The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

Intro ROBERT MacNEIL: Good evening. Leading the news this Monday, the White House denounced the kiss and tell book by former Chief of Staff Donald Regan. Poland's labor unrest spread to Warsaw as the Gdansk shipyard workers rejected a compromise. Sixty five people were killed in the fourth day of new factional fighting in Beirut. We'll have details in our news summary in a moment. Judy Woodruff is in Washington tonight. Judy? JUDY WOODRUFF: After the news summary, the Regan kiss and tell book and others like it are our major focus tonight. We talk about their impact and their propriety with former First Lady press secretary Sheila Tate, UPI's White House reporter Helen Thomas and two former White House press spokesmen, George Reedy and David Gergen. Then, Kwame Holman has a documentary report on the high cost of nursing home care. Finally, a look at some modern day cattle rustling.News Summary WOODRUFF: The White House reacted strongly today to the latest in a series of kiss and tell books about the President and First Lady. Spokesmen describe the book by former White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan as seeming to exploit the presidency or the First Family for personal self interest. A spokeswoman for Mrs. Reagan said she was taken aback, in her words, by the vengefulness of the attack. In the book, Regan, among other things, portrayed the President as hesitant and unassertive and his wife Nancy as relying heavily on an astrologer friend for advice about how to plan Mr. Reagan's schedule. Reporters asked the President today if he planned to continue to use astrology as a guide.

REPORTER: Mr. President, would you continue to allow astrology to play a part in the makeup of your daily schedule, sir? Pres. RONALD REAGAN: You asked for it. I can't, because I never did. WOODRUFF: Moments later, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told reporters that the President had misunderstood the question, that he thought he had been asked whether astrology was being used to make key policy decisions. Earlier, Fitzwater had left open the question of whether astrology still plays a role in the presidential scheduling. And a spokeswoman for Mrs. Reagan said that she will keep talking to her astrologer. Robin? MacNEIL: Leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said today that serious differences have developed between Moscow and Washington over on site verification of the medium range missile treaty. They and Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd said that ratification debate, tentatively due to begin on Wednesday, should not start until the differences are resolved. The Reagan Administration had hoped to have the Treaty ratified by the Moscow Summit at the end of this month. Democratic Senator David Boren, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said there simply has not been a meeting of minds on verification problems. WOODRUFF: A spokesman for Vice President Bush said today that the Vice President did know about allegations of drug trafficking by Panamanian strong man Manuel Noriega before Noriega was indicted earlier this year. Until last week, Mr. Bush was asserting he was not aware of Noriega's involvement in illegal drug deals. Campaign press secretary Pete Teeley said the Vice President did not have clear evidence of Noriega's activities, rather he'd received reports about Panama and a number of other countries. In Panama today, Civil Aeronautics officials accused U. S. Ambassador Arthur Davis of taking a Panamanian plane to a U. S. military base without authorization. U. S. officials said the plane carrying Davis flew to an American base because Panamanian agents harassed his security detail at a commercial airport. Also in Panama, long lines of people gathered outside banks early today because the banks permitted money to be withdrawn for the first time in more than nine weeks. Some customers said they waited for more than two hours before the banks opened. They had been shut down following a run on savings by panicky investors and the imposition of U. S. economic sanctions on the country. MacNEIL: In France, conservative premier Jacques Chirac is preparing to resign after being trounced by socialist Francois Mitterrand in yesterday's presidential election. John Simpson of the BBC reports on the outcome and impact of yesterday's runoff election.

JOHN SIMPSON, BBC: Election night celebrations are an old and noisy tradition on the Champs Elysees. Each new president of France is unofficially inaugurated like this, though during the Fifth Republic, which was founded 30 years ago by de Gaulle, the Socialists have only come out onto the street for celebration twice, 1981 and last night. The victory of Mr. Mitterrand, Mitterand the Second, as he's now being called, kept the diehards happy until 5:00 in the morning. But in the cold light of day it was clear that although we now knew who the president would be, who he would appoint as his Prime Minister, or exactly what sort of government he would create was less certain. Yesterday's result has righted a kind of malfunction for the French constitution. The President serves for seven years and appoints the government from among his supporters. But elections to the National Assembly of the French Parliament happen every five years. Yesterday, as the enthusiasts were starting to celebrate Mr. Mitterrand's win, one of the main contenders for the job of Prime Minister slipped unobtrusively through the crowd. Michele Rocard is on the right of the Socialist Party, very much a moderate. MICHELE ROCARD, Socialist Party Deputy: You cannot change a country by sudden moves which frighten, surprise and which have no sociological and cultural roots. We have to build a center and left alliance in this country. But this is not an affair of meeting someone once. SIMPSON: The new Prime Minister, might it be you? Mr. ROCARD: Why not as well?

