Richard S. Schweiker

The single chronological record of his life and career — offices, elections, and the events between them — compiled from the sources cited below. Larger entries mark the more consequential turns; smaller ones fill in the record between them.

• 1926
  Born

  Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to Malcolm Alderfer Schweiker Sr. and Blanche R. Schultz Schweiker — a family that had come to the United States generations earlier as Schwenkfelders fleeing religious persecution in Germany.
• 1944
  Graduates high school, enlists in the Navy

  Valedictorian at Norristown Area High School, then serves aboard the aircraft carrier USS Tarawa (CV-40) through 1946, discharged as an electronics technician, second class. He later traced his interest in public service to the loss of a brother in the war, saying it taught him "that we are affected by things outside our own sphere."
• 1950
  Graduates Penn State, joins the family business

  Attends Slippery Rock State College for two years before transferring to Penn State, where he earns a psychology degree. He then joins the family's tile business (Franklin Tile Company, later American Olean) in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, rising from the personnel department to company president within a few years.
• 1952
  Enters Republican politics

  Founds the Montgomery County chapter of the Young Republicans, serving as its president through 1954, and is selected as an alternate delegate to the 1952 and 1956 Republican National Conventions.
• 1955
  Marries Claire Coleman

  Marries Claire Joan Coleman, a Philadelphia native and 1953 Temple University radio and TV broadcasting graduate, in Philadelphia, six months after they meet. From 1954 to 1956 she had played "Miss Claire" on the children's television program Romper Room, giving up the show for marriage; she later gave speeches on public service, health, and faith into the early 1990s, and was vice chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Ball. Raised, like her husband, in what she called a "strictly Pennsylvania Dutch family that stressed values and service," she would later say the two of them "see our primary purpose in life as serving God." They have five children.
• 1960
  U.S. House, Pennsylvania's 13th District Won Opponent: Warren Ballard (D) 62% – 38% Schweiker first defeated conservative incumbent John Lafore in the Republican primary by running to his left, then won the general election — two years after the party had refused him its endorsement.

  Campaign material at Penn State (6)

  RSVP, 1960

  Campaign Literature · Box 33, Folder 4

  John Lafore, RSVP Opponent in Republican Primary, 1960

  Campaign Literature · Box 33, Folder 6

  Voting Statistics, 1960-1972

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 38

  RSVP, 1960

  Campaigns — Press Releases · Box 33, Folder 5

  Schweiker Questionnaire Sent to Constituents, 1960

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 34, Folder 2

  Election Questionnaires, 1960

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 35, Folder 9
• 1961
  Sworn into the 87th Congress

  Begins four consecutive terms in the U.S. House as a Rockefeller Republican, serving on the Armed Services and Government Operations committees. Though the Almanac of American Politics would later sum up his House years as a "conventional Republican record," he backs landmark liberal-coded legislation including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the creation of Medicare, federal rent subsidies, and Social Security benefit increases. As a freshman, he meets with former President Dwight Eisenhower not long after Eisenhower leaves the White House.

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• 1962
  U.S. House, Pennsylvania's 13th District Won (re-elected)

  Campaign material at Penn State (2)

  Schweiker vs. Lee Driscoll, Democratic House Campaign Opponent, 1962

  Campaigns — Debates · Box 33, Folder 7

  Schweiker Questionnaire Sent to Constituents, 1962

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 34, Folder 3
• 1964
  U.S. House, Pennsylvania's 13th District Won (re-elected)

  Campaign material at Penn State (4)

  Schweiker House Committee Assignments, 1963-1964

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 33, Folder 8

  Miscellaneous Political, 1964-1965

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 33, Folder 9

  Campaign, 1964

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 35, Folder 13

  Schweiker Questionnaire Sent to Constituents, 1964

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 34, Folder 4
• 1965
  Schweiker Act saves taxpayers over $1 billion

  Sponsors legislation giving cash awards to military personnel for cost-cutting suggestions — ultimately credited with more than $1 billion in savings.

