It's a Time of Testing

By Hugh Sidey

Some of those close to the President see a man wielding power who is struggling now as much with himself as with an angry world. How to get information? What sources to believe? Whom to consult? When to act? What to say? Which of his staff to unleash? Which to restrain?

It is the riddle of leadership. Jimmy Carter's 17 months of training have taught him to appreciate the unnerving complexities of managing power. But his lack of experience still seriously fetters him. Participants in his rising attack on the Soviet and Cuban adventurism in Africa describe a man in a delicate state of doubt, where both courage and hesitation (with a bow for the line to old Political Novelist Allen Drury) show themselves.

"The facts of the Russian threat are now inescapable to everyone," says a strategist. "The President sees what the hell is going on. Up until recently he did not essentially believe what he was told by many concerned people." Carter's act of open-mindedness was truly courageous, by most measures, and led to a clearer picture of the need for more defense spending, ending the Turkish arms embargo, searching for better ways to help beleaguered friends. But then THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE Carter's political weakness surfaced. Talking tough was a way to rally American voters and foreign leaders, a bit of saber rattling that almost seemed to fulfill a script lightly pondered last fall by National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. Talking to some congressional aides, Brzezinski said it might be good for Carter if he were to have a "Mayaguez," recalling the ship seizure by Cambodians in which Gerald Ford counterattacked with Marines and raised his prestige. It might, suggested Brzezinski only partially seriously, show Carter's resolve.

Was Zaire Carter's Mayaguez, unintentional or otherwise? Over at the State Department, where the blood runs thinner and cooler, they watched with fascination, felt the changing moods hour by hour. After Carter dined with France's President Giscard d'Estaing, who sent paratroopers to Kolwezi, the internal White House talk toughened. There was almost exhilaration, not an uncommon emotion in the White House when a good clean crisis is in the offing, with bad guys to denounce and admired allies standing shoulder to shoulder. Then a series of political meetings between Carter's domestic tacticians Hamilton Jordan and Jody Powell fed riveting (even exaggerated) language into Carter's speeches. Brzezinski, back from China and enjoying new resonance with his President, hit the airwaves via Meet the Press with still sterner talk. Although he went along with the tougher approach, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance moved from Cabinet Room to presidential office counseling his brand of calm deliberation, which in some ways is closer to Jimmy Carter's true nature. Vance's soothing hand could be felt in the rush of events while NATO met, the U.N. debated and almost everybody talked up.

As Carter has grappled with his problems during the past weeks, there have been hints that strong men like Brzezinski, even without willing it, expanded their influence to fill the vacuums created by the President's hesitations. In some cases, Carter benefited. Senators Howard Baker and Abe Ribicoff seized the initiative on the plane sales to the Middle East. Congressmen Tom Foley and James Jones moved out ahead of the White House to get something going on wheat prices and the jammed-up tax bill.

As they watched Carter last week trying to find his way through the thicket, optimists saw the beginnings of a subtler, more effective Carter leadership, a comforting reliance on some skilled Government veterans. Pessimists worried that Carter was in danger of losing control of both men and events.

At the State Department, which blessedly goes on from President to President, crisis to crisis, they reached back for some wisdom attributed to Henry Clay, a Secretary of State himself, and a man who knew something about leadership: "I cannot at this juncture clearly foretell the outcome, but I counsel you to cultivate calmness of mind and prepare for the worst."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.