Taming the NSC

It is a terrible thing for a Christian —a most imperfect one—to say, but I am convinced that President Reagan’s current difficulties arise from his willingness to trust his friends and associates. A “hands off” administrator, Mr. Reagan probably told his National Security Advisors, “Do everything you can to get those poor people freed!” and trusted them to remain within the (admittedly murky) confines of the law. Whether this trust has led to actual violations of the law is currently sub judice, making comments irresponsible. What can be said is that President Reagan is politically the victim of a self-inflicted wound that could cripple American foreign and defense policy for the next two years.

Since Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North’s scenario, which (if accurately reported) relegates Ivan Boesky to the minors as a manipulator, began to unfold, a number of media types have asked me, “Could this have happened under Lyndon Johnson?” I have simply laughed and refused substantive comment. Although “Democrat” is included on my baptismal certificate, I am shamed by the behavior of eminent liberal Democrats who seem to have a vested interest in presidential catastrophe. Also I recall the Johnson White House, 1966-68—“the Alamo,” I called it—and its resemblance to a great scene in The Snows of Kilimanjaro where the vultures are gathered in the trees around the hut in which Gregory Peck is fighting for his life.

JR

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John P. Roche

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It is a terrible thing for a Christian —a most imperfect one—to say, but I am convinced that President Reagan’s current difficulties arise from his willingness to trust his friends and associates. A “hands off” administrator, Mr. Reagan probably told his National Security Advisors, “Do everything you can to get those poor people freed!” and trusted them to remain within the (admittedly murky) confines of the law. Whether this trust has led to actual violations of the law is currently sub judice, making comments irresponsible. What can be said is that President Reagan is politically the victim of a self-inflicted wound that could cripple American foreign and defense policy for the next two years.

Since Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North’s scenario, which (if accurately reported) relegates Ivan Boesky to the minors as a manipulator, began to unfold, a number of media types have asked me, “Could this have happened under Lyndon Johnson?” I have simply laughed and refused substantive comment. Although “Democrat” is included on my baptismal certificate, I am shamed by the behavior of eminent liberal Democrats who seem to have a vested interest in presidential catastrophe. Also I recall the Johnson White House, 1966-68—“the Alamo,” I called it—and its resemblance to a great scene in The Snows of Kilimanjaro where the vultures are gathered in the trees around the hut in which Gregory Peck is fighting for his life.