Will he enter race again?

Press, 4 July 1983, Page 10

Will he enter race again?

NZPA Los Angeles Ronald Reagan, at 72 America’s oldest President, says that he would “get bored” in retirement — the closest he came in an interview to revealing whether he would like another four years in the White House. Mr Reagan has consistently declined to reveal whether he plans to seek reelection in 1984, as many political observers expect him to do.

He maintained that posture while talking with “Los Angeles Times” reporters aboard Air Force One, the Presidential jet, last week. But during the interview, which was published yesterday, Mr Reagan said: “I think I’d get bored” in retirement. He quickly added: “I’m not saying I’m going to.”

Mr Reagan called his work fulfilling. “Some nights you go home feeling 10. feet tall.”

Asked about his health, he said: “1 have to tell you, I have never felt better in my life. I think I feel better now than I felt several years ago.

“The wonderful thing is when you get to this age, you are then known as one of the survivors.”

According to the National Centre for Health Statistics, a healthy white man of 72 Can expect to live another 10 years. When Mr Reagan was born in 1911, standard mortality tables gave him a life expectancy of 51 years, three months.