Nation: Unlocking Cabinet Conversations

Back patting, banalities and talk about national issues

It was without doubt a weighty scoop: confidential minutes from a year of Cabinet meetings, mysteriously leaked for publication to the small (circ. 25,000), feisty political weekly the Nation. And the magazine made the most it could of its news beat, trumpeting it on the first page of its first issue with a redesigned format. But the trouble was, as Editor Victor Navasky readily acknowledged, that the 205 pages of confidential documents were enough to "put readers to sleep."

To anyone looking for bombshell revelations of Cabinet officers making national policy, or jealously competing for the President's ear, the minutes were a great disappointment. Written in colorless prose by Cabinet Secretary Jack Watson, they are matter-of-fact summaries of bureaucratic business that took place at Cabinet meetings between March 14, 1977, and March 13, 1978. "Those boring minutes," sighed the Washington Post in a tongue-in-cheek editorial comparing them with the secret transcripts of the Nixon Administration's private moments. "It's hard to hold back the tears of nostalgia."

White House officials, however, insisted that the minutes did not show what really went on at Cabinet sessions. Said Watson: "I wrote them in a manner to protect against leaks, to keep out all sensitive matters, political and otherwise. Given that, it's not surprising that they're boring." That said—and accepted—the minutes manage to provide unexpected glimpses of the Cabinet at work.

According to the documents, Carter's Cabinet meetings include a staggering array of subjects, as many as 52 main topics and 80 subtopics on Nov. 7, 1977. This was one of the longer meetings (1 hr. 53 min.); nonetheless, the Cabinet could spend an average of only 2 min. 10 sec. on each subject. This compression may discourage debate and encourage banalities, like U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young's recorded statement on Oct. 17,1977—in its entirety —that "a very troublesome problem facing the international community is the energy issue."

Moreover, the minutes disclose that Carter and his Cabinet at times discuss unfavorable press notices and congratulate each other on good ones. On Nov. 7, for example, the minutes note, "The President said that he is pleased that three Cabinet members appeared on Sunday television talk shows: Vice President Walter Mondale on Meet the Press, Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal on Face the Nation and Defense Secretary Harold Brown on Issues and Answers." The main business of the meetings is the description by Cabinet members of their current agendas in brief, almost telegraphic reports. For instance, after attending a conference in Wichita, Kans., Transportation Secretary Brock Adams expressed his concern about "serious rural transportation problems that have never been sufficiently addressed."

The minutes show Carter boosting morale by passing out generous praise. On March 6, the President told Cabinet members that despite the Administration's problems, "he continues to feel confident [because] the Cabinet is a cohesive group whose individual and collective judgment he trusts."