 I found it amazing that a sitting president would make a do-or-die issue over taking money away from poor children who needed a jump on school, a Head Start. Anyone in the field of education knew that Head Start had a rocky beginning, but it had proven to be statistically and socially a very fine program, and I had always supported it. I had a private hideaway, an office the Speaker gives to leaders and long-term older members of Congress that very few people knew about. Even Brian Walsh, my press secretary, was unaware.