A Mingling of Old and New

By Hugh Sidey

They have tugged the couches around in the Oval Office, forming a fireside rectangle for informal talking. A few of Ronald Reagan's gadgets are in place on the desk that John Kennedy retrieved from the White House basement. But a Remington bronze of a cowboy and the paintings on the curved walls are from the defunct presidency of Jimmy Carter. The huge grandfather clock installed by President Ford still thumps out its relentless rhythm. Beyond the tall windows, the sun slants across the South Lawn, where Thomas Jefferson had mounds graded to add visual interest. Fresh-cut flowers burst from a vase on the coffee table and a mug of jelly beans sits near a lamp.

Old and new mingle in this poignant time of an Administration's beginning. Soon the office will be totally claimed by Reagan's tastes and moods; yet there will always be the reminders of others gone before. Reagan, awed by his heritage, seems a little reluctant to change things completely.

On this afternoon, the new man is in blue suit, blue socks, blue tie and bright smile. Is he too nice? The thought crosses one's mind in trying to reconcile the quiet warmth of the Oval Office and the harsh world outside. A clutch of handlers infiltrates the room, looking as if they are there to rescue him from unseen enemies or from himself. Their services are not needed.

Reagan settles on the couch, and reality hits like a sledgehammer. There is "Dutch" Reagan, the Saturday voice out of the cornfields, bringing the Big Ten football games. There is Drake McHugh of Kings Row, right off the screen of the Grand Theater, and Lieut. George Custer from Santa Fe Trail and the Gipper from Knute Rockne, All American and a hundred other boyhood flashbacks. There too is the President of the U.S., still the most powerful single authority in the world.

Reagan talks easily, but he avoids details. His directions are fixed, but the mechanics are for others to figure out and explain. In a way, he is playing President; he seems the actor, but this time he knows he is on the largest, most sound-sensitive stage of all. What might he do, Reagan is asked, if Congress does not give him the spending cuts he wants? The President instantly gets wily. He shouldn't answer that question with Congress listening, he says. And he doesn't.

Reagan uses his frown and his smile at the same time. He is at once affable and concerned, hopeful and worried. He leans forward on his elbows, cuts the air with long fingers. No coffee, no cigarettes, no low-calorie root beer help him through the meeting. He is such a collection of contradictions. He is Hollywood and the new politics; but there he is, talking about the economics that was taught around the turn of the century: business slumps were what happened when Government began taking too much of the people's money in taxes.

Between the lines there may be evidence of a little surprise. Is he upset about the bureaucracy's fighting his budget plans by leaking information to the press? There is just a hint that he is. He talks about the Soviets "snarling back" at him because he called them criminals, cheats and liars. He has learned Rule 1: Every presidential thrust produces a counterthrust.

He knows about the "bully pulpit" because he says that he thinks more and more about communicating, uniting the American people from his new platform. He is back onstage. Actor and man are merged, the seams between them undetectable on this day. Maybe it will work, but there is no certainty. For the moment, however, dignity is palpable. Thoughts and ideals rise above the distant and unheard din. They are from Dixon, Ill., from the screen and from politics and endless campaigning and, finally, now from the White House.

Reagan is on his feet then and chatting about the pleasure of going to Camp David and being able just to walk out of a door into the open. Oops, he forgot to pass the jelly beans. The President of the U.S. picks up the jelly bean mug and holds it out in front of him for his guests to dip into. He seems vaguely aware that this vignette is new to presidential history. He also does not seem to care. That is the way he is.

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