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• 1966
  U.S. House, Pennsylvania's 13th District Won (re-elected)

  Campaign material at Penn State (14)

  Campaign, RSVP, 1966

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 33, Folder 20

  William Searle, Democratic House Campaign Opponent, 1966

  Campaign Literature · Box 33, Folder 14

  John Lafore, Republican Primary Opponent, 1966

  Campaign Literature · Box 33, Folder 15

  Campaign Literature and Letters, RSVP, 1966

  Campaign Literature · Box 33, Folder 21

  Right Wing and Extremists", 1966

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 33, Folder 11

  Washington D.C. Press, 1966

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 33, Folder 18

  Miscellaneous Campaign, 1966

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 33, Folder 19

  Campaign, 1966

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 35, Folder 12

  Union and Labor, 1965-1966

  Campaigns — Correspondence and Endorsements · Box 33, Folder 10

  John Lafore Supporters, 1966

  Campaigns — General · Box 33, Folder 12

  Fair Campaign Practices Committee, Inc., Allegations Against William Searle, 1966

  Campaigns — General · Box 33, Folder 17

  Primary vs. Lefore, 1966

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 6

  Statements-John Lafore, Republican Primary Opponent, 1966

  Campaigns — Press Releases · Box 33, Folder 16

  Schweiker Questionnaire Sent to Constituents, 1966

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 34, Folder 5
• 1966
  Considers a run for governor

  Weighs entering the 1966 Pennsylvania governor's race; state Republican leaders persuade him to stand aside for Lt. Gov. Raymond P. Shafer instead.
• 1967
  Publishes "How to End the Draft"

  Co-authors How to End the Draft: The Case for an All-Volunteer Army with Reps. Robert T. Stafford, Frank J. Horton, Garner E. Shriver, and Charles W. Whalen Jr. — later used as a blueprint for the country's shift to an all-volunteer military.

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• 1968
  U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania Won Opponent: Joseph S. Clark Jr. (D, incumbent) Won by more than 280,000 votes The only Republican to win statewide in Pennsylvania that cycle, in an election where Hubert Humphrey carried the state. Clark, who had angered some voters by supporting gun control, lost ground on the issue to Schweiker, who opposed it.

  Campaign material at Penn State (38)

  Sign and Poster Blitz, 1968

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 34, Folder 18

  Campaign Slogan Themes, 1968

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 34, Folder 23

  Radio Spot-Stand on School Prayer, 1968

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 34, Folder 27

  Bumper Sticker-Defeat Joe Clark (Sportsmen)-1968, 1968

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 35, Folder 14

  Postcard Mailings, 1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 34, Folder 25

  General, 1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 34, Folder 26

  General, 1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 34, Folder 28

  General, 1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 34, Folder 30

  General, 1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 34, Folder 31

  General, 1967-1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 35, Folder 11

  Union, 1968

  Campaigns — Correspondence and Endorsements · Box 34, Folder 12

  Transcripts-Schweiker vs. Joe Clark, July 2, 27 and Oct. 1, 20, 1968

  Campaigns — Debates · Box 34, Folder 34

  Vs. Joe Clark on Domestic Issues, 1968

  Campaigns — Debates · Box 35, Folder 7

  Vs. Joe Clark on Foreign Issues, 1968

  Campaigns — Debates · Box 35, Folder 8

  General, 1968

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 34, Folder 13

  April, 1968

  Campaigns — Engagement Acceptances · Box 34, Folder 6

  June, 1968

  Campaigns — Engagement Acceptances · Box 34, Folder 7

  July, 1968

  Campaigns — Engagement Acceptances · Box 34, Folder 8

  Aug., 1968

  Campaigns — Engagement Acceptances · Box 34, Folder 9

  Sept., 1968

  Campaigns — Engagement Acceptances · Box 34, Folder 10

  Oct., 1968

  Campaigns — Engagement Acceptances · Box 34, Folder 11

  Campaign Finance Information, 1968

  Campaigns — Finances · Box 34, Folder 29

  Schweiker Press Kit, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 14

  Schweiker Position Papers, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 15

  Survad Telephone Project, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 16

  Phone Canvass Script, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 17

  Special Interest Groups, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 20

  Speakers Bureau, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 21

  Campaign Consultants Survey, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 22

  Schweiker Girl Instructions, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 24

  Campaign Itineraries, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 32

  Campaign Strategy, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 33

  Position Papers, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 35

  Nominating Petitions, RSVP for U.S. Senator, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 34, Folder 36

  Campaign Material, 1968

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 2

  Schweiker for U.S. Senator, 1968

  Campaigns — Press Releases · Box 34, Folder 37

  Schweiker Wants to Know", 1968

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 34, Folder 19

  Election Questionnaires, 1968

  Campaigns — Press Releases — Questionnaires · Box 35, Folder 10
• 1969
  Sworn into the U.S. Senate

  Begins twelve years in the Senate, serving on the Labor and Public Welfare Committee and, later, the Finance and Appropriations committees. He continues building the moderate record he started in the House — apart from gun control and abortion, where he holds more conservative positions — earning a reputation through the mid-1970s as one of the chamber's most liberal Republicans, including an 89 percent rating from Americans for Democratic Action.

