Yes it is a wonder we survived
Found this in my travels ... Clinton had never met his #2 person in the DOJ??
Interview with Deputy Attorney General Philip B. Heymann on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/counsel/office/heymann2.html Bill Clinton becomes President , and you find yourself returning to the Department of Justice. How did that happen? How did you get the call?
I had not met President Clinton or Mrs. Clinton. In a real sense I've never met them to this day.
You weren't an old [friend of Bill].
It's not only I wasn't that. I wasn't actually ever interviewed by them, nor did I see them afterwards except on public occasions. They early on picked Chuck Ruff as their preferred Deputy Attorney General. I think that that slot was intended to be someone who had a long experience in the criminal justice world... and somebody who had sort of a reputation, preferably going back to Watergate. I mean [it would be] nice if it went back to Watergate, but a reputation that would look like something other than the friend of the President.
Like Charles Ruff?
Like Charles Ruff. After a few weeks, it became clear that Ruff had a nanny problem of such insignificance - absolutely ridiculous, a person over 72 who he thought was drawing social security. But at any rate, this scared off the administration. At that point, I gather that Janet Reno asked Chuck Ruff who he would recommend as deputy. Ruff strongly recommended me. I knew Attorney General Reno a little from the time that she was Dade County State's Attorney. Chuck called me and asked me if I would be interested. I said sure. I came up and met with Bernie Nussbaum, Vince Foster, Webb Hubbell..., and Janet Reno, about a half an hour a piece. Seemed to be totally pro forma and shortly got a call saying "Would you like to be Deputy Attorney General?" Never interviewed with the President and never really met him....
Deputy Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice. The number two guy at Justice, and you still hadn't met the President ?
Only on formal occasions. I've never met him otherwise.
Did you ever have the urge to introduce yourself?
I did introduce myself to him on a couple of occasions, and he would say, "I know that." Since he is supposed to be very good with names, I assumed that maybe he did know that.... It's a bad mistake. It's an innocent mistake, but it's a bad mistake. The number two person in the department has to have met the President for an hour, or for a half an hour or long enough that there is some set of relationships. The President just has to spend that much time, otherwise it's a bad mistake.
But, [also]... it wasn't just you. It was an Attorney General whom he had never met until two days before she came became the Attorney General of the United States of America. [Is it true that Clinton was relatively indifferent about the staffing of the Justice Department?]
I don't know. There have been a number of missteps in the appointment of Attorney General. I am sure they were anxious to move ahead quickly. I doubt very much if a lawyer President and a lawyer First Lady thought that the Attorney General was the most difficult and important position for them to fill.
Plus they had Webb Hubbell over there.
They had the number three person, whom they knew very well, who was Webb.