Warlady
03-20-2001, 10:37 AM
On Tape, Tense Aides Meet After Reagan Shooting
By ADAM CLYMER
WASHINGTON, March 19 — A newly revealed tape recording made in the hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 portrays tense conversations among government leaders, concern over the location of a Soviet submarine, and a search for a spare nuclear code "football" that was kept in a closet.
Richard V. Allen, then Mr. Reagan's national security adviser, recorded the discussions in the White House Situation Room, where he gathered with other top presidential aides and cabinet secretaries to await news of the president's condition.
"I considered a recording to be absolutely essential in order to preserve an indisputable record," Mr. Allen wrote in April's issue of The Atlantic Monthly.
His article included several excerpts from the tape recordings and was illustrated by a photograph showing the tape recorder, several spare cassettes, and Mr. Allen; Alexander M. Haig Jr., the secretary of state; James A. Baker III, the White House chief of staff; David R. Gergen, White House staff director; and Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press secretary.
The excerpts show a meeting conducted at first by Mr. Allen, and then, sometimes simultaneously, by Caspar W. Weinberger, the secretary of defense, and Mr. Haig. The taped discussion makes clear that Mr. Haig's famous televised comment to reporters in the White House press room about being in charge was one he first made in the secure confines of the Situation Room.
"Constitutionally, gentlemen," Mr. Haig told reporters, "you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order . . . As of now I am in control here in the White House, pending return of the vice president."
Earlier, Mr. Gergen told Mr. Haig that the president "is on the operating table." Mr. Haig then said: "So the . . . the helm is right here. And that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here."
Click here for the rest of the story (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/20/politics/20REAG.html)
By ADAM CLYMER
WASHINGTON, March 19 — A newly revealed tape recording made in the hours after President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 portrays tense conversations among government leaders, concern over the location of a Soviet submarine, and a search for a spare nuclear code "football" that was kept in a closet.
Richard V. Allen, then Mr. Reagan's national security adviser, recorded the discussions in the White House Situation Room, where he gathered with other top presidential aides and cabinet secretaries to await news of the president's condition.
"I considered a recording to be absolutely essential in order to preserve an indisputable record," Mr. Allen wrote in April's issue of The Atlantic Monthly.
His article included several excerpts from the tape recordings and was illustrated by a photograph showing the tape recorder, several spare cassettes, and Mr. Allen; Alexander M. Haig Jr., the secretary of state; James A. Baker III, the White House chief of staff; David R. Gergen, White House staff director; and Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press secretary.
The excerpts show a meeting conducted at first by Mr. Allen, and then, sometimes simultaneously, by Caspar W. Weinberger, the secretary of defense, and Mr. Haig. The taped discussion makes clear that Mr. Haig's famous televised comment to reporters in the White House press room about being in charge was one he first made in the secure confines of the Situation Room.
"Constitutionally, gentlemen," Mr. Haig told reporters, "you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order . . . As of now I am in control here in the White House, pending return of the vice president."
Earlier, Mr. Gergen told Mr. Haig that the president "is on the operating table." Mr. Haig then said: "So the . . . the helm is right here. And that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president gets here."
Click here for the rest of the story (http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/20/politics/20REAG.html)