(2 of 2)
If he did, Paul Nitze, whom presidential aides praise as an effective negotiator at the intermediate-range nuclear forces talks with the Soviet Union in Geneva, could become angry enough to follow his boss out the door. The White House would not welcome that development. Meanwhile, Burt's nomination is expected to be reintroduced in the Senate in January, mainly at the insistence of Secretary of State George Shultz.
Helms paid a price, even for his imagined glory. A third nomination, that of Richard McCormack as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, was also withdrawn from Senate consideration last week. McCormack was a Helms protégé. He was passed over when Democratic Liberals Edward Kennedy and Joseph Biden, angry over what Helms had done to Grey, threatened their own filibuster retaliation—precisely as presidential aides had foreseen.