Aspin may be the biggest name to fall, but White House sources say Clinton also plans some year-end changes in the lower ranks. Chief of staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty has had a management consultant and a facilitator interviewing White House aides about what they do, and some aides could be booted from coveted offices in the West Wing. “There hasn’t been this much job angst since the transition,” says a White House official.
Meanwhile, New York lawyer Harold Ickes, after months of indecision, is telling friends he won’t join the White House staff. Ickes says he decided against it because he doesn’t want to uproot his family. But some White House aides say he feared that Clinton’s inner circle was so large he wouldn’t have much real influence. Ickes was slated to manage the “delivery room” for the healthcare-reform effort. The White House now hopes to recruit former Ohio governor Richard Celeste, head of the Democratic National Committee’s healthcare campaign, for the job.
title: “Gone But Not Forgotten” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-11” author: “Dennis Ortega”
title: “Gone But Not Forgotten” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-29” author: “Jessica Rowan”
Growing up in a wealthy family, she had no political aspirations. Then her husband, the prime minister, was assassinated in 1959. The “weeping widow” toured the country giving emotional campaign speeches that won her the 1960 Sri Lankan elections–making her the world’s first female prime minister. She served three nonconsecutive terms, which spanned a total of four decades.
One of the most passionate and outspoken advocates of Scottish devolution, Dewar saw his dream fulfilled in 1997 when his beloved nation’s first independent Parliament in 300 years was approved by referendum. His crowning moment came in 1999, when Scotland held its own elections for the first time–and the longtime Labour Party member, often called “the father of the nation,” was elected its first minister.
The so-called Lion of Damascus took power in Syria in 1970, during a military coup. He held on until his death through several attempts to overthrow him; in 1982 his security forces killed some 10,000 people during an uprising. Despite recent peace talks, he never succeeded in getting back the Golan Heights, which Syria lost to Israel during the 1967 war, when he was Defense minister.
The South African presidential spokesman and former ANC activist known as Parks served President Nelson Mandela from the mid-1990s, famously developing excellent relations with the media. Sadly, these soured toward the end of Mandela’s presidency, and deteriorated further while he served under Thabo Mbeki, as Parks found himself having to defend Mbeki’s controversial views on the causes of AIDS.
A prominent Australian civil-rights activist likened to Martin Luther King, Perkins was also the first Aboriginal to graduate from university in his country, the first to head a federal government department and the first to play professional sports. During the 1960s he traveled across the outback, confronting segregation and racism and promoting diversity and tolerance. In 1997 he was declared a National Living Treasure.
Italy’s first socialist prime minister–and its longest-serving P.M.–began his political rise in 1957. He was elected to Parliament in 1968, but it wasn’t until 1983 that he became the nation’s leader, holding office until 1987. Known as Bettino, the prime minister fueled Italy’s economic growth and developed a strong foreign policy. But in 1994 he was indicted on corruption charges and, rather than face prison, he fled to self-imposed exile in Tunisia–where he remained until his death, having vowed never to return unless as a “free man.”
Thrown in jail by the French government in the early 1950s, Bourguiba was released in 1955 and went on to become Tunisia’s first president. Though he was crowned president for life in 1975, his calls for Arab nations to recognize Israel and his increasing authoritarianism and senility did not stand the test of a lifetime. After a 31-year reign, he was deposed in 1987 and retired from public view.
He had a low-key demeanor, and the humble politician once even referred to his relationship with two colleagues as akin to “a noodle shop between two skyscrapers.” But Obuchi’s soft-spokenness was a stark contrast to the period of economic change that he presided over. His 37 years in politics didn’t add up to a long stay as Japan’s 84th prime minister, though. Illness forced him to resign just one year after his victory in the 1997 election.
