FOREIGN RELATIONS: NO MORE RESCUES FOR REAGAN?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00004R000700130014-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 2, 2011
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: November 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/02 :CIA-RDP90M00004R000700130014-2
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Foreign Relations: 5 F~
No More Rescues for Reagan?
Claiborne Pell, D-R.I., the likel}?
new chairman of the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee, is best-known for his
work in education rather than foreign
affairs.
As the longtime chairman of the
Labor and Human Resources Subcom-
mittee on Education, Pell in 1972
authored legislation creating grants
for need}? rnllege students, The "Pell
Grants" have since helped millions of
students pa}? for their college educa-
tion and made the senator's name
something of a household word.
By contrast, Pall's impact on for-
eign polls}? has been felt only at the
margins. Pell has championed the
State Department's career Foreign
Ser~?ice and has been a staunch advo-
cate of liberal causes. But he has con-
tributed little to the great debates of
recent years on important foreign af-
fairs issues and generally has
left to others the task of
drafting pro~?isions and
amendments for the Foreign
Relations Committee's major
pieces of legislation.
For the Reagan adminis-
tration, the loss of Richard G.
Lugar, R-lnd., as Foreign Re-
lations chairman could have
enormous implications. A
consen?ative in sympathy
with most administration
policies, Lugar repeatedk
used his negotiating skills to
sa~?e President Reagan from
embarrassing defeats on Capitol Hill.
On issues ranging from Central Amer-
ica to the Middle East, Lugar stepped
in at the crucial hour with compro-
mises that enabled Reagan to claim
victories.
Pe11, b}? contrast, will have little
incentic?e to rescue Rea~an's policies.
Instead. he probabh will gi~?e free rein
to younger, more aggressive commit-
tee Democrats who are anxious to es-
tablish Democratic records on issues
ranging from Central America to
South Africa.
V~'hile predicting a "change of em-
phasis." Pell said: "I will not be seek-
ing confrontation with the administra-
tion." He expressed hope that Reagan
will work with the committee toward
"a bipartisan, middle-of-the road ap-
proach" to arms control and other
controversial issues.
Probably the biggest single
change in the committee in 198 ~ will
be its position on the issue of aid to
the "contra" guerrillas in Nicaragua.
The panel has supported the aid in
recent years, by narrow margins, but
probabl}? will now oppose it. Pell likely
will allow junior Democrats, including
Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., and
John Kerry, D-Mass., to take the lead
on the issue. Kerry ma}? finalh-
get what he has been seeking for
months: the right to subpoena wit-
nesses and hold hearings on abuses
allegedl}? com-
mitted br the
contras.
The commit-
tee will get at
s.,,a-e . i r
years of the Carter administration, he
was second in committee seniority to
the last Democratic chairman, Frank
Church, D?Idahu 11957-811.
Few issues amuse Pell as does the
fate of the career Foreign Service, in
which he served from 1945-52. Pell
was a junior State Department official
at the San Francisco founding confer-
ence of the United Nations in 1945 -
an experience that made him a strong
L1.N. supporter. He also served at U.S.
diplomatic posts in Czechoslovakia
and ltah?. He is a tireless advocate of
the Foreign Sen?ice, backing increased
funding for the State Department and
demanding more promotions of career
officers to ambassadorships. He has
sharph? criticized Reagan's practice of
naming friends and Republican Party
activists u. foreign poste.
In 198? Pe11 joined INathias in
asking the American Academy of Di-
plomacy to rate nominees for
foreign posts. The academy,
composed of retired diplu-
matc, submitted its Crst re-
port on June 24: it expressed
"a strong undercurrent of
doubt" about the qualifica-
tions of Nichula~ Ruu?e. Rea-
gan'~ nominee for ambassador
u. Iceland. The academy's re-
port w?as ridiculed by other
Foreign Relations Committee
members, and Ruwe was con-
firmed, but Pell voted present
"out of deference to the acad-
em}?." (1985 ~t'eekly Report
p. 12571
As one of the few sena-
tors still sen-ing who voted
for the Tonkin Gulf Resolu-
tion in 1964, Pell is highl}?
Richard G. Lugar, above,
helped sari the president
on controversial policies.
Claiborne Pell will be less
obliging.
least two new members, both Demo-
crats, to replace outgoing Thomas F.
Eagleton, D-Mo., and Charles McC.
Mathias Jr., R-Md. One question L
whether Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who has
seniorit}?, will try to wrest the ranking
minority slot from Lugar. Aides said
Helms has not yet decided what to do:
however, Lugar would resist such a
move by Helms.
Pel{ Background
Pell was first elected to the Sen-
ate in 1960 and has been re-elected
ever since with little difficulty. He will
be the fifth most senior Democrat in
the Senate when the 100th Congress
convenes neat January. Pell has been
the ranking Democrat on Foreign Re-
lations since Republicans took control
of the Senate in 1981. In the last two
skeptical about presidential requests
for congressional grants of authorit}?
in foreign affairs. Pell has said his vote
for the resolution -which President
Johnson used us justify escalation of
the Vietnam R-ar -was his greatest
mistake as a senator.
Pell in 1983 opposed a resolution
(S J Re= 1591 authorizing Reagan to
keep U.S. Marines in Lebanon as a
peacekeeping force. The measure was
"another Tonkin Gulf Resolution," he
said. Pell used the same terminology
to criticize this year's proposal for
$100 million in U.S. aid to the contras,
whom he calls "our terrorists."
Although a staunch liberal, Pell
generally surrenders the task of chal-
lenging the Reagan administration to
younger Democrats on the Foreign
Relations Committee: Joseph R. Bi-
Approved For Release 2011/08/02 :CIA-RDP90M00004R000700130014-2