Bush-Weinberger : It’s Political Football at White House

A few minutes before an important meeting between President Reagan and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, the vice president and defense secretary of the United States tossed a football around an anteroom just outside the Oval Office today.

Vice President George Bush and Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, among other U.S. officials, were in the office of Reagan’s secretary awaiting the arrival of Shevardnadze and were in full view, through a window, of reporters lined up to cover the impending “photo opportunity.”

Bush, unaware of the onlookers, picked up a football given Reagan on Thursday by Naval Academy star Napoleon McCallum. A reporter caught the vice president’s eye and Bush motioned for him to go out into the Rose Garden for a pass--into the gale-force rain stirred up by Hurricane Gloria churning north in the Atlantic Ocean.

Then, mugging for the cameras and writers, Bush and Weinberger began tossing the autographed, multicolored pigskin back and forth in front of Reagan’s secretary, Kathy Osborne.

Moments later, Reagan’s military aide entered the room, but he was not carrying what officials call the “football”--the black briefcase containing the codes for launching a nuclear attack.