The Nation: Musical Chairs on High

In not quite seven years, the Republican Administrations begun by Richard Nixon and continued by Gerald Ford have had an astonishing record of high-level turnovers. The CIA has gone through three directors—Richard Helms, James Schlesinger and William Colby—and will soon have a fourth, George Bush. The FBI has had four chiefs: J. Edgar Hoover, L. Patrick Gray (acting), William Ruckelshaus (acting) and Clarence Kelley. The Office of Management and Budget (formerly the Budget Bureau) has had five directors: Robert Mayo, George Shultz, Caspar Weinberger, Roy Ash and James Lynn.

Most remarkably, the new nominees will bring to 36 the number of...