Nation: How a Deal Was Made

"Look, "said Ribicoff, "this is a tough one for everybody "

The controversy over the warplane sale might never have come to the Senate floor at all if Frank Church, the Foreign Relations Committee chairman-to-be, had not backed out of an agreement to support it. The story of how and why Church changed his mind provides an illuminating view of Congress at work. TIME Congressional Correspondent Neil MacNeil reports:

It all began on April 11 in the gracious apartment of Senator Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut. For dinner that night, he and his wife entertained Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, Senators Frank Church...

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