Further Fallout from the Shake-Up

With Ronald Reagan poised to enter the 1976 presidential race, Gerald Ford's Administration last week tried to regroup with its drastically changed --and rearranged--cast of characters. For the principals in the drama, it was a time of new beginnings, sharp adjustments and sometimes moving farewells. The G.O.P.'s moderates were wondering where they were left by Ford's move toward the right in response to Reagan's challenge.

Ford's big shake-up was getting bad press notices. Perhaps the severest cut of all came from Columnist Jerald terHorst, his former press secretary who quit after the President pardoned Richard Nixon. TerHorst wrote that his old boss--and good friend still--has proved too "heavyhanded" in many of his major moves, including the Nixon pardon, the Mayaguez affair and the shakeup. He has acted, terHorst wrote, as though he feared that "anything less than full force might be mistaken as a sign of weakness or timidity. When the man stamps, he stamps hard."

Stubborn Views. The week began with Defense Secretary James Schlesinger's farewell. Schlesinger, who had been fired by Ford, went into his office on Sunday to polish his valedictory. He was still rewriting on Monday, with 15 minutes to go. Then, with 3,000 civilian employees and military gathered in front of the Pentagon, Schlesinger marched out to a 19-gun salute and a thunderous ovation. He was erect, pressed and combed--not his usual style. Schlesinger argued: "Whether we are successful in pursuing detente or we hedge against the possible failure of detente, a military balance remains necessary. Though we should pursue detente--vigorously--we should pursue it without illusion. Detente rests upon an underlying equilibrium of force, the maintenance of a military balance."

As Schlesinger was departing the Pentagon, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was telling a press conference that he considered his old Harvard classmate (1950) a man of "outstanding ability." Kissinger conceded there had been differences, "as you would expect between two individuals of strong minds." Said Kissinger: "There were some personality disputes that neither of us handled with the elegance and wisdom that perhaps was necessary."

But Kissinger dismissed any policy differences as being largely "technical." He was understating the situation: Schlesinger had wanted Kissinger to drive a harder bargain with the Russians during the SALT talks.

Concerned that the Kremlin might interpret Schlesinger's firing as a sign the U.S. would make new concessions for the sake of a new SALT agreement, Kissinger went out of his way to blame the Soviet Union for the current deadlock in the talks. "We are still expecting some sort of reasoned response to our last proposal," said the Secretary. "We are prepared to look for an honorable compromise. But it is up to the Soviet Union to be also prepared to make a compromise." Asked if he himself planned to last out the Ford Administration, he said, "Well, I don't plan to answer my phone on Sundays."

As it turned out, Capitol Hill gave Kissinger much more cause for worry than did President Ford. The House committee investigating U.S. intelligence operations recommended that the Secretary be cited with three counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents on covert intelligence operations. If the full House votes to cite Kissinger, a move that would be unprecedented, the case would go to the courts. Kissinger said last week the President had directed him to withhold the material on the grounds of Executive privilege. The Secretary, visibly upset and reacting strongly, said he regretted the committee's action, declaring it raised "serious questions all over the world about what this country is doing to itself and what the necessity is to torment ourselves like this, month after month." One of his top aides reported that Kissinger is feeling increasingly embattled and isolated, and is irked that the White House is giving him a minimum of support in this latest, potentially climactic clash between Congress and the Executive.

Earlier, White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee for hearings on his nomination as the new Defense Secretary. Although Rumsfeld has been portrayed as playing the scheming lago to Ford's naive Othello, he maintained that, in fact, he had not wanted Schlesinger's job.

Asked if he planned to use the Pentagon as a steppingstone to a place on the Ford ticket, Rumsfeld replied that he was not running for the vice presidency. But he refused to remove himself from the race. Said he: "It is presumptuous of me to take myself out of a position I have not been offered."

After two days of hearings, Rumsfeld emerged with every hair in place --possibly, some observers suspected, because he had sprayed it. Committee Chairman John C. Stennis noted mildly, "You haven't been put on the griddle." The committee then voted unanimously to approve Rumsfeld, and quick confirmation by the full Senate is expected this week.

Party Man. Less sure of speedy confirmation is another Ford nominee: George Bush, chief of the U.S. liaison office in Peking, named to succeed William Colby as director of the CIA. A former Texas Congressman (two terms), Ambassador to the U.N. and chairman of the Republican National Committee, Bush is a canny politician and strong party loyalist. Democratic Senator Frank Church, who heads the committee that has been digging into CIA violations of its charter and the law, argues that the agency needs an independent, tough-minded outsider who is not a politician to straighten it out. Asked Church: "If CIA assessments should collide with a favored course of action at the White House, would a dedicated party man like Mr. Bush be able to stand up to the pressures from a Republican President in an election year?" Bush's hearings, which could be as stormy as Rumsfeld's were serene, are not expected to begin until after January 1.

At the White House, meanwhile, Richard Cheney, 34, Rumsfeld's well-liked deputy, took over as Ford's chief of staff. Cheney moved quickly to heal one of Ford's touchier people problems: the feud between Rumsfeld and Robert Hartmann. Hartmann, Ford's top aide in congressional and V.P. days, was shunted by Rumsfeld into a vaguely defined job as speechwriter-adviser. He made little secret of his resentment of Rumsfeld, and Kissinger as well, both of whom he regarded as headline hunters. "Things will work much better now," Hartmann told TIME after conferring and lunching with Cheney. "The President can be the only star. I believe the premise now is to promote the President. Everybody else can be invisible."

One of the most baffled and frustrated groups in Washington in the wake of Ford's power play is the moderate wing of the G.O.P. The moderates resent the way the President nudged Vice President Nelson Rockefeller--their champion--into ruling himself out as V.P. on the 1976 ticket. Although the moderates are disenchanted, they currently have no plans to run one of their own against Ford for several reasons:

1) They fear a moderate candidate would pull support away from Ford and thereby improve Reagan's prospects.

2) Despite Ford's more conservative stance in recent months, they hope that if he defeats Reagan for the nomination, he will again move toward the center.

3) Many of the moderates were in the forefront of the fight against Richard Nixon in the waning days of his presidency. Says one moderate Congressman: "There is a reluctance to engage in regicide again."

In addition, the withdrawal of Nelson Rockefeller from consideration as Ford's running mate has opened up the possibility that Ford might choose another moderate for the job. Finally, the moderates, aware that delegates to G.O.P. conventions have traditionally been more conservative than the majority of Republican voters, have no illusions that one of their own could beat Ford for the nomination.

Long Shots. But what if Ford is knocked off by Reagan in the early primaries? In that case, the moderates will almost certainly try to rally behind a candidate. Among the possible choices, many of them certainly long shots: Rocky himself; Senators Charles Percy of Illinois, Charles Mathias of Maryland and Howard Baker of Tennessee; Governors Robert Ray of Iowa and William Milliken of Michigan.

With the effect of the shake-up still reverberating, the President set off at week's end for Paris to take part in an economic summit meeting with the leaders of Britain, West Germany, France, Italy and Japan. Late next week Ford will leave for a four-day visit to China --his first. In Peking, the only city he will visit, the President will mainly be trying to establish a personal relationship with China's aging leaders.

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