Portrait of Richard S. Schweiker

A Digital Research Archive

Richard S. Schweiker

Documenting the life, career, and public record of a U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and Secretary of Health and Human Services.

  • Representative, Pennsylvania's 13th District: 1961–1969
  • Senator from Pennsylvania: 1969–1981
  • Secretary of Health and Human Services: 1981–1983
Richard S. Schweiker

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Biography

Richard Schultz Schweiker (June 1, 1926, Norristown, Pennsylvania – July 31, 2015), Republican.

Richard S. Schweiker represented Pennsylvania's 13th District in the U.S. House (1961–1969) and the state at large in the U.S. Senate (1969–1981), then served as the 14th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Reagan (1981–1983). He began as one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress and grew more conservative after Reagan named him his running mate ahead of the 1976 Republican convention, an alliance told in The Schweiker Stratagem.

As Secretary, he spent much of his two years defending the department's budget against the administration's own proposed cuts while carrying out many of them, and his name went on the 1981 Social Security proposal the Senate repudiated, 96 to 0. The more lasting record is quieter: the plan that became Medicare's prospective payment system for hospitals, the Medicaid waiver that let Katie Beckett be cared for at home and became a national option for disabled children, and the first federal tamper-resistant packaging rules after the Tylenol murders. The full account is Two Years at HHS; the regulations he signed and the lawsuits brought against the department have their own pages, HHS Regulations and HHS Litigation.

Early life and the warHe was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1926, to Malcolm Alderfer Schweiker and Blanche Schultz Schweiker, in a Pennsylvania Dutch family whose forebears had come to the colony as Schwenkfelders in the eighteenth century.

He was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on June 1, 1926, to Malcolm Alderfer Schweiker and Blanche Schultz Schweiker, in a Pennsylvania Dutch family whose forebears had come to the colony as Schwenkfelders in the eighteenth century. He was valedictorian of his class at Norristown High School and enlisted in the Navy in 1944, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Tarawa until 1946 and leaving as an electronics technician, second class.

A brother was killed in the fighting on Okinawa. Schweiker later traced his interest in public life to that loss, which he said taught him "that we are affected by things outside our own sphere." When he first ran for Congress he gave his "main reason" for entering politics as the desire "to work in the field of international relations and world peace," and in 1957 he and Claire named their first son for his father and for the brother he had lost.

Business and the road to CongressAfter the Navy he was admitted to Penn State, which had no room on its main campus for first-year students in 1946, so he began his studies as a Penn State student at Shippensburg State Teachers College.

After the Navy he was admitted to Penn State, which had no room on its main campus for first-year students in 1946, so he began his studies as a Penn State student at Shippensburg State Teachers College.1 At Penn State he joined the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, and he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1950 with a degree in psychology. He went to work in the family's tile business in Lansdale, starting in the personnel department; by September 1952 a Pottstown paper called him the "electronic production manager" of the American Encaustic Tiling Company, the family firm's manufacturing company, and by 1960 he was president of the American-Olean Tile Company and vice president in charge of sales of the National Building Materials Company, both in Lansdale.2 He founded the Montgomery County Young Republicans in 1952 and was an alternate delegate to the 1952 and 1956 Republican conventions. Back from the 1952 convention, he told 150 Pottstown foremen that politicians needed training as much as doctors and lawyers: "we elect politicians without training at random." He stepped aside for the party's candidate in a 1957 congressional race, and in 1960 beat the same man, Rep. John Lafore, in the primary on his way to the House.

He announced that campaign on January 11, 1960, and took a leave of absence from both companies the same day. Running against the county Republican organization, he worked 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. He campaigned in three ways. On the street he stopped anyone he met: "Hi, I'm Dick Schweiker, your candidate for Congress. I'm running independent and need all the help I can get. I hope you vote for me." In voters' living rooms he held coffee gatherings, more than 115 by mid-April, where he figured he had met 5,000 to 6,000 people; "the hostess is actually speaking for you," he said. And he spoke to service clubs and veterans' groups, then started meeting factory shifts, greeting close to 1,000 men at the Standard Pressed Steel plant in Jenkintown at 7 one morning. When the incumbent's side invited House Republican Leader Charles Halleck to speak at the county rally, moved to the night Schweiker and Lafore were both to appear in Upper Merion, his backers "burned up the telephone lines to Washington" and Halleck withdrew rather than take sides. He liked the Bulletin's account of all this well enough to have it reprinted as campaign literature. Not every paper agreed with it. On April 21 the Main Line Times of Ardmore scoffed in its political column, "On The Line," at the Bulletin's suggestion that he might win: "Lafore is going to win the election by more than a comfortable margin. With just about every Republican organization in the county except that of Schweiker's home Lansdale backing Lafore, any other outcome would necessitate a miracle. And miracles are rather hard to come by. . .even for fledgling candidates and naive newspapermen."5 The primary cost $24,414, more than half of it for advertising, and most of the money came from his family.4 After winning the seat in November he resigned from both companies. In 1964 he won a third term by about 43,000 votes even though President Johnson carried the district by about 33,000, and in 1966 he took 72.5 percent of the vote. The family had sold the business to the National Gypsum Company in August 1958, in an exchange of about $14 million in National Gypsum stock, and stayed on to run it as National Gypsum's tile division. By his own account in 1980, he "resigned all positions with American Olean Company when he entered Congress in 1961."3

