A Respite From Politics

Casual followers of the Carter administration probably have never heard of Eugene Eidenberg. The position he most recently held in the Carter White House, secretary of the cabinet and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs, was not one of the administration's most prominent posts. But the tasks which Eidenberg, currently a fellow at the Institute of Politics (IOP), performed significantly affected several key political issues.

Eidenberg's duties for the past two years, first as a deputy to Jack H. Watson Jr. and then as director when Watson became chief of staff, were simply, he says, to make the federal system work: across agencies and with governors and mayors. He was responsible for coordinating the relations between the federal government and state and local authorities. "Our job was to give flexibility without, compromising federal authority," he explains.

Eidenberg's ascension to a White House post followed a long career of "non-partisan"--a distinction he stresses--political activities. Born in 1939, he grew up in New York City and majored in political science at the University of Wisconsin. Before graduating in 1962, he became active in campus-based politics and in the civil rights movement.

His political education, however, really began three years later, when as a Ph.D. candidate, he worked as a Congressional aide. His responsibilities weren't too demanding ("If I were lucky, I would get to pour the brandy and branch water at meetings"), but he had the invaluable opportunity of sharing an office with D.B. Hardeman, an aide to Rep. Sam Rayburn (D-Tex.), then-speaker of the House.

Hardeman had been active during the fifties in Texas politics and learned a great deal about the trade. "From eight until ten every morning, we'd read the papers and talk about politics," Eidenberg recalls. "It was a one-on-one seminar in American politics in the fifties and sixties." For the man who was educated in the Midwest. Hardeman's insight into Texas hardball politics "was a real eye-opener. It was important for me to realize that politics was tough."

After spending time in Minneapolis, teaching at the University of Minnesota and serving as deputy mayor, Eidenberg accepted a vice-chancellory at the University of Illinois Chicago Circle Campus in 1972. There he continued his political hobby, observing Mayor Richard J. Daley's machine first hand.

Eidenberg recalls the Chicago Circle Campus' tenth anniversary, when, as university representative, he served as Daley's escort. Making idle conversation with the mayor before Daley was to give a speech, Eidenberg mentioned that the college was considering building a law school. To his surprise, when Daley addressed the college officials, he painted a picture of a "wall-to-wall law school. It was pure Richard J. Daley Chicago Circle boosterism."

Within hours of the speech, a Cook County legislator called Eidenberg, saying he wanted to sponsor the bill to build the law school. "I was watching the machine operate at its level of maturity. All Daley had to do was express a preference, and others stepped up to the plate," Eidenberg says.

Eidenberg stepped up the federal government in 1977, when Hale Champion, then-undersecretary of Health, Education and Welfare and currently executive dean of the Kennedy School of Government, hired him as an aide. He moved to the White House in 1978.

In addition to his regular responsibilities, he took on the task of "managing domestic crises." He worked "literally round the clock for five days" on the Three Mile Island crisis, preparing for a possible evacuation of the area around the power plant. "The only plans we had tore on were old civil defense plans for what to do if the Russians came."

Eidenberg later took responsibility for handling "easily the most politically intractable problem," last summer's Cuban refugee crisis. As the "linchpin" for the team of federal officials managing the problem, he had to "jump through administrative hoops," coordinating the efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Defense Department, the Transportation Department, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Though critics have attacked the Carter administration for its handling of both crises, Eidenberg defends his former boss. "The president is a man of very strong conviction, a very intelligent man. I am convinced his failure was not governmental, but political," he explains.

While he is "working for two hours a day, schmoozing around the office" as an IOP fellow, Eidenberg has no definite plans for his future, but "I know I won't be far from public service."

After years of working in managerial positions, he now is considering taking up "partisan" political activities. "I don't think Reagan's election repudiates the policies of the Democratic Party." The American people, he argues, still want an active federal government, but they want a more cost-effective government with a better relationship with state and local governments.

After spending this semester at the IOP, away from active political life, Eidenberg says he plans to try convincing Democratic leaders to modify their means in the hope that by doing so they can begin to rebuild their party.