SIMPSON: But round at the Prime Minister's office the lawful tenant was still in occupation, though the process of moving out had begun. MacNEIL: In Poland, the two week old labor unrest spread to Warsaw today. Workers in three departments of the Ursus Tractor Factory stopped work. In Gdansk, strikers at the Lenin Shipyards turned down a compromise offer from management because it did not include legalizing the outlawed union Solidarity. Shouting, ''There is no freedom without Solidarity,'' the workers rejected an offer to free some alleged political prisoners and rehire activist workers. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said that ''Management negotiators are trying to treat us like hooligans and are not taking us seriously. WOODRUFF: The State Department announced today that Secretary Shultz will make his fourth trip to the Middle East soon in another effort to find a diplomatic solution for the region. A spokesman did not say whether Israel or any of the Arab governments had changed their positions. But he did say that all parties had urged Shultz to return. The trip will come in early June following the summit in Moscow between President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev. Meanwhile, in Beirut, Lebanon, violence continued for the fourth day in a row between rival factions of Moslem guerillas. Police said 65 people were killed and 150 wounded today, bringing total casualties since last Friday to 154 dead and 367 wounded. Fighting is between moderates in the so called Amal militia and the more radical pro Iranian Hezbollah, or Party of God, faction. MacNEIL: Finally in the news, Education Secretary William Bennett told President Reagan today that he wants to quit in mid September. Bennett, a controversial and outspoken figure in the Administration says he wants to write a book, not another kiss and tell, but about education. That's our news summary. Now it's on to the fallout from the Regan book, a documentary report on the high cost of nursing home care, and coping with cattle rustlers. Portrait of a President WOODRUFF: We turn first tonight to the book that has set off a firestorm of comment and criticism. Donald Regan's memoirs of his years with the Reagan Administration, first as Treasury Secretary, then as White House Chief of Staff. Sales were brisk as the curiosity of first day buyers was piqued by assertions that Nancy Reagan has relied for many years on an astrologer for guidance with the President's schedule. In the book, Reagan says, ''Virtually every move and decision the Reagans made during my time as White House Chief of Staff was cleared in advance by a woman in San Francisco who drew up horoscopes to make certain that the planets were in favorable alignment for the enterprise. '' He goes on to write, ''At one point I kept a color coded calendar on my desk, with numerals highlighted in green ink for good days, red for bad days, yellow for iffy days, as an aid to remember when it was propitious to move the President of the United States from one place to another, or to schedule him to speak in public or commence negotiations with a foreign power. '' President Reagan on Friday expressed his anger over Regan's depiction of the First Lady.

