Word: finches
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Nobody Else. As the months passed and the White House withheld the nomination from the Senate, Finch made it clear that he admired his candidate's plan to shake up American medicine so that it would better serve the poor. "I'm going to hang in there," he told Knowles. "I've got nobody else. I want you." "I'm not going to back down," Knowles said. "That's what they want me to do." One Senate head count showed that no more than 25 members opposed the nomination; another estimate put the opposition...
Logical Choice. Shortly after Finch was appointed Secretary of HEW, he dutifully checked with the American Medical Association about whom it would prefer for the Assistant Secretary's job. The association proposed Dr. Clarke Wescoe, outgoing chancellor of the University of Kansas. When Finch called Wescoe, he found that he was unavailable. Having done the A.M.A.'s bidding -and miffed that the A.M.A. had not checked to see whether its candidate was willing-Finch contacted Knowles...
Nixon promised a resolution of the matter by last week, saying that the decision would be Finch's. On Tuesday, the White House agreed to go ahead with the nomination. Knowles later told a friend: "It was all signed, sealed and delivered." Then, unexpectedly, the opposition gained fresh strength and pressed with renewed vigor for the White House to withdraw Knowles. House Republican Leader Gerald Ford, who had been quietly opposing the appointment, and Texas Republican Senator John Tower reminded Nixon of the A.M.A. campaign contributions. Other Republicans echoed Ford's opinion that "there must be somebody less...
Another Secretary. At midweek, as word began to circulate that the nomination might be off again, Finch was at home relaxing when the phone rang. It was a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, who asked him what he would do if Knowles was rejected by Nixon. "He'd have to find another Secretary," Finch was quoted as saying. (He subsequently denied making the remark; still later he admitted having said it, but insisted that he had not really meant it as a serious statement...
...next day, in the course of episodic conversations during a five-hour White House visit, Finch found himself losing the argument over Knowles. Finally the President gave his old friend and longtime political partner the word: Knowles was not worth the bitter fight. Finch issued a statement in which he loyally-if not convincingly-took "full responsibility for the delay of this appointment...