When he gave his first press conference, he nonchalantly declared that the Eisenhower “team” would carry on as usual. Any political implications of the president’s illness, he said, were “unworthy of consideration.” Yet on Monday evening Nixon held a four-hour strategy session with Len Hall, the Republican national chairman, to discuss precisely that subject. Adams, who returned from a fishing vacation in Scotland, sat in on the discussion and refused to speak. Nixon grasped why: “Adams’ sole loyalty was to Eisenhower.” He would have no part in discussing a future without him.
