Reagan Sends Customary Note on Waldheim Victory

President Reagan on Monday sent what was termed the “usual diplomatic letter” of congratulations to Kurt Waldheim, elected president of Austria on Sunday amid allegations that linked the former U.N. secretary general to Nazi war crimes.

Contents of the message were not revealed. Nor was it disclosed whether Reagan touched on the continuing controversy over Waldheim’s role as a lieutenant in Nazi Germany’s army during World War II.

“The people of Austria have made their choice in a free and democratic election,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said in response to questions on U.S. reaction to Waldheim’s election. “The United States . . . will continue our close, friendly relations with Austria.”

In Vienna, Austria’s Socialist-led coalition government changed leaders Monday, a day after Waldheim, an independent conservative, defeated the Socialist candidate for the largely ceremonial post of president (Story on Page 8).

Here in Washington, Hyman Bookbinder, the representative of the American Jewish Committee, shrugged off Reagan’s message to Waldheim but called on the Administration to urge Austria to “take steps now to make sure that the recent evidences of an upsurge of anti-Semitism are stopped immediately.”

“I don’t think (the Reagan letter) is the central issue, but I’m sure there will be some raised eyebrows,” Bookbinder said in a telephone interview. “We send the normal diplomatic note when the Soviet Union elects a president. When we are not at war, we have to go through these diplomatic civilities.”

But he urged Reagan to inform the Austrian authorities, in public and through private channels, that the United States is waiting for them to “say things that will demonstrate they understand why there has been this much anguish about the election.”

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies in Los Angeles, said he was “dismayed” that Reagan congratulated Waldheim and the Austrian voters.

Cooper, responding to Speakes’ characterization of Reagan’s message as “the usual diplomatic letter,” said: “We do not believe there was anything usual about this election won by a person who has built his public career on a trail of lies and deceit. We’re dismayed that the Reagan Administration conveyed its congratulations to an electorate which apparently cannot find anything wrong with Kurt Waldheim’s past or apparently with the involvement of the Austrian people with the Third Reich in World War II.”

Gerald Margolis, director of the Wiesenthal center, said he was “appalled” by the Austrian electorate’s decision.

“It seems clear that the majority of Austrians, particularly the younger generation, either do not understand their past, or feel that Nazism is not something to be ashamed of,” Margolis said during a press conference in Los Angeles.

Margolis said that the center, which was instrumental in publicizing Waldheim’s war record, had sent telegrams to Reagan and to the European leaders urging them to refrain from congratulating Waldheim.

Cooper said that a postcard campaign has been initiated to try to persuade Reagan to bar Waldheim from visiting the United States.

“We plan to do our best to make sure Mr. Waldheim does not feel welcome here,” Cooper said. “If he comes, I think it’s safe to say--whether it’s (in) six weeks or six months--he can expect serious demonstrations wherever he goes.”

Meanwhile, Speakes said that the Justice Department will continue an investigation of Waldheim’s war record to determine if his name should be added to a “watch list” of about 40,000 people who are barred from entering the United States under the terms of a 1978 law excluding aliens who participated in Nazi atrocities.

However, Speakes conceded, the investigation is only a formality because the exclusion law does not apply to foreign heads of state. Nevertheless, he said, the investigation is mandatory under the statute.

Justice Department spokesman Patrick Korten said that, despite his immunity as a head of state, Waldheim could be prohibited from entering the United States if he was declared persona non grata , a designation applied to diplomats who are not acceptable.

“That would be a problem for the State Department, not for Justice,” Korten said. State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said the department will have no comment on the case until the investigation of Waldheim’s past is completed.

Times staff writer Tracey Kaplan contributed to this story from Los Angeles.