Pres. REAGAN: I would prefer that if he's decided to attack me, but apparently from what we hear he's chosen to attack my wife, and I don't look kindly upon that at all. WOODRUFF: Joining us now to look at what this latest kiss and tell book tells us about the President and the First Lady are four observers, each with a different perspective on the internal workings of the White House. First, Sheila Tate, who was Nancy Reagan's press secretary during the first term, and is now managing director for the public relations firm of Hill and Knowlton. Helen Thomas is the White House Bureau Chief for United Press International and has been there for both Reagan terms. David Gergen was the director of communications at the White House in the first term. He is now editor of U. S. News & World Report. And from the studios of Public Station WMDS in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, George Reedy, former press secretary to President Lyndon Johnson and now a professor of journalism at Marquette University. Sheila Tate, you've worked in the White House as we've said for four years, the first term, was the First Lady as influential, is she as influential as Don Regan says she is? SHEILA TATE, Former Nancy Reagan Press Secretary: Not to my knowledge. First of all, I was involved in her schedule, not his. And she was very decisive in determining what she would do. I had never had any inkling of any astrological connection at all. So I was surprised. WOODRUFF: You never saw any evidence? Ms. TATE: None. WOODRUFF: She relied on a woman in San Francisco whose name, I guess, has come out over the weekend? Ms. TATE: No. And I never heard the woman's name before, never. WOODRUFF: Tell us a little bit more though about the First Lady's influence. How influential was she? Ms. TATE: Well, she always cared about his schedule, more so in the aftermath of an illness or the assassination attempt. And that was pretty well known around the White House. She resisted attempts to get him back to work too quickly, but that all seemed very reasonable to me. In fact, she used to refer to other presidents and their recuperation periods, she checked on some of those, and I think she wanted him healthy. Those kinds of things obviously she had I think a perfect right to have input into. WOODRUFF: David Gergen, Don Regan wrote that Mrs. Reagan regarded herself as the President's alter ego in political and official decisions. Did you see that side of Nancy Reagan when you were at the White House. DAVID GERGEN, U. S. News & World Report: She certainly was influential with regard to some of his political decisions. He regarded her as one of his shrewdest advisors and I think that history will bear out that he was probably right about that. She certainly had a major influence on the pacing of his schedule. She cared, as Sheila just said, a lot about his health, especially after the shooting and after the various health scares that he's had. I think she cared an awful lot about just how much work was piled up on him and also how often he traveled. I think she cared a lot about the people around him to make sure they were serving him well. But I think she kept a very clear demarcation between those kinds of concerns and policy. She is not a woman who would care particularly what the components would be of a tax change or what the components would be of a START agreement or something like that. She did care about schedules, she did care about his political health, she cared about his personal health. She did not get into the policy area. WOODRUFF: But we learned from the book that it was Nancy Reagan who urged the President not to speak out at a certain point in the Iran contra affair, that she demanded that a line on abortion be taken out of the State of the Union address in 1987. Mr. GERGEN: Well, I was deeply involved for the first three years in the preparation of various presidential speeches. I was never aware of her involvement in any speech. It may well be that in the privacy of the residence that she would review a speech and have some views on it. But on many occasions the President sat down and returned a draft, handwritten, for big speeches, pointing out what he wanted to say. And I can tell you there were times when we didn't want him to talk about certain things on the staff, such as social security, which was an issue he could not seem to put down. It was a tar baby issue, as you know, in the early part of the Administration. I have no doubt that he discussed with her some of the speeches, but I think that the portrait which emerges from this book about her interfering at every turn is simply wrong. Other Chiefs of Staff, I think if one talked to Jim Baker about his relationship with her, it does not fit this description. To that extent I'm not questioning the veracity of what he said, I'm questioning the kind of conclusions and the caricature that he's tried to draw here. WOODRUFF: Helen Thomas, you've had a chance to read excerpts of the book at least -- it was just made available today. Is this portrait accurate as far as you're concerned? You've covered this White House for almost eight years. HELEN THOMAS, UPI: Well, I think it came as a bombshell to all of us that astrology figured into their day to day life as much. I think there's no question both Sheila and David were -- they were in the White House at a time when there were layers and layers of authority. Sure, Mrs. Reagan didn't call Jim Baker, she called Mike Deaver, maybe ten, twelve times a day. She trusted him, he was a confidante, he was the intermediary. When all that was removed, I think that her influence and power grew simply because she felt she was more sensitive to what the President needed, she felt he -- it became a tight little island. There's no question she became -- she is a worrier. And all of these things converged. But I think