Bush Calls for Summit on Budget : Invites Democratic, GOP Leaders to Meeting on Deficit

President Bush dove eagerly into his new job Saturday, inviting Democratic and Republican congressional leaders to a federal budget summit on Tuesday, then joyfully sampling the many facets of White House life, from the Oval Office to the sun-soaked lawns.

Bush dispatched a letter to the congressional leaders, addressing them by their first names and inviting them to the budget meeting. The letter, in which he proposed that he and they also look for ways to move toward a bipartisan approach on foreign policy issues, reflected a campaign commitment to begin attacking the federal budget deficit, which was $155.1 billion in 1988.

Speech to Congress

“I look forward to our working together on these critical issues,” he wrote. Bush is scheduled to spell out specific budget initiatives in a speech to Congress on Feb. 9.

But with that matter dispatched, Bush ebulliently sampled many facets of the presidency, exploring the White House he sought for so long--he got lost Friday night “trying to find a couple of kids’ rooms”--and trying out his desk in the Oval Office.

There were congratulations to be answered--Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev dispatched to Bush a brief note pledging to work toward a period of “stable and diverse development of relations between our countries.”

There was a fresh plea for the freedom of nine Americans taken hostage in Lebanon over the last four years--to the groups, believed to be supported by Iran, that are holding the hostages, the President issued the reminder that “good will begets good will,” a suggestion that their release would be met by improved U.S. relations.

There were matters of government to be dispatched--Bush signed the papers appointing 16 senior staff members to their White House posts.

Celebrates With Family

But mostly, Saturday was a day to stretch out and celebrate the arrival of the Bush Administration with the enthusiasm of a child in a candy shop--first with family members, then with fellow Texans in black-tie and boots, and finally at a rhythm and blues concert in the evening.

On his first full day in office, the new President, bubbling with enthusiasm, could not be contained. And so, he:

--Welcomed the first dozen or so of 4,500 tourists who trooped through the formal rooms of the executive mansion in a sort of White House open house.

--Showed his 87-year-old mother, Dorothy Walker Bush, the Oval Office, where he held an informal news conference.

--Conferred there with Chief of Staff John H. Sununu and received a national security briefing from CIA Director William H. Webster and National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft.

--Explored the two presidential studies next-door to the office, walked out to the patio and peeked at the covered swimming pool.

--Traveled to the State Department to speak with contributors who helped finance the inaugural celebrations.

--Led a gaggle of family members on an exploration of the expansive White House South Lawn and a glimpse of the tennis court, insisting that a duo of Bush sons could take on tennis pros Pam Shriver and Chris Evert.

And then it was noon.

In flocked 240 or so relatives--nephews and nieces, cousins and cousins’ in-laws, not to mention the four generations of immediate family members who spent the night at the White House, all 23 of them--for the First Family’s first lunch in the White House.

Bush arrived at the Oval Office for the first time as President a few minutes before 9 a.m.

Finds a Special Note

He sat down at the desk and found his chair too low, tipped it over and raised it. He checked the drawers of his desk, discovering the handwritten note left for him in the top center drawer by the office’s previous occupant. He read it to reporters who were invited in a few minutes later.

On stationery decorated by a drawing of an elephant under attack by a flock of turkeys, Ronald Reagan had written:

“Dear George,

“You’ll have moments when you want to use this particular stationery. Well, go to it. George, I treasure the memories we share and wish you all the very best. You’ll be in my prayers. God bless you and Barbara. I’ll miss our Thursday lunches. Ron.”

Bush confessed he was unable to find another note Reagan was said to have left in a dressing room, “over where the underwear goes.”

Later, in an address to the inaugural contributors, Bush continued to offer Congress the olive branch he extended in his inaugural address, saying that if approached “properly with the Congress, without rancor,” the deficit problem can be solved, although he said, “we’re not expecting miracles.”

The President, who has adopted a particularly cautious approach to foreign policy matters since he was elected on Nov. 8, was nevertheless sunny in his survey in this area.

Talks of Presidential Power

“I think I come in with a stronger hand now and I think the horizon is bright,” he said. But twice--at the State Department and in his comments to reporters in the Oval Office--he addressed the need for a bipartisanship and expressed concern about “the erosion of presidential power, particularly in the field of national defense and foreign policy.”

Of the hostages in the Middle East, he said he recognized that “you can’t finger any one country for holding Americans hostage against their will.”

“People have, in the past, facilitated the release of our citizens, and I’d love to see that happen again,” he said. “And I won’t forget it.”

As soon as Bush returned from his short motorcade to the State Department, he led his children and grandchildren on a 100-yard hike down the gentle slope of the South Lawn to see the tennis court, and then tossed a football on the walk back up the lawn.

“Where should we put the horseshoe pit?” he asked, turning first to an aide and then to a Secret Service agent. They gave the same answer to the President of the United States: Anywhere you want.

“See that squirrel up there?” he said, pointing to a creature atop the backboard. “When Millie gets here, he’s history.” Millie is the family’s pregnant English springer spaniel, who is in Kentucky after having been mated.

Issues Playful Command

To a grandchild who wanted to run up to the second-floor Truman Balcony to wave to the rest of the family on the lawn, he playfully issued a command to move quickly, because “I’m the only guy waving from that balcony.”

As the day usually does for Bush, according to aides, this one began at 6 a.m.

Of the 10 grandchildren who spent the night in the White House, “one got sick, so I had the duty at about 6 a.m. this morning . . . pumped a half a Tylenol into her, and she’s looking good,” he said. The ill child was Nancy Ellis LeBlond--2-year-old Ellie, who starred in a campaign commercial.

In the Oval Office, Bush confessed that “I couldn’t wait to come over here this morning.” And he said of his new life in the White House: “It’s so exciting over there.”

Sitting in the Oval Office during his brief session with reporters, he chose the white, upholstered wing chair to the left of the fireplace, the one he sat in when meeting with Reagan.

Introducing his mother, seated in Reagan’s chair to the right, Bush, mindful of manners and tennis skills, said: “This is the one that told me not to brag about myself and to bend my knees when I volleyed.”

Waves From Window

The public day began at 7:52 a.m., when Bush slid back a protective glass covering, raised a window and waved from an upstairs study to several hundred people on the White House driveway awaiting the start of what was billed as an inaugural open house but was really the daily tour of the first floor of the executive mansion. He carefully closed the window, with an electronic switch, and slid the protective glass back in place.

Some in the crowd had been waiting outside the gates since 8:30 p.m. Friday and they trooped sedately through the White House lugging blankets and sleeping bags.

The President and First Lady Barbara Bush joined the first group on the tour, led by White House curator Rex Scouten. One person is assigned full time, he informed the President and the tourists, to clean the windows and chandeliers.