CAMPAIGN ’88 : Nancy Reagan Cool to Bush? Both Deny It

Vice President George Bush reacted strongly to a report that Nancy Reagan was not supportive of his presidential campaign. In a letter to the First Lady, he said: “I’ll be damned if I let anything nasty come between us,” an aide disclosed Tuesday.

Elaine Crispen, Mrs. Reagan’s press secretary, described as “sheer foolishness” reports in Time magazine and Knight-Ridder Syndicate publications that she did not have “much affection or trust for Bush” and that she would be reluctant to turn the White House over to the vice president and his wife, Barbara.

“She’s totally supportive of them,” Crispen said. “There’s no feud between them.”

She said Mrs. Reagan telephoned Bush on Monday to tell him she had read the reports and that “of course, it wasn’t true.” She said the First Lady also expressed her chagrin to Barbara Bush.