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• 1973
  Named on the Nixon White House's "enemies list"

  His name surfaces among the political opponents on the Nixon administration's so-called "enemies list," a marker of how sharply his moderate House and early Senate record — support for labor, child-care, and consumer-protection measures, and public opposition to the Vietnam War — had put him at odds with the White House's line.

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• 1974
  Calls on Nixon to resign

  One of a number of Republicans who broke with the president during Watergate; earlier in the Senate he had also opposed Nixon's Supreme Court nominations of Clement F. Haynsworth Jr. and G. Harrold Carswell, and taken dovish positions on the Vietnam War.
• 1974
  National Diabetes Act becomes law

  Authors and sponsors the National Diabetes Mellitus Research and Education Act, establishing the National Commission on Diabetes and prompting decades of increased federal diabetes research funding — earning him the nickname "Patron Saint of the Pancreas" among the advocates he worked with.

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• 1974
  U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania Won (re-elected) Opponent: Peter F. Flaherty (D), Mayor of Pittsburgh 53% – 47% The strongest showing by a Pennsylvania senator since 1946, won despite a wave year for Democrats after Watergate. The first Republican senator ever endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL–CIO.

  Campaign material at Penn State (69)

  Bumper Sticker and Button-Senate Campaign, 1974

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 35, Folder 5

  Radio/Television, 1974

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 36, Folder 1

  Campaign Literature, 1974

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 36, Folder 14

  Radio and Television Advertising, 1974

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 37, Folder 3-4

  Poster and Billboard Advertising, 1974

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 37, Folder 6

  Wilkes-Barre, Jan. 1974, undated

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 15

  Erie, Jan. 1974, undated

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 16

  Allentown, March 1974, undated

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 17

  Allegheny Area, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 18

  Pittsburgh and Washington County, Aug., 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 19

  Statewide Bus Tour, Aug. 23-30, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 20

  Allegheny, Westmoreland and Washington Counties Bus Tour, Sept. 6-8, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 21

  Southeast Counties and Philadelphia Bus Tour, Sept. 13-15, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 22

  Lancaster-Reading-Erie-Pittsburgh Bus Tour, Sept. 27-29, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 24

  Philadelphia, Beaver and Bucks Counties Bus Tour, Oct. 5, 6, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 25

  State College-Altoona-Philadlphia-Harrisburg-Pittsburgh Bus Tour, Oct. 11-14, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 26

  Statewide, Oct. 17-Nov. 5, 1974

  Campaign Stops · Box 36, Folder 27

  Election Night, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 35, Folder 20

  General, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 6-8

  Critical, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 9

  Returned Contributions, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 11

  Contributions Returned From Sportsmen's Clubs, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 13

  Letters of Congratulations, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 39

  Letters of Thanks from RSVP to Campaigners, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 40

  Campaign Solicitation, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 46

  Campaign Solicitation, 1974

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 36, Folder 49-51

  General, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 35, Folder 21

  General, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 36, Folder 28

  Labor, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 36, Folder 29

  Listing, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 36, Folder 30

  Pennsylvania State Education Association, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 36, Folder 31

  Black Groups, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 36, Folder 32

  Media, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 37, Folder 2

  Union, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 37, Folder 8

  Media, 1974

  Campaigns — Endorsements · Box 37, Folder 10

  Campaign Finance Summary, 1974

  Campaigns — Finances · Box 36, Folder 2

  Campaign Material, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 3

  Debate vs. Flaherty, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 15

  Poll Results, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 18

  Schweiker Announcement to Seek Re-Election, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 19

  Miscellaneous, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 22

  Election Statistics, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 23

  Campaign Literature-Pete Flaherty, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 3

