Reagan Asserts His Endorsement of Bush Is ‘Enthusiastic’--and Not ‘Lukewarm’

President Reagan, declaring he was taken aback by news reports that said his endorsement of George Bush was lukewarm, took the unusual step Thursday of issuing a written statement asserting that he is “enthusiastic, fully committed and . . . will go all out to make Vice President Bush the next President of the United States.”

The brevity of Reagan’s remarks endorsing Bush at a Republican fund-raising gala Wednesday evening was defended by the White House, which said Reagan wrote the words himself and that they had been approved by the vice president.

“You can say it was brief, but it wasn’t lukewarm,” one senior White House official said.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Reagan was “mortified” by press accounts that noted his gesture of support was less enthusiastic than expected.

Bush Liked ‘Send-Off’

And Bush rejected the notion that he had any reason to be disappointed. At a stop in Albuquerque, en route to campaign appearances in San Diego, he told reporters: “I thought it was just great. . . . He showed me those remarks he had written by hand himself. I still have them. I think it was a great send-off.”

Later, in San Diego, Bush told a television interviewer: “There are a lot of political junkies around Washington, D.C., who don’t have much to do--but they made such a hue and cry that the President went out and said some more nice things. It’s stupid, its absolutely absurd, nobody doubts his support for me.”

Nevertheless, one day after Reagan’s announcement--a public embrace from “the great communicator” that had all the rhetorical flourish of a want ad--the unadorned remarks left Washington political figures groping for explanations.

“I can’t quite figure what happened there,” said one person who played a central role in organizing the dinner, which was expected to raise $5 million to $6 million.

President ‘Surprised’

Such reactions prompted the White House to issue a statement in which the President said: “I was surprised by the news reports that have said my endorsement last evening of the vice president was ‘lukewarm.’ I am enthusiastic, fully committed and, as I have said, will go all out to make Vice President Bush the next President of the United States.

“George has been a partner in all we have accomplished, and he should be elected,” Reagan said. “He has my full confidence and my total support. I will campaign actively on his behalf.”

In the long-awaited announcement Wednesday night, Reagan mentioned his vice president of 7 1/2 years only three times--mispronouncing his name once, as “Bosch,”--and offered little more than a one-sentence resume of the vice president’s career and a promise “to work as hard as I can” for Bush’s election, without giving any hint of why voters should support him.

Listing Previous Posts

In fact, the listing of Bush’s previous government posts was particularly sensitive because he has faced criticism that he is seeking to capitalize on a long list of non-elective jobs while failing to enunciate a vision of where he would lead the nation.

Reagan had held off making the endorsement until Bush emerged from the pack of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination and was left as the certain victor in the primary campaign.

Fitzwater said any suggestion that Reagan’s endorsement was “lukewarm” was “not accurate and most unfortunate.”

Reagan, he said, “thought the speech was terrific--he wrote it himself. He thought it was strong, a full endorsement of his vice president, whom he thinks incredibly highly of, and of whom he will be speaking out on behalf of time and time again in the campaign ahead.”

Reasons to Back Bush

“The President has thousands of reasons why people should vote for George Bush. And he will outline those in appearance after appearance in the next several months,” the White House spokesman said.

Meanwhile, another senior White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said aides to Reagan and Bush had given no thought to editing Reagan’s initial endorsement statement.

“When the President of the United States sits down and writes personally what he wants to say and gets the concurrence of the vice president, the staff goes along with it,” he said.

Another official said some presidential assistants had suggested to Reagan that the brevity of the announcement might be misinterpreted, but the President disagreed.

Staff writer John Balzar contributed to this story from San Diego.