From this point on, Rogers’s own political star was firmly fixed in Nixon’s firmament. Its success forced Eisenhower to retain Nixon as his running mate, and Nixon often attributed his political resurrection to Rogers. He flew to California to help draft Nixon’s famous Checkers Speech-the first nationally televised address delivered by an American politician-and was one of only a select few permitted to accompany Nixon to the empty auditorium where it was broadcast. Rogers counseled Nixon through his “Secret Rich Man’s Fund” debacle (where wealthy California businessmen donated money to pay for his personal expenses) when Nixon was running for Vice President in 1952 and on the verge of being booted off the ticket because of the scandal that had erupted in the press. He figured prominently in four of Nixon’s memoir’s six crises. When Rogers was counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, he collaborated with then-Congressman Nixon on the Alger Hiss case before the House Un-American Activities Committee and became a close friend and adviser. He was a product of the Depression and World War II and maintained a Cold War ideology on domestic issues of the 1950s. īill Rogers was my father-in-law for twenty-four years, so I got to know him quite well and spent time with him in various settings. Indeed, whenever Nixon was running for office, Rogers rode on his campaign train (1952, 1960, and 1968). Both his workday and after-hours time was devoted to that end. Rogers’s primary objective throughout his time as Dwight Eisenhower’s AG was to get Vice President Richard Nixon elected President. Yet all contain lessons worth conveying-and perhaps reforms worth considering, especially in the current political climate.Īttorney General William P. Some of the following vignettes illuminate character some are simply the fallout of collateral circumstance. I then amplify and combine these ideas in the concluding Section, calling for more drastic measures to rectify the missteps prompted by the inherent conflicts in the AG’s appointment process. I identify promising and practical areas for reform based on the larger implications of their conduct in office. In the following Article, I devote a Section to each of the above AGs, beginning with personal recollections buttressed by historical research. Their reactions range from capitulation to confrontation and pretty much everything in between. I’ve had the opportunity to observe many of them at close hand. Attorneys General (AGs) respond in markedly different ways. When faced with political pressure and/or cronyism in the White House, U.S. Readers of political history will recognize these recurring conflicts in at least six prior federal administrations. However, this is not a new problem revolving around these particular personalities. We are acutely aware of it in these times because of the shifting dynamics between our current President and his attorneys general. The President’s power to appoint the Attorney General of the United States as a member of the Cabinet subject to dismissal contains the seeds of a fundamental rule of law crisis in the politicization of the U.S.
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