Clark Kent at HEW

Any man whose domain includes responsibility for the health, education and welfare of 203 million Americans risks dangerous overreaching or underachievement. When Boston's Elliot Richardson took over the Department of Health, Education and Welfare eleven months ago from Robert Finch, he faced the added burden of trying to master an often chaotic bureaucracy of 110,000 employees and administering more than 250 different programs budgeted at nearly $70 billion a year. HEW is second only to the Defense Department in cost and third to Defense and the Post Office in personnel. The frustrations of the job have exhausted Secretaries on the average of one every two years since Dwight Eisenhower founded the department in 1953.

When he assumed the task, switching from what must have seemed the comparative serenity of his job as Under Secretary of State, Richardson was briefly billed as "Supersecretary," a mild-mannered Brahmin with the blandly earnest good looks of Clark Kent, and an administrative near genius invulnerable to any misadventure short of an adversary wielding Kryptonite. In the months since, he has become one of the three strong men of the Nixon Cabinet--with Attorney General John Mitchell and Treasury Secretary John Connally. Probably as much as any man can, he has brought order to his massive fief, although his record on bringing about substantive improvements in the nation's health, education and welfare is somewhat mixed.

A Touch of Arrogance. Three major changes have occurred since Richardson returned to the department in which he served as an Assistant Secretary under Eisenhower:

> In personnel, Richardson wisely retained Under Secretary John Veneman, Finch's best appointment, a health and welfare expert enjoying considerable respect on Capitol Hill. Otherwise, Richardson has transformed the departmental hierarchy. With the departure of James Farmer, the only black in the department's upper reaches, and outspoken Education Commissioner James Allen Jr., HEW has lost important symbols of social passion. But two of his appointees, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Laurence Lynn Jr. and the education commissioner, Sidney Marland Jr., have brought a new level of expertise and technocratic brilliance.

> In his relations with Capitol Hill, Richardson has achieved marked improvements, impressing congressional committees with his grasp of detail, which was demonstrated once again last week as the Senate Finance Committee began hearings on the revised welfare re-form bill supported by the Administration. Says New York's Senator Jacob Javits: "Sure, there is always a touch of arrogance. But it is not empty. He's got something to back it up that commands respect." Richardson revamped the congressional liaison staff and spends more time than Finch did in coddling Congressmen. When differences crop up, they tend now to exonerate Richardson and attribute the problems to White House demands.

> In his relations with the White House, Richardson has pragmatically adjusted to the Nixon style. Although he is probably the most liberal member of the Nixon Cabinet, he avoids ideological argument and approaches the President in the cool lawyer's manner that Nixon favors. Says one White House aide: "The President respects Elliot as a big, solid man."

One, Two, Three. Such changes are crucial to the effective workings of HEW, but they do not ensure the delivery of necessary social programs. Richardson believes that his most important, if intangible accomplishment is "the growing sense of a departmental mission to im- prove the quality and accessibility of services to the people." But to date he has few substantial achievements on the record. The welfare reform bill, should it pass, will represent an impressive gain, even though, with an annual ceiling of $2,400 for a family of four, the program will not go far to eradicate poverty.

As Richardson rightly observes, "It would be nice to say we've accomplished one, two, three. But it isn't like that. It's the compounded impact of lots of marginal things."

He has done well prying loose additional money for HEW's perplexing variety of programs. Last May, for example, he persuaded Office of Management and Budget Director George Shultz to produce more than $60 million in additional funds for product safety, bilingual education, alcoholism treatment and other projects. A few days before Richardson came to HEW, Nixon vetoed a hospital construction fund bill without his knowledge; Richardson placed an immediate and salty call to White House Aide John Ehrlichman, and such a situation has not risen again. Richardson also overcame the Administration's opposition to a congressional child-care bill, and offered its sponsors support if several amendments were tacked on.

Twelve-Hour Days. Like Nixon himself, Richardson is a shrewd administrative poker player, although he denies a charge that he hoards his chips. "I haven't lost out on much," he argues. For example, HEW's demands for school busing in Austin, Texas, and other desegregating cities might have been mandated by Supreme Court decisions, but it was Richardson who forestalled any agonizing delay by the Justice Department and the White House by simply informing John Mitchell that it had to be done.

It may be argued that the massive problems of poverty, disease and education demand larger perspectives than Richardson's. He deliberately avoids spectacular new programs, preferring to spend his twelve-hour days on quieter institutional reform and delivery of services. Richardson has traveled fairly widely among his constituents--visiting poor Chicanos in San Antonio and coal miners in West Virginia, for example. His speeches are known for a certain meticulous dullness, but as he told the black Capitol Press Club recently, "as you descend in eloquence, you get closer to the money." One of his predecessors in the toughest Cabinet job, John Gardner, believes that "if he gets any kind of breaks, he'll be one of the best of HEW secretaries. You don't need a Lone Ranger. You need a man with damn good judgment and steadiness. He's got it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.