it's -- I mean, Larry Speakes told me yesterday that he didn't know the horoscope business. So I feel a little bit better manning the barricades every day and not knowing this. WOODRUFF: Helen, how would you compare her influence to the influence of other First Ladies you've covered? Ms. THOMAS: I think that her influence is very strong because they are a couple, they're not a real whole family in the White House. I think they're together all the time, they love each other very much, they care about each other. I mean, her concern for him is very genuine. She's absolutely right. She doesn't have to apologize for caring about his health and welfare. So I think it's very strong. But I remember Roslyn Carter was accused of running the world. And Jimmy Carter wanted Roslyn Carter at the Cabinet meetings. I think Mrs. Reagan is very strong, and I think he wants her to be. WOODRUFF: George Reedy, how significant, how big a deal are these revelations about the President and about the First Lady? GEORGE REEDY, Former Johnson Press Secretary: Well, as revelations they don't particularly impress me. I don't find anything unusual in a man's wife being a confidante or being influential with him. In fact, I think there'd be something wrong with a marriage where the wife didn't have some sort of influence. We can think back to Eleanor Roosevelt, or we can think back to Roslyn Carter. That in and of itself does not leave me with any feeling of having encountered something unusual. What does leave me with a feeling of something unusual is the virulence of the few excerpts I've read. I have not read the whole book. And consequently I wouldn't seek to comment on it. But to have two White House staff members within a month come out with books that have such total bitterness to them, I think may say something about the White House itself and the kind of White House that we have had for the last few years. It's highly unusual for assistants to walk out of the White House feeling that they must under all circumstances come out with some sharp words. WOODRUFF: We want to get to that in just a moment, but George Reedy, do you have a problem with Mrs. Reagan's relying on astrology and if Regan is right, would that have a bearing, a major bearing on the President's schedule? Mr. REEDY: Again, I am hoping that the President merely humored her. Which quite often a husband does have to humor a wife. And quite possibly her astrology may have covered some very shrewd insights, I don't know. If he didn't humor her, then of course I would have a rather grave problem with it. It's difficult for me to accept astrology as a legitimate branch of knowledge. WOODRUFF: Sheila Tate, how big a deal do you think this astrology disclosure is? Ms. TATE: Well, I think it's embarrassing. But you know, on the point of what kind of White House it is -- WOODRUFF: Let me just -- why is it embarrassing? Ms. TATE: Well, maybe that's my own proclivity. I don't believe in it. I think it's relatively trivial and harmless, and I think it's a short term embarrassment, but it's -- I was caught off guard by it, and it bothered me. I think, Helen, that Nancy Reagan had less access after Jim Baker left and less ability to talk to someone on the West Wing. And I think it was because -- WOODRUFF: You're saying in the second term in other words -- Ms. TATE: Yes. I think it was because Donald Regan didn't take her seriously, didn't like dealing with her. And I think there's a whole history of his having problems dealing with women that backs me up. WOODRUFF: Helen? Ms. THOMAS: I think that's probably true. But he probably couldn't stand taking ten phone calls. He's a macho, locker room type, and so forth. He did try to put a buffer in between and she didn't quite like that. So I imagine -- but still, I mean, he was appalled that Mrs. Reagan was trying to call the shots. And you may be right, it's true that with Deaver she had the total entree and this way she felt she was being blocked, which infuriated her. Because she does know the President very well, better than anyone else. WOODRUFF: How do you see that, David Gergen? Mr. GERGEN: Well, I must say for starters, I don't think we should necessarily assume this is only Mrs. Reagan's interest. I think the President has some interest. He reads the horoscope, not with the same passionate interest apparently, but you know there are times when wives have to humor husbands too. And I don't think we ought to overlook that. WOODRUFF: Does the President consult his horoscope? Is that what you're saying? Mr. GERGEN: I think -- I think we ought to be careful about in journalism tut tutting people. After all, we're the people in journalism who'll print these things. And if people read our newspapers and read the horoscope in the Washington Post -- yes, he does. I think he does take a look at it. I don't think he looks at it with a lot of great degree of faithfulness, but I think he looks at it. But now is he guided by it? Let's not -- I don't think we ought to let this get out of bounds. In the first few pages of the Regan book he says the question came up about the President having an operation and Mrs. Reagan thought maybe she ought to talk to this person out in San Francisco. At the time the President said Let's get going, I want to do it tomorrow, let's forget this. And that's what he did. WOODRUFF: All right. Robin? MacNEIL: Donald Regan's is far from the first insider memoir to ruffle the feathers in the Reagan White House. There had been embarrassing revelations by former Budget Director David Stockman, former Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver, and most recently former Press Secretary Larry Speakes, who wrote that he'd made up quotes and attributed them to the President. The reaction cost Speakes his job at Merrill Lynch. Last week he talked about that reaction with Charlayne Hunter Gault.

