White House Diaries

Monday, June 6, 1983

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A busy day. A moving ceremony in the Oval office presenting a gold medal posthumously to a man who has been known for more than a year as “the unknown hero.” The Coast Guard has finally established that the man who kept passing the helicopter rescue rope to others in the “Air Florida” crash into the Potomac—Jan. 13 1982 was Arlin Williams Jr. Five people’s lives were saved but when the Copter went back for him he was gone. His mother, father, son (18) & daughter (16) were present for the ceremony. Met in Rose Garden with 137 finalists in Nat. Spelling Bee. Our “Business—Higher Ed. Forum” came in and submitted it’s report on how Am. can be more competitive in the world market place. Met to see what we could do with C.C.C. loan request for $150 mil. from Nigeria. We only have $30 mil. left & would have to ask for supplement to budget. Nigeria has refused to comply with requirements for an I.M.F. loan. I decided we would offer the $30 mil. & press them to go along with I.M.F. Late afternoon last of the young talent shows—pub. broadcasting scheduled for S. Lawn. Mary Martin & John Raitt on hand & a splendid group of young performers. With 2 acts yet to go—the rains came. We headed for the St. dining room—will finish show Wed. Before that I met with Paul Volcker—? do I reappoint him as Chmn. of the Fed. Aug. 1 or change. The financial mkt. seems set on having him. I dont want to shake their confidence in recovery. Cliff White came over from R.N.C. to talk about our staff battles. It’s a tough problem made worse by 2nd echilon spokesmen leaking stories in behalf of their top men.