Ex-Gov. Bowen of Indiana in Line for Heckler’s Post

President Reagan is expected to name former Indiana Gov. Otis R. Bowen, a political conservative described by friends as “a family physician who made house calls,” to succeed outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler, congressional sources said Wednesday.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes refused to confirm or deny the report. But Peter Lincoln, a spokesman for Sen. Dan Quayle (R-Ind.), said the senator had been told that Bowen is Reagan’s choice to succeed Heckler.

“We now expect Gov. Bowen will be in Washington on Thursday morning. We understand he will be meeting with President Reagan in the White House,” Lincoln said.

Bowen, 67, was Republican governor of Indiana from 1973 to 1981 but spent most of his career as a small-town physician. Once the coroner of Marshall County, Ind., he continued to maintain a family practice during the 14 years he served in the state Legislature, including four terms as House Speaker.

But Bowen, who also served as a clinical professor of family medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine, abandoned his practice when he became governor.

“He was immensely popular,” recalled Alan Kimbell, marketing director for the Indiana Commerce Department and a political associate of Bowen. “He was the father figure, the family physician--a general practitioner who made house calls. People trusted him. You can’t say he carved a lot of new ground as governor or created massive new programs. He just maintained a steady and honest Administration.”

Bowen’s appointment would leave only one woman remaining in the Reagan Cabinet, Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, who held Cabinet rank as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, resigned after Reagan’s first term.

Anne Dore McLaughlin, undersecretary of the Interior, reportedly had been a chief candidate for the HHS position.

Despite his political conservatism, Bowen has advised presidents from both parties, helping Republican Gerald R. Ford in his attempts to reduce the load of federal paper work and serving as a consultant to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

He also has served on several federal advisory commissions and was chairman of Reagan’s Advisory Council on Social Security, which in March, 1984, proposed major changes in Medicare to keep the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled from bankruptcy.

Bowen lost his first bid for the Indiana governorship in 1968 but was victorious four years later and was reelected in 1976.

“He became concerned about the quality of life in his home town and became active in his early days in Republican Party activities,” Kimbell said in a telephone interview from Indianapolis.

One of the state’s most popular governors, Bowen campaigned in 1972 in favor of doubling the state sales tax and reducing property taxes that supported local governments and schools. He has credited his political success to his years as a family doctor and is known by the nickname “Doc.”

As one of Indiana’s most well-liked Republicans, Bowen was urged by party leaders in 1980 to challenge former three-term Sen. Birch Bayh, but he declined to run.

Bowen’s wife, Elizabeth, died of cancer in 1981. They have four children. He and his second wife, Rose, live in Indianapolis.

At the end of his years as governor he returned to medicine, heading the Division of Family Practice at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

The search for a replacement for Heckler has been under way since Oct. 1, when she agreed under pressure to relinquish her Cabinet position and to accept a diplomatic assignment as ambassador to Ireland. The White House termed the move “a promotion.”

Heckler, however, had been accused of being a poor administrator, while she expressed unhappiness that the White House had refused to fill or delayed filling several department vacancies with people she had recommended.

Times Staff Writers Michael Wines and Eleanor Clift contributed to this story.