A Cry to Pierce The Gray

Anderson speaks out

On a blustery day in Boston, a slim, solitary figure with a shock of hair as white as the falling snow kept approaching passersby. "I'm John Anderson," he cheerfully announced. An intense young man bounded up to him and pleaded: "Why aren't you running on the Democratic ticket? I really don't think you have a prayer in the world in the Republican Party." All too familiar with that question, Anderson stoically replied: "I do have a chance if enough people like you are willing to support me."

How to persuade people to take him seriously is the predicament of the ten-term Republican Congressman from Illinois as he pursues the presidency for the first time in his life. By most standards, he should be a top contender. James Gannon, executive editor of the Des Moines Register, calls Anderson a "silver-haired orator with a golden tongue, a 17-jewel mind and a brass backbone." Respected on Capitol Hill for his courage, he was one of the first Republicans to call for the resignation of Richard Nixon. Senator Robert Dole, a long-shot rival for the G.O.P. nomination himself, says flatly: "Anderson is the brightest man running for President."

In Congress, Anderson is known as a "political snail darter," meaning most definitely an endangered species. He represents the rapidly dwindling liberal wing of the G.O.P. that once produced such national figures as Dwight Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller. Today the leading contenders for the G.O.P. nomination are all from the conservative spectrum of the party. Anderson is the only candidate offering a notable dissent. "He wants to make one awful cry to pierce the gray," says a leading G.O.P. Congressman.

On most issues Anderson talks more like a Democrat than a Republican. Opposing a significant increase in defense spending, he objects to the MX missile, the B-l bomber and the building of another nuclear carrier. He supports the Equal Rights Amendment and federally funded abortions. He backs the Panama Canal Treaties and SALT II. He has committed the unthinkable act for a presidential candidate of proposing a 50-c--per-gal. tax on gasoline to reduce consumption. That would be offset by a 50% cut in Social Security taxes. "What we need," he says, "is not the quick, easy fix but sacrificial and meaningful adjustments that will restore confidence in this country. To deal with our problems, we need a captain on the bridge of the ship of state who is not always looking at a political compass but who is following true north."

Anderson promotes his views with the fervor of a born-again Christian, a spiritual state he has in common with Jimmy Carter. Growing up in Rockford, Ill., he once considered becoming a minister. After graduating from the University of Illinois, he earned a master's degree in law from Harvard and served in the Foreign Service in the early '50s. In 1960 he was elected to Congress from Illinois' 16th District in the northern region of the state and nine years later became chairman of the House Republican conference. Though he was the third-ranking G.O.P. member, he lost his clout as he shifted leftward during the 1970s. Testy at not getting his way, he sometimes slams down the phone on callers. Anderson's frustration, says a colleague, "is a reflection of the extent to which he is an introvert. He consults with himself. It's tough to be a minority within a minority."

Since Anderson, 57, has decided not to run again for Congress, his quest for the presidency may be his last political hurrah. Though he hovers around 3% in the polls, he is campaigning as if he believes he can win. With his flair for fact-filled oratory, he expects to shine in Saturday's debate among G.O.P. presidential hopefuls in Des Moines. (The Democratic debate may be canceled because Carter has said he will not participate unless the hostages are released.) Although he has raised enough money to qualify for federal matching funds, he has collected only $440,000, peanuts compared with the millions flowing into rival coffers.

But by salting his speeches with quotes ranging from Arthur Schopenhauer to Langston Hughes, producing quips as the occasion demands, Anderson has pepped up a plodding campaign season. "I'm glad he's running," says former New Hampshire Governor Walter Peterson, who happens to support Senator Howard Baker for the nomination. "He's raising issues that ought to be raised."

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