In fact the senior members of the Eisenhower administration quickly moved to limit Nixon’s authority. The vice president did not occupy center stage during the weeks that followed the heart attack. Sherman Adams did. It was Adams who along with Attorney General Brownell (also hastily returned from a European vacation), decided that there was no need to turn power over to the vice president. The president was ill, but still alive and mentally alert. He needed time to convalesce, and the nation needed continuity.
