REGAN REMOVED BY PRESIDENT; BAKER WILL HEAD WHITE HOUSE STAFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: February 28, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270005-1
ON PAGE ?454?
? N.,
28 February 1987
Regan Removed by President;
Baker Will Head White House Staff
By GERALD M. BOYD
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 ? President
Reagan moved dramatically today to
revive his troubled Presidency by re-
placing Donald T. Regan with former
Senator Howard H. Baker Jr. as the
White House chief of staff.
Mr. Reagan made the announcement
of the major staff change a day after a
special Presidential review commis-
sion harshly criticized his detached
-style of management and blamed Mr.
Regan for "chaos" in the White House
after disclosures of the secret Iran poli-
cy.
Mr. Reagan included a pointed state-
ment in the announcement: He vowed
to reorganize the White House staff so
it could move aggressively during the
remainder of his Presidency.
Favorable Response in Congress
The appointment of Mr. Baker, a for-
mer Senate majority leader, drew a
quick and bipartisan favorable re-
sponse from Congress, where legisla-
tors saw it as an indication that the
President would take the necessary ac-
tion to address the panel's criticism.
Mr. Regan, a blunt former Wall
Street executive who had been the cen-
ter of persistent attacks through his
White House tenure, had hoped to wait
until Monday before resigning. But at
the President's insistence, he offered
his resignation in a brief statement
that apparently reflected irritation
with the decision to announce the move
today.
Hereby Resign'
The statement, on White House sta-
tionery and issued late today by the
White House, said:
"Dear Mr. President:
"I hereby resign as chief of staff to
the President of the United States.
"Respectfully yours, Donald T.
Regan."
The President said that he had ac-
cepted the resignation with "regret"
and that Mr. Baker was a man of "un-
questioned integrity and ability."
"I am enormously pleased that he is
willing to take on this responsibility
and to help me organize the White
House staff for an aggressive two
years of work," the President said.
Mr. Regan, leaving the White House
this afternoon before the announce-
ment was made, looked somber. A sen-
ior White House official said he was
disillusioned and saddened by the ac-
tions of "some people" inside and out-
side the White House who had con-
ducted concerted campaigns to oust
him.
The official said Mr. Regan could not
understand why. so many people
thought the "qeick fix" to the White
House problems was to have him re-
sign immediately. He was also sad-
dened by criticism that he had sought
to hold on to the position even though
his staying hurt the President.
But Nancy Reagan, who had led a
three-month private effort to oust Mr.
Regan that had become increasingly
acrimonous, said she was pleased
about the replacement.
"I am delighted he will be with us,"
she said of Mr. Baker.
2 Other Candidates Reluctant
The President had sounded out at
least two other candidates before se-
lecting Mr. Baker. The two, Paul Lax-
alt, a former Republican Senator from
Nevada, and Drew Lewis, the chief op-
erating officer of Union Pacific Com-
pany who has served as President Rea-
gan's Secretary of Transportation, had
both expressed reluctance.
The choice of Mr. Baker was re-
garded by White House aides as an at-
tempt by the President to appoint a
longtime Washington hand who is
widely respected in Congress and re-
garded as having keen political in-
stincts.
The staff moves came as Mr. Reagan
began a series of meetings, to stretch
into the weekend, on how to combat the
most serious crisis of his Presidency.
In a highly detailed report issued
Thursday by the special review board
examining the Iran-contra affair, the
President was portrayed as confused
and his style of detached management
came under criticism.
In another staff development today,
Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. the Senate
Republican leader, said the nomination
of Robert M. Gates, the Presidentls
choice to be Director of Central Intelli-
gence, was in trouble in the Senate. "I
diink if there is an early vote he's_in
j trouble." Mr. Dole said.
I Mr. Gates's nomination has come
;under increasing criticism. The com-
mission report Thuraiy raised 111s2Le
'questions _when, it suggested that the
Central Intelligence Agency might
have let political considerations influ-
ence its analysis of the situation in
Iran.
When asked ii the nomination should
be withdrawnMr. Dole said "I cloult
think so." But he saiq he wouldieDeiv
the situation over the weekend..and
added, 'I'll beback to you.on Monday."
Opportunity for Fresh Start
Mr. Baker's appointment was widely
regarded in the White House and Con-
gress as an opportunity for the Presi-
dent to make a fresh start at a time
when he must convince the public that
he is in charge of his Administration..
"Today's pick is a clear signal that
t
I he president is moving quickly w put
his house in order," said Senator Dole,
who
met
Mw rt t. h
Baker'sthe Presidentfirst tasks
s kw:
wayi1.1 be
to shepherd Mr. Reagan through a na-
tionally broadcast speech next week, in
which the President is expected offer
his response to the report.
White House officials and others
close to the President said Mr. Baker's;
selection had come after Mr. Reagan!
met Thursday with Mr. Laxalt in the
living quarters of the White House. Mr..
Laxalt said he had told the President
that he could not accept the position be-
cause he was considering seeking the
Ri9e8p8u. blican Presidential nomination in
"I told him it would create a credibil-
ity problem," Mr. Laxalt said, adding
that Mr. Reagan did not make a formal
offer.
Talked With Lewis by Phone
Mr. Reagan had also discussed by
telephone the possibility of Mr. Lewis's
becoming chief of staff, but Mr. Lewis
told him that he could do so only on a
temporary basis, a source said.
"He's not in et position to come on ;
board," the source said.
The source said it was Mr. Laxait ?
who first mentioned Mr. Baker L6 the.
