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No. Bill didn't take on his new job until the end of the year. No, I think he -- he was in Washington, you see, already as the editorial writer, political stuff. And -- it's hard for me to remember now exactly who had to change their jobs. I do remember Peter Grose was one. And he was actually -- he was actually one of the people that I had in the back of my mind as a possible -- he wasn't the number one, but he was actually one that I had in the back of mind as a possible successor.

Who was the number one? Who was your number one candidate, had you been able to place him in that position?

From my staff, I had a couple of real possibilities, and it's now hard to recall. Of course [Abraham H. “Abe”] Raskin would have been, except that Raskin had to retire for age actually, that very spring. But to the best of my recollection, Fred Hechinger was one. I think that Shannon also was a possibility. I know that Grose was certainly not at the top of my list, but he was a possibility. He was younger, and he was a very able guy. He had been a foreign correspondent for the Times before he came to my staff and then was moved into the U.N. bureau during that summer.

I think Hechinger was probably my number one choice, although it could well have been Bill Shannon. I'm frankly not absolutely certain.

Was Hechinger one of the ones that Frankel wanted to get rid of?