President names Chief of Staff

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 5

President names Chief of Staff

NZPA-Reuter Washington Hamilton Jordan, Presi dent Carter’s 34-year-olc political - adviser. has emerged as one of the mos powerful men in the Unitet States with the task o ensuring Mr Carter’s survi val in the White House. The unorthodox aide witl . the casual style has beei named as White House Chie of Staff with vast authority over policy, personnel ant direction of the Cabinet. Mr Jordan, author of thi strategy that won Mr Cartel the presidency in 1976, became the key figure in the present Cabinet shake-uj: and the President’s battle tc prove he is not the indecisive amateur as depicted in opinion polls. His appointment was announced 24 hours after the 12-member Cabinet and senior White House officials offered to resign to help the President improve his badlyeroded leadership image. It was Mr Carter’s first move since he admitted in a televised speech on Sunday that he was managing but not leading the country. The President also announced a $142,000M programme to tackle the country’s energy problems and what he called a crisis of confidence among Americans. Some Cabinet officers were expected to be dismissed soon, although the Middle East negotiator, Robert Strauss, one of those who offered to resign, said the review being conducted by the President might not be completed for another two weeks.

Mr Jordan, given formidable power, was authorised to speak for the President on all but the most crucial and sensitive issues. The White House Press Secretary (Mr Jody Powell) said that the youthful Georgian would make many decisions on his own authority in dealing with policy and control of the White House staff. Only the most critical differences would be referred Ito the President, who would i be able to devote more time ; to leadership problems as he ) tried to revitalise the Government and prepared for the 1980 Presidential election campaign. I President Carter had long i refused to create the posi-

tion of Chief of Staff, believing that the role of H. R. (Bob) Haldeman in the Watergate scandal during President Nixon’s Adminis- , tration showed that the post ■ had potential for serious ) abuse. The Administation seems ( confident that the Cabinet , shake-up will appeal to the j American people and will . not create the chaos seen in I many quarters abroad. The dollar has slipped and , gold soared to a record price of SUS3OO an ounce because of anxiety over the United States economy and the way the President was conducting his drive to turn around his disastrous ratings in the opinion polls. Mr Powell criticised reports published abroad that the Carter ' Administratior was rudderless and the President’s actions unintelligible. “It will become apparen" . . . that the action of th« Cabinet and the staff is no) an indication of a Government crisis,” he said.

One of the more influential members of the Presidents Democratic Party, the Senate Energy Committee chairman (Mr Henry Jackson), said that the shake-up was “unprecedented and couldn’t come at a worse time.” “You don’t create confidence by announcing that all those people who have been running the details of the country are out,” he said.

“That’s the wrong way to do it,” he told reporters after a meeting with the Energy Secretary t.Mr James Schlesinger), one of the Cabinet members who seems likely to go. Other Cabinet members whose future has been the subject of speculation include the Treasury Secretary (Mr Michael Blumenthal) and the Health Secretary (Mr Joseph Califano).