Charles Lichenstein, 75; U.S. Envoy at United Nations Under Reagan

Charles Lichenstein, the No. 2 U.S. representative to the United Nations during President Reagan’s first term, has died. He was 75.

Lichenstein died Wednesday at a Washington, D.C., hospital during surgery to correct a problem in an artery to his heart.

Since 1984, Lichenstein had been a distinguished fellow in international relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington.

His service under U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick from 1981 until 1984 was highlighted by his 1983 rebuttal to a Soviet delegate who suggested the United Nations might be better off based outside the United States.

“We will put no impediment in your way, and we will be at the dockside bidding you a farewell as you set off into the sunset,” Lichenstein responded.

The exchange between Lichenstein and the Soviet representative, Igor I. Yakovlev, took place during the tense diplomatic atmosphere in the wake of the Soviet downing of a South Korean jetliner killing all 269 aboard, including an American congressman.

Attempts by then-Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko to land at civilian airports in New York and New Jersey were refused by the governors of those states, which led to the comment by Yakovlev.

While members of the House Arms Control and Disarmament Caucus urged that Lichenstein resign over the remark, public support was overwhelmingly favorable. Reagan also backed Lichenstein in the furor.

Born in Albany, N.Y., he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Yale University, where he later taught political science. He also taught at the University of Notre Dame and Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Conn.

He worked in the presidential campaigns of Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater in the 1960s. In 1962, he was head of research at the Republican National Committee. He later served as a special assistant to President Nixon.

He was a senior vice president of the Public Broadcasting Service in the 1970s.