Reagan Asks Heckler to Be Ireland Envoy

Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler, whose management skills and liberal philosophy reportedly have been criticized by high White House officials, was asked by President Reagan on Monday to become ambassador to Ireland, a shift described as “a promotion.”

One of her top aides said Heckler pleaded vigorously to stay at the Health and Human Services Department, whose $330-billion budget is the world’s third-largest, after those of the United States and the Soviet Union.

But in the end, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said, Heckler wound up telling Reagan that she wanted “a few days” to think about his request.

Vague Response

Speakes responded vaguely when asked what would happen if Heckler wanted to remain at her current post. “Until she replies to the President’s offer, I cannot answer that question,” he said.

After her 40-minute meeting with Reagan in the Oval Office, a smiling Heckler sped away in a black government limousine without stopping to comment. Her office said she would have no immediate statement.

Hours before the meeting, Reagan snapped at inquiring reporters that “there has never been any thought in my mind of firing Margaret Heckler.” But then the President said: “That doesn’t mean there isn’t something else I want her to do.”

The subject was raised as Reagan posed for photographs with King Hussein of Jordan, who also met with the President on Monday.

Ability Questioned

Heckler’s critics, led by White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and White House domestic policy chief John A. Svahn, raised questions about her management ability and loyalty to conservative ideals, according to published reports.

Svahn, who often tangled with Heckler when he was undersecretary at the department, was reported to be a top candidate to succeed her. He ran California’s welfare program when Reagan was governor.

One unnamed official was quoted by the Washington Post as saying that the “political style” of Heckler, who served for 16 years as a House member from Massachusetts, conflicted with the “corporate management preferences” of Chief of Staff Regan.

Moreover, it was said that Heckler’s political philosophy--she was one of the most liberal Republicans in Congress--conflicted with the President’s conservative goals.

However, Speakes said that she has done nothing wrong and that Reagan “does not concur” with the charge that she is a weak manager.

“The President feels she has made a valuable contribution as secretary of HHS. He is also confident she will make an excellent contribution as ambassador to Ireland. . . . The President considers this a promotion.” The ambassador’s post is now vacant.

Speakes also noted that Heckler, whose maiden name is O’Shaughnessy, is “an American of Irish descent who has served with distinction as a member of Congress and . . . the President’s Cabinet.”

Vote of Confidence

Less than two weeks ago, when a report surfaced that White House officials were dissatisfied with her performance and that she was fighting for her job, Reagan gave her a vote of confidence the next day.

In recent days, as she became besieged by indications that she was on the way out as secretary, Heckler enlisted at least three key Republican senators to send messages of support to Reagan: Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), Assistant Majority Leader Alan K.Simpson (R-Wyo.) and Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

A top aide to Heckler, who requested anonymity, said that on Monday morning Heckler had “felt very confident that she had a good case to make with the President. She doubted that he would ask her to leave.”

‘Campaigned Vigorously’

One of her main points, it was learned, was that “she had campaigned vigorously for the President last year and at no time did any issue erupt emanating from any of the programs of her department. That is absolutely amazing, in light of the whole Democratic offensive on the issue of fairness.”

Heckler became secretary of the department in March, 1983, succeeding Richard S. Schweiker. Reagan nominated her for the job after she failed to win reelection to a ninth House term the previous November.

Heckler’s record as a moderate and her sex made her politically attractive to the President, who was eager to shore up his standing among women and among centrists in his party as he prepared for his reelection campaign. The only other woman in Reagan’s Cabinet was Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole.

Took Firm Command

When Heckler took over at the Health and Human Services Department, many assumed that she would be a figurehead and that the real authority would lie with Svahn, who had been Social Security commissioner and was promoted to undersecretary by Reagan.

But Heckler took firm command and, department officials said, did not get along with Svahn, who eventually was transferred to the White House staff.

Although Heckler did not change the direction of her department, she altered its tone, emphasizing compassion rather than the pursuit of waste, fraud and abuse in federal welfare programs.

In the huge dispute between Congress and the White House over Social Security disability policy, she argued for a policy of accommodation with Congress in making it more difficult to push people off the rolls. She also favored Medicare aid to hospices and protection of the nation’s medical research establishment. She has repeatedly supported new initiatives within the department to experiment with ways to care for the aged who need nursing home attention.

Called Tense, Impatient

Critics said Heckler, as secretary, has been combative and hard-driving but tense, impatient with details and disorganized--the same criticisms leveled against her by former aides in her congressional office and election campaigns.

Her supporters credited her with helping persuade Reagan to back legislation to improve collection of child-support payments. She also promoted special funding for research into AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome.