The Return of Mr. Fix-It

If he were in trouble and had just one phone call to make, Ronald Reagan was once asked, whom would he dial? He answered unhesitatingly with two words: Ed Meese. So it was hardly surprising last week that Reagan, facing the most serious crisis of his presidency, would turn to his longtime confidant, political protector and general cleanup man, Edwin Meese. "I think we're now getting back to the old Ed Meese," says Ed Salzman, publisher of the Golden State Report and a veteran Meese watcher, "the guy who kept Reagan out of trouble."

Since he became Attorney General in February 1985, Meese has spoken out loudly and often on a host of controversial issues, from pornography to the question of whether Supreme Court decisions have the same force as the Constitution. But the role has been unusual for a man more accustomed to laboring in the background for a single, all-consuming cause: Ronald Reagan. The two first met 20 years ago this month, when Reagan was the newly elected Governor of California and Meese a hard-line Alameda County deputy district attorney. Joining Reagan's staff as legal-affairs adviser, Meese soon rose to become chief of staff. A trusted but low-profile aide, Meese perfected the one-page "mini-memo," in which complex issues were reduced to a few paragraphs for a chief executive who had little patience for details.

) After the 1980 election, Meese became Counsellor to the President, a job that carries Cabinet rank. But he shared the inner circle with two other aides, Michael Deaver and James Baker, who ended up wielding more power. Nonetheless, Meese had a special bond with the President. Partly it was based on his keen affinity for Reagan's philosophy and outlook. In addition, his every instinct was to play the role of protector. Unlike Donald Regan, who seems infected with the arrogance of his own power, Meese infuses almost every public utterance with a sense that he is acting only as a loyal servant of the President.

Meese's loyalty has been repaid. When trouble developed in Reagan's 1980 campaign organization, Campaign Manager John Sears tried to have Meese ousted from Reagan's team of advisers. Reagan would not stand for it, and Sears himself was dumped. After being nominated for Attorney General, Meese faced harsh congressional questions regarding his personal finances. Despite calls to withdraw the nomination, Reagan stuck by his old friend. Now, with serious cracks appearing in his Administration, Reagan has turned once again to his all-purpose Mr. Fix-It.