Letter from Washington

Another salubrious ruckus has been kicked up by Lyn Nofziger, long-standing Reagan loyalist and former White House political director. What Nofziger did this time was send out a letter to some twenty Reaganite political operatives across the nation, inviting them to come to Washington early in December with the object of seeing to it that Reagan’s putative 1984 re-election bid would be a “Reagan-Bush campaign, not a Bush-Reagan” one. Hearing about this in Central America, where he was traveling with the President. James Baker, White House chief of staff and George Bush’s former campaign manager, telephoned Nofziger from Air Force One (first things first), interrupted Nofziger in the middle of a speech, and breathed fire and dudgeon at him for—among other things—being an ingrate (Remember, Lyn, I was the one who got you the job at the White House). Nofziger reminded Baker that their conversation was being transmitted on an open phone to the ionosphere, that there were other people around him. and that it would be better— wouldn’t it. Jim?—to talk about this later. Baker agreed, but there has been no further contact between the two. as of this writing. Baker was plenty mad.

Ten minutes later, the President himself phoned Nofziger from Air Force One. He was not mad, and did not reprimand Nofziger, as the subsequent White House agitprop fed to the Washington Post would have you believe. The President’s angle was: How do we handle this, Lyn?—especially since the press has gotten wind of the matter. Here’s what I’m going to tell the press, Lyn, which should kill any impression of division within the ranks. Whereupon, shortly after, the President told the media the simple truth, namely, that his attitude toward a 1984 bid remained unchanged, i.e., no decision.

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Another salubrious ruckus has been kicked up by Lyn Nofziger, long-standing Reagan loyalist and former White House political director. What Nofziger did this time was send out a letter to some twenty Reaganite political operatives across the nation, inviting them to come to Washington early in December with the object of seeing to it that Reagan’s putative 1984 re-election bid would be a “Reagan-Bush campaign, not a Bush-Reagan” one. Hearing about this in Central America, where he was traveling with the President. James Baker, White House chief of staff and George Bush’s former campaign manager, telephoned Nofziger from Air Force One (first things first), interrupted Nofziger in the middle of a speech, and breathed fire and dudgeon at him for—among other things—being an ingrate (Remember, Lyn, I was the one who got you the job at the White House). Nofziger reminded Baker that their conversation was being transmitted on an open phone to the ionosphere, that there were other people around him. and that it would be better— wouldn’t it. Jim?—to talk about this later. Baker agreed, but there has been no further contact between the two. as of this writing. Baker was plenty mad.

Ten minutes later, the President himself phoned Nofziger from Air Force One. He was not mad, and did not reprimand Nofziger, as the subsequent White House agitprop fed to the Washington Post would have you believe. The President’s angle was: How do we handle this, Lyn?—especially since the press has gotten wind of the matter. Here’s what I’m going to tell the press, Lyn, which should kill any impression of division within the ranks. Whereupon, shortly after, the President told the media the simple truth, namely, that his attitude toward a 1984 bid remained unchanged, i.e., no decision.