GOVERNOR HICKEL is here at my invitation in accordance with my statement to President-elect Nixon that I would review with each of his nominees their relationship with the Office of the President and try to be helpful in any way I could in the transition.
Governor Hickel and Secretary Hardin and others will be coming in during the next few days. We are trying to see all of those it is possible to see.
We have not begun our discussions as yet, but generally they will involve the conservation field and what we have tried to do in it and what we see is pending and what lies ahead and some of my own views about conservation, parks, and the problems we have had with them and what his Department will be faced with.
I have seen Secretary Udall earlier this morning. I will be seeing Secretary Hardin, I believe, later today or tomorrow, depending on the schedule.
I think we have now seen probably most of the members of the new Cabinet.
Note: The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. in his office at the White House at a meeting with Governor Walter J. Hickel of Alaska, designated by President elect Nixon to be Secretary of the Interior. During his remarks he referred to Clifford M. Hardin, Secretary of Agriculture-designate, and Stewart L. Udall, outgoing Secretary of the Interior.
As printed above, this item follows the text released by the White House Press Office.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks at a Meeting With the Secretary of the Interior-Designate. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236219
