Nixon, Cisneros & Cook on White House Fellows and Public service

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Oh, well that's what I have to do.

Well, this is an easy process, and one or two of you will step over here, so that we can get a picture of this, so that we can get a picture of this, so we can get a picture of this, so we can get a picture of this, so we can get a picture of this, so we can get a picture of this,

Give me the back of your hand and you can start to do it.

Mr. Peter, come back.

From what?

Well, I'm just going to tell you something.

This is the last.

The last, right?

Yeah.

You're with, uh, you.

Yeah, the president.

You're going to the back, aren't you?

Yeah.

I want to get out with you on the dual.

That's right.

All right.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, yes.

Thanks.

This is Tommy Ford.

Oh, Tommy, that was the first time.

Oh, you're a full person.

Put in, put in.

Push them hard, please.

Over there, hard.

Oh, in the green.

I see.

Well, glad to have you here.

This is John Reynolds.

I'm going to go hard, please.

Here's one, sir.

And a salad, please.

Oh, all right.

Here's another, sir.

This is Dustin Alvarez, the West Spanish law school.

And this is Otto, the secretary of law.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Stephen Gage, University of Texas.

Missing out about today.

Right, right, right.

As a matter of fact, speaking of Texas, I saw a little bit of game Saturday.

They were pretty good.

Yeah.

Apparently they still got that offensive line.

The moves.

Uh, pretty good.

George in the ground.

And there's a hang-by with everybody.

They own it.

Oh, yes, you know about that, right?

I serve on the National Council.

Yes, yes, right.

And we're very appreciative of that admission.

Well, we're glad that some people objected to it, but we're glad that some people like that and thought it was the right thing to do.

It was the right thing to do.

It was a historic, uh, season.

That was a great deal to do.

Very, very nice.

Particularly with the, you know something about Secretary Romney's resignation as he is a strong man to do some of the housing problems in the nation.

What was he working for?

He was a resident politician.

Elastic.

Elastic nature solutions.

That's why it's a lot easier to see.

Yes, I'm sure.

You were at Harvard Law School.

Yes, I am.

Yes.

That's a tough competition.

I guess it is.

Yeah.

Well, we're glad to have you.

I'm Robert Fallin.

I sat in the writing office.

I was part of the writing class.

Yes.

I was part of the writing class.

Uh, John, this, uh, this is the Council of Lords of Cal State.

Remember Mr. Hart?

Yes, yes, yes.

We got you.

You're a pretty good artist, aren't you?

Yes.

All right.

That's a great comment.

Well, I really just wanted to thank you.

It's my pleasure.

I appreciate it.

It's not a good choice.

You're in that right now, isn't it?

That's all right.

All right.

That's not a good thing.

It would work even if you weren't there.

It's hard to pretend when I was here.

You've been a bit mean, haven't you?

Thank you very much.

That fellow has just finished at Tuck School.

He's now with Secretary of the Interior.

Secretary of the Interior?

He's always been locked in.

Well, we just came on board yesterday.

So you didn't get out through this Colorado time?

I was out there when he was there.

He didn't get out.

No, he didn't get out.

One of the other things about the Interior, they've got a nice place on the Virgin Islands.

And a lot of other places I've been, I've been passed away, you know, where, where not all of you could be a science fan, or a service, or a science fan.

.

Yes, that's right.

We would like to take a quick photo with you.

Well, I wanted to welcome you all when you first came on.

before you get disillusioned, you know.

I say disillusioned because I don't think we'll be actually, because you've all got good assignments.

We've tried to see that our White House falls.

Our first year, I don't think we got as well positioned as we might have.

But we have found that as cabinet officers, as they've been around a while, people in various departments, they want you.

That's really important.

And they've learned that you can contribute a great deal.

And I think the worst thing you can do is to bring somebody out of business or out of law or, you know, or a sewer.

You've got to be gradually impressed to come down here to Washington.

you're going to change the world, and your bright eyes will be jailed for the rest, and you find, huh, you're kind of shuffling papers, it doesn't matter.

Now, as a matter of fact, you'll feel that on the top, but what you're doing doesn't matter.

You kind of get that feeling because it's, needless to say, it's so big, and you say, does it ever get into this office?

You know, you see, I only have three or four floors.

Well, but actually, I can emphasize too strongly that

that really is the, among many of the successful operations ever to get here.

I mean, that's a mark of their success.

In a sense, it's the ability of a department to run its various affairs well to handle these problems and to do it without an enormous amount of controversy that makes

govern something that people feel that they have confidence in, that it will work, that it isn't something that's always bogged down, crisis amended, and so forth and so on.

