Time Out in Washington

By Ellie McGrath

Carter and Reagan pause before plunging into their futures

It was half time in national politics or, perhaps more aptly, that moment in a relay when the baton hangs between outstretched hands about to meet. Major crises were unresolved: 52 Americans were still held hostage in Iran, and the U.S. economy threatened to dip once more into recession. But on the banks of the Potomac, all seemed unusually peaceful. Congress was in recess, and Jimmy Carter was getting ready to retire to Plains, Ga. President-elect Ronald Reagan had not yet arrived in the capital. Both the old President and the new President issued remarkably similar New Year's wishes for the nation. Reagan hoped for "a year of health, happiness and peace." Carter said he resolved "to have a good transition and prayed that we will continue to have peace and prosperity for American people."

Still aching from the collarbone that he broke while cross-country skiing, Carter celebrated New Year's Eve at Press Secretary Jody Powell's house. Then, in what amounted to a last fling as First Family, the President and Rosalynn flew aboard Air Force One to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, which pitted Carter's favorite, the University of Georgia, against Notre Dame. Wearing a button that proclaimed WE'RE NO. 1, the Carters stopped off at Atlanta to pick up some 20 old friends and guests for the game, including Georgia Governor George Busbee, former Budget Director Bert Lance, Lawyer Charles Kirbo, Sportsman and Communications Magnate Ted Turner and former Attorney General Griffin Bell. It was a happy day: Carter's team won, 17-10.

Back in Washington that evening. Carter again tackled the issues that are his responsibility until Reagan is inaugurated. The President has nearly finished signing or vetoing the bills sent to him by the lameduck session of Congress, with decisions left only on how much protection to extend to the U.S. steel industry and whether to allow banks to open branches in other states. The President also was, as always, preoccupied with the hostage crisis in Iran, giving final approval to a State Department message that was dispatched to Tehran through Algerian intermediaries (see WORLD).

At week's end, Carter was making preparations for one of his final official acts: sending his 1981 State of the Union message to Congress this week. This time, he will not deliver it in person. Instead, he plans to give a televised farewell address from the Oval Office the week before Reagan's Inauguration. Says Press Secretary Powell: "It will be forward looking, not a justification of the past."

On the other side of the continent, Ronald Reagan seemed to be savoring his last days of freedom from the worries and responsibilities of the Oval Office. He made headlines only once, outside his Bel Air Presbyterian Church, when he said of the hostage crisis: "I don't think you pay ransom for people that have been kidnaped by barbarians." Otherwise, wearing scuffed boots and faded blue work clothes, he spent the early part of last week at his ranch in the Santa Ynez Mountains. Aides said that Reagan devoted most of his time to questions pertaining to the transition. Those matters ranged from a visit to Tailor Frank Mariani of Beverly Hills, where Reagan had a final fitting for the $1,150 formal suit that he will wear at his Inauguration, to phone conversations with aides about pending Cabinet appointments and future policies.

For a man about to take on the burdens of the presidency, Reagan seemed unusually relaxed. When reporters questioned him about the fact that Michigan Congressman David Stockman, 34, Reagan's choice as director of the Office of Management and Budget, had been an antiwar activist in the 1960s, the President-elect replied: "I remember some of my own views when I was quite young. For heaven's sake, I was even a Democrat."

The Reagans continued a twelve-year tradition of spending the New Year's holiday at the 360-acre Palm Springs estate of Publisher Walter Annenberg, where Richard Nixon often visited. They were joined by 60 friends to usher in the New Year. The next day, the Reagans went to a party at the Eldorado Country Club, where President Dwight D. Eisenhower spent his winters after leaving office. Reagan's hosts were California Tycoons Justin Dart and Jack Wrather; the guests included Attorney General-designate William French Smith, Standard Oil of Indiana Chairman John Swearingen and Comedian Bob Hope.

After the festivities, the Reagans went back to Los Angeles and the Pacific Palisades home they built 29 years ago. Reagan is considering either renting or selling the house because he plans to make his ranch the Western White House. His Vice President, George Bush, likewise spent the week preparing to move. He and Wife Barbara have sold their house in Houston and finished packing for their transfer to Washington--their 29th move in 35 years of marriage.

At week's end, Reagan returned to tackling the tasks ahead. Richard Allen, his National Security Adviser, was scheduled to brief Reagan before this week's trip to Ciudad Juarez to meet Mexican President Lopez Portillo. But the most pressing business was to finish naming his Cabinet. Unlike Carter, who filled his Cabinet by Christmas four years ago, Rea gan has been unable to decide on a Secretary of Education and a special trade representative. Several people have turned down Education, a department that Reagan favors dismantling. Said the President-elect: "I think we've sought a few people that just weren't interested in Government service, that didn't want to leave what they were doing." Reagan, however, remains unhurried and unworried.

--By Ellie McGrath. Reported by Douglas Brew/with Reagan and Johanna McGeary/ Washington

With reporting by Douglas Brew, Reagan and Johanna McGeary/Washington

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