Panel: Reagan Must Centralize

Howard Baker, President Reagan's newly-appointed chief of staff should move quickly to control the damage from the Iran-Contra affair, a panel of four former White House officials said last night at the Kennedy School.

In doing so the former presidential advisers said Baker will be aided by a strong, centralized White House staff and warned that any chief of staff must take into account the personal style of the president he serves.

The panelists, which included a member of the current and past three administrations, said that Reagan will face two key policy decisions in the next week, his speech on the Tower Commission report which is scheduled for tomorrow and the appointment of a new CIA head.

But the panelists agreed that the central challenge to Reagan's place in history will be the policy apparatus which the new chief of staff puts into place at the White House.

Baker, who yesterday replaced Donald Regan '41 as chief of staff, will be urged to reorganize the White House, panelists said, but they added that he should resist the temptation to decentralize the White House.

After an event like Watergate or the Iran-Contra affair, there is a tendency for critics to lay the blame on the White House organization, said Richard B. Cheney, who, when he was chief of staff to President Ford, was critical of his low-key approach to government in the post-Watergate era.

"People say that the problem must somehow go back to that organizational question. That's a mistake. The President needs a very disciplined, centralized staff system," Cheney said. "There's a tendency to try to organize yourself out of a problem, and that doesn't work."

Differences in each executive's style and interests are the primary factor any White House manager must consider, said John D. Ehrlichman, an aide to Richard Nixon who was implicated in the Watergatescandal. "The Presidency is a Constitutionalinstitution," said Ehrlichman, "but it's also abaggy suit of clothes. If it doesn't fit, it isn'tgoing to work."

Hamiltan Jordan, who was Carter's chief WhiteHouse advisor, agreed with Ehrlichman'sassessment. "Every President is different," hesaid, adding that the role of the chief of staffis to recognize the President's personality, styleof management and interest in issues.

The Reagan Administration ran into troubleafter the 1984 election, when Reagan and otherofficials who weren't personally close to thePresident took over the management of the WhiteHouse, said several of last night's speakers.

"Reagan is the same President as he was in1981. The difference is the team of people he hasaround him," said Cheney. "We would not beundergoing this sad situation which is underway inWashington right now" if the staff had notchanged.

"The best people to [run the White House] arethose people who campaigned with a man, who havegrown up with him politically and can respond tohis likes and dislikes," said Ehrlichman, who wasinvolved with Nixon's three presidentialcampaigns.

David Gergen, the current editor of US News andWorld Report and a former Reagan Administrationofficial, said that Reagan failed as chief ofstaff because he tried to combine several jobsinto one without fully understanding Reagan'spersonality.

During the question and answer period, severalmembers of the audience tried to shift the focusof the forum from management to ethics ingovernment. Several students asked Ehrlichmanabout his involvement in the Watergate scandal andhow that related to the current situation in theWhite House.

"I don't see much parallel between Poindexterand myself," said Erlichman, who served 18 monthsin prison for his activities as an advisor toPresident Nixon. "I was on a pretty short leash,"he added