Will Continue to Protect Reagan, First Lady Says

First Lady Nancy Reagan, in her most extensive defense of her role in official White House issues, said Thursday that she will continue to protect her husband and “if that interferes with affairs of state, then so be it.”

Her impassioned remarks broke weeks of silence that followed publication of at least three “kiss-and-tell” books by former White House aides painting an often unflattering portrait of her involvement in a wide range of White House matters.

“There’s one thing on which any First Lady must be a stone wall: The First Lady is first of all a wife,” she said in a speech delivered to about 1,000 spouses of participants in the World Gas Conference meeting in Washington.

Comments Draw Applause

Her comments surprised some of President Reagan’s most senior aides, as well as others in the White House West Wing, where the Oval Office is situated, and drew applause for her defense of her involvement in the presidency.

“Good for her,” one White House aide said.

“My goodness,” a senior official said when Mrs. Reagan’s remarks were read to him.

As the Reagan presidency winds down, the First Lady has become a center of attention, largely as the result of the disclosures in “For the Record,” Donald T. Regan’s account of his two years as White House chief of staff.

Regan wrote that her interest in astrology led her to take a direct hand in the preparation of the President’s schedule and the timing of, among other things, the signing of the U.S.-Soviet treaty eliminating medium-range nuclear weapons from the superpowers’ arsenals.

Former White House spokesman Larry Speakes and Michael K. Deaver, a longtime Reagan adviser who served as deputy White House chief of staff, also have written books providing looks at life inside the Reagan White House, which included references to Mrs. Reagan’s role.

The First Lady has drawn attention--much of it critical--for her efforts to fend off White House aides and others while Reagan has recuperated from a variety of medical procedures, including the surgery he underwent in July, 1985, to remove a malignant tumor in his colon, as well as during the recuperation period after the attempt on his life in March, 1981.

‘Look After Him’

“A President has advisers to counsel him on foreign affairs, on defense, on the economy, on politics, on any number of matters,” Mrs. Reagan said. “But no one among all those experts is there to look after him as an individual with human needs, as a flesh-and-blood person who must deal with the pressures of holding the most powerful position on Earth.

“Take, for example, when a President is hospitalized. Yes, there are demands of government, but there are also basic personal rights every President should not be denied,” she said. “As a wife, I believe my husband has as much right to a normal recuperation as any other husband.”

“No First Lady need make apologies for looking out for her husband’s personal welfare. It’s an important, legitimate role for a First Lady to look after a President’s health and well being. And if that interferes with affairs of state, then so be it,” she said.

Although Mrs. Reagan made no mention of the recent books, her comments appeared to respond to the published criticism of her forceful role, in the view of some White House staff members.

‘Foremost a Wife’

Elaine Crispen, the First Lady’s press secretary, said that Mrs. Reagan had been invited to discuss her role as First Lady, and she chose to tell her audience that “one of her hardest roles is making people realize she is first and foremost a wife, and that she takes care of him (the President) as a human being.”

But, she said: “I don’t think she meant to imply in this speech anything about Don Regan or his book.”

One senior White House official, however, said that “maybe she decided after the (Moscow) summit was over that it was time to answer all the critics.”

“I admire her for standing up and laying it all out,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “She didn’t pull any punches.”