  1. Several published biographies say he spent two years at Slippery Rock State College before transferring to Penn State. The claim appears in Robert Sobel's Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774–1989 (1990), and Wikipedia repeats it from there. It is wrong on three counts. First, he was a Penn State student from the start. When the GI Bill brought a flood of veterans in 1946, Penn State lacked housing and ruled that "no freshmen (men or women) were to be admitted to the main campus in 1946-47." It sent its first-year students to thirteen cooperating state teachers colleges and other centers instead, and guaranteed them a place on the main campus as sophomores (Michael Bezilla, Penn State: An Illustrated History, 1985, "Challenges of the Post-War Era"). His eldest daughter, Lani Shelton, a genealogist, says he spent that first year at Shippensburg. Second, the school was Shippensburg, not Slippery Rock. Both were state teachers colleges at the time, and that is the likely source of the error: a record that he began at a state teachers college before Penn State seems to have been read as an enrollment at a separate school, followed by a transfer, and the college was misnamed. That explanation is an inference; we have not found Sobel's source. Third, the timing rules out two years elsewhere. He served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946 and graduated from Penn State in 1950. His own biography in the Congressional Directory, which members of Congress supply themselves, lists only Penn State (B.A., 1950) in both the 1969 and 1979 editions. ↩
  2. His titles follow the Philadelphia Sunday Bulletin's report during the 1960 primary (April 17, 1960, p. 12), the earliest account found. National Gypsum's own 1960 history shows how the titles were divided in the family. His father, Malcolm A. Schweiker, was president of the American-Olean Ceramic Tile Division and of American Encaustic Tiling Company, the manufacturing company. Richard is listed as the division's "Vice President—Sales" and, separately, as president of American-Olean Tile Company, Inc., the division's sales company, although the book's organization chart puts his father's name in that box (Dean Richmond, Design for Growth: The Story of National Gypsum Company, 1960, pp. 114–118, 124). No other source found uses the name National Building Materials Company. The New York Times profile after his 1968 Senate victory (Nov. 6, 1968) called him vice president of both companies, and in April 1960 the Associated Press called him "a Lansdale sales executive." When he took either title is not known; in September 1952 he was still a production manager (Pottstown Mercury, Sept. 20, 1952, p. 12). The start in the personnel department is from Current Biography (1977): he "immediately joined the family business as an assistant in the personnel department and, within a few years, advanced to the post of vice-president in charge of sales." ↩
  3. The statement came in March 1980, after a Philadelphia labor coalition accused him of a conflict of interest for cosponsoring an OSHA bill, S. 2153, two months after the agency cited American Olean's Lansdale plant for lead and noise exposures. He called the accusation "absolutely false and a disgusting slur." The Daily Collegian, which drew on a New York Times report, said American Olean had been controlled by the family and sold to National Gypsum, and that he and his family then owned at least $330,000 of National Gypsum stock (The Daily Collegian, March 21, 1980, p. 1). The episode is told in The Senate Years. ↩
  4. From the expense account his campaign filed with the county board of elections ("Schweiker Spent $24,414 to Get GOP Nomination," Pottstown Mercury, May 27, 1960, p. 8). In the last week of the primary he also accused Lafore of falsely claiming Vice President Nixon's support; he said Nixon's legislative aide, Charles McWhorter, had written him that Nixon stayed out of all Republican primaries (Associated Press, Gettysburg Times, April 21, 1960). ↩
  5. "On The Line," The Main Line Times (Ardmore, Pa.), April 21, 1960, from a clipping in the family's scrapbook. The "wrap-up story that appeared Sunday" it mocks is the Bulletin's April 17 article. ↩
FaithHe was raised in the Central Schwenkfelder Church in Worcester, one of the country's smallest Protestant bodies, which grew out of the Reformation's struggle for liberty of conscience; by the family's account the Schweikers helped pay for its 1951 building, and he is buried in its Garden of Memories.

