Buchanan Won’t Be NATO Envoy

Opposition by the State Department has killed a bid by Patrick J. Buchanan, President Reagan’s outspoken and controversial communications director, to be named U.S. ambassador to NATO.

Buchanan, who has been waging a one-man blitz in defense of Reagan’s handling of the Iranian arms-and-hostages scandal, told reporters Friday that the “national security leadership” supported him for the post, but “I flunked my orals at the Department of State.”

He said he assumed that Secretary of State George P. Shultz had rejected his being nominated, but he joked that “it probably was a unanimous vote at State.”

Buchanan, a hard-line conservative who has criticized Shultz for publicly repudiating Reagan’s Iranian arms policy, said he withdrew his name from contention “yesterday or the day before.”

He acknowledged he had been told that his nomination would result in opposition from within NATO and would cause a fight on Capitol Hill. Other sources said that that was a primary reason for the State Department’s opposition.