Looking for Trouble

Richard Stone's first lesson in the delicate art of diplomacy was a rough one. In February the Administration dispatched him to persuade El Salvador's leaders to advance the date of their elections as an earnest gesture of democratic progress. It was deemed desirable that the U.S. role be secret, so that the move would seem to be a Salvadoran initiative. But on the flight back to Washington, a Tampa reporter sitting near by overheard the former Democratic Senator from Florida and his aides discussing the mission. The reporter confirmed the story with a flustered Stone, and the resulting furor embarrassed the Administration and nearly scuttled the plan.

But the convivial and outspoken Stone, 54, is ready to try again, this time as President Reagan's special envoy to the roiling governments of Central America. Stone's daunting new job, says Deane Hinton, the American Ambassador in El Salvador, will be "to wander around Central America and straighten everything out." Although most State Department officials bristled at the President's choice, saying they would have preferred a career diplomat, one defended Stone as a "doer" with the proper credentials: "A great big foot, a thick skin and a great big mouth."

The selection of the millionaire Spanish-speaking lawyer was greeted with restrained enthusiasm by many of his former congressional colleagues. Some were troubled by his hard-line ideological views, the same views that endear him to his Administration supporters, National Security Adviser William Clark and U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick. Stone's work in 1981 and 1982 as a paid lobbyist for the right-wing Guatemalan government of General Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia, a regime with an abysmal record of human rights abuses, also disturbs some members of Congress; they fear that this connection will hurt his credibility with Salvadoran leftists. Reagan shrugged off such concerns, saying, "It just adds to the experience he's had down there." Despite the grumbling on Capitol Hill, Stone is likely to win easy confirmation. Said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee: "There's a basic respect for him. We start off with a disposition in his favor, and nothing that has come out overcomes that."

Born in New York City and raised in the Miami area, Stone is a cum laude graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School. Although not considered a heavyweight during his single Senate term, he was a personable and conscientious politician. He had a conservative voting record but, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, was a vociferous advocate of the Panama Canal treaties. After working with Reagan as one of three Democrats on his transition team, Stone was defeated in his re-election bid in 1980 and joined the Washington office of a major law firm. Last year Reagan named him vice chairman of the Presidential Commission on Broadcasting to Cuba.

Stone's immediate task will be to help President Magana's government speed up the work of El Salvador's peace commission, whose task is to try to bring moderate leftists into the next election. His earlier mission created a favorable impression among most Salvadoran leaders. Ricardo Gonzalez Camacho, a member of the Constituent Assembly, predicted that Stone will be "a sort of Philip Habib." Said he: "What is important is that Stone enjoys the confidence of the President and that he is of a different political party from the President. Unless the U.S. foreign policy is bipartisan, it will fall flat." Clarence Long, the influential Democratic Congressman who pushed for a special envoy, warns that Reagan's chances of getting extra aid for El Salvador will depend on Stone's progress in achieving a peaceful settlement, an outcome that Stone concedes has dismal odds. Says he: "Anyone who thinks that a mere invitation to peace will produce peace is just inaccurate and unrealistic." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.