LARRY SPEAKES, former Reagan Press Secretary: You would hope that the media would read the book, particularly those who read books and review books. But I think, you know, in the case of Stockman's book, I think people reviewed the $3 million advance and not the content of the book. I think in my book they've reviewed the controversy and not the content of the book. HUNTER-GAULT: You expressed some surprise that the media would zero in on these zingers, as you call them. I'm surprised that you're surprised. Mr. SPEAKES: Well, of course, I know how the media operates. And I know that this day and age you know so much of journalism, even covering arms control or covering the federal budget is not issues but personalities. And I'm quite well aware of that. But you know, you would hope that a book of 330, 40 pages would be read in its entirety and would be taken in its full context. And you know, when you come down to Don Regan's book about astrologers, is that what news has come to in this day and age? MacNEIL: George Reedy, is there something unprecedented in the quantity and character of the books from this Administration and the number of, to use Speakes' words, zingers that they contain? Mr. REEDY: I think it is unprecedented to have at this early a time the number of rather virulent books that have been -- I have read Larry Speakes' whole book, and the impression that I get is of a man who didn't like anybody around him and who felt that he was being besieged by everybody around him. And was getting off of his chest a long series of dislikes and retaliations against people that he thought had taken cracks at him. I have not read the Regan book yet. But from the excerpts that I've read, it seems that he, too, is expressing a terrific amount of anger. And it's the anger within these books that I think is somewhat unprecedented. Previous administrations have had plenty of books, I don't know if you want to call them kiss and tell or what have you, but most of them were written a number of years later and written with a certain amount of philosophical consideration. That's why I'm rather interested in these books. Not quite so much in terms of what they're saying, but what they reveal about what must have been the atmosphere that can produce that much madness. MacNEIL: Does that conform with your view of it, Helen Thomas? You've seen a number of administrations. Ms. THOMAS: Well, I'm more interested in the information it's providing. We cover the White House eight days a week we think. And to find out these things, better late than never. I'm glad to have the information. I know it hurts the First Family, I know Mrs. Reagan's very upset and I don't blame her. And I guess hell hath no fury like a man scorned. And it certainly does show the turf wars that went on. I have to blame the President because if he permitted all of this kind of backbiting and wasn't aware that he was going to be the target eventually, it's sort of amazing. But information, that's what -- our business is information, so I'm glad to find out what's going on, how things are scheduled. MacNEIL: David Gergen, is anger the word to characterize this White House? Mr. GERGEN: Anger is the word to characterize many of the people having written books and have seen how much destruction people who have written these books have done. These books are a breach of trust. Not just in regard to this President, but with regard to the office itself. This is not the way we can conduct business in this government, whether it's this administration or any other, and expect to have good results. I talked to one of the highest officials in this government over the weekend who shall go unnamed. He said, I cannot speak candidly in front of this president in a group of people, because I cannot tell who's going to write what the next day in a memoir. If people have to come to meetings thinking that other people in the room are wired for sound and are going -- so they have to speak for history, then it's going to in effect destroy free communication, candid discussion in front of a president. I think it's not simply, this doesn't simply undermine this president, but I think it's very destructive of the very office they have an opportunity to serve. MacNEIL: George Reedy said anger. What is there in this White House that would generate this unprecedented flow of books that are so full of anger, or whatever, however you want -- Mr. GERGEN: I'm not sure. I puzzle over that. I really don't have the answer to that. MacNEIL: I mean, other administrations as George Reedy said, there have been lot of books, but they've been later, more philosophical -- Mr. GERGEN: I think several things have happened. First of all, over the years the White House staff has become much more powerful. As many more people on the White House staff have become television personalities while they're in the White House they've become marketable. There's a lot more money that's floating around now if you're willing to tell these tidbits and gossips. And it's preposterous to argue that somehow, as Larry Speakes does, that the media's responsible for seizing on this. Don Regan knew exactly what he was doing when he put all this astrology -- it's in the first page of his book. He knew exactly what he was up to. MacNEIL: You mean the zingers were put in there because they're commercial. Mr. GERGEN: Sure, for the commercial value. MacNEIL: Sheila Tate, what is your explanation of why this administration, this White House, has produced this flood of this kind of book? Ms. TATE: Well, this is the first time we've had an eight year administration in 30 years. It's also, as David said, big money, combined with big egos. MacNEIL: George Reedy, what does all this do to the working image of the president? Mr. REEDY: Well, I'll tell you, I think myself -- MacNEIL: The practical image that he has to use as a commodity each day in the remains of his presidency. Mr. REEDY: Well, I think that for the rest of the presidency people are still going to like Mr. Reagan. One of the strangest features that I have come across is that it doesn't seem to matter what he does or what he says or what other people do, or what other people say, he is still liked, even by people that do not agree with what he is doing. And I think that in terms of the president himself, I doubt if that is going to make any real change. And I doubt whether over the long run it's going to make any change in the presidency either. I myself believe that presidents usually get what they deserve. I think that they get intense loyalty from their staffs if they have managed to conduct themselves in such a way as to generate that loyalty. And I think they get disloyalty if they've