Word: laird
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Despite his interest in the field and his general agreement with Nixon, Laird was reluctant to take a Cabinet post. Earlier, he had turned down Health, Education and Welfare, another area of his expertise. He pointed out to Nixon and to Bryce Harlow, who will be White House aide for congressional relations, that he had 16 years of congressional seniority, that he could help the Nixon program in the House, that he hoped to be House Speaker some day, that he was a lifelong legislator, not an administrator. Nixon's reply: "I need you." On Dec. 7, Laird yielded...
...Capitol Hill Melvin Laird has long borne the aura of power, carefully contained but ready for instant application. His close-cropped skull and impassive features give him the forbidding countenance of a Japanese war lord. His steely mind and stinging tongue deepen the impression of a political samurai. Though he is in fact one of the nation's wiliest politicians, in private life he is a puckish, convivial figure...
...Laird still lives in his Marshfield, Wis., birthplace, and the rockbed Republican Seventh District there gave him 64% of the vote in November. In his first term in 1953, he managed the unheard of freshman feat of getting on the powerful Appropriations Committee. Once there, he was named to the subcommittee that doles money out to the military, which led to his Pentagon expertise and, inevitably, to his seat on the Nixon Cabinet...
Carleton College-educated, Laird, 46, is one of the G.O.P.'s most considerable intellects. Though generally regarded as a conservative, his political views are hard to categorize. As one observer notes: "He's not antiDemocratic, or anti-this or that wing of the Republican Party. He's bigger than that, and he's friendlier than that." From his first day on the Hill, he has concentrated instead on a wide range of national issues...
After the 1964 Goldwater debacle, Laird recognized the need for change within the Republican Party. He decided -and the party agreed-that the Federal Government should be active in such fields as education and welfare, but only as backstop to states and local communities. A leading backer of the Viet Nam war, he made a calculated switch last year and argued that the Republicans must appear as the party of peace, that Viet Nam was something to hang around Lyndon Johnson's neck. Laird does not plan to visit Viet Nam until his appointment is confirmed by the Senate...