He was raised in the Central Schwenkfelder Church in Worcester, one of the country's smallest Protestant bodies, which grew out of the Reformation's struggle for liberty of conscience; by the family's account the Schweikers helped pay for its 1951 building, and he is buried in its Garden of Memories. The concern for conscience ran through his public life, from a sixteen-year effort to exempt the Amish from Social Security to a 1979 law protecting medical students on both sides of the abortion question. That story is told in Faith and Conscience.

After WashingtonHe left the Cabinet in February 1983 to become president of the American Council of Life Insurance, which he led until 1994, and served on the board of National Medical Enterprises, a hospital company.

He left the Cabinet in February 1983 to become president of the American Council of Life Insurance, which he led until 1994, and served on the board of National Medical Enterprises, a hospital company. Claire, his wife of 57 years, died in 2013. He died on July 31, 2015, at 89, survived by their five children and their grandchildren.

Claire SchweikerHis wife, Claire Joan Coleman Schweiker, was a Philadelphia native and the valedictorian of her high school class.

His wife, Claire Joan Coleman Schweiker, was a Philadelphia native and the valedictorian of her high school class. She was the original "Miss Claire" on Romper Room, the pioneering children's program, hosting the Philadelphia edition on WFIL's Channel 6 from 1954 to 1956 (photograph); she and Richard married in 1955, six months after they met. Raised, like her husband, in what she called a "strictly Pennsylvania Dutch family that stressed values and service," she would later say the two of them "see our primary purpose in life as serving God."

A 1953 radio and television broadcasting graduate of Temple University — later the first recipient of the school's Alumni in the Media award and a member of its hall of fame — she moved to Washington after her husband's election to the House in 1960. She gave speeches on public service, health, and faith into the early 1990s, served as vice chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Ball, and was a former president of the District's Republican Wives Club, alongside memberships in the International Club of Washington, the Senate Wives Club, and the Senate Ladies Red Cross Unit. In September 1981, The Washington Dossier put the couple on its cover for a profile titled "For a Healthy America."

Claire Schweiker died April 28, 2013, at age 81 — survived by her husband of 57 years, their five children, a sister, and 23 grandchildren.

Legacy: How His Story Gets RetoldHis 1976 selection remains the standard historical reference point whenever a presidential candidate considers naming a running mate before securing the nomination.

His 1976 selection remains the standard historical reference point whenever a presidential candidate considers naming a running mate before securing the nomination. This is a representative sample of that recurring coverage, not an exhaustive news archive.

"A Gamble Gone Wrong"
TIME (cover story) · 1976-08

Contemporary coverage calling Reagan's move "one of the most astonishing and bizarre turnabouts in a campaign full of surprises" after it failed to swing the nomination.

Read it →
Cruz names Fiorina as running mate before the nomination — coverage reaches for the 1976 precedent
NBC News / MSNBC / NPR / TIME / CNBC · 2016-04

When Ted Cruz named Carly Fiorina his running mate before the 2016 nomination was decided, outlets across the board cited the Reagan-Schweiker gambit as the direct historical precedent — and the cautionary tale, since it failed both times.

Read it →
"When Ronald Reagan stunned America by picking a liberal running mate"
The Washington Post · 2024-07-11

A Trump-era retrospective using the 1976 episode as the history lesson for modern speculation about unconventional running-mate strategy.

Read it →
Authored WorksThree works he wrote or contributed to, drawn from Wikipedia's own bibliography for him.

Three works he wrote or contributed to, drawn from Wikipedia's own bibliography for him.

How to End the Draft: The Case for an All-Volunteer Army (1967)
Co-author, with Reps. Robert T. Stafford, Frank J. Horton, Garner E. Shriver, and Charles W. Whalen Jr. · National Press

An early, detailed case for shifting the United States to an all-volunteer military, later used as a blueprint for the actual transition.

Accessories After the Fact: The Warren Commission, the Authorities & the Report (1976)
Contributed the introduction · Vintage Books (by Sylvia Meagher)

Written the same year as the Church Committee's review of the original Kennedy assassination investigation.

"Health Care: Making a Good System Better," in A Changing America: Conservatives View the '80s From the United States Senate (1980)
Contributing author · Regnery, edited by Sen. Paul Laxalt and Richard S. Williamson

A chapter-length statement of his health-policy views, published the year before he became HHS Secretary.