  Debate Transcript-Schweiker vs. Flaherty, June 22, 1974, undated

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 4

  Possible Campaign Ideas, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 5

  Labor Commendations, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 10

  Fund Raiser Invitation, Sept. 26, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 33

  Reception Invitations, April 24, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 34

  Schweiker Family Bus Including: Two Partridge Family Cells, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 36

  Campaign Contributions Report, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 37

  Thank You Calls, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 41

  Election Night Reception, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 42

  Victory Speech, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 43

  Election Statistics, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 44-45

  Campaign Material Samples, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 47

  Campaign Literature, Production-Bailey Proposals, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 48

  Election Statistics, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 52

  Memos-From Bailey, Deardourff and Bowen, Inc., Campaign Strategists, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 54

  Campaign Budget, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 55

  Contracts and Agreements, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 56

  Campaign Advertising, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 36, Folder 57

  Victory Speech Drafts, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 37, Folder 5

  Voting Statistics, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 37, Folder 13

  Schweiker Press Kit, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 37, Folder 14

  Debate Transcripts-Schweiker vs. Flaherty, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 37, Folder 15

  Campaign Target Areas, Northeast, 1974

  Campaigns — Maps · Box 35, Folder 16

  Campaign Target Areas, Southwest, 1974

  Campaigns — Maps · Box 35, Folder 17

  Schweiker Act, 1974

  Campaigns — General · Box 37, Folder 1

  Completed, 1974

  Campaigns — Questionnaires · Box 37, Folder 12
• 1975
  Cosponsors Kennedy's Health Security Act

  Joins Sens. Edward Kennedy, Clifford Case, and Jacob Javits in cosponsoring the Health Security Act (S. 3), a proposal for government-run universal health coverage.

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• 1975
  Joins the Church Committee's JFK review

  Appointed with Sen. Gary Hart to a two-member subcommittee of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, tasked with reviewing how the CIA and FBI had handled the original Kennedy assassination investigation.

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• 1975
  Leads questioning on CIA and Pentagon human experimentation

  Over three Senate Health Subcommittee sessions on a bill to extend federal human-subject protections to Defense Department and CIA research, he is the second-most active questioner after Sen. Edward Kennedy — personally questioning the wife of an Edgewood Arsenal LSD test subject and the daughter of Frank Olson, who died after a covert CIA drug test.

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• 1976
  Schweiker-Hart Report issued

  The subcommittee's report, "Performance of the Intelligence Agencies," concludes the original investigation was seriously flawed — without alleging a conspiracy. It becomes part of Senate Report 94-755.

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• 1976
  Reagan names him running mate — before the convention

  Trailing Gerald Ford in delegates, Reagan takes the unprecedented step of naming his running mate before the nomination is settled. Sen. Paul Laxalt, a friend and Senate seatmate, first sounds Schweiker out by phone on July 16 while he is vacationing in Ocean City, New Jersey; the actual offer to join the ticket, Schweiker later recalled, "really threw me for a loop." He flies to Los Angeles under his press secretary's name for a six-and-a-half-hour meeting with the Reagans, and the two campaigns announce the pick in dual press conferences on July 26 — Reagan from Los Angeles, Schweiker from the Senate Caucus Room in Washington. Reagan frames the choice around shared "basic values" and the delegates' right to know his running mate in advance. Biographer Craig Shirley notes that, pro-union votes aside, Schweiker's record was considerably more conservative than his reputation suggested — solid on anti-Communism, defense, the Second Amendment, and abortion, and a leader on the Captive Nations cause for the Soviet-held Baltic states. Not everyone was convinced the math worked: columnist George Will quipped that “if the Reagan-Schweiker ticket is a political coalition, then sauerkraut is a culinary coalition.” Reagan loses the nomination to Ford weeks later.

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• 1976
  Conservatives try to push him off the ticket at the convention

  Led by Sens. Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond, a group of conservative delegates makes a last attempt to remove Schweiker from the ticket, hoping it might free up votes for Reagan's nomination. When Schweiker hears of it, he offers to withdraw; Reagan refuses outright: "Dick, we came to Kansas City together and we're going to leave together." Around 5 a.m. that same Wednesday, a separate group of Reagan's own supporters makes the same pitch directly to Reagan, who cuts them off before they can finish: "If you could guarantee me the nomination, I still wouldn't do it."

