The Nation: Crossfire over Defense

"I have never had a single person either with me or on the telephone ask me not to appoint Dr. Harold Brown for Secretary of Defense," Jimmy Carter insisted last week. In the narrowest sense that was apparently true. But the statement ignored the fact that some of Washington's sharpest political and bureaucratic infighters were flashing their knives to influence the President-elect's most difficult remaining personnel decision: whether to appoint the Caltech president to the Pentagon post or give the job back to James Schlesinger, who had been abruptly dumped by President Gerald...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!