Last-Minute Push for Recruits : Reagan Signs Up for Hands Across America

President Reagan enlisted in Hands Across America on Friday, reversing his earlier decision to refrain Sunday when millions of Americans join hands in an ambitious effort to forge a transcontinental chain from New York to Long Beach.

The presidential announcement provided a measure of momentum for organizers who, less than 48 hours away from the event, found themselves short-handed by more than 2 million recruits. A minimum of 5 1/2 million people are needed to fill out the 4,100-mile route, which cuts from Long Beach across the Southwest, turns north to Chicago and then wends east to New York.

Fearing fiasco, organizers have discarded all previous eligibility rules. No longer is a minimum contribution of $10 required to take a place in the line; freeloaders are encouraged.

Cows and Rope

Similarly, the event is no longer exclusive to humans; plans were made to hobble milk cows along the route in Maryland, stretch ropes across far pieces of Texas prairie and to at least symbolically maintain an intact chain by flying helicopters over the Arizona desert.

Hands Across America is intended to raise money and sympathy for the nation’s poor. It is being staged by USA for Africa, the same new-wave philanthropists responsible for the “We Are the World” record that generated millions of dollars for Ethiopian famine relief.

Original goals of 10 million participants and $100 million in donations have been scaled down. Organizers by late Friday said 3 million people had been recruited to join in the 15-minute event, and were hopeful of raising $25 million to $50 million. Staging costs are expected to be $12 million, organizers said.

Concerns about laggardly recruitment prompted organizers last week to lift the requirement that participants donate $10 to $35, and they were quick to seize upon Reagan’s change of heart Friday, hoping the White House announcement would sway procrastinators.

“President Reagan has clearly demonstrated to everyone in America that it is not too late to stand in line,” Ken Kragen, the 49-year-old creator of the Hands Across America event, said in New York where he was attempting to drum up support.

“If there was anything that could put it over the top, it’s the fact that he is paying his 10 bucks just like everybody else,” he said.

Reagan Changed His Mind

Reagan had intended only to sign a proclamation declaring Sunday “Hands Across America Day” and mention the occasion in his regular Saturday radio address. But the President changed his mind after a lengthy discussion Thursday evening with his daughter, Maureen Reagan, and her husband, Dennis Revell, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said.

“It was the first time that the Reagans as a family had had an opportunity to talk about it,” Speakes said, “and they spent most of the evening talking about it.”

Speakes denied that the reversal was an attempt to soften the impact of Reagan’s remarks earlier this week to high school students that hunger in America results only from “a lack of knowledge on the part of people as to what is available.”

“The Reagan family will do its part,” Speakes quoted the President as telling aides.

An anonymous donor will make contributions on behalf of the 225 people it will take to reroute the Hands Across America line around the circular driveway of the White House to link up with the Reagans, who will stand on the north portico. Because of security considerations, the line will be composed of White House staff members, Secret Service agents and reporters.

Buoyed by Announcement

Reagan will make a $10 contribution for himself and each member of his family, Speakes said.

Buoyed by the President’s announcement, coordinators and promoters of the event expressed increasing optimism Friday that they might be able to pull off the 16-state link. At Hands Across America headquarters in Century City, telephones were jangling constantly with calls from potential recruits seeking to join in the philanthropy.

“No, ma’am, it doesn’t go through Newport Beach,” an office worker told one would-be participant.

A spokesman for Hands Across America, Dave Fulton, said the last-minute outpouring of interest made accurate projections of participants difficult. “It’s like trying to get a picture of the Concorde in flight,” he said.

The idea behind the project was simple. From noon to 12:15 p.m. (PDT) Sunday, Americans would stand along a designated route, join hands and sing three songs, “We are the World,” “Hands Across America” and “America the Beautiful.” It was hoped that most would make contributions through a designated ticket agency, Ticketmaster, which in turn would present them with a ticket that assigned them to a specific block along the route.

Other Organizers Doubtful

Veteran organizers of somewhat similar national events were doubtful last fall when the project was announced. A major rule of political organizing, for example, is that events designed to raise money should be small and exclusive, and events intended to draw big crowds should be free.

Kragen, a Los Angeles-based manager of musical talent, cut against that principle in trying to build both donations and a large crowd, and he also violated convention by announcing his route before without first soliciting donations. This prevented him from determining where interest was highest and charting a route accordingly. It also removed incentive from town officials across America to campaign for a spot on the route by recruiting participants in advance.

Nonetheless, Kragen insisted that the event could work, and he counted on late momentum. “The whole approach to this project has been to peak on May 25, not on March 1 or April 15,” he said last January. He initially had refused to speculate about what might happen if recruitment came up short, but in the past weeks has been forced to develop contingencies.

