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a few days before Christmas of um 1992 President Clinton's been [Music] elected and I was at home uh packing
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getting ready with my family to go to California and I got a call from Warren Christopher who was handling the
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transition on the National Security side and he said uh uh Jim you suppose you could come to Little Rock and talk to
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the president-elect about the CIA job I had met Bill Clinton at a dinner party in Georgetown a year and a half two
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years before so I said well Chris um I'm on my way to California with my family for Christmas could I come after New
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Year's or do we really need to talk about it between Christmas and New Year's and he said well actually you
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ought to come today and I said today was met by a staffer and she said we'll come pick you up at 11:30 this
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evening so I get picked up and mine Albright and I are sitting outside his governor's office uh waiting to see him
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it was Clinton Standard time so it was after midnight I uh was shown in and it's the only time he and I were ever uh
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Alone Together one-on-one and he's from Northwestern Arkansas and I'm from Northeastern
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Oklahoma and we talked mainly about good places to fish uh on the Illinois River
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we talked about both Arkansas and University of Oklahoma football uh uh uh it was a delightful
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conversation at one point he said do you think the CIA director ought to express
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positions on policy and I said the only way you ought to do it is in a handwritten note to you and he said I
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agree with that I think that's right well I went to back to the hotel and the next morning early I got a call
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a staffer called me and said we're going to pick you up at a little after 1200 for a 12:30 press conference so I called
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Chris at The Campaign Headquarters and I said Chris it's 11:00 and I'm told they're going to pick me up in half an
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hour does the president want me to be director of Central Intelligence and he said yeah sure that's what he wants and
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I said well you know he never asked and I never answered and I'll never forget Chris said well I tell you what come on
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over to the press conference and we'll get it sorted out I said you know Chris I think I'd like to know before the
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Press conference he said uh oh okay well just a minute and he went away and he said I stuck my head in his office and
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asked him and he said yeah sure that's what he wants and I said well okay I guess