President Sometimes Outshone by Wife : Old Reagan Magic Works in Europe--for First Lady

In briefing President Reagan for his press conference Friday, White House aides included in a list of questions he might be asked: “Do you think your trip to Europe was anywhere near as successful as Mrs. Reagan’s?”

The question was not actually put to the President, but it wasn’t necessary. In an ironic reversal, the President, whose popularity has long worked political magic, is being given relatively low marks for the European trip, but the First Lady, whose imperial image was once considered a problem, returned home a smashing success, according to Administration officials. But then she did not have to deal with the contentious issues that confronted the President.

While the President stayed in gloomy Bonn preparing to make a gesture at Bitburg Cemetery that was to upset many people, the First Lady was in sunny Rome winning the hearts of recovering young drug addicts and collecting a commendation from Pope John Paul II.

“The first part of the trip was tough on the President, with all the focus on Bitburg,” a White House official said, asking that he not be identified. “From the point of view of having some good news at that part of the trip, her visit with the Pope was quite welcome.”

Seldom has the wife of an American President attracted so much attention with a separate schedule of events and issues on a trip abroad. Mrs. Reagan’s activities became the talk of the summit conference; drug issues were discussed for an hour, even though the subject was not on the agenda.

Pluses and Minuses

In summing up the pluses and minuses of the President’s trip, Secretary of State George P. Shultz included “an added issue that came out of the discussions . . . among the heads of state, the emerging and great recognition of the importance of the drug problem and the importance of working, both in terms of curtailing its use and curtailing the production and distribution of drugs and getting after the drug traffickers.”

Only four years ago, the First Lady was attracting attention but not in a manner the White House liked. As she plunged into the purchase of new china and an expensive refurbishing of the White House living quarters, the nation slid into a recession, and there was criticism that she was neglecting serious issues, that she was insensitive to the concerns of the non-rich.

It was then, after a year in the White House, that Nancy Reagan became active in a drug abuse awareness campaign, visiting rehabilitation centers and parent groups in more than 20 states. Chit-chat about designer dresses and lunches with wealthy friends ceased as she focused firmly on drug abuse activities.

Her persistence has caused her popularity ratings to soar, according to White House pollster Richard B. Wirthlin.

Last month, her activities took on an international tone when she called a first ladies’ drug conference for the wives of the leaders of 17 nations. On this trip, she visited drug abuse parent groups in Bonn and Lisbon, at the invitation of first ladies who had attended her conference. For the first time, a woman who had been associated primarily with an adoring, silent stare at her husband was taking on an identity of her own.

“Her visit to the Pope was important,” a White House official said. “In the past year we have upgraded the status of our relations with the Vatican, increasing our dealings with them on a number of issues from arms control to Central America. So Mrs. Reagan going there and having a successful meeting with the Holy Father was certainly helpful in the general flow of our diplomatic relations. . . .

“Everything she did from a foreign policy standpoint was right. She enhanced the reputation of the United States and the President in Europe.”