conducted themselves in such a way as to generate disloyalty. But I really -- this is one of the few times that I've ever disagreed with Dave Gergen. I don't think that this is undermining the office as such. I think that this is an episode which -- it'll have some historical significance. It may well be that Nancy Reagan has been made immortal by this book of Donald Regan's. But generally speaking, I think it's going to pass over as one more episode in the development of the presidency. And in terms of actual development, I'm much more concerned about Larry Speakes' book, which revealed an actual preemption of the President's prerogatives, and I'm much more worried about what Oliver North and Admiral Poindexter said -- they also were preempting the President's prerogatives. Those are the long range things, or rather those are the instigators of long range things that I find really worrisome. MacNEIL: David Gergen, Mr. Reagan still has many months in office. What do all these -- particularly the last two books, that somebody spoke for him -- Speakes made up quotes at the last Gorbachev summit -- that consulting astrologists -- what is this going to do in the practical working out of his office? Functioning as a president? Mr. GERGEN: I think it's going to make it more difficult. MacNEIL: He's going to go to Moscow -- Mr. GERGEN: He's going to go to Moscow, and you can only imagine what kind of horse laughs the Soviets are now having. And you can see Mr. Gerasimov chuckling to himself. I'm sure that there are a lot of private jokes. Whether they'll try to take advantage of it is another matter. I do think, and George and I do have a disagreement on that, we all know that people in the last 15 years in Washington for a variety of reason no longer put on paper their candid thoughts, because they might leak to Helen Thomas or the Washington Post, or others might print them, and they're very reluctant to put on paper something that Helen gets her hands on it, very rightly goes with it. So people have stopped talking to each other on paper. And now if they cannot talk in meetings and groups in front of the President, for fear that it's going to become an instantaneous piece of history, you know, I think you're going to have a very lame president, I think it's going to sour the impression of what's gone on in this White House. I think George is right to draw the kind of questions he's asking here about what kind of White House is this. And I frankly think it's going to have some political impact on the future of Reaganism. I think it's going to have some impact on George Bush's campaign. MacNEIL: Let's go back to that in a moment. The immediate impact on the way Mr. Reagan conducts the presidency with these revelations, Helen Thomas? Ms. THOMAS: Well, the immediate impact is that I think it has tainted the White House a bit and made it a subject of ridicule. I think it will be -- this too shall pass. I was surprised today that they didn't do some damage control, but maintained basically that Mrs. Reagan would continue to consult her astrologist, which leaves open the question every time the President makes a move or never holds a news conference, we will think that the astrologist is running the show. MacNEIL: Do you have a comment, Sheila Tate? Ms. TATE: All too much. I wish that all these books could have been written with a real interest in contributing to history and to the historical record several years, or at least a year after the Administration was over. But what do I know, I'm just a Pisces? MacNEIL: Well, speaking as a Capricorn, let me ask you this. Does the -- you mentioned a moment ago that it was just the opportunity and grievance -- George Reedy said disloyalty. Now, why would the White House that you worked in generate, whether they were going to make a lot of money to buy it or not, such disloyalty, which is what the Reagans are calling it today? Ms. TATE: Well, I think it is disloyalty. And I can't explain what went on in Don Regan's mind. I think that he had one of the largest egos of anyone who ever walked into the White House, and I think he couldn't stand -- he believed that Nancy Reagan was instrumental in his ouster. And I think that he -- if you read -- I just read the Time excerpts -- three times in the excerpts that I read he said, ''I deserved better treatment than this. '' And I think that's all Don Regan ever cared about was himself. And there was a huge outcry that he had to go. I think she joined a very loud chorus, including the major editorial pages of the papers around the country. I don't think that she initiated it. But anyway, I think he focuses all of his anger on her, and I think he decided he was going to extract his revenge, and I think that's what this is. MacNEIL: Does it look that way to you, Helen? Ms. THOMAS: Well, I do think that -- I talked to him today and he said that he felt that he should tell his side of the story, denies he's bitter anymore, that it's vindication, not vindictive and so forth. There is a bit of get even; more than that, throughout the book, Nancy Reagan is the villain of the piece. And in both his book and in Speakes' book, the President comes off with shining armor and Mrs. Reagan gets it all the time. I don't understand that side of the -- MacNEIL: Does the President appear in shining armor to you, George Reedy? Mr. REEDY: No, not in either book. What -- Larry Speakes, for example, and I have read his whole book, and I have reviewed it. I did not, by the way, concentrate on the so called zingers. But what he does is paint a very unflattering picture of Mr. Reagan. He says you have to -- preparing him for a press conference is like reinventing the wheel. And he talks about his running out of material and small talk with Gorbachev. And then he goes ahead and says he nevertheless thinks that Reagan will be a great president. I don't regard that as a flattering picture. I do not know about Donald Regan's book, I haven't read it yet. MacNEIL: Okay. Thank you, George Reedy, David Gergen, Helen Thomas, Sheila Tate, for joining us. Costly Care WOODRUFF: Next tonight, the cost of keeping our older generation healthy. There has been a major debate in Congress on protecting the elderly from catastrophic medical expenses. But that legislation will not help protect senior citizens against the extraordinarily high costs of long term health care. In the past, such protection by the government was considered too costly. But in an election year, with an increasing number of voters over age 65, long term health care is getting a serious look. Kwame Holman looks at one family in Colorado devastated by nursing home fees, and he reports on some possible solutions to the problem.