Sources30 sources for this biography.

Home Life & Career

Timeline

His life and career year by year, from Norristown and the Navy through Congress, the 1976 campaign, HHS and after.

Sources are listed at the end of the timeline.

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Home Life & Career

Deep Dives

Long-form, sourced narratives on the chapters of his career that need more than a timeline entry.

Sources and notes follow each piece.

Home Life & Career

Connections

The presidents, senators and other public figures whose careers crossed his, and what the record shows they did together.

Sources: Congress.gov, Voteview.com (UCLA), and this archive's news collection.

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Home In Congress

His Career in Charts

How often he voted with his party, where he sat between the parties, the subjects on which he broke with Republicans, and how much he spoke on the floor, Congress by Congress. See Votes for every roll call.

Sources: Voteview.com (UCLA) roll calls and Nokken–Poole scores; the Congressional Record; this archive’s key-votes list.

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Home Coverage & Media

In His Own Voice

Recordings from the National Archives and presidential libraries in which he speaks or is discussed, with transcripts and a note on who may use each one. For footage held elsewhere, see Video.

Sources: National Archives Catalog; Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; Richard Nixon Presidential Library.

Recordings in which he speaks or is discussed, from National Archives catalog records that are U.S. government works. Every transcript was produced by speech-recognition software and has not been checked against the recording by a person; speaker names are inferred from what is said unless the catalog states them. The audio plays from the National Archives' own servers and is not copied here. Only a handful of recordings of his own voice are in the National Archives' online catalog; those from his Senate years are held elsewhere.

Remarks accepting Schweiker's resignation and naming Margaret Heckler (East Room)

1983-01-12 (Date per NARA catalog.) · 6:22 · He speaks: President Reagan (about 0-190 s), Richard Schweiker (about 194-254 s), Margaret Heckler (about 291 s onward). Attributed from content only; the catalog title names Reagan, Schweiker and Heckler but gives no speaker times.

Recording of a ceremony at which President Reagan announced that he had accepted Richard Schweiker's resignation as Secretary of Health and Human Services and named Margaret Heckler to succeed him. After Reagan's remarks, a speaker identified from content as Schweiker thanks the President and says he is available to help in the private sector; Heckler then speaks. Audio is clean podium sound.

His words, from the machine transcript (speaker identified from content)

3:14 Mr. President, I want to thank you for the tremendous opportunity and privilege

3:23 of serving your administration.

3:26 Of my 22 years in the Congress, Senate, House, and the Cabinet,

3:30 the most exciting, most rewarding period of service was working with you as president.

3:35 I'm really proud of the opportunity that you gave me.

3:38 I'm also proud of the accomplishments that you as president have made

3:43 and of the success that you're having over many difficult obstacles.

3:47 I'm proud to have been part of that team to see the team continuing in such a fine choice as Mrs. Heckler

3:54 and proud to be successful in what I believe is a very important new beginning for this country.

4:00 And finally, Mr. President, I'd like to say that now that I'm in a private sector,

4:05 I'm a private sector volunteer, and when you decide to run for reelection,

4:10 I want to be out there helping you or any other private sector assignments you give me.

Speaker turns inferred from content. Some segment timestamps span applause. A short phrase near 132 s is probably garbled. The same event exists as video (NAID 68886009), not transcribed.

Full machine-made transcript (unverified)

Produced by speech-recognition software and not yet checked against the recording by a person. Names and numbers may be wrong. Speaker turns inferred from content. Some segment timestamps span applause. A short phrase near 132 s is probably garbled. The same event exists as video (NAID 68886009), not transcribed.

0:03 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Secretary Schweiker, and Mrs.

0:09 Heckler.

0:56 The deep regret that I today accepted the resignation of a trusted advisor and able administrator

1:02 and a man who has done an outstanding job as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

1:08 Dick Schweiker and I first became acquainted in 1976 when he joined me as a potential

1:16 running mate during the battle for the Republican nomination.

1:19 Since then, we've maintained a strong relationship, a personal friendship that I greatly value

1:25 and expect to continue.

1:28 During these last two years as head of the biggest and most costly department of the federal government,

1:33 Dick Schweiker has proven himself in a job that has ground down lesser individuals.

1:41 Many of our efforts to control the spiraling cost of government depended on his enterprise.

1:48 I can say without hesitation that we are proud of the job that he has done.

