Bush Appoints Card His Chief for Transition

President Bush named Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card Jr. on Saturday to head his Administration’s transition team and to act as chief liaison with the incoming Clinton Administration.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said Card would have “overall responsibility” for assuring a smooth transfer of power to President-elect Clinton and would meet with Clinton’s representatives next week.

White House Chief of Staff James A. Baker III also will meet Wednesday with Vernon E. Jordan Jr., newly appointed chairman of the Clinton transition team, Fitzwater told reporters. On Friday, Clinton named Jordan, a Washington lawyer and former head of the National Urban League, to oversee the transition and appointed Los Angeles attorney Warren Christopher as day-to-day director of the changeover.

Also on Saturday, Bush told a national radio audience that, “I hope history will record that the Bush Administration has served America well.

“I am proud of my Cabinet and my staff,” said the President, who was spending the weekend at his Camp David retreat in the Maryland countryside. “America has led the world through an age of global transition. We have made the world safer for our kids.

“I realize that defeat can be divisive. And I want the Republican Party to be as constructive on the outside of executive power as it has been for 12 years on the inside. There must be no finger pointing, no playing the blame game. New ideas will flourish, and that is good.

“I take full responsibility for the loss. No one else is responsible.”

Along with First Lady Barbara Bush, the President will take a brief vacation next week at Boca Grande, an island off the west coast of Florida, where he plans to fish and relax, Fitzwater said. The Bushes will fly to Florida on Wednesday and return to the White House on Sunday.

In selecting Card for the liaison post, Bush noted that he had been deputy director of the Bush Administration’s transition in 1988 and later served as deputy White House chief of staff. Card was named to head the Transportation Department a year ago.

Robert Zoellick, who earlier was designated by Bush to assist the Clinton team, is Baker’s deputy and will help Card when needed, the White House said.