KWAME HOLMAN: Lottie Hamm has been in a nursing home for eight years. Parkinson's Disease and a stroke have left her paralyzed from the neck down. Since she can't open her mouth, she must eat pureed food, fed through a syringe. Her daughter Jeanette Miller visits four days a week to care for her mother and give her treats. JEANETTE MILLER: How's your birthday cake? Good?

HOLMAN: But one thing the 47 year old daughter cannot do is pay her mother's nursing home bill of $2500 a month. That's because she already spent her nest egg of $50,000 on her late father's nursing home bills. Ms. MILLER: It bothers me more than anything for my husband, who is eight years older than I am and who will be facing retirement before too long. He works for a management company that does not have a retirement program.

HOLMAN: Lottie Ham's bills had been paid by Medicaid through the State of Colorado. The medicalassistance program for the poor pays the bills for 65% of the nursing home residents. But in December when Mrs. Hamm started receiving her late husband disability and social security checks, Medicaid dropped her. The agency said her income was now too high to qualify for assistance, $37 too high, even though she was still $1500 a month short of the money she needed to pay her medical bills. When Medicaid stopped covering her mother, Jeanette Miller signed legal documents absolving herself of financial responsibility for her mother's medical bills. Ms. MILLER: I hate to have to abandon her, and I feel very much like that's what I've done. Because I don't think she would have done that to me and I can't tell her. I can't tell her that I can't pay her bills. But she is on her own. That's not what she would do for me. My husband's been very supportive, and he's given me all the leeway in the world to help pay for her and for my dad. But there comes a time when I have to look out for him.

HOLMAN: Miller's action left the nursing home, which is part of the nation's second largest chain, holding the bill. Administrator Margaret Stauder. MARGARET STAUDER, Administrator: Here at Faircreek Facility we have five other patients that are in this exact situation that Lottie is in. And to date, from January, Lottie's bill has been $6000 more than what she has been able to pay us. Now, the facility can only support so many people in the situation. However, morally and ethically, what do I as the administrator here do? I mean, I can't really put people in Lottie's situation out in the parking lot or turn them onto the street.

HOLMAN: If the nursing home doesn't collect Lottie Hamm's bill, the Medicaid administration could demand the same price reduction for all Medicaid patients in the nursing home. In Colorado, Medicaid does not kick in the difference between the patient's income and the nursing home bill. Many other states are more liberal and do make those payments. Yet in every state in order to qualify for Medicaid, patients must be impoverished. They only are allowed minimal assets, usually under $2000 worth, and a limited income. They get to keep their burial plots, their wedding rings and their family home for at least six months. Dr. Abraham Kauvar has served as head of health and hospitals for both Denver and New York City. Dr. ABRAHAM KAUVAR, Senior Health Care Center: Can you imagine somebody who has lived all their life and saved a little money and has to spin down and has to become a pauper in order to get into the nursing home to have Medicaid? Fifty percent of the people who go into the nursing homes are financially able to take care of it for 13 weeks. At the end of that time they have no money left at all.

