Despite Surgery, President Sets Heavy Travel Schedule

Despite recuperating from cancer surgery, President Reagan plans to take to the road three or four times a month during the rest of the year to lobby for his domestic and foreign policy programs and to begin helping out with important Republican political campaigns, White House officials said here Monday.

Besides meeting in Geneva in November with Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the President will address foreign leaders gathered in New York in October for the 40th anniversary of the United Nations and will aid Republican gubernatorial campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey.

In addition, White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan declined to rule out the possibility of a presidential visit to other European capitals in connection with Reagan’s journey to the two-day U.S.-Soviet summit.

An outline for Reagan’s travels and his drive to drum up support for tax reform and his domestic budget stance emerged as White House aides discussed plans for a long-distance staff meeting today between staff members here and others in Washington.

Regan said the teleconference will give key members of the White House staff an opportunity to review short-term and intermediate-term plans that have been discussed in a series of meetings over the last two weeks.

The discussion of the staff activity seemed designed to stress not only Reagan’s confidence in being able to return to a full schedule, but to emphasize that Administration staff work is progressing even though the President is taking a lengthy vacation, which ends after Labor Day.

“The minute we get back,” Regan said, “we are going to be faced with all of the appropriations bills, we are going to be faced with raising the debt ceiling, we will have the farm bill coming up; all of these should be in place at the latest by the first of October.”

White House spokesman Larry Speakes said Reagan spent most of Monday morning doing paper work, but that he planned to take a walk with Mrs. Reagan about noon and drive around his ranch later in the day to identify “projects” that he wants to complete.

Meetings, Speeches

Reagan’s drive to drum up policy support is expected to take him to meetings with special-interest groups, regional news conferences and to radio and television speeches, all to be discussed by the staff members planning strategy today.

Regan said the President will also take part in fund-raising efforts for some Republican senators facing reelection campaigns next year, and that he will probably go this fall to Virginia and New Jersey to campaign for GOP candidates.

In New Jersey, Republican Gov. Thomas H. Kean faces a 1986 campaign for reelection. In Virginia, Democratic Gov. Charles S. Robb cannot succeed himself, and Republicans hope to capture the statehouse.

Top Aides Along

Although the President is basically on vacation, he was accompanied to Santa Barbara by his senior staff members, including Regan, national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane and communications director Patrick J. Buchanan.

Speakes said the conference with staff members back in Washington today will cover the entire range of the Administration’s priorities for the rest of the year. Speakes also announced anticipated staff changes Monday--Mitchell Daniels Jr. to replace Edward J. Rollins as presidential assistant for political and intergovernmental affairs, and M.B. Oglesby Jr., succeeding Max L. Friedersdorf as the Administration’s chief lobbyist and liaison with Congress.

Rollins and Friedersdorf will not leave their posts until fall, but Speakes said their successors are being brought in now so that they can take part in the staff meetings setting the Administration for the rest of the year.