A Star Is Born--and Registered

By William R. Doerner

Voters who go through the routine procedure of changing their party registrations do not ordinarily get gala receptions thrown in their honor or receive the personal congratulations of just about every bigwig in their new political tribe. But then Jeane Kirkpatrick is no ordinary voter. When the departing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations confided that she was severing a lifelong affiliation with the Democratic Party and planning to register as a Republican, G.O.P. officials gleefully scheduled a celebration bash for April 3 and sent out invitations decorated with a drawing of a dancing elephant. Just about every ranking Republican in Washington is expected to turn out for the affair, including the party's dance master himself, Ronald Reagan.

Kirkpatrick, 58, was considered a rising Republican star even before the switch. In four years at the U.N. she became known for her strongly anti- Marxist views and unapologetic willingness to use U.S. clout. Her academic credentials (tenure at Georgetown University, four books) and blunt rhetoric made her a hit on the lecture circuit and TV interview shows. She was the sensation of last summer's Republican National Convention in Dallas, where her attack on Democrats who "always blame America first" evoked a cheering response that all but brought the roof down. Says Terry Dolan, chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee: "She commands intense loyalty among conservatives. She could be the next Reagan." Agrees Republican National Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf: "Her future is unlimited."

Though she has never held elective office, Kirkpatrick's following has grown to the point where she is increasingly viewed as national ticket material in 1988. Dolan can even imagine a presidential race between her and Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca, running as a Democrat. More restrained assessments put her in the front rank of possible G.O.P. vice-presidential candidates. As Republican Political Consultant Lyn Nofziger notes, in a wry reference to Democrat Geraldine Ferraro's groundbreaking 1984 bid for the job, "It wouldn't be the first time a woman had been nominated for Vice President." Along with her appeal to male conservatives, Kirkpatrick is in good standing with feminists. Says Judy Goldsmith, president of the National Organization for Women: "Whether she is a Democrat or a Republican is not relevant to NOW. She is an ERA supporter and an asset wherever she goes and under whatever cloak she wears." Some G.O.P. conservatives are urging Kirkpatrick to make her move before 1988 by taking on moderate Republican Senator Charles Mathias in her home state of Maryland next year. If she won, they point out, she would not only gain a stepping-stone to the No. 2 spot in 1988 but also tighten the right's grip on Republican reins.

Though Kirkpatrick has disclaimed any intention to seek elective office, she has carefully declined to rule out the possibility that she could be persuaded to change her mind in the future. When news of her impending registration change surfaced last week in Washington, she refused to discuss the matter, declaring that she could not engage in political discussions until her ambassadorial duties formally end on March 31. "I'm not denying it," she said of her switch in allegiance. "I've been making it fairly clear that I had to think seriously about bringing my formal registration into line with my behavior and my views."

Those views have been moving steadily to the right of Democratic Party doctrine, especially in foreign affairs, for more than a dozen years. A professor of political science at Georgetown since 1967, Kirkpatrick gravitated toward the wing of the party led by Senator Henry ("Scoop") Jackson and Hubert Humphrey, both liberals on social issues but advocates of muscular foreign and defense policies. Along with such party conservatives as Author Ben Wattenberg and Commentary Magazine Editor Norman Podhoretz, she was turned off by what she regarded as a defeatist platform on Viet Nam in George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. She openly criticized Jimmy Carter for allowing the U.S. to appear weak in the crisis in Iran and other world trouble spots, a theme she returned to with gusto last summer in Dallas. "Jimmy Carter looked for an explanation for all these problems and thought he found it in the American people," she said. "But the people knew better. It wasn't malaise we suffered from; it was Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale."

Not surprisingly, Democrats greeted news of her impending defection by depreciating her assets. "She never did anything within the party," said Ted Van Dyk, a former administrative assistant to Humphrey who now heads the Center for National Policy, a Democratic think tank. "She was a posturing hard-liner. Humphrey saw her maybe once in five years." That minimizes her role considerably. While hardly a key strategist, Kirkpatrick mingled regularly with party policymakers in Washington, served in 1976 on the Democratic Convention Credentials Committee and as recently as 1978 sat on the committee that reviews party nominating rules. Says a top aide: "She thought a long, long time about leaving the party. Her family was staunchly Democratic. This was not an easy decision by any means."

Nor was it one guaranteed to lead to a happy ending for the G.O.P. Although pressure from the President's daughter Maureen was one of the key factors in persuading Kirkpatrick to register as a Republican, she is on less than perfect terms with the second Reagan Administration, which failed to satisfy her request for a major policymaking position in Washington. Moreover, Kirkpatrick has remained closer to the Democrats on social issues than on foreign policy, describing herself jocularly as a "welfare-state conservative." Warns John Sears, a former Reagan presidential campaign manager: "If she runs for office, conservatives who like her on foreign policy may not like her on domestic policy."

In any case, Kirkpatrick will not lack for activity in the approaching "new phase" of her life. She is in the process of negotiating contracts for a lecture tour and a syndicated newspaper column on international affairs. Kirkpatrick will return to Georgetown as soon as her U.N. duties end, though she will probably not resume teaching until next fall. One reason: she plans to spend part of the summer at a rented villa in southern France working on a book about the lessons she learned at the U.N.

With reporting by Hays Gorey/Washington