Shultz Deputy Known for Candor, Not ‘Doublespeak’

In contradicting President Reagan on Monday over the Iranian arms-and-hostages deal, Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead held true to his reputation for candor, employing frankness unusual in the higher ranks of Washington diplomacy.

And, in his Capitol Hill appearance on behalf of Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Whitehead once again served as the point man in delivering the message of his superior.

It was typical of Whitehead, a 64-year-old retired investment banker who has long been known to shun the “doublespeak” of Foggy Bottom in favor of the bluntness of Wall Street. When summoned by Shultz for a job interview in March, 1985, Whitehead--who concedes that “I’m not sure how he found me”--was phasing out 38 years of service at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Lunches and Telegrams

Whitehead wasted little time in establishing his presence in government. Although the No. 2 post at the State Department usually involves attending diplomatic lunches and signing documents in the absence of the secretary, Whitehead’s beginnings were hardly so humble. He came to public attention when he was dispatched to Europe last January to enlist the support of U.S. allies in applying economic pressure on Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi.

Whitehead met with little success but, at a news conference on his return, displayed his candor by warning for the first time of possible U.S. military action if the Libyan leader failed to “change the pattern of his actions.”

He again became the official spokesman in the conflict with the Soviet Union over the detention of U.S. correspondent Nicholas Daniloff, who had been arrested in Moscow after the arrest of Gennady F. Zakharov, a convicted Soviet spy who had been employed at the United Nations. Whitehead had stoutly defended the apprehension of Zakharov just before the superpowers’ summit meeting at Reykjavik, Iceland, saying that “the time to arrest him is when you can catch him.”

Love for the Job

Notwithstanding a series of unpleasant assignments, Whitehead maintains that he likes his job. As he said in an interview earlier this year, “I knew I was going to find this job interesting, but I didn’t know that I was really going to love it.”

Despite his frankness in dealing with sensitive issues, Whitehead did not bring with him the fierceness often associated with other Wall Street alumni, such as White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan. On the contrary, he is personally mild-mannered and was regarded as somewhat old-fashioned in his business ethics, deliberately refusing to finance hostile takeovers.

But this same quality has drawn criticism from staff members at the State Department, who believe that Whitehead has taken a somewhat naive approach to complex issues. For his part, Whitehead believes that the deal-negotiating skill he acquired as a businessman makes up for lack of knowledge of the more intricate aspects of the department’s workings.

“Maybe one is better off not to know all the nuances but to come right to the heart of the matter,” he said. “And that’s what I try to do.”