White House Diaries

Friday, June 28, 1985

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Yesterday we lost in the Judiciary Committee. Brad Reynolds nomination (by me) to be the No. 3 man at Justice was rejected. They even refused to pass it out to the floor with a no pass recommendation because of their fear the whole Sen. would do what they were unwilling to do—approve him. And they couldn’t have done what they did without the help of 2 Repubs. Sens. Spector & Mathias. Well there are 2 Sens. I wont have to help campaign.

Left at 9:45 from S. Lawn on trip to Chi. We had Sen. Dixon & 3 Ill. Congressmen with us & were met by Gov. Thompson who really is a top person. We helicoptered from O’Hare to Chi. Heights—Bloom High School. I joined about 30 or so community leaders including City Council & reps. of Ethnic societies for an early spaghetti lunch. Then a meeting with families of some of the hostages and one family of Rev. Jenco one of the 7 kidnap victims. I did my best to inform them of what we’re doing. God Bless People. When I had to leave one young man whose father is a hostage told me he approved of what we were doing & he agreed we should not make a deal that rewarded the terrorists. The rest applauded him. Then it was time to face an outdoor meeting of thousands of people. They were as enthusiastic as if it were a pol. rally. My subject was tax reform & they were overwhelmingly supportive. Back in Wash. 5:15 P.M. we held an N.S.P.G. meeting. Word came in that our press had been notified by Syria to be in Damascus the next morning (tomorrow) to see the hostages arrive there. This could be what we are waiting for. We also launched a plan to strike by air a guerilla base connected with the murderers of our 4 Marines.