Gephardt Attacks Reagan on Iran Sales, Contras, Gulf

Democratic presidential contender Rep. Richard A. Gephardt denounced Reagan Administration foreign policy across the board Thursday in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, charging that Reagan “has almost nothing to show after almost seven years in power.”

“Where is their Marshall Plan, their Peace Corps, their opening to China, their Camp David Accord?” the Missouri congressman asked.

Gephardt’s attack was in keeping with the increasingly bold Democratic assaults on Reagan since the Iran- contra scandal broke. But, while Gephardt hoped his version would add to the Republicans’ troubles, he was also trying to take care of a problem of his own.

‘The Stature Thing’

In the Gephardt campaign it is called “the stature thing.”

“In people’s minds, governors and senators are a bigger deal than congressmen,” said William Carrick, who is managing Gephardt’s presidential campaign in a field crowded with senators, governors and ex-governors.

“So the first threshold is to overcome this thing about congressmen, and the speech today was designed to do that in the voters’ minds.”

Speaking to more than 400 persons at the Century Plaza Hotel, Gephardt ripped Reagan on everything from the arms sales to Iran, to support for the Nicaraguan contras to the current American attempts to guard oil shipments in the Persian Gulf.

The congressman was especially critical of the lack of an arms agreement with the Soviet Union and pledged that “in the Gephardt Administration, arms control will be a priority, not an afterthought, it will be the first order of business, not the last refuge of a presidency which has run out of other initiatives and ideas.”

Would Halt ‘Star Wars’

The speech, which was interrupted a dozen times by applause, got its strongest response when Gephardt pledged: “I will halt dead in its tracks President Reagan’s plans for ‘Star Wars’ deployment now.”

The 30-minute speech also placed a special emphasis on the spirit of cooperation, which Gephardt charged was missing from the Reagan Administration.

As President, he said, he would work closely with Congress on foreign policy--including covert operations--and he would draw American allies into U.S. efforts to stabilize the Middle East.

Gephart’s delivery had more punch than usual, indicating he may finally be adjusting to running for President.

Boy Scout Manner

At 46, the redheaded, freckle-faced congressman still has something of a Boy Scout manner about him--a clean-cut earnestness.

Gephardt adviser Robert Shrum said Thursday that the final part of his speech was designed to turn that image into a plus.

“For the last seven years, we’ve been challenged to think only of ourselves,” Gephardt concluded. “Now we have to be challenged to do what’s right for this country.”

He then called for honesty in Wall Street boardrooms and compassion among the middle class for the less fortunate.

“If you want a structure for the whole campaign,” said Shrum, “that is it.”