1:54 Dick Schweiker has given his country many years of outstanding public service,

1:59 first in the House of Representatives, then in the Senate in the last two years as a member of the Cabinet.

2:05 He's made his contribution and now is moving on.

2:09 I understand he's been offered a fine opportunity in the private sector,

2:12 and I wish him the best of luck to announce an outstanding replacement.

2:20 Former Congresswoman Margaret Heckler, my choice is the new Secretary of Health and Human Services.

2:28 Congresswoman Heckler brings to the job extensive experience in the workings of government.

2:33 She served eight terms at the House of Representatives.

2:36 She has proven herself a practical and compassionate public servant.

2:41 And I'm confident she will prove an invaluable member of our team.

2:45 And I'm looking forward to working with her in the days and months ahead.

2:49 Later this morning I will announce my choice for the vacant position of Under Secretary of HHS.

2:55 But now it's with a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to Dick Schweiker,

3:02 but not really goodbye because I know he'll be on tap anytime.

3:05 I want to sound him out for counsel and advice.

3:08 And a warm welcome to Margaret Heckler, who will be the new Secretary of Health and Human Services.

3:14 Mr. President, I want to thank you for the tremendous opportunity and privilege

3:23 of serving your administration.

3:26 Of my 22 years in the Congress, Senate, House, and the Cabinet,

3:30 the most exciting, most rewarding period of service was working with you as president.

3:35 I'm really proud of the opportunity that you gave me.

3:38 I'm also proud of the accomplishments that you as president have made

3:43 and of the success that you're having over many difficult obstacles.

3:47 I'm proud to have been part of that team to see the team continuing in such a fine choice as Mrs. Heckler

3:54 and proud to be successful in what I believe is a very important new beginning for this country.

4:00 And finally, Mr. President, I'd like to say that now that I'm in a private sector,

4:05 I'm a private sector volunteer, and when you decide to run for reelection,

4:10 I want to be out there helping you or any other private sector assignments you give me.

4:14 Thank you very much.

4:51 The response to Dick Schweiker's statement that all Americans, those here and those who will be witness to the event,

5:00 are also in the line of those who will be applauding.

5:04 The great work that he's done in your behalf and in leading this important agency,

5:09 I think that all Americans are grateful to Dick Schweiker for his performance.

5:13 And I want to say that it is following that set example of leadership and I think of commitment.

5:20 I am especially honored to be chosen as his successor.

5:25 I consider it a great honor to have your confidence expressed in me.

5:29 I know that my 16 years of service on Capitol Hill will be of value,

5:34 and I feel, frankly, that you have offered me the greatest challenge of my life.

5:39 But for the honor, and but for one other fact, I would never have undertaken to accept what is the greatest challenge of my life.

5:48 And that is the honor of serving the finest president that I have known,

5:52 and indeed it is with the sense of faith in your vision and your goals for America,

5:59 faith in President Reagan, that I accept what I think is the hardest assignment in Washington.

6:04 I am honored, I am very proud, I'm grateful, and I hope to live up to your expectations.

Source: National Archives catalog 161346066. Rights: White House Communications Agency recording made by federal employees in official duty (Reagan Library tape PP1495): U.S. government work, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. NARA use restriction: Unrestricted.

Remarks at a farewell reception for Secretary Richard Schweiker (Roosevelt Room)

1983-02-03 (Date per NARA catalog.) · 12:51 · He speaks: President Reagan (about 0-175 s), Richard Schweiker (about 178-305 s), a woman presumed to be Claire Schweiker (about 331-381 s). Inferred from content (second speaker says 'Claire and I' and refers to his Senate and cabinet careers; Reagan calls on 'Claire' to speak). Later informal conversation not transcribed.

Video of a farewell reception for Secretary Schweiker. Reagan praises his work at HHS and looks forward to working with successor Margaret Heckler; Schweiker then thanks the President, recalling their association since 1976, and a woman speaks briefly after being invited by Reagan. The rest of the tape is informal conversation.

His words, from the machine transcript (speaker identified from content)

2:58 Mr. President, I first I want to say how fortunate both Claire and I and our family feel that we've been able to serve and work with you not not just for the two years but for the six years beginning back in 1976

3:39 I can't help but think with Paul standing right in front of us that back in 76, in terms

3:45 of Washington, we were sort of a lonely trio back then, and seatmates that we were.

3:53 And now, of course, the Avant Garde has taken over and has really brought about a Reagan

3:59 revolution with your leadership.

