nonetheless, i would like to add my own thanks to the others that have expressed theirs to tim naftali, the library staff, the miller center and mel small. as a scholar and as a citizen, actually, of the united states i have gained a great deal from what i've been able to do with the help of all of those sources. again, sincerely, thank you very much. now, i'm a student of white house staffing. and, on occasion, people say after they say, gee, that's kind of boring, isn't it? they say, but what do we know? i've distilled two lessons. one is, it all depends. and the second is, everything begins with richard nixon. and i say that quite seriously. in fact, what i'm going to talk about today is nixon and the administrative presidency. and i'm going to suggest that the kinds of strategies and initiatives as well as some of the debate that has come over the administrative presidency, indeed, stted with richard nixon. now, as it turns out, all presidents have clear incentives to seek good staff around them in the white house, in executive branch agencies, and in other parts of government. but