It's easy to have a crisis amended and make a headline every day and so forth about this or that and carry the argument.

But the hard thing is to do that grueling work, which means coming up with programs that can be implemented and will be effective.

And to be, and this is the hard thing for most people, to be somewhat anonymous.

Now you probably wonder how anybody could be rather anonymous and speak of anonymity as I have, in a congressman, senator, vice president, out of office, in office, and so forth.

Well, of course, the answer is that having been in all those positions, I think that the people that have been enormously valuable

people who have made great contributions.

And more often than not, they were those whose names were forgotten in the cranks, the public cranks.

I don't mean that there are occasions when you've got to get out there and be in the cranks, you've got to be in the arena and you've got to, you know, be hard with your point of view with others.

But what I really want to say is that throughout this government, as in any business, as in any school, as in any operation,

There are just a lot of enormously talented people who, day after day, just do a good job.

And they're not getting medals.

And most of them will never get in this office, because there's a little bit too big of an ad for them to try to do anything else.

But they are really what makes it go.

And I just hope that our people here, in the various assignments we have given, that we will, in this next year, most importantly,

You didn't feel that you're doing something that's worthwhile.

I know it's worthwhile, but I want you to feel it.

You're going to be working with good people.

I think of excellent people that will be here, the cabinet officers, the various administration people.

And they, I think, will give you opportunities to fulfill your desires to be a public servicer this year.

Now, that's all over the line.

I hope to, at least on some occasion, to see you again and say goodbye.

But when it's all over, I'm sure that the real test is that when you go back, you will think it's worthwhile.

And as a matter of fact, you can go back and think it's so worthwhile that you might cry again.

And who knows?

Some other form of public service.

I would not for the moment suggest that only through public service in an individual service country, not in our system, that is knowing words by and six of what America produces private rather than public service.

I do suggest that public service does need dedicated, able, selfless people.

I mean, because of the, the, the, the, the,

The inevitable tendency for, which is fortunately now passing by the neck of public service being sort of the low part of the total pool financially, and it is, of course, compensated to the same extent that most of the outside can get, but also in prestige, that time perhaps has passed.

But we really think that your coming in here does raise the quality for all of us.

We know you've inspired men to work with, and women to work with.

I just have to tell you how terrible you have to be.

I had a secret justice in the office before you came in.

He said, I'm having a real flash for the press.

He said, I said, Saturday, when Justice Black's resignation was announced, the president was considering, would appoint the best man who could find me a job.

And the witness listened, and he started checking me.

So I said, all right, you've been corrected.

You can just go out and say, I took it.

We use the term, that man, for us always.

As a matter of fact, you guys should know that there are several women members of Congress.

But if you ask a woman member of Congress who has been there for some time, rather than being called Congresswomen, they want to be called congressmen.

Not because they're men, but because that's the title, and they do not want to be separated out.

But apparently, most of them hadn't heard about that, so.

You're not quite old enough to court that, sir.

But, uh, we, uh, but, uh, we, uh, as a matter of fact, we were in partnership with Kennedy Technology.

So I said, now, look over at our old field and see what women as well as men involved in it.

Because one will be appointed sometime.

But, uh, be that as it may,

We are glad to have you, as I do, and I hope you will, in the time that you work here, too, that you really get a feel of the city, that you appreciate it.

You probably have some of you small children, and you may not be back this way yet.

And it has so much to offer, and let it be an experience you look back upon, not with frustration, not with, well, hey, what did I do?

I expected so much and got so little, because it's going to be what you make.

I think you're all going to make quite a bit.

Now, I'm going to give you a few trinkets to take along.

So because of the freeze, you can't cool them right now.

And then you all get the traditional presidential couplets.

It's the presidential seal, which you see on the floor in there, which is a mark of this office, and a covenant.

and so that the women will not be assured that the match is the same, except it's a little bold for you.

Now, they're not going to do that report, but they don't cost much like that.

On the other hand, they want the President to give them, so this will be your only favor all the overtime.

I was thinking of this, and I'm thinking of this.

Maybe one of them has to be here.

Somebody could tell you off.

This is the presidential table.

It's made of M-seal.

I gave one of these to somebody who took this little thing.

I said, you bet it is.

I said, whatever the paper on your desk is so heavy that this weight won't hold it together to the paper.

And you can throw this away.

You're part of your same generation, so you have to hand these off to me.

Uh, good luck.

Thank you.

I hope you all clear mark off what I did too.

Nixon, Cisneros & Cook on White House Fellows and Public service

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Nixon Library Finding Aid

Also recorded on September 20, 1971

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