Only the first 380 s are transcribed; the model looped on the later informal audio. Speaker names inferred. The excerpt start (178.5 s) is approximate. The person called 'Paul' is unidentified. Excerpt text is lightly corrected by glossary for proper names only.

Full machine-made transcript (unverified)

Produced by speech-recognition software and not yet checked against the recording by a person. Names and numbers may be wrong. Only the first 380 s are transcribed; the model looped on the later informal audio. Speaker names inferred. The excerpt start (178.5 s) is approximate. The person called 'Paul' is unidentified. Excerpt text is lightly corrected by glossary for proper names only.

0:05 our friend Dick Schweiker and Claire and for the last year he's been running what we call the

0:14 people's department, the ministry program that brings the most direct aid to Americans who

0:21 need government's help. I know you all agree he's done an excellent job.

0:27 Dick, speaking for all of us here on the behalf of the country that you've served so well

0:32 And for a long time, I thank you.

0:36 I think everyone else does.

0:38 A large part of your fiscal responsibility

0:40 and human compassion with great competence and caring.

0:44 And you once again infused our policies with values

0:48 that made our country great.

0:50 I'll miss you, not just for your record

0:55 of accomplishments at HHS, which is long,

0:58 but also you're a true and trusted friend.

1:02 And we've been side by side for a number of years.

1:06 Together, we waged some sometimes lonely and always

1:11 challenging battles to bring common sense back

1:13 to government and to return to the people of power

1:18 over their own lives.

1:20 And I relied on you for wise and honest counsel

1:23 and counted on your support, and you never let me down.

1:28 I knew when you asked, when I asked

1:30 you to take on this tremendous job that you had been planning a return to private life.

1:37 And I'm grateful that you put that aside, put aside your personal wishes long enough

1:42 to make yet another contribution to public good as the Secretary of Health and Human

1:48 Services.

1:49 I look forward to working with your successor, Margaret Heckler, and know she'll continue

1:55 the excellent work you've begun, her ability and energy will be put to good use, but your

2:00 colleagues and I will miss you and I thank you again for friendship, for support, and

2:07 I know that will remain unchanged. So good luck and God bless you and if I had a glass

2:15 in my hand right now I'd drink a toast I really only gave the water back or

2:32 somebody told me it was bad luck

2:37 I bless you both and we just wish you all the best out there and I know the

2:43 personal reason that you had a long time ago for entering government service and I

2:48 think you can go with a very clear conscience that you've you've paid your

2:54 bill. Mr. President, I first I want to say how fortunate both Claire and I and

3:30 our family feel that we've been able to serve and work with you not not

3:34 just for the two years but for the six years beginning back in 1976 and I

3:39 I can't help but think with Paul standing right in front of us that back in 76, in terms

3:45 of Washington, we were sort of a lonely trio back then, and seatmates that we were.

3:53 And now, of course, the Avant Garde has taken over and has really brought about a Reagan

3:59 revolution with your leadership.

4:01 And it's wonderful to see how many friends you have and how big and how long the lines

4:07 are around you now, and that's a great sign of a leader and also your talent and ability.

4:13 I think the second thing that Claire and I want to say is that when we first met you

4:17 on an intimate basis back in 76 and got to know you, two qualities stood out.

4:23 Number one, your warm personality, your depth of character, and it got through to Claire

4:29 and me right off.

4:30 And of course, Paul had told me about that for some time back, but we didn't

4:34 authenticated because you proved it and second I think there's no more good

4:40 friend and strong supporter through those periods of time and friendship than

4:45 you and Nancy and Claire and I and family and everybody here really

4:49 appreciates it and the people that I've asked today to invite other than

4:53 than our close personal friends are a lot of people who have stuck with me

4:58 through my Senate career and cabinet career and we all just thank you for

5:03 great job you've done, Mr. President. Thank you.

5:05 Beautiful.

5:06 A reminder, a souvenir to take along.

5:23 And Claire, don't feel that we'll let you come back and visit.

5:28 Claire, why don't you say something?

5:31 You're a better speaker than I am.

5:34 I don't usually follow Dick, and to follow the President,

5:38 they're really too hard acts to try to even say anything after.

5:42 But Mr. President, I think I'm the one that really was the hangar on here.

5:46 I have trouble giving up things.

5:49 things, and I worked very hard on Dick not to leave the Senate, and something very good

5:54 came out of that. So he had better judgment than I had then, and I'm counting on him

5:59 to have better judgment than I have. But I want to thank you and Nancy so much for

6:07 just being our friends, and for all of you who have been our friends and our support.

