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I didn't know him.

He said for me to wait in the outer office, and he went to the floor where the vote was about to be taken, and on a point of order got them to put the vote over until the next day. And then came back and used his prestige and influence to persuade some of the chairmen not to support Staggers. And Staggers went down in flames and never forgave me. I wrote him a three or four page handwritten letter after the vote was taken. It was a bitter defeat for Staggers. He never recovered from it. I wrote him and said how much I regretted the outcome from the standpoint of our friendship and so forth, tried to plead with him about the importance of the First Amendment, hand delivered it to him. He never said boo, never acknowledged it. I don't think I ever talked with him after that, never had anything from him. I think he died some years after that. Didn't run for reelection, as I recall. His son is now in Congress, has his seat. But it was a bloody battle. That's all there is to it. The vote, I think, it's engraved in my skull but I can't come up with it now --

I was about to ask you.

I think it was 226 to 186 or 185, or something of that kind, a good enough plurality so I never had to say I squeaked by. And then of course people from the White House said: We were for you all the time, and so forth. I never felt that the White House was for me, although I don't think they could have really, in principle, been against it. But it was a mixed bag. Gerry [Gerald R.] Ford, to whom I had turned, I think he was the Minority Leader. I turned to Gerry Ford for his support. And Gerry very plainly said, “Look, I'm all for you, but I can't do anything with the other Republicans on the committee, the ranking members, without some signal from the White House as to where they stand. Get me a