Laurie Rubiner wrote a very warm piece about my father, the late Sen. John Chafee, and his work with then-first lady Hillary Clinton on health and children’s issues (“The John Chafee-Hillary Clinton alliance,” Feb. 23). Yes, I agree that they shared a desire to bring positive changes, particularly with reform of our health-care system. Ultimately, though, it was Mrs. Clinton’s intransigence that doomed my father’s work on health care over many years, a debacle that brought him much anguish.

I believe that writer Carl Bernstein has it right in his book on Mrs. Clinton, A Woman in Charge.

He writes of the health-care debate in 1993 that “when Republican Sen. John Chafee and Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper introduced their own separate alternative proposals, the Clintons overlooked what may have been their best opportunity to compromise on a health-care plan. Chafee, a liberal Republican with no animus towards the Clintons or their politics, introduced his plan with 20 Republicans already pledged to support it in the Senate. House Republicans pitched a similar bill on the same day. And when Cooper and his principal House co-sponsor, Iowa Republican Fred Grandy, came forth with their bill, they were already endorsed by 46 other Democratic and Republican co-sponsors. Both Chafee’s and Cooper’s proposals would have given huge numbers of Americans adequate health-care coverage for the first time . . . and had enough support to make passage in the House and Senate likely. At such a pivotal juncture, Hillary could have thrown her support behind either bill. Later, Bill Clinton said perhaps he should have intervened.”

As the historic chances for passage of a bipartisan health-care-reform bill evaporated, Bernstein writes, “Hillary had earlier showed some willingness to compromise with Chafee, but when push came to shove, her unwillingness to compromise further undermined any chance of implementing real reform.”

For all her good intentions, Mrs. Clinton was unable to work with veteran friendly legislators and an opportunity was lost. Contrary to Ms. Rubiner’s hypothesis I am confident my father would not have supported Mrs. Clinton’s presidential candidacy.

LINCOLN CHAFEE

Providence