i never had a meeting with any foreign leader from which fritz mondale was excluded. >> right. >> and i never had a meeting with a member of congress from which he was excluded and one other of the things i was concerned about is disharmony then and now among the members of the national security staff. because we had the vice president got in office and the secretary of state, secretary of defense. and national security adviser. sometimes the head of an intelligence agency. we met every friday morning. >> right. >> to discuss every possible issue that might come up the following week in foreign affairs and then dr. briz ski took notes and meet wednesday morning with the secretary of defense and secretary of state to make sure they were doing what we had decided and fritz mondale was always an integral part of that tiny meeting that shaped aumt foreign policy. so, so far as i know he was almost like another president. that's what i wanted. >> yeah. he thought that sometimes. >> i know he did. [ laughter ] there was one thing that fritz did, though, that i think exceeded his authority.

i never had a meeting with any foreign leader from which fritz mondale was excluded. >> right. >> and i never had a meeting with a member of congress from which he was excluded and one other of the things i was concerned about is disharmony then and now among the members of the national security staff. because we had the vice president got in office and the secretary of state, secretary of defense. and national security adviser. sometimes the head of an intelligence agency. we met every friday morning. >> right. >> to discuss every possible issue that might come up the following week in foreign affairs and then dr. briz ski took notes and meet wednesday morning with the secretary of defense and secretary of state to make sure they were doing what we had decided and fritz mondale was always an integral part of that tiny meeting that shaped aumt foreign policy. so, so far as i know he was almost like another president. that's what i wanted. >> yeah. he thought that sometimes. >> i know he did. [ laughter ] there was one thing that fritz did, though, that i think exceeded his authority.