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• 1977
  Voting record shifts sharply rightward after allying with Reagan

  Following his role in Reagan's 1976 campaign, his Senate voting record moves markedly to the right — his Americans for Democratic Action rating falls from 89 in 1975 to 15 in 1977, per the New York Times. He carries that more conservative alignment through the rest of his Senate career and into implementing the Reagan administration's fiscal and deregulatory agenda as HHS Secretary. Aides pushed back on the idea that the shift was as sudden as it looked: one former adviser told the Times, "He has a way of sensing which way political trends are moving and getting out in front earlier than some others. That's what happened in 1976. He had been moving that way, but the national publicity made it seem so sudden," pointing to his already-conservative positions on school prayer, school busing, gun control, and government spending.
• 1977
  Questions CIA Director Turner on Project MKUltra

  Helps lead a joint Senate Intelligence Committee/Health Subcommittee hearing with Sen. Edward Kennedy, taking testimony from CIA Director Stansfield Turner on newly surfaced records of the agency's Cold War-era behavioral-modification research program.

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• 1980
  Contributes a chapter to "A Changing America"

  Writes “Health Care: Making a Good System Better” for A Changing America: Conservatives View the '80s From the United States Senate, an essay collection edited by Sen. Paul Laxalt and Richard S. Williamson.

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• 1980
  U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania Did not seek re-election Announced in January 1979 he would not seek a third term. Arlen Specter won the open seat that November.

  Campaign material at Penn State (6)

  Bumper Sticker-Reagan for President, 1980

  Campaigns — Advertising · Box 35, Folder 4

  General, 1980

  Campaigns — Correspondence · Box 35, Folder 41

  Political, 1980

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 42

  Reagan Campaign Material, 1980

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 43

  Health and Welfare Task Force, 1980

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 44

  Presidential Campaign: Including Signed Letters From George Bush, Ronald Reagan "Ron" and Bob Dole "Bob", 1980

  Campaigns — General · Box 35, Folder 45-47
• 1980
  Reagan names him HHS Secretary-designate

  Having backed Reagan as "a loyalist since 1976," lets him know through their mutual friend Sen. Paul Laxalt that he wants the Health and Human Services post. Reagan orders the appointment on the spot, without consulting any adviser or working from a list of candidates.
• 1981
  Formulates a Social Security rescue plan Congress rejects

  At his confirmation hearing, pledges to "maintain the integrity of the Social Security system" as his top priority, laying out three options for its shortfall: raise taxes, slow benefit growth, or raise the retirement age. His own initial preference is to broaden the system's tax base by folding in government and nonprofit employees who had separate retirement plans of their own, rather than cut benefits; OMB Director David Stockman pushes a harsher alternative instead, winning over adviser Martin Anderson and eventually Schweiker as well. The resulting plan, presented in May 1981, would have trimmed the future replacement ratio from 41 to 38 percent of a worker's prior earnings and cut the benefit for those retiring at 62 from 80 to 55 percent of the normal amount — savings projected at roughly $24 billion a year by 1986. The provision that draws the most fire, Stockman's sharp and immediate cut for people already nearing 62, is what triggers Congress's rejection of the administration's plan later in 1981; Reagan refers the issue to an independent commission instead.

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• 1981
  Sworn in as HHS Secretary

  Confirmed as the 14th U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Reagan, taking charge of a department with some 144,000 employees and roughly $250 billion in annual spending — the third-largest budget of any governmental entity in the world, behind only the U.S. and Soviet governments themselves, as he liked to note. Pennsylvania's other senator, John Heinz, said of the appointment: "Personally, I can think of no other individual who is more qualified."
• 1981
  Removes NIOSH's director

  Dismisses Dr. Anthony Robbins as director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, with HHS saying in a statement that "the departure of Dr. Robbins and selection of a highly qualified successor would best serve the public interest." The move follows a Chamber of Commerce trade-publication article attacking Robbins as a "social activist" with an "antibusiness posture"; HHS does not cite that criticism as its reason, and Robbins calls the article itself "entirely scurrilous."
• 1981
  Defends the federal bonus system

  Leads a group of administration officials before Congress arguing against cutting the government's cash-bonus system for career executives, which the Senate had nearly eliminated the year before after a payout controversy.
• 1981
  The plan becomes known as "Dick Schweiker's plan"

