Richard Nixon's Three Hats

AS he has in the past, President Nixon referred again last week to the three hats he wears as President, Commander in Chief and politician. Yet it is increasingly obvious that more than ever, those three hats are merging as they each take on a distinctly political cut during his re-election campaign.

The politician in Nixon was especially flattered by the turnout of some 400 stage, screen and television celebrities for a party he and the First Lady gave at their San Clemente home. They included such oldtime stars as John Wayne, Jack Benny, George Jessel, James Stewart, Joan Blondell, Ray Bolger, Jimmy Durante and Lawrence Welk, as well as some Democratic turncoats: Frank Sinatra, Jim Brown, Charlton Heston and George Hamilton. (Remember George and Lynda Bird?) The President was in high spirits, chatting amiably and expressing his gratitude "for what you, the people of Hollywood, have done for America and have done for the world."

That over, Nixon headed west for Hawaii--a symbolic site for a meeting with Japan's new Premier Kakuei Tanaka. Before the meeting began, he attended another grand party at the Kahala home of Clare Boothe Luce, where more than 600 business, civic and political leaders of Hawaii enjoyed a mixed buffet of sushi, sashimi, shrimp, king crab and smoked salmon. Everyone laughed when Nixon declared: "This is not a political affair."

Yet even in what appeared to be strictly an affair of state as Nixon met Tanaka for the first time since the blunt and hearty Premier replaced Eisaku Sato last July, the major topic of discussion carried domestic political overtones for Nixon. His Administration is vulnerable to Democratic attack for the huge balance of payments deficit (4.1 billion in the first six months of 1972 and nearly $30 billion in 1971) that the U.S. faces. No other nation holds such a large advantage in its trade with the U.S. as Japan, which is expected to sell some $3.5 billion more in goods to America this year than it buys. In the pre-summit preparations, Nixon's negotiators, most notably Kissinger, hoped to get the Japanese to cut that deficit to under $3 billion by next March 31 (the end of the Japanese fiscal year) and to $2 billion the following year.

Although there was much fanfare over the issuance of a "shopping list" of products and services valued at over $1 billion that Japan intends to buy from the U.S., only $440 million would be paid for by the March goal. The goods include $320 million worth of air buses, $50 million worth of grains, plus $390 million in increased purchases of agriculture, forestry and fishery products. Also included was $320 million for the enrichment of uranium to be used in Japan's nuclear power plants. The tough, gravel-voiced Tanaka declared his intention to reduce the long-range balance "to a more manageable size within a reasonable time."

Of less political consequence to Nixon, although not to Tanaka, the two leaders agreed that both Nixon's overtures toward Peking for better relations and Tanaka's impending visit to China in the same vein (probably about Oct. 1 ) are healthy developments that need not strain U.S.-Japanese ties. The U.S. raised no formal objection to the rupture that undoubtedly will result in Japan's diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Draft's End. Before flying to Hawaii, Nixon had donned his military commander's hat to make two announcements freighted with political impact. He said that he intended to end the draft by next July and shift to an all-volunteer Army if Congress passes a bill including some new incentives for building up the National Guard and Reserve forces and retaining specialists of certain types in the service through pay bonuses. He also revealed that he will withdraw another 12,000 troops from South Viet Nam by Dec. 1, which would reduce the authorized U.S. troop level there to 27,000.

Both announcements left much un said. By citing the draft's end as a goal for next year but hedging the promise as dependent upon the Democratic Congress and other qualifications, Nixon reaps the political gain right now even if he is unable to deliver next spring. Actually, although Pentagon leaders are pushing hard, there is serious doubt that regardless of congressional action, enough volunteers in all of the necessary specialties can be acquired to make a large all-volunteer force feasible. Even with the aid of pressure from the draft and less likelihood that enlistees will have to serve in Viet Nam, the Army, Navy and Marine Corps are failing to meet their current enlistment quotas. Nor did Nixon's emphasis on the Viet Nam troop cut take into account the massive air, naval and other support forces operating just out side South Viet Nam's borders. This manpower has been growing rather than declining, but has now leveled off at about 100,000.

Also before his trip, Nixon had held his first "political" press conference, an untelevised dialogue in front of the guest house of his San Clemente home. He was in cool, sharp form. Asked if he still believed, as he had said in 1968, that "those who have had a chance for four years and could not produce peace should not be given another chance," he neatly turned the answer into an attack on George McGovern. "We always set our goals high," he said, pretty much admitting that he had failed to reach that one, "but those who have faulted this Administration on its efforts to seek peace are the ones that would have the U.S. seek peace at the cost of surrender, dishonor and the destruction of the ability of the U.S. to conduct foreign policy in a responsible way." Nixon also pledged that "as long as there is one P.O.W. in North Viet Nam, or one missing in action not accounted for, there will be an American volunteer force in South Viet Nam." Last weekend, on the occasion of North Viet Nam's National Day, Hanoi announced that three P.O.W.s--one Air Force and two Navy pilots--will be freed. Within the next few weeks, members of American antiwar groups will fly to Indochina to escort them home. They are the first P.O.W.s to be released since 1969.

The President ruled out any television debates with McGovern on the lofty grounds that "when a President speaks, he makes policy every time he opens his mouth," and he must not do so "in the heat of partisan debate" while there is a war on. Actually, of course, a debate would give the underdog challenger a priceless chance to catch up. Surprisingly, Nixon conceded that he himself has been radical at times, and that this is no basis on which to judge a candidate's programs. "We want change," he said, "but change that works. It is not a question of whether it is radical or not. My trip to China was bold, radical and different." Without mentioning McGovern's name, but presumably referring to the Democratic candidate's revised economic program, he assailed as unworkable "a half-baked scheme, where you nave one today and one tomorrow and then you check the p.m.s to see whether or not there is a new one." A bit grandly, he predicted that if he is re-elected and is given a Congress that agrees with him, "we could have a legislative record in the first six months which could equal in excitement, in reform, the 100 days of 1933." Nixon, it seems, would like to be remembered as a later--if different --Franklin Roosevelt.

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