Support of Celebrities

The Mojave Desert, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, all sparsely populated for vast stretches, presented the biggest challenges. Efforts were made to encourage volunteers through advertisements in which Kenny Rogers, one of several celebrities lending support to the project, hopped into a four-wheel-drive vehicle and headed off for his spot on the Texas-New Mexico border. Similarly, Bo Derek has been dispatched to Blythe, Calif.

Some of the America’s toughest miles, along Interstate 40 where it winds across barren rangelands and colorful mesas in northern Arizona and New Mexico, will be covered by thousands of Indians attending a Native Hands Across America celebration near Gallup, N. M.

Local organizers have warned the Indians to carry plenty of water and food, watch for snakes and stay away from prairie dog dens because the animals may be infected with bubonic plague.

The Coca-Cola Co., a major corporate sponsor of the event, contributed a 2,000-mile-long, red-and-white rope to help extend the chain, and helicopters will cover the unfilled 94 miles from Tonapah, Nev., to Ehrenberg, Ariz., a distance that was declared off-limits because of “health reasons,” principally the possibility of heat exposure.

As with the L.A. Olympic Torch Relay of 1984, towns along the route appear ready to make Hands Across America an opportunity for strutting their stuff. Native Americans of the Pueblo tribe will dance in buffalo costume in Tijeras, N.M., and U.S. Navy Blue Angel precision pilots will buzz Billy Bob’s restaurant in Forth Worth, Tex., where hand-holders will be fed at a free barbecue.

Along the Line

The line will run through a baseball game in Pittsburgh between the Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds, and interrupt pre-race festivities at the Indianapolis 500. Go-go dancers will span a red light district in Sandusky, Ohio, and in Maryland, dairy cows will join in the queue of Americana, as will zoo elephants in New York City.

In Southern California, the line will visit a variety of neighborhoods. Mickey Mouse will hold hands on Main Street in Disneyland, and homeless men and women will participate in the meaner environs of downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

Maxine Johnson, president of the Weingart Center, a complex that provides medical and other services out of what used to be a transient hotel at 6th and San Pedro streets, was pleased that the same line that will extend to the White House is to run in front of her facility.

“For me,” she said, “the best thing about Hands Across America will be at that moment when people . . . will actually see need, not news stories, when they will see people, not statistics. They will see sons and daughters and husbands, maybe even a neighbor. And it will be hard not to join hands.”

Jimmie Morgan, special events coordinator for Los Angeles, said 300 traffic control officers would take positions at 266 intersections in the city where the line crosses, stopping traffic for a minimum of eight minutes.

“This will prevent any driver from looking out and seeing a green light and charging through the line,” he said.

Morgan estimated the enforcement will cost the city between $26,000 and $30,000 in overtime pay. He anticipated no major traffic tie-ups.

Officials at Hands Across America were warning callers on Friday not to give cash donations to anyone along the line. Legitimate donation forms will be passed out, but no money will be accepted by representatives of the project, and there were concerns about the possibility of bogus collectors.

Hands Across America officials said they expect 60% of the $25 million to $50 million generated by the event to be distributed to organizations dealing in immediate emergency relief for the homeless or hungry. The remaining money will be granted to as-yet-unnamed organizations providing longer-term aid.

About 25 corporations have donated either money or logistical support worth $200,000 or more. Officials said that Coca-Cola and Citibank contributed in excess of $3 million apiece, earning the right to place their names on the Hands Across America logo.

HANDS AT A GLANCE

Hands Across America is trying to attract 6 million people to hold hands across most of the 3,000 miles of the continental United States on Sunday in an effort to raise money for the hungry and homeless:

The route crosses 16 states and the District of Columbia. In California, about 400,000 people are expected to line up along 300 miles from Long Beach to Blythe.

The money--organizers hope to raise $60 million in contributions from those joining the line and from corporations--will be distributed by the USA for Africa board of directors to established groups and for long-range development projects. About $25 million has been raised to date, and the cost of the event is said to be between $12 and $18 million.

Sign-ups continue at TicketMaster locations, where individuals can make a pledge and be given an assignment in line. On Sunday, those who show up will be given a place in line and a donation envelope.

Those on line will join hands at noon, stay in place for 15 minutes and sing “We are the World,” “Hands Across America” and “America the Beautiful.”

Times staff writers Eleanor Clift in Washington, Siobhan Flynn in New York City, Louis Sahagun in Gallup and Victor Valle in Los Angeles contributed to this story.