George Shultz at the Department of Labor
In the post just below this one, Scott has collected tributes to George Shultz. One of them is from our friend Tevi Troy.
Tevi is an expert on the history of White House infighting in post-World World II administrations, having written about the subject in his splendid book Fight House. He knows which players acquitted themselves honorably and which ones did not. He knows who was effective and who was not.
Shultz served honorably and effectively, to say the least.
Shultz’s first post in the Nixon administration was Secretary of Labor. My father worked at the DOL at that time. In his estimation, during the 30 years he was at DOL, the Department was best managed during the period when George Shultz and Shultz’s friend and successor James Hodgson were in charge.
My father knew Shultz and worked pretty closely with his protégé and right-hand man, Arnold Weber. He had great respect for both, as well as for Hodgson. Shultz-Hodgson-Weber made quite a team, especially for a backwater department like the DOL.
My father was not Republican. He was still a man of the left during the Nixon years, and couldn’t stand Tricky Dick. However, he flourished under Shultz and Hodgson.
They knew his politics differed sharply from theirs (although Hodgson had been a Democrat), but it didn’t matter. He was an effective and impartial manager of DOL programs, and that’s what counted for them.
That’s how it sometimes was back then.
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