Robertson Projects Cabinet

Republican presidential aspirant Pat Robertson told Southern conservatives Saturday that he would name industrialist H. Ross Perot to be his defense secretary and Interior Secretary Donald P. Hodel would be his chief of staff.

The former television evangelist also said his Supreme Court nominees would be “men and women of the stature of Judge (Robert H.) Bork,” the Reagan nominee rejected by the Senate.

Robertson, 57, spoke to about 200 people at the Southern Conservative Leadership Conference ’87 and outlined a conservative platform. He said that he already has the support of about 3.3 million Americans.

Robertson also vowed not to choose a liberal as his running mate “to balance the ticket.”

Perot, the Texas billionaire, in the late 1960s led an effort to force North Vietnam to release American prisoners of war. In 1979, during the Iranian revolution, Perot sponsored a team of 15 commandos to rescue two Americans from a Tehran prison.

Robertson added: “My first week, I would ask for the resignation of all (Jimmy) Carter holdovers.”

Any agreement with the Soviet Union would depend on Soviet troops leaving Afghanistan, Cuba and Nicaragua, Robertson said. The Soviets also would have to remove the Berlin Wall, he said.