Silence as a Political Weapon

By Hugh Sidey

Throughout history the virtues of selected silence have been noted with noisy regularity ("He who knows nothing else knows enough if he knows when to be silent," goes an Italian proverb). Yet the practitioners of that wisdom have been few in American politics. The blabbermouths have been ascendant.

Last week George Gallup announced that his polls showed that Ronald Reagan had pulled ahead of Democratic Contender Walter Mondale and was edging up on John Glenn. They have for months been describing their heartache for the Oval Office. Reagan has not made any public commitment to run again and apparently has not told a single friend he will definitely seek a second term. Presumably he has confided in Nancy, but some friends wonder. An ancient Persian put it well: "Speech sows, silence reaps."

Whatever else, Reagan's self-control is phenomenal. One solid word to any of those "confidants" and the leak would begin, the mystique would vanish. The press and public would go back to cataloguing all the dumb things he says about Nicaragua. As of now, the largest political story of the summer is still will he or won't he run. The White House gets the question a dozen or more times a day, sometimes at the strangest moments. Recently Mrs. Reagan held a press conference on her Foster Grandparent program. Other subjects were ruled out. Reporters could not contain themselves. At the end, one blurted, "Is the President going to run?" Mrs. Reagan, a shrewd practitioner of silence herself, chuckled and replied sweetly, "Wait and see." What a delicious political dilemma it is. Each day a new intrigue.

Elaborate theories abound. Reagan will quit because he is ahead. Reagan will run because he is ahead. Mrs. Reagan looks unhappy so they will go back to California. Mrs. Reagan looks happy so they will go back to California. Reagan is not a quitter. Reagan can be happy anywhere doing anything and will quit. Talk shows turn relentlessly to these fantasies. Dinner parties go through three courses talking nothing except Reagan's mind.

Reagan probably knows full well what he wants to do, but he has the stage director's savvy to let the drama build and the political wisdom to keep that last option open should the world turn sour. He had a teacher, Franklin Roosevelt. For three years F.D.R. built up the idea of a third term with his silence. He may have confided in Eleanor, but probably not until the end of that time, according to his former administrative assistant James Rowe. When asked about his plans, Roosevelt never gave a direct answer. Rowe and others were too awed by him to press for a commitment. Political decisions, which Rowe handled, were done with option memos sent in for a presidential review. It was all marvelously vague. The suspense kept up from 1938 into 1940.

One reason that Reagan has done so well with his secret is that he is not fascinated by the intricacies of politics. Unlike Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, he is bored discussing fund raising, precinct captains and bumper stickers. Reagan does his star turn. Others run the campaigns.

Reagan does not leave a trail of hard political clues. Oddly, one of the biggest talkers of all time, Lyndon Johnson, once kept a big secret by leaking too often. L.B.J. loved power so much, complained about critics so loudly, lied so splendidly so often that nobody believed him when he said he planned to give up the job. He did. If Reagan ever sent that signal, a posse of Republicans would take him at his word and start their presidential campaigns at once.

Senator Paul Laxalt is general chairman of the Republican Party, a thin disguise for assembling Reagan's re-election machinery. Laxalt was asked if the President had given him firm word. Nope, confessed Laxalt, he had acted because of "the look in the President's eye." Analyzing presidential eyes could keep the guessing game going until Thanksgiving. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.