But She Doubts It Will Overshadow Husband’s Presidency : First Lady Unhappy Over Iran Scandal

First Lady Nancy Reagan expressed unhappiness Monday at the Iran- contra scandal, but she said she does not expect it to ruin her husband’s presidential legacy.

“It certainly is too bad it happened,” Mrs. Reagan told reporters on a flight to Sweden, where she is spending two days observing drug abuse programs and touring.

“You hate to have people out there doing things that you don’t know about,” she said, an apparent reference to the secret network of arms dealers and fund raisers whose exploits are being disclosed at the hearings on the scandal in Washington.

Noting that she only watches the televised hearings live “if I’m getting dressed or undressed,” Mrs. Reagan indicated that she does not expect the scandal to permanently overshadow the Reagan presidency.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “You have to look at the overall picture of what he accomplished.

“There’s so much that I think he’s done and it’s so long since we’ve had an 8-year presidency.”

Mrs. Reagan said she had discussed her opinion of the Iran-contra situation with the President.

“We both feel exactly the same about it,” she said, declining to elaborate any more specifically on exactly what their views are.

Mrs. Reagan’s opinions of the actions of White House staff members always have been believed to carry a great deal of weight with the President. The First Lady was reported to have been a key figure in the departure of former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan and several others over the years.

Given an opportunity Monday to express something positive about Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, a key figure in the Iran-contra affair, Mrs. Reagan demurred, even though the President called him “a national hero” before the investigations began to unveil the wide range of his activities.

When a reporter on Mrs. Reagan’s Air Force jet referred to the huge sums of money “changing hands through Col. North,” Mrs. Reagan’s only reply was: “It looks that way.”

Although she has watched little of the hearings, Mrs. Reagan said she follows their progress in newspapers and on nightly television newscasts.