American to Attend Waldheim Swear-in

The United States will be represented at the inauguration of Austrian President-elect Kurt Waldheim next Tuesday by the second-ranking diplomat at its embassy in Vienna, the State Department said Wednesday.

By sending Felix S. Bloch instead of a higher ranking official to the ceremony, the Reagan Administration will distance itself somewhat from Waldheim, who is accused of concealing a Nazi past. The move, however, stopped well short of a boycott of the event, which would have represented a formal diplomatic snub to a friendly country.

Waldheim, former secretarygeneral of the United Nations, was elected to the largely ceremonial post of president despite charges that he participated in or knew about Nazi atrocities in the Balkans while serving as a lieutenant in the German army during World War II. Austria was annexed to Germany during the Nazi Era.

Vice President George Bush and Secretary of State George P. Shultz frequently represent the United States at important ceremonies in friendly countries. When no special delegation is sent from Washington, the ambassador to the country is usually designated as the representative.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said that Ambassador Ronald Lauder had longstanding plans to be out of Austria on July 4-9, although ambassadors normally rearrange their schedules to attend presidential inaugurations.

“As always, in his (Lauder’s) absence, and as is normal diplomatic practice in the world, the charge d’affaires would attend.”