Remarks Announcing Changes in the Cabinet and the President's Staff.

Ladies and gentlemen:

I am announcing today the first change in our Cabinet. This change involves two of my very close associates over the years, and I have them both here and each of them will make a statement after I indicate the nature of the change.

As all of you who have followed my career since 1947 know, my oldest and closest friend and associate within the administration is Bob Finch, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. He has served with me as my Administrative Assistant when I was Vice President and during the campaign of 1960 and through the years, also, when I was out of office in a voluntary capacity.

For some time, I have been discussing with Mr. Finch the possibility of having more of his time, in terms of his counsel, on matters not involving simply the operations of his huge and extremely important department but on general problems, problems in the domestic field and also in some foreign areas.

I had hoped that it would be possible for him to do both: to continue to be a personal adviser and counselor, as he has been through the years, and to operate the department. This cannot be done. That department requires full time operational responsibility and I have not had the benefit of his advice and counsel on many other matters as I would have liked.

Consequently, I have asked him to come to the White House on a full time basis as Counsellor to the President. His duties will be general. He will be advising me, of course, in the various areas in which he has special experience from HEW, in the problems of education particularly, in the problems of youth, and also in other areas in the political arena in which he has, through the years, been my closest associate and adviser.

I regret losing him at HEW, but I need him here. I have asked him to come here and he has accepted that responsibility.

He will be, incidentally, a member of the Domestic Council and I think we will have here then a team that will work very closely together. John Ehrlichman, Bob Haldeman, Bob Finch, Dr. Moynihan, Bryce Harlow, all are old friends. They are team players and I feel we will strengthen our White House team.

As far as I personally am concerned, I will strengthen my own staff because I will have a man with me who has contributed so much in the past to my general discussions and will in the future.

Incidentally, he will be traveling with me both on my foreign and domestic trips and on those weekends when I go to Florida or California and the rest for general preparation of speeches and other statements.

To replace Bob Finch as Secretary of HEW was a very difficult assignment. We examined, with Bob Finch and others within our White House team, a number of people who might be qualified. The best qualified man in the country--Bob Finch thought this, I thought this, and Secretary Rogers who has sat with us on these discussions, agreed--is Elliot Richardson. All of you who again go back a few years, as I do, will remember that he was Under Secretary of HEW, was also Acting Secretary for a period of 2 1/2 months between Secretary Folsom and his successor, Arthur Flemming, and you will also remember that at the State level he has been the Attorney General of Massachusetts and before that was a U.S. Attorney.

SECRETARY FINCH. Lieutenant Governor, too, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT. Lieutenant Governor. You were Lieutenant Governor, too. We have two Lieutenant Governors here and we believe in promoting Lieutenant Governors upward one way or another.

Having mentioned Lieutenant Governor, I should have remembered that because he may have forgotten that while he is doing something for me by taking this new assignment, I once did something for him. I came to Boston and helped raise the money to get rid of his deficit after you ran for Lieutenant Governor.

MR. RICHARDSON. We did get rid of it, too.

THE PRESIDENT. That is right.

Well, in any event, Elliot Richardson, as you know, has held the position of Under Secretary of State. When I first broached this subject to Secretary Rogers, he said, "It is like taking my right arm," because the relationship between the Secretary and the Under Secretary has been one of the best that has ever existed in that department.

On the other hand, Secretary Rogers recognizes that the opportunity of a man who has proved himself within the administration to go up must never be denied.

I reminded Secretary Rogers that he had been through that because he, as you know, was Deputy Attorney General and went from Deputy Attorney General to Attorney General.

And so, after thorough discussion, we have decided that Under Secretary Richardson would be offered the post of Secretary of HEW and he will assume that responsibility as soon as the Senate confirms him, which I would expect would not be a particular problem in this particular area.

I would like to say finally that I believe that this change is in the best interest of the whole administration. It will bring to the White House a man that I need in a special capacity that has not been filled adequately for my purposes before.

It will bring to HEW a man who has great administrative experience and it also is a happy, it seems to me, move in the sense that Bob Finch and Elliot Richardson will be working together in the fields of health and education, family assistance, and others, because even though Elliot Richardson has been Under Secretary of State, when we had the conference I remember on family assistance at Camp David, that he had some very good suggestions to make.

That concludes my statement. And Bob, would you like to say a word?

SECRETARY FINCH. The only thing you left out was that it is a higher calling but a lower salary. I am very honored, very flattered. It is like coming home, to be with John and Bob and my fellow Counsellors, Dr. Moynihan and Mr. Harlow.

It is a wrench to leave HEW. I am proud of what we have accomplished there. But I do feel I can be of great value in the White House working for the President as he directs me.

And I am very confident, very pleased, that we have somebody of Elliot Richardson's stature. I tried to get him as my Under Secretary when I first came in. Bill Rogers beat me.

And I know the Department will be very pleased to have him there and I know he will do an outstanding job. Elliot?

MR. RICHARDSON. Thank you, Mr. President, and Mr. Secretary.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted, stunned, and sad all at once. I have been very happy in the Department of State. It has been a great privilege for me to have had a part in the development and execution of foreign policy under President Nixon's administration. I have enjoyed my association there with Secretary Rogers and with my other colleagues.

On the other hand, in leaving new friends in the Department of State, I will be rejoining old friends in the Department of HEW.

There will be, I know, Bob, many occasions in which, through the Council on Domestic Affairs and otherwise, I will want to call on you for advice, counsel, and, I am sure on occasion, sympathy.

THE PRESIDENT. Leave a little time for me, too, will you, Elliot. [Laughter]

MR. RICHARDSON. Mr. President, I can only add that in seeking to fill Bob Finch's shoes I hope that I can fulfill your confidence in me.

I look forward to the assignment because it is a demanding one and because I know how important are the contributions it can make to the welfare and the well-being of millions of people.

I know also, Mr. President, that in taking over this assignment from Bob Finch it must mean a great deal to you to look forward to having his counsel and advice and association close to you here in the White House.

Thank you.