Reagan Calls Cancer a Thing of Past, Won’t Let Fear Affect Him

President Reagan said in an interview released Sunday that he is now “someone who does not have cancer” and will not let fear of the disease affect his life, although the recent removal of a malignant tumor from his colon leaves him vulnerable “like everyone else.”

The interview, with Hugh Sidey of Time magazine, was the first since the President underwent cancer surgery on July 13. Sidey interviewed Reagan on Thursday.

When asked whether he would turn over his responsibilities to Vice President George Bush if he should again develop cancer and need treatment, Reagan said: “On the basis of all that I’ve been told by the doctors . . . I can’t see anything of that kind coming.”

He said again, however, that “if I found myself ever physically incapacitated where I, in my own mind, knew I could not fulfill the requirements, I’d be the first one to say so and step down.”

The President recalled that in a briefing immediately after the operation, Dr. Steven Rosenberg, chief of surgery at the National Cancer Institute and a member of the surgical team, used the words, “The President has cancer.”

Reagan said Rosenberg later amended the statement, “and says the proper thing is, ‘I had cancer.’ ”

“It had not spread,” he said. “No evidence of anything else. So I am someone who does not have cancer. But, like everyone else, I’m apparently vulnerable to it.”

Reagan said his older brother, Neil Reagan, had cancer of the larynx about 20 years ago and “he’s doing just fine.” Neil Reagan underwent surgery for a malignant polyp in the colon, similar to the President’s, last month.

Reagan said there had been no change in his priorities.