the truth—brims forth from thesensometimes less-than-articulate peoplenwho open their souls. They tell aboutntheir tours in Vietnam, but tell us alsonabout what we will always face in com­nmunist aggression and subversion innless-developed regions. The point isnnot that we should not take the field.nIt is that we should know how to gonabout winning. •nChastened Liberalsnand Concerned ConservativesnJoseph A. Califano, Jr.: GoverningnAmerica: An Insider’s Report fromnthe White House and the Cabinet;nSimon & Schuster; New York.nBill Boyarsky: Ronald Reagan: HisnLife and Rise to the Presidency;nRandom House; New York.nby James J. Thompson, Jr.nJbame and fortune await the publishingnhouse willing to underwrite a venturenthat will become a milestone innpublishing history. It should bear thentitle: Encyclopedia of Dilapidated Liberals,nand its first volume must containna long entry for “Califano, Joseph A.,nJr.,” a man who merits inclusion bynvirtue of his service to liberal causesnover the past two decades. After an apprenticeshipnunder Robert McNamaranon the New Frontier, he moved intonthe White House as Lyndon Johnson’snadviser on domestic affairs. In this capacity,nhe scurried back and forth bentween the White House and CapitolnHill carrying the bricks, mortar andnblueprints used to construct the GreatnSociety. After LBJ’s downfall in 1968nCalifano fled into exile, although, givennthe mild punishment Americans metenout to the lieutenants of discreditednregimes, Califano’s flight carried himnno farther than a Washington, D.C.nlaw firm. Here he plotted revengenagainst the Republicans and in his sparentime raked in large amounts of moneynDr. Thompson is associate editor ofnthe Chronicles.n8nChronicles of Culturenfrom a lucrative law practice. WhennJimmy Carter called Califano after hisnvictory in November of 1976 Califanonsnatched up the telephone and allowednas how, yes, he would like to be Secretarynof HEW. As he told his friend TipnO’Neill: “I’d like to prove that HEWncan be run, that those Great Societynprograms can work.”nIn his thirty months at HEW—thenperiod recounted in Governing American—Califano frequently confirmed thenworst fears of disbelievers in the GreatnSociety’s prospects and outdid himselfnin his efforts to earn their enmity. Wenall have our favorite atrocity storiesnfrom Califano’s reign. Although annItalian Catholic, Califano displayed allnthe fanaticism of a born-again SouthernnBaptist in his comic-opera crusadenagainst cigarette smokers. Like H. L.nMencken’s ill-famed Puritan, the secretaryntossed and turned at night, fearfulnthat people might be enjoying themselves,nin this case with a furtive puffnon a Marlboro. Califano vowed to restorenthe federal government’s flaggingninitiative in promoting civil rights, andnrestore he did, as he brought the Universitynof North Carolina to Canossanover racial integration and placed thenpowers of his office at the beck and callnof feminist crazies. On the issue of abortionnhe weasled his way—with helpfulnsuggestions from two priests, both mastersnof Jesuitical speciousness—to anstance whereby he would maintain hisnpersonal opposition to abortion whilenfaithfully upholding congressional enactmentsnand judicial dictates. The partisansnof reason slept easier when JimmynnnCarter, in one of the few forceful actsnof his woebegone Presidency, firednCalifano in July of 1979.nCalifano committed enough outragesnin his thirty months in office to satenthe appetite of even the most inveteratenhater of HEW. If ever a man’s actionsngave substance to the argument fornabolishing HEW altogether, Califano’sndid. Case closed. But is it.’ A referendumnheld only among unprejudicednvoters to determine the fate of HEWnwould probably spell the demise of thatndepartment. With the exception of thenSupreme Court, it has infuriated common-sensenAmericans more in the pastntwenty years than any other agency ofnthe federal government. The basic problemnlies not so much in the specificnprograms pushed by HEW—horrendousnas some of them may be—but in thenpremises that lie at the heart of thendepartment’s operations. With its myriadnprograms that range widely acrossnthe fields of health, welfare and, untilnrecently, education, the departmentnclaims the right to intrude into the livesnof Americans in a way that would havenbeen thought unconscionable twentyfivenyears ago. This intrusion saps thenself-reliance, personal initiative, industriousnessnand self-discipline that havenformed the bedrock of the Americannexperience. HEW has too often condemnednour virtues as vices and hasnsought to shame us out of those traitsnthat have made of us a great people.nJDespite his ineluctable liberalism,nCalifano would not entirely disagreenwith this analysis. Always more thenpragmatic liberal than the narrow ideologue,nhis experience with HEW furthernschooled him in the limitations ofngovernment. If the gods have deignednto smile upon us for a change, Califanonmay represent a trend within liberalismnthat will lead to a chastening of liberalnaspirations. The Kennedys and McGovernsnwill never slacken in their fervor,nbut Califano, for one, has learned somenlessons and done some hard thinking.nAlthough Califano bemoans the fail-n