ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR CONSUMER EDUCATION

I would have never believed it if someone had told me in 1960 that one day I would be working at the White House in a Nixon Administration. I had led the floor fight for New Mexico convention delegates for Kennedy in July at Santa Fe. How could I ever dream that I would some day be working for Tricky Dick himself. But stranger things happen in politics.

This is how it happened. Virginia Knauer, a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Republican activist had been Pennsylvania's Director of Consumer Affairs during the LBJ Administration when Johnson had Betty Furness as his Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs. When Nixon was elected Virginia went after Betty's job. She got it and she got to Washington DC just in time to attend the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health on whose Staff I was serving on detail from the EEOC. I made an impression on Virginia, according to Dr. Jean Mayer, and when the White House Conference was over she asked Dr. Mayer for recommendations for her staff at the White House, and she asked about me. Dr. Mayer indicated I was on loan and that she might just be able to get me on the same basis. The offer came and it suited me just fine. I did not want to go back to Technical Assistance at the EEOC. So she appointed me Associate Director for Consumer Education, reporting directly to the Executive Director, a lovely southern belle by the name of Elizabeth Hanford, to us just Liz or Liddy Hanford, today she is US Senator Elizabeth Dole.

I went to work and had to adjust to the environment where a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch seemed to be everywhere. None had ever seen a brown face, much less one that was so out-spoken about issues in general and consumer issues in particular. Having a computer background, it occurred to me, after seeing the hundreds of letters that we were getting on the subject of consumer fraud that if we could only computerize all the incidents occurring across the country we may be able to, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, set up a trap and catch the instigators of the scheme. As was, and is, my style I wrote a Staff Study report on the matter and submitted it to Virginia through Elizabeth. I remember Liddy saying, "I did not know we had people on our staff with such talents." That was the last I heard about my staff study, but it was not out of my mind.

Everything happens fast-like at the White House. One September day President Nixon invited Virginia Knauer to bring her top staff to the Oval Office for the signing of a bill that Attorney General Lefkowitz of New York had had introduced in the Congress to fight Consumer fraud. In his speech Lefkowitz dealt with some of the concepts I had dealt with in my staff study. I was feeling pretty good about things as I walked out of the oval office.

Now I shall tell about my political naivete! Pete Peterson was a multimillionaire who served as Councilor to the President for International Economic Affairs. As I was leaving the White House by way of the Rose Garden, the seven-foot Pete Peterson came up behind this 5' 6" Mexican and said, "Virginia has been telling us about you." I assumed that what Virginia had told them about me was about the staff study I had written. When Pete said, "We are going to need your help." I assumed he meant my help in implementing the provisions of the Lefkowitz bill. My response was, "I'll be glad to help in any way I can. I did not know Virginia had told you about my proposal." "Proposal," he said, "What we want you to do is help us elect Republicans to the House of Representatives from the Southwest." And now the big blooper on my part, "But I am a Democrat." The walk in the Rose Garden parts and Pete took the one to the Oval Office, I took the one to the front gate. That next monday Liddy came to my office and said Virginia wanted to see me. I had the feeling everything was not quite right. With a stern school marn's look on her face Virginia said, "Why in hell did you have to tell Pete Peterson that you are a Democrat?"

I explained how it had happened, the staff study, etc. So then Virginia said, "Well you can't stay here. We have a hard and fast rule that Senior Staff cannot be registered Democrats. You can have all the time you need but you are going to have to get other employment." So I was gone from the Nixon White House but I landed with the Atomic Energy Commission.

In other words I took a fall into an Out House and came out smelling like a rose.

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