One Down, 13 Sworn

IT TOOK ROUGHLY 36 HOURS FOR THE CLINTON ADministration to hit a snag. Zoe Baird had left a tough Senate confirmation hearing at 9:30 p.m. Thursday insisting she would not withdraw her name as Attorney General-designate. By midnight she had changed her mind: criticisms of her admittedly illegal hiring of undocumented Peruvians as servants had grown quite heated, and presidential support had turned decidedly lukewarm. In an exchange of letters released by the White House at 1:22 a.m. Friday, Bill Clinton accepted her pullout "with sadness." Feminist groups immediately began pressing Clinton to name another woman to the job, but a spokesman said the President would not necessarily do so.

Clinton was still able to preside Friday morning at a mass swearing-in ceremony for the other 13 members of his Cabinet, plus three more top aides. Even those who had faced tough questioning in confirmation hearings -- Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt -- were confirmed with barely a murmur of opposition. A still closer presidential assistant also is moving into new quarters. Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to line up an office in the executive West Wing of the White House; her husband's aides said she would be an important adviser on domestic policy. First job: taking charge of the task force shaping health-care proposals. (See cover stories, beginning on page 26.)