Emanuel Piore talks about being considered for the directorship of the National Science Foundation in the Kennedy and Nixon administrations.

Piore:

First time was Kennedy when Waterman retired. Jerry Weisner was science adviser. It was a fight between Tom Watson and Kennedy. I talked to Kennedy. And Tom was a close friend of the Kennedys and somehow I was put in the position where they knew they had to make one or the other guy unhappy. And I chose to stay with IBM. The second time was Nixon wanted me to take it when Leland Haworth left. DuBridge was science adviser. He offered me the job. I said I wanted to talk to the President. It's going to be a Presidential appointment. DuBridge says why? I said, "Well, most likely that's the only time I'll see the President." So then next time they got Kissinger involved and Kissinger worked me over. He said, "Why do you want to see the President? I said, "I want to see the color of his eyes." I stuck to that position. The President stuck to his position. And that's it.