Reagan Doubts Need for Some Rights Groups

President Reagan indicated Saturday that he believes some civil rights organizations have outlived their usefulness but will not admit that their mission is accomplished because that would leave them no excuse to exist.

He said he had noted that in organizations created “to rectify some ill” some individuals had a tendency to become “reluctant to admit how much they’ve achieved because it might reveal then that there’s no longer a need for that particular organization.”

Hence, he added, “there’s a tendency to keep the people stirred up as if the cause still exists.” He said he believes that “there’s some of this that’s been going on” because there had been failures to perceive benefits that had accrued to blacks during his Administration.

But Reagan softened somewhat his comments that roused protests 10 days ago from leaders of old-line black organizations, saying he did not believe that blacks voted heavily against him last fall “entirely” because they were misled by some of their leaders.

When asked during a broadcast session about his suggestion in a Jan. 17 interview that unnamed black leaders were fomenting discontent in an effort to protect their jobs, Reagan said he still believes that there was a lack of understanding of Administration policies, but hastened to add that “it isn’t just leaders of black organizations.”

“My goal is an America where something or anything that is done to or for anyone is done neither because of nor in spite of any difference between them, racially, religiously or ethnic-origin-wise,” the President said.

“Before there was a civil rights movement,” Reagan said, “I can remember very clearly the injustices in this country--and they weren’t confined to one section of the country--the prejudice that prevailed, the things that were just accepted, even by people who maybe felt no prejudice themselves. And I think there is a need for us to focus on what has been accomplished and less on creating ill-will and a feeling the grievances still remain.”

Defends Budget Approach

In his wide-ranging half-hour interview with seven correspondents for independent radio networks, Reagan also offered some specifics on the balanced budget amendment he supports and firmly defended his approach to the budget. He cold-shouldered congressional urgings that Defense Department spending be reduced further than the Administration is ready to go.

Reminded that he has said he could not now submit a balanced budget because the reductions it would involve would hurt too many people, Reagan said it was his belief that an amendment, if approved “would set a target date” for achievement of a balanced budget. This is one of the reasons, he said, why his fiscal plan proposes gradual reduction of the deficit from 4% of the gross national product to 2% of GNP by 1989. This procedure, he said, makes it possible to pick an effective date for the amendment.

Commenting on the warning Friday by Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) that deficit-reduction proposals will be imperiled in Congress unless the Administration holds down increases in Defense Department spending, Reagan said he had watched Dole on television and did not believe that newspapers reporting his remarks have “been reviewing the bidding with the same inflection.”

“I think he was calling attention to what could be a fact within the Congress--that, consistently over the years . . . when they’ve needed money for some other program, they have thought, well, defense is the place we can get it,” Reagan said.

Reagan suggested that many individuals who have not yet seen the 1986 budget he will present on Feb. 4 are unaware of $8.7 billion in cuts that have already been “volunteered” by the Defense Department. Once critics understand the extent of these cuts, he predicted, “I think they’re going to see there isn’t much more to get there; we’ve squeezed that apple pretty good.

“To go beyond that and just simply say . . . ‘We’re going to take more dollars regardless’ is very risky,” Reagan warned, because the Defense Department budget is “dictated by people outside the United States” whom he described as “possible adversaries.”

If it appears to Congress that defense will not be included in budget cuts, Reagan said, “then we wouldn’t get anyplace with them.” But in fact, he said, “we are” and “we’re actually going to show where the cuts are.” And, he reminded his listeners, if Congress shows reluctance to agree to his efforts to reduce the growth of federal spending in areas other than defense, “I’ve said we’d take our case to the people.”