Robertson Counting on Backers’ Mercy

Pat Robertson, candidate for President, moral crusader and pioneer television preacher to millions, said Thursday he is counting on “forgiveness” from supporters after the disclosure that his son was conceived out of wedlock and that he fudged the date of his marriage to hide the fact.

On the campaign stump, Robertson acknowledged that the sudden controversy about his rakish past--and about his misleading account of his wedding date--is embarrassing and painful.

Sees No ‘Negative Impact’

But he added, at a Philadelphia press conference: “This isn’t going to have a negative impact on me because the people who support me understand forgiveness.”

Robertson is now the fourth candidate for President--the first Republican--in this turbulent pre-election year to be shown in public as different and less virtuous than they presented themselves to be on the campaign trail. Two of them, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart and Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., dropped out because of the revelations.

The Wall Street Journal this week ignited the controversy with an account of Robertson’s life before his religious conversion--falling in love with his wife, Adelia, known as “Dede,” getting married on Aug. 27, 1954, and having their first of four children, a son, 10 weeks later.

This triggered a story the following day in the Washington Post. The Post said it previously was told by Robertson that he was married on March 22, 1954, five months earlier than he really was. In an interview with the Post, Robertson acknowledged giving a misleading account and moving his wedding date back to March 22, which actually was the date the couple’s son was conceived.

Asks ‘a Little Mercy’

“I have never had this kind of precision demanded of me before. . . . I would ask a little mercy,” Robertson told the Post.

By Thursday, with questions still coming at him, Robertson was sounding an angrier note, however. He blamed the press for “stepping over the line.”

“I think frankly it is outrageous to pry into a man’s past and try to do damage to a man’s wife and children under the guise of journalism,” he said.

Robertson previously has said it was “perfectly appropriate” to look into “every aspect” of a candidate’s life. “The only thing that I or any other candidate would ask is fairness.”

Compounding the embarrassment for Robertson is that just last week, in the speech that formally began his presidential candidacy, he called for a return of “the old-fashioned concept of moral restraint and abstinence before marriage.”

While an official of the largest organization of evangelical Christians said Robertson’s handling of his marriage date would not sit well with religious voters, two political experts said they did not think Robertson would be hurt by the episode.

Cites Dedicated Followers

“I don’t think it will have much impact on his constituency,” said Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. “These are people who are dedicated to him and his ideas. These people are “born-again” Christians, many of whom I imagine sowed a few wild oats in their own distant pasts, before they were converted. I don’t see them getting especially upset about something that happened long ago in Robertson’s past, or, for that matter, over how he handled the incident.”

Howard Phillips, chairman of the Conservative Caucus, offered a similar view.

“I don’t think this is going to hurt Pat Robertson’s candidacy,” said Phillips, who has not endorsed a candidate for President. “I think those who don’t start out sympathetic to Robertson will accept his explanation that he didn’t disclose (his true marriage date) out of decent reasons as opposed to devious reasons.”

On the other hand, Forest Montgomery, an official of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, said he thought Robertson may have hurt his cause with religious voters.

‘Emphasis on Honesty’

“That’s not going to go over well,” said Montgomery, counsel to the association’s office of public affairs. “I’m sure some people will think he should have come forward with the news about this a lot earlier. There is a great emphasis on honesty and integrity among these people.”

A more forgiving attitude was taken by Alice Faye Redd of Polk County, Fla., the state in which Robertson faces his next noteworthy political test in a November straw poll. Redd is one follower unfazed by the news of Robertson’s marital miscue.

“I suppose it will cause a bit of a fuss, but I don’t think many people will hold it against him,” said Redd, an evangelical Christian who chairs Robertson’s campaign in Polk County. “I think a lot of people would fudge a little on a marriage date to protect their children.”

In his Philadelphia appearance Thursday, Robertson emphasized that he has not shied away from his rowdy, pre-evangelical days.

‘I Sowed Plenty of Them’

“I have never, ever claimed that I was free from the normal life of a young college man. I have never, ever indicated that in the early part of my life I didn’t sow some wild oats. I sowed plenty of them,” Robertson said.

Hugh Morken, who teaches government at Oral Roberts University and who is working on a biography of the preacher-turned-politician, said that Robertson has often referred to past “sins of the flesh” in speaking and writing. But Morken said he knew of no instance in which Robertson revealed that he had conceived his child out of wedlock.

“Robertson’s said, ‘Look I’ve done things I’m ashamed of, but I did them before my conversion.’ He’s said that on the campaign trail repeatedly,” Morken said.

College Studies Questioned

In addition to the controversy over his marital history, Robertson faced questions Thursday about other footnotes on his resume, including a claim that he undertook graduate studies at the University of London, but it was disclosed that his studies amounted simply to a summer arts course for American tourists.