  Hours after Reagan approves the Social Security proposal, White House Chief of Staff James Baker decides it will be announced from HHS the next day rather than from the White House — and that it will be known as "Dick Schweiker's plan." Schweiker and Stockman protest the political move but are overruled; Schweiker dutifully announces it as directed the next day. The rebranding fools no one — the next day's Washington Post headline reads "Reagan Proposes 10% Cut in Social Security Costs" — and the political fallout is immediate: House Speaker Tip O'Neill calls the plan "despicable," and Democrats sense a lasting opening on an issue they hadn't expected to get. Reviewing the episode years later, Reagan economic adviser William Niskanen calls the package "the major domestic policy mistake of the Reagan administration — an extraordinary political misjudgment by Stockman and Schweiker."

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• 1981
  CDC testimony on abortion is shortened before a Senate hearing

  Ahead of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, HHS has Dr. Carl Tyler give a brief statement in place of a longer CDC report on legal abortion's public-health effects drafted by Dr. Willard Cates. CDC Director William Foege says the substitution was "my recommendation," explaining the goal was to "go in with the shortest statement we can and see what the questions are," and that Schweiker's office "either approved or concurred" once consulted. Cates, for his part, says he has "no complaints": "I can live as a scientist with the idea that the administration chooses its own spokesman in the political arena." The episode draws attention given Schweiker's own long-standing support for a constitutional amendment against abortion.
• 1981
  Centralizes oversight of FDA regulatory actions

  Reclaims the Secretary's office's authority over the FDA's major rules, saying he intends to "get involved" rather than leave it to career staff — and, on the drug side, proposing to cut new-drug-application paperwork by up to 70 percent and review times by about 20 percent so that "beneficial drugs can be on the market, helping people, sooner," while maintaining existing safety standards. Consumer advocates and some FDA veterans warn the change erodes the agency's independence and slows enforcement; FDA officials counter that final decisions still generally match what the agency itself recommended, and that the change is milder than what other regulatory agencies see under the same administration.

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• 1981
  Winds down the Public Health Service hospital system

  Orders the eight remaining Public Health Service hospitals — serving merchant mariners, military personnel, and other beneficiaries under a system dating to an 1798 law for sick and disabled seamen — to stop admitting new patients and close by Oct. 31, 1981, after Congress's July 1981 compromise gave financially viable facilities until September 1982 to arrange local takeovers. Schweiker cites the lack of a timely HHS appropriations bill by the Sept. 30 fiscal deadline as the reason he could approve only transfers that needed no major renovation funding. Reps. Barbara Mikulski and Henry Waxman, among others, argue the accelerated deadline undercuts Congress's own intent. Hospitals in San Francisco and Norfolk transfer to the Department of Defense and the New Orleans facility to the state of Louisiana; others in Baltimore, Boston, Seattle, and Staten Island close or convert into community-run health centers.
• 1981
  Launches the Home Health Aide program

  Introduces a pilot program training volunteers — mostly housewives, by HHS's own estimate — to help elderly Medicaid recipients remain in their homes rather than enter nursing homes, projected to cut nursing-home reimbursements by up to 25 percent where adopted. Budget allows only two pilot states, though members of Congress from a dozen states seek it for their constituents.
• 1981
  Approves Medicaid home care for Katie Beckett

  Two days after President Reagan cites the case at a press conference, announces a waiver letting Medicaid pay for a ventilator-dependent Iowa girl's care at home rather than only in a hospital. Congress generalizes it in 1982 as the "Katie Beckett" option, letting states cover disabled children at home regardless of parental income.

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• 1981
  Routinely named in Social Security and Medicaid litigation

  As with any HHS Secretary, he is automatically the named defendant in federal lawsuits challenging the department's rules and benefit decisions — a routine feature of the office, not a personal legal dispute. Cases from his tenure include Schweiker v. Hansen (a Supreme Court case on a denied Social Security claim) and Chaney v. Schweiker (an administrative-law case later decided, after his departure, as Heckler v. Chaney). This is illustrative, not a complete docket.

