Crisis Management From Afar: Quayle, Baker Also on Vacation

Much has been made about President Bush’s decision to manage the Persian Gulf crisis from his summer home in Maine, but virtually unseen for most of the crisis has been Vice President Dan Quayle, who is on a three-week vacation in Arizona.

And, in an Administration where the President has said he hopes all Americans will continue to “recreate,” also on vacation in the midst of the current turmoil is Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who is at his range in Wyoming.

Quayle “is constantly kept abreast through constant communications with what is going on,” said Craig Whitney, his assistant press secretary--who is handling the vice president’s media calls because Quayle’s regular press secretary, David Beckwith, is also on vacation.

Quayle was seen in the very early stages of the crisis, which began Aug. 2 with Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. But he left for Arizona on Aug. 11. He and his family are spending most of their time at his parents’ vacation home in Wickenburg.

Aides say Quayle has left the Southwest three times since then--once for a briefing in Washington last week by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and twice to attend GOP fund-raising events in Minnesota and Michigan.

Early in the crisis, Baker was a whirlwind of activity, visiting Moscow, where he received strong cooperation from the Soviet Union, and also visiting officials in Turkey.

But in the past week he has been out of sight in Wyoming.