Buchanan Says He Won’t Run for President

White House communications chief Patrick J. Buchanan said today he will not run for President, ending weeks of speculation that he might enter the race as a champion of conservative causes.

“Having explored this matter for several weeks, I reluctantly yield to the argument that a Buchanan candidacy launched in the near future would fractionate--and embitter--not unite, the leadership and rank and file of the conservative cause,” Buchanan said in a statement.

Buchanan, a one-time speech writer in the Nixon Administration, has been the White House’s most outspoken defender of President Reagan, accusing Republicans of abandoning the President in the Iran- contra scandal to protect themselves politically.

Ruling out a presidential race, Buchanan said that many conservatives had urged him to run.

“Others--some of the oldest friends I have in politics--have said pointedly that a Buchanan campaign would be the Pickett’s Charge of the American Right, that its only certain and predictable consequence would be to ‘mortally wound’ the campaign of Congressman Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), whose service to the cause has earned him an unimpeded shot at the nomination,” he added.