REAGAN'S VIEW OF CARTER HASN'T CHANGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940064-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 64
• Publication Date: April 23, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940064-9
r . PPEAREI
4FRE
WASHINGTON POST
23 April 1986
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA
Reagan's View of Carter Hasn't Changed
Animosity between successive occupants of the
Oval Office is a fairly common feature of
Washington life. The hostility between
President Reagan and former president Jimmy
Carter may be more acerbic than most because of
the deep differences in political philosophy that
divide the two men.
Occasionally, the barely submerged antipathy
bobs to the surface-usually when Reagan charges
that Carter had failed to do something during his
term and Carter denies the charge. There was
great bristling in October 1983, for example. when
Reagan blamed the uicide bombing of the Marine
BUFMs in iruon Carter policies that Rea an
claimed had weakened the Central Intelligence
enc and other inte ence- a erin agencies.
In typewritten notes given to us by Carter's
office recently, the former President indignantly
recalled that "President Reagan attempted to blame
the tragic loss of more than 200 U.S. Marines in
Lebanon on Presidents Nixon, Ford and me,
claiming that we had wea en gen
agencies so badly that he could not obtain adequate
information."
rte- aadded in his notes: "When I made a public
statement denying the truth of this allegation, he
called me to say that his explanation had been
misinterpreted by the press. I replied that I had
observed his statement on television and had not
relied on press interpretations."
Carter continued: "I asked him to check the
Pentagon records and he would ascertain the error
of his frequent statement that only he had
increased defense spending. He admitted his
mistake and promised not to make it again.
However, he has continued to make this claim,
obviously knowing that it is not true."
In fact, Reagan criticized Carter's defense
decisions as recently as February in a television
speech-and again drew a protest from Carter.
With this background in mind, we asked the
president recently if he had softened any of his
opinions on his predecessor. The short answer is
that he has not.
Reagan's normally pleasant face hardened
noticeably when we asked, remembering his harsh
criticism of Carter in the 1980 campaign: "Has
there been an evolution in your thinking about him
as you've faced ... some of the same problems?"
Reagan prefaced his reply by explaining why he
had not criticized Carter on some national security
issues and other sensitive areas: "I have said that
there are some things that you have to realize only
the president knows. He's the only one that has all
the information on something. Therefore, you can't
criticize him on those things unless and until you
know what that information is."
One reason he said he wasn't surprised by the
burdens of the presidency-and thus more
sympathetic to Carter-was that there isn't such a
vast difference between his jobs as governor of
California and as president: "Over the years we've
forgotten that once upon a time the ranks of the
governors were where you found presidents."
Bringing him back to his views toward Carter
since 1980, we asked: "So there hasn't necessarily
been an evolution in your thinking?"
"No," the president replied.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/15: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706940064-9