68 AMERICAN SPYwas House minority leader when he and two other Republicans informed
President Richard Nixon that he needed to resign. Country before party.
Rhodes left office in 1982 and was replaced by another man of honor, John
McCain. I still recall the first time I saw John McCain, walking alone with
a slight limp down the corridor of the Rayburn House Office Building,
toward me and his new office and future in the US Congress. I was not the
only one who, aware of McCain’s heroics and love of country, predicted at
the time that this unbreakable leader would go down in American history as
one of our nation’s most selfless and principled patriots.
Another highlight of my law school years was meeting future Supreme
Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor just after her nomination. Making
history as the first woman appointed to the US Supreme Court, O’Connor
grew up on a ranch, graduated from Stanford, and became a prominent
attorney and judge. She was a real-life role model and inspiration.
“Ma’am, I’m a law student, and I’m looking forward to reading your
opinions,” I said when I met her, hoping my palms weren’t too clammy as
we shook hands.
“And I’m looking forward to writing them!” she responded, looking me
directly in the eye with a sincere smile.
It was a very brief encounter but one of the most memorable and
meaningful of my life.
My tenure in law school also spanned less positive but equally historic
events. On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot outside the Wash-
ington Hilton Hotel by a deranged young man named John Hinckley. I was
grateful Reagan survived. I now wonder if we’d have won the Cold War
when we did had he not.
By the time I reached my third year of law school, I had become hooked on
the idea of pursuing a career other than the traditional one of working for
a big law firm. I gained criminal law experience with the district attorney’s
office back home and with the Felony Trial Division of the US Attorney’s
Office in DC, and I briefly considered a career as a prosecutor with the
Bronx district attorney’s office. In the end I decided to forego the law alto-
gether and pursue a career with the CIA.