The President's Man by Dwight Chapin

Author:Dwight Chapin [Chapin, Dwight]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

11

THE SEEDS ARE SOWN FOR THE HISTORIC CHINESE CONNECTION

One afternoon in 1970 I received a call from a man named Jim Jones. Jim had been a top advisor to LBJ in the Johnson White House and, a few years later in the Clinton administration, would become our ambassador to Mexico. “Dwight,” he said, “I’m going to nominate you to be one of the Jaycees’ Ten Outstanding Young Men.”

I hadn’t solicited this, so it came as a complete, and very flattering, surprise. I could just imagine how proud my parents and family would be if I were to be selected. I thanked Jim and told him I’d have to discuss it with Bob Haldeman. Knowing that, several years before, Bob had been nominated for the same recognition, I expected him to be happy to hear my news. However, instead of congratulating me, he said, “We can’t do that. It has to be Ron [Ziegler]. Call Jim back and say that you’d be honored to accept the nomination some other time, but ask if he could nominate Ron instead of you.” Rather than protesting or asking Bob why I should be giving up the honor, I did exactly as ordered.

I’d known Ron Ziegler since our Sigma Chi fraternity days at USC. After college we had both worked for Bob at J. Walter Thompson. Ziegler had a mixed reputation there because of the way he treated people. His style carried over into the White House. He had hired our fraternity brother Tim Elbourne to work for him, handling press advance and logistics; he then proceeded to treat Tim shabbily. He was often unnecessarily curt with me. He simply had personality issues. At the White House he was having a rough time as press secretary, especially in an administration that believed the press was the enemy. At the outset the president didn’t even want to call him “press secretary” but rather something like “press assistant.” What we did not understand at the time was that Ron had an addictive personality, which eventually led to his having to deal with alcohol issues.

Ron’s work ethic was outstanding, which was why Haldeman hired him at J. Walter Thompson and brought him into the White House. You could count on him to do a great job, always, and he was up against the anti-Nixon press, not an easy place to be. Why Haldeman really wanted the nomination to be given to Ron, I don’t know. My guess is that Bob thought it would help Ron’s ego, give him a boost. Plus, Bob knew how emotional Ron could get about things and understood he could become unglued if I received the honor and he didn’t. Bob also knew I was the guy he could count on to fall in line. My response to Bob was: “That’s great. Ron’s a deserving guy.” Truthfully, though, I probably didn’t really feel that way. I was just doing my duty. It didn’t occur to me to ask, “Why?” or say, “No,” to Bob’s request.

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