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• 1982
  Wins most of his budget fights for medical research

  Reportedly wins about 95 percent of his appeals against Office of Management and Budget cuts, defending the National Institutes of Health and the Public Health Service and blocking proposals to dismantle the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration. Also credited with preserving funding for the Head Start early-childhood program.
• 1982
  Tells hospitals they can't deny care to disabled newborns

  After an infant with Down syndrome in Bloomington, Indiana, dies when his parents decline corrective surgery, President Reagan directs Schweiker to apply federal disability law. HHS notifies the nation's hospitals that, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, federally funded hospitals may not withhold treatment or nourishment from an infant because of a handicap — the start of the "Baby Doe" rules.

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• 1982
  Adds face-to-face interviews to disability reviews

  HHS announces that, starting Oct. 1, people facing a continuing disability review will meet a Social Security representative in person before any decision, instead of being reviewed entirely by mail, as had been the practice for years. Sen. Bob Dole commends him and Commissioner John Svahn for "this important and timely step forward."

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• 1982
  Launches an initiative against teenage drinking

  Starts a Secretarial Initiative on Teenage Alcohol Abuse, calling alcohol-linked deaths of young drivers a challenge to "our national conscience": regional conferences for schools and parents, a push for private industry to fund prevention, and a planned national conference on Students Against Driving Drunk.

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• 1982
  Issues the first tamper-resistant packaging rules

  Five weeks after seven people in the Chicago area die from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules, he and FDA Commissioner Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. require tamper-evident seals and warning labels on virtually all over-the-counter drugs, mouthwashes, and contact lens solutions — the origin of the sealed medicine packaging still standard today.

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• 1982
  Protests a new round of OMB cuts directly to Stockman

  Sends OMB Director David Stockman a confidential letter protesting proposed fiscal 1984 cuts, warning they would eliminate roughly 11,000 HHS jobs overall — including 5,000 Social Security Administration positions, reductions at the Health Care Financing Administration, and a cut to his own office's staff from 4,000 to 3,000 — calling the impact "massive disruption." Also objects to plans to dissolve the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration, cut the Assistant Secretary for Health's office, and reduce CDC and FDA funding, calling the research cuts a "profound misunderstanding."
• 1982
  Proposes paying hospitals by diagnosis

  Sends Congress the plan, required by the 1982 tax act, for Medicare to pay hospitals a fixed amount set in advance for each of 467 diagnosis-related groups instead of reimbursing whatever they spend. Congress enacts it months later in the Social Security Amendments of 1983 — by one historian's account the most influential postwar change in how American medicine is paid for.

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• 1983
  Issues the Title X parental notification rule

  Publishes a final rule, proposed in February 1982, requiring federally funded family planning projects to notify a parent within 10 working days after providing prescription contraceptives to an unemancipated minor. Opponents call it the "squeal rule." A federal court in New York blocks it on Feb. 14, 1983, eleven days before it was to take effect, and a court in Washington permanently enjoins it that March.

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• 1983
  Leaves the Reagan Cabinet

  Resigns as HHS Secretary to become president of the American Council of Life Insurance, a move described at the time as unrelated to any conflict with the president — an "irresistible," "blue-ribbon offer." Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, his Democratic counterpart on the Senate's health subcommittee, remarks: "As secretary of HHS he has too often been a lonely voice of compassion and humanity. The country may never know how much greater the damage to social programs would have been without Dick Schweiker as secretary."
• 1983
  Becomes insurance-industry president

  Named president of the American Council of Life Insurance, a role he holds until 1994.
• 1984
  Joins the board of National Medical Enterprises

  Elected to the board of directors of National Medical Enterprises, adding a hospital-industry directorship alongside his insurance-industry presidency.
• 1988
  Supreme Court decides Schweiker v. Chilicky

  Five years after he leaves HHS, the Supreme Court rules that people whose disability benefits were terminated in 1981 and 1982 and later restored cannot sue the officials who ran the program, Schweiker among them, for money damages, because Congress had provided its own remedies.

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• 1994
  Retires as ACLI president

  Steps down after eleven years leading the American Council of Life Insurance, closing out a Washington career spanning four decades in elected office, the Cabinet, and industry leadership.
• 2013
  Claire Schweiker dies

  His wife of 57 years dies of respiratory failure at Inova Loudoun Hospital in Leesburg, Virginia. She was a former president of the District's Republican Wives Club and a member of Temple University's hall of fame for her broadcasting career.
• 2015
  Dies

  Dies of complications from an infection at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Pomona, New Jersey, at age 89.