6:14 To me, a true friend is really a glimpse of God, and I think you've all given us

6:18 That's a lot of glimpses, haven't they, then?

6:20 Thank you.

Source: National Archives catalog 276556661. Rights: Produced by the White House Television Office (Reagan Administration), federal employees in official duty: U.S. government work, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. NARA use restriction: Unrestricted. File is a video (about 996 MB); the audio is in the same MP4.

Nixon White House Tapes, Conversation 009-044 (Nixon and Haldeman, telephone)

1971-09-16 (Time of day unknown (between 2:10 pm and 6:21 pm per NARA).) · 2:07 · He is discussed: President Nixon and H. R. Haldeman (per catalog). Schweiker is discussed, not heard.

Short telephone call in which the speakers discuss Senate maneuvering over a tabling amendment on the day of the call. The transcript has one speaker saying that attempts to get Schweiker or someone else to move the tabling amendment failed, and later saying Schweiker would vote to table. Language is blunt and includes profanity.

Full machine-made transcript (unverified)

Produced by speech-recognition software and not yet checked against the recording by a person. Names and numbers may be wrong. Schweiker does not speak. Names such as 'A-Bear' (probably Hebert) and 'Ahrens' (probably Arends) are uncertain. Speaker turns are not labeled, so remarks cannot be assigned to Nixon or Haldeman.

0:00 Mr. Hall, I've been asking for you.

0:02 Yeah.

0:03 Thank you.

0:04 President.

0:05 Yeah.

0:06 Well, just before 3, Allott agreed to support the President and to have his troops move

0:11 over to oppose the tabling amendment.

0:15 Then they tried to get Schweiker or somebody to move the tabling amendment this afternoon,

0:21 knowing that we had the votes to defeat it.

0:23 And they couldn't get it moved, so it will now come up at 11 tomorrow morning.

0:28 And then Allott will be gone, though.

0:30 Allott will be gone, but his troops will go with us.

0:33 Other people will be gone, too.

0:34 And they're starting now on a whole new headcount on the basis of the absentees tomorrow.

0:40 What they have, but Allott forced his price.

0:44 In any event, we'll have to now go up with this directly with A-Bear, okay?

0:53 Just have him just talk to A-Bear and Ahrens, okay?

0:56 And Margaret Smith and Stennis with regard to that military procurement thing.

1:00 You understand?

1:01 That's the way it should be done at this point, so that Allott doesn't force me to

1:05 have to...

1:06 I don't want to use up my chip with A-Bear unless this is lost, right?

1:10 Then I have to go to him, see.

1:11 Okay.

1:12 So Schultz can follow up.

1:13 Well, that's good.

1:14 I'm glad to hear this.

1:15 At least today.

1:16 But as of now, at least today, there will be nothing, and you'll be asked if

1:20 we couldn't get that goddamn Schweiker to play.

1:22 I mean, even when they're against us, they won't help us, will they?

1:25 If they kiss not, they don't want to be on record as making the motion, I guess.

1:38 He doesn't give a shit about making the motion.

1:44 It was to make the motion when he knew it would lose.

1:49 He's going to vote against it, so he'll be on record in any event.

1:52 So he's going to vote to table.

1:54 That's what I mean.

1:56 Some Republican ought to have moved it.

2:00 But they haven't got any loyalty at all.

2:04 Okay, thanks, Bob.

Source: National Archives catalog 417189707. Rights: Nixon White House Tapes: federal records created by government employees, U.S. government work (17 U.S.C. 105). NARA use restriction: Unrestricted.

Home In Congress

Topics

Everything on the site about one subject, from bills and floor speeches to archive folders.

Congress.gov policy areas and Penn State's folder categories.

Legislation, floor-record mentions, and archive folders grouped by subject, drawn from Congress.gov's own policy-area tags and the archive's folder categories rather than a separately curated list. Select a topic to view everything on this site connected to it.

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Home In Congress

Legislation

The bills he sponsored and cosponsored in the House and Senate, 1961–1980. The story behind the best-known of them is told in The Senate Years and Faith and Conscience.

Sources: Congress.gov (Library of Congress) for 1973–1980; the Congressional Record's History of Bills for 1961–1972; the Statutes at Large for which bills became law.

Congress.gov's bill database begins in 1973. His House bills (1961–1968) and his first Senate term (1969–1972) are read instead from the History of Bills and Resolutions printed in each year's bound Congressional Record; those entries have no committee or related-bill data, and their titles come from scanned pages. Bills that became law carry the law's number, checked against the Statutes at Large. Select any bill to view its details.

