Secretary of the Treasury. Eisenhower was particularly impressed by Anderson's abilities, believing him to be more than capable of being president himself, and named him as one of his leading choices to be his running mate in 1956 if Vice-President Richard Nixon had accepted Eisenhower's recommendation to leave the vice-presidency to serve as Secretary of Defense. However, Nixon opted to remain on the ticket with Ike. As 1960 approached, although Eisenhower acknowledged that Nixon certainly had the Republican presidential nomination sewn up, Eisenhower privately pressed Anderson to enter the primaries and to challenge Nixon, but Anderson declined. Once Nixon was nominated, Eisenhower suggested that he select Anderson as his running mate, but Nixon chose Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. instead. Eisenhower said Anderson "is just about the ablest man that I know, He would make a splendid President." In 1959, as Secretary of the Treasury, Anderson supported the creation of the International Development Association, after pressure from then-Senator Mike Monroney (D-Oklahoma). Anderson was close to Sid Richardson and Clint Murchison who was very close to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Many Texas oilmen including Murchison, formerly a close associate of Lyndon B. Johnson, ended their relationships with Johnson when Johnson became vice president on John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential ticket because Kennedy advocated tax reform on oil companies and their investments. In 1963, President Kennedy appointed Anderson to a special committee to study the United States foreign aid program. In 1964 following Panamanian riots, President Johnson appointed him as special ambassador to Panama where he conducted negotiations for a new treaty on the status of the Panama Canal. At the same time, Anderson served as chairman of a Congressional study commission to determine if building a sea level canal through Panama was possible. He succeeded in negotiating a preliminary treaty to transfer the Canal to the control of Panama, but, before the treaty was ratified by the legislature of Panama, General Omar Torrijos overthrew the Panamanian government in October 1968 and rejected the proposed treaty. In June 1973, he resigned his ambassador post, unable to secure agreement on another preliminary treaty proposal and was replaced by Ellsworth Bunker who agreed to Panamanian demands to a rapid transition to control by Panama and the subsequent Bunker negotiated treaty was ratified in 1978 for transfer of the Panama Canal from United States jurisdiction to Panama jurisdiction and control. During the 1960s, he carried