First Lady: North ‘No Hero’ : Reagan Doubts Credibility of Blacks Criticizing Him

President Reagan, in a far-ranging television interview to be aired Sunday, said he wonders if black leaders critical of him are sincere or rather have something to gain by “keeping alive the feeling that they’re victims of prejudice.”

The interview with President and Mrs. Reagan, to be aired on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” includes a wide range of topics and a remark by the First Lady that she does not consider Oliver L. North a national hero.

When asked about his civil rights record, Reagan became a bit defensive. He said that as governor of California, he appointed more blacks to top positions than all previous governors in the state combined and that as a sports announcer he was a member of a “little group in the nation that editorialized constantly” that blacks should not be barred from major league baseball.

The President then indicated he feels black leaders critical of him may be disingenuous.

“Sometimes I wonder if they really want what they say they want because some of those leaders are doing very well leading organizations based on keeping alive the feeling that they’re victims of prejudice,” Reagan said.

“60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace then asked Reagan if he was talking about Jesse Jackson or NAACP Executive Director Benjamin Hooks.

“Well, you name the names. I won’t,” Reagan said.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters today in response to questions that the President “has made the statements several times over the years.”

“He certainly recognizes prejudice in this country and said it should be reformed. But he believes some black leaders have their own agenda,” Fitzwater said.

On other issues, Reagan said ethical problems in his White House--including the departure of more than 100 appointees amid ethical misconduct allegations--have been “greatly overemphasized.”

As for former White House aides North and John M. Poindexter, Reagan repeated his assertion that their Iran-Contra trials should proceed without a presidential pardon.

‘Some Unanswered Questions’

Reagan said, “There are some unanswered questions, not that I believe that they’re guilty of them, but in the whole Iran-Contra affair. . . . It has been terribly distorted by the media up and down. We never were doing business with (Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini. We never were trading arms for hostages.”

Meanwhile, Nancy Reagan said she felt let down by North and Poindexter.

“I think that, I think that Poindexter should have, should have told Ronnie,” she said, adding she disagrees with her husband that North should be considered a national hero.

“Sometimes we disagree,” she said.

The President said perhaps the lowest moments during his eight years in office came in 1987, when both Reagans were hospitalized separately for cancer surgeries, Mrs. Reagan’s mother died and the Iran-Contra scandal was exposed.