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Home At HHS

HHS Regulations

The Federal Register documents he signed or approved as Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1981–1983. For what they added up to, see Two Years at HHS.

Source: the Library of Congress's scans of the Federal Register.

Every Federal Register Document Bearing His Signature

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Home At HHS

HHS Litigation

Published court opinions captioned with his name, as every case against the department was while he was Secretary. The disability-review cases are discussed in Two Years at HHS.

Source: the Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School Library.

Published Court Opinions Naming Him as a Party

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Voting Record

Every recorded roll-call vote he cast: House 1961–1969, Senate 1969–1981. The votes that mark his career are discussed in The Senate Years; how often he voted with particular colleagues is on Connections. About 190 landmark votes carry a short plain-language summary; choose “Key votes” to see only those.

Source: Voteview.com (UCLA).

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Speeches & Floor Record

Each day's proceedings in the bound Congressional Record that mention him, 1961–1983: his own floor statements, bills and remarks, and others' references to him. Each entry is a whole day of the Senate or House, not a single speech. A short summary says what his part in the day was; the summaries were written by AI from the scanned Record, so check the original before citing one. Days on which he appears only in roll-call tallies are hidden unless you choose them.

Source: GovInfo.gov's digitized Congressional Record.

Full Floor Record

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Home For Researchers

Presidential Library Files

White House files from the presidential libraries that name him. From the Ford Library: staff memos on Reagan's choice of him as a running mate in 1976, briefing papers, vote counts, press briefings, schedules and photo logs. From the Carter Library: White House vote counts and memos as the administration courted him on the Panama Canal treaties, and the President's Daily Diary. From the Reagan Library: his years as Secretary of Health and Human Services, including Cabinet briefing papers, senior staff notes, Social Security and Medicaid decisions, and correspondence from pro-life and other groups. From the Nixon Library: the President's daily news summaries tracking his split with Nixon over Watergate and his May 1974 call for resignation, White House vote counts on the ABM, the Haynsworth and Carswell nominations and the draft, campaign and transition files from 1960 to 1972, and 25 Oval Office and telephone tape conversations in which he comes up. Reagan White House videos show his farewell reception and the announcement of his successor. Smaller sets come from the Johnson Library (his 1967 Vietnam de-escalation proposal with other House Republicans), the George H. W. Bush Library (his 1990 lobbying of the White House for the life insurance industry, and Bush's own 1970s files) and the Clinton Library (his work for prevention and the insurance industry during the 1993 health reform debate). A separate set comes from the National Archives' John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection: top-secret Church Committee transcripts of his 1975 questioning of CIA witnesses, including Sidney Gottlieb of the MKUltra program; his correspondence with the Archivist about Warren Commission records; the bill he introduced four days after the assassination to protect the President; and the review board's later search for the files of his and Gary Hart's subcommittee. Records of federal agencies fill in the rest: Army and Navy index cards logging his House inquiries for constituents, among them a run of complaints about the Philadelphia Naval Hospital in the 1960s; the House assassinations committee's clippings and index entries on his inquiry; Park Service files on the Pennsylvania park bills he sponsored; and recordings and photographs from his years at HHS. The short summaries were written by AI from the scanned pages, so open the PDF before citing one.

Sources: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, digitized collections (full-text search); National Archives Catalog (full-text search of digitized presidential library and federal agency records).

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Committee Hearings

Hearings in which he testified, questioned witnesses or was named, 1963–1981, with what he said and the page where it starts. The short summaries were written by AI from the transcripts, so check the original before citing one.

Sources: GovInfo.gov's Congressional Hearings collection, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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Home Coverage & Media

In the News

Newspaper coverage that names him, 1952–1995. For the events behind the headlines, start with the Timeline.

Sources: The New York Times, Penn State's Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive, the Library of Congress, and the Internet Archive.

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Photographs

Public-domain photographs, and a guide to the photograph collection in his papers.

Sources: the U.S. Senate, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and Penn State.

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Video & Audio

Footage of him from C-SPAN, the Reagan Library and documentaries about the Church Committee.

Sources: C-SPAN and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

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Home For Researchers

Archive Finder

A searchable guide to the boxes and folders of his papers at Penn State.

Source: Penn State's finding aid for the Richard S. Schweiker papers.

This site covers what is digitized and publicly searchable. For personal correspondence, internal drafts, press statements, and other material not represented elsewhere here, the primary source is the physical collection below. Search a topic to identify the box and folder that hold it, so a research visit can begin with a precise list rather than an open-ended search.

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