President as a possible choice. But Mi.
Laxalt said the former Senator w6nlo
accept the position only if asked di- ;
rectly by the President, and not by Mi :
Regan.
Some aides to Mr. Baker have said
Mr. Regan misrepresented Mi.
Baker's position to the President on
whether he was willing to accept an ..4)
pointment as Director of Centrai Intel
ligence before Mr. Reagan chose vii
Gates earlier this month.
According to one source, Mr. Reagan
Continued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270005-1
Declassified in
I
Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10
The White House Staff: New Figures
The resignation yesterday of Donald T. Regan is the latest in a
flurry of staff changeeAt.the White House. These are the some
of the changes SinCe.thi beginning of the year. ?
Chief of staff Howard H. Baker Jr., the former Senate majority
leader, to replace Mr. Regan, who resigned today.
Press spokesman Marlin Fitzwater replaced Larry Speakes on
Feb. 1; Mr. Speakes joined Merrill Lynch & Company.
Communications director John 0. Koehler due to replace
Patrick J. Buchanan on March 1.
, Assistant to the President for national security affairs Frank
C. Carlucci replaced Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, who resigned
Nov. 25 after the Iran-contra scandal came to light.
Deputy assistant to the President for national security affairs
.Cohn L. Powell replaced Mon G. Keel Jr., who was appointed
delegate to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in December.
. Cabinet secretary Nancy J. Risque replaced Alfred H. Kingun,
who has been nominated as delegate to the European
Communities. ?
Assistant to the President for domestic policy Gary L. Bauer
replaced John A. Svahn, who left the White House in September.
Assistant to the President for political and intergovernmental
affairs Frank J. Donatelli due on March 1 to replace Mitchell E.
Daniels Jr., who is leaving to become chief operating officer of the
Hudson Institute.
Deputy assistant to the President and director of the drug
abuse policy office Donald Ian Macdonald replaced Carlton E.
Turner, who resigned Dec. 31 and is now president and chief
executive officer of Psychiatric Diagnostic Laboratories of '
America,
reached Mr. Baker Thursday at a zoo
in Florida where he had taken a grand-
child. Returning to Washington today,
he met with the President and ac-
cepted the position.
Viewed as Republican Moderate
Mr. Baker, viewed as a Republican
? moderate, had challenged the Presi-
dent in the 1980? Republican primary,
but they developed a dose working
relationship once Mr. Reagan was
elected. Mr. Baker was Senate ma-
jority leader from 1980 to 1984.
The appointment, which is expected
to move Mr. Baker out of active conten-
tion for the 1988 Presidential race,
gives Mr. Reagan his third chief of
stall since his first election ? in 1980.
Corning at a time in which a new na-
tional security adviser, his fifth, is also
in place; it is expected to alter tne Rea-
gan White House dramatically in its
last two years.
White House officials said that they
expected Mr. Baker to make several
important staff changes and that some
of the remaining senior aides loyal to
Mr Regan would leave. They are ex
pecLed to include W. Dennis Tholoo:.;,
Presidential assistant; Peter J. Walli-
son, the White House counselor, and
possibly William Ball, the chief legisla-
tive strategist.
: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270005-1
November, saying two years in me ae-
manding position had been enough. But
the chief of staff reportedly told Mr.
Reagan that he would remain to assist
him in handling the Iran affair once the
clandestine opeation was disclosed in
that month.
That decision became a matter of in-
tense controversy as some Reagan
loyalists and Nancy Reagan argued
that Mr. Regan had failed the Presi-
dent by not preventing the affair from
becoming a scandal and that he should
resign to allow the President to make a
fresh start.
The official said that as pressure
mounted on Mr. Regan to leave, he be-
came determined to resist in the short
term and equally certain ihat he would
leave once the special review board
issued the report. According to the offi-
cial, Mr. Regan had toiU the President
,he would leave lu days ago and had re-
peated that intention before and after
the commission's report was issued.
Mr. Reagan supported that version
today, saying in the statement that Mr.
Regan had expressed an interest in re-
turning to private life several months
ago and that he had agreed to remain
until the report was issued.
The commission, which was headea
by former Senator John G. Tower, as
highly critical of Mr. Regan, saying
that he should have insisted that an
"orderly process be observed" in
terms of the Iran policy initiative and
that he "must bear responsibility for
the chaos that descended upon the
White House when such disclosures din
occur.' '
Thought Himself 'Vindicated'
But the official said the former chief
01 staff believed he had been "vindicat-
ed" because the report only criticized
his management style and did not im-
plicate him in wrongdoing.
Mr. Regan had been noticeably ab-
sent from recent strategy meetings
held by the President on how to recover
from the Iran Ink% White House offi-
cials said it was clear from his de-
meanor in recent days that he would
leave.
Officials said Mr. Regan, a million-
aire from his work on Wall Street,
would probably retire to private life
and might write a book.
? The President is expected to meet
over the weekend with a number of
Congressional leaders and long-Eitne
advise i tc pla hei steps to snow
that rus Pi la cock on track.
Aniong the g Fuilp di,iuse Reagan ad-
visers are Michael K. Deaver, his tor-
mei chief of staff; William P. Clark, a
former national security adviser, and
Kenneth Duberstein, a former chief
legislative strategist.
Discussed Quitting In November
Mr. Regan had told the aides re
cently that he would resign but that oe
I did not oelieve they had reason
Iworry afloat keeping their White House
positions.
: All official said Mr. Regan had
I broached the possibility of resigning in
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/10: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301270005-1