Haig himself total control of Reagan’s
foreign policy. Presidential cousellor
Edwin Meese III and White House chief of
staff James A. Baker III were able to block
that power play. But Haig pressed relent
lessly ahead on both bureaucratic and sub
stantive issues, to the point that six weeks
into the new administration. Time maga
zine did a cover story on him, headlined:
“Taking Command. The World According
to Haig.”
Califano, again: “That’s where the trou
ble comes. Human jealousy enters. The
guy who has been on the White House staff
has contacts all over town, including the
press. Everybody likes attention from the
press, and until the White House guys de
velop their own contacts, they can’t get the
attention the Cabinet member gets.”
That is certainly part of the story — but
only part. From the White House staff
viewpoint, an aggressive, fast-moving and
publicity-conscious Cabinet member is a
serious threat. The new President’s men
suspect, and often with good reason, that
the Cabinet officer has a policy and political
agenda of his own, which he can push at the
President’s expense.
Haig is critized for promoting the El
Salvador civil war into a major focus of
policy debate at the very moment that
Reagan wanted to concentrate the atten
tion of Congress and the country on his
economic package.
But Califano made the right point when
he observed that “tension between the
Cabinet members and White House staff
members is inevitable. A skillful President
can use that tension to serve his own pur
poses,” by letting it force into the open
those critical issues on which the President
himself — and no subordinate — is entitled
to the final say.
But a less-than-skillful president is liable
to let the tensions build to the point of
explosion, costing him the services of able,
energetic and experienced people. Carter
lost Califano that way, and Reagan last week
was on the verge of losing Haig.
Hiring such men in the first place is a
risk. But good Presidents are those who can
make the risky decisions work.
Warped
Editor’s note: Battalion staff reporter Liz
Newlin was in Austin Monday to cover
Texas A&M University’s budget hearing
before the House Appropriations Commit
tee and Vice President George Bush’s
speech to the Legislature. When word
came of the attempt on President Ronald
Reagan’s life, Newlin was drawn into the
maelstrom of an anxious government. Her
comments follow:
Inside/outlook
By Liz Newlin
AUSTIN — A capital in crisis is an awe
some thing to see.
Its halls become conduits for the latest
news and rumors. People stop reporters in
the corridors to pump — and give — infor
mation. Legislators and by-standers recall
past tragedies and look for similarities.
Certainly other capitals were distraught
Monday, but Austin felt it was a part of the
crisis. For if the worst had happened, the
new president was due soon at the airport.
The day starts out calmly enough: Half a
dozen workers from the vice president’s
advance staff and a few Secret Service men
sit in a Driscoll Hotel suite watching “Good
Morning America. ” Since Thursday they’ve
been planning for George Bush’s 25-minute
speech to the State Legislature.
Monday morning hearings, including
one for Texas A&M, consume the legisla
tors’ time. In one room, children ask the
state to recognize the armadillo as the offi
cial animal. One child is dressed as the
armor-plated mammal, and normally would
get good press. But not today.
About 1:30 radios begin to broadcast the
first reports. Bush is scheduled to arrive at
the municipal airport at 2:15. He does, but
he gets no farther.
He talks to the governor during a 40-
minute refueling stop and flies back to
Washington. Rumors had him flying sever
al times before he took off.
Back at the Capitol, schoolchildren,
tourists and the Ross Volunteers stand in
the hot sun to greet the vice president. A
postman on his rounds stops at the mailbox
behind the RVs — after it’s searched for
bombs. Photographers and reporters
course between the second-floor press
rooms and the south steps, asking each
other the news. Secret Service men don’t
tell anything, and state officials say Bush is
still coming.
Old-timers recall that Austin was JFK’s
next stop.
Around 3 p. m. the RVs are released, and
the prayer service is set for 3:30. That news
just spreads from one to another. At the
speaker’s stand. Bill Clayton reminisces ab
out Nov. 22, 1963, when he was traveling
from West Texas to Austin.
“I’d stopped at for lunch at Brownwood
and heard the announcement,j
speaker, who was serving I
then. Monday, he says, “Wei
office just before the session wisj
Reporters grab anybody tlieva
to remember, because real s
scarce. Where two reporters ait|
with a source, there is a press«
Soon, five reporters will join,
read each other’s notes. Theyi
each other to find out who ties
while writing down his words.
A real source, Gov. BillClea
ly enters the buzzing Housediai
what he knows of the president
The minister from Austin’sFisi
Church prays for the
other injured men.
Clements exits, but he alsoJB
hind a few other sources, Secretrjj
George Strake and U.S. Rep.
Strake boarded the plane wit!
and Archer was on the planefronitj
ton, D.C.
Some reporters spot the cro»fi||
one, and almost need to fightfel^
Archer, a cool politician, answen; p-;
well and in detail. Tourists tooli; L
him, but they can’t cut throughtk
microphones. Occasionallyonhp P*
look over reporters to see if they r*
the one who must be important,®?
ally' leave with a quizzical look
The crowd begins to thin on!
clumps form around TV sets.®;
story is out — the legislators discs®
the reporters begin to write it.
It’s your turn-
Basement thanked for jazz
Editor:
We would like to take this opportunity to
thank the MSC Basement for bringing to
this campus one if not the best modern jazz
guitarists, Pat Metheny, and his fine group
of accomplished jazz musicians. We felt
like Basement did a very fine job in coordi
nating the entire event.
with the emotion of the group. This made
the concert an even more satisfying experi
ence for us.
Finally, we would like to thank the Pat
Metheny Group itself for a very intense,
very polished effort which brought the re
sponsive crowd to its feet a number of
times. We honestly felt like the group
almost enjoyed playing as mudis
listening. I hope this type of resp
convince the Basement that there
nite jazz following at A&M and;
them to bring more big namejaS 1
the school. Thank you!
Jel
Mike Cd
We would also like to commend the 700
plus people who attended the concert. It
seemed as though the people who were
there were very knowledgeable of the prop
er conduct and were very much “in time”
By Scott McCullar
C'/A0tV PAUL, YOU'RE IN
CHAR6E OF THE NEXT
PICNIC & A/A E.
IT
OKAY, IT'S TIME FOR THE
NEW "AGGIE" SACK RACE.
EVERYONE LINES UP AND
TIES A PLASTIC SACK
THE PERSON THAT
THE FARTHEST BE I
PASSING OUT IS
THE WINNER.
I DON'T THINK PAUL
IS MUCH OF A
GAMES PLAYER.
The Battalion
MEMBER
ISPS
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Dillard Stone
Managing Editor Angelique Copeland
Asst. Managing Editor. Todd Woodard
City Editor Debbie Nelson
Asst. City Editor Marcy Boyce
Photo Editor Greg Gammon
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Susan Hopkins
News Editors Venita McCellon,
Scot K. Meyer
StaffWriters Carolyn Barnes,
Jane G. Brust, Terry Duran, Bernie Fette,
Cindy Gee, Phyllis Henderson,
Kathleen McElroy, Belinda McCoy,
Kathy O’Connell, Richard Oliver,
Denise Richter, Rick Stolle
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Photographers Chuck Chapman
Brian Tate
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