HOLMAN: Many elderly people not only are devastated by going on welfare, they're surprised that the federal health program aimed specifically at the aged, Medicare, doesn't cover their bills. Medicare covers only that 1% of nursing home residents who are recovering from an acute condition or who can be rehabilitated in a short time. Dr. KAUVAR: The survey in Massachusetts in 1986 showed that 79% of the people thought that Medicare covered all of their expenses for nursing home.

HOLMAN: Dr. Kauvar says there is a better way. He now runs a clinic that tries to keep the elderly out of nursing homes by treating every aspect of their physical, social and mental conditions. Dr. KAUVAR: Our philosophy is that we spend a lot of time on prevention, we spend a lot of time on mobilizing the resources for them, and we spend a lot of time on managing their program as they go along.

HOLMAN: Kauvar says his method saves money because his patients stay out of nursing homes, which cost $50 to $85 a day, use fewer drugs and visits hospitals less often. One of his success stories if Viola Roybal. Two years ago her doctor said she was near death and should be placed in a nursing home. Instead, her son took her home and enlisted the help of Dr. Kauvar's clinic. RON ROYBAL: It was hard in the beginning, it was really difficult. There were times when I had to stay up all night with her because at that time she was hallucinating and I wasn't sure whether I would be able to handle it. But now because of her condition getting so much better I'm able to appreciate the fact that I have the time to be with her now. Dr. KAUVAR: We supplied medical care, going out to see Mrs. Roybal if she needed it. So we had that in addition to what we have at the clinic. The result was that she's no longer going to the emergency room like she used to. She isn't a candidate for the nursing home because she's being able to be taken care of. And her cost is significantly less than $100 a month for what we provide. GAIL CORKERN: Well, tell me what you'd like me to bring you from Mexico. PATIENT: A boyfriend! Ms. CORKERN: A boyfriend, that's right. PATIENT: Well, I don't think I want one now. Ms. CORKERN: Oh, you don't? PATIENT: I'm too old.

HOLMAN: Nurse practitioner Gail Corkern works with the seniors in the clinic and in their homes. She checks regularly on those who live alone, patients like Joyce Dial. Mrs. Dial has had several operations, two heart attacks and a hip replacement. Ms. CORKERN: How have you been? JOYCE DIAL: Pretty good. Don't always sleep good at night. Ms. CORKERN: You're not sleeping? Well, tell me about that.

HOLMAN: Mrs. Dial can stay at home because she gets help from Medicaid and other government programs. But before she could get that aid she had to spend down her savings by buying a funeral plan. Mrs. DIAL: They will even come and get my body wherever I am, and take it right to their crematorium. And I don't want to even be embalmed, because I couldn't pay for that. But that ate into my savings.

HOLMAN: If she hadn't qualified for Medicaid, it would have been more difficult for the clinic to take care of all of her needs. Ms. CORKERN: There has been involvement with social workers and nurses and aides. It's only because people can spend down to the Medicaid level that all of this range of service is now available to them. It is cheaper in terms of cost to Medicaid to keep Mrs. Dial independent at home than it -- Mrs. DIAL: It seems to me it would because I've, my nephew was looking into this business of a nursing home, and I was amazed at what they were charging. And it seemed to me that I'd get by with much less expense and maybe happier.

HOLMAN: But Medicaid doesn't pay for everything. Mrs. Dial must pay part of the salary of a homemaker who cooks her hot lunches. She must pay rent, buy food and electricity. She can't afford a physical therapist. HOMEMAKER: If you can't finish it all you can have some, you know, you can finish it tonight. All right?

HOLMAN: One problem with staying at home and being poor enough to qualify for Medicaid is that it's tough to make ends meet. Mrs. DIAL: Chicken noodle soup and plums for dessert.

HOLMAN: Tim Webster says there are other problems with homecare. He represents pharmacists who advise long term care facilities. TIM WEBSTER, Consultant Pharmacists Society: It may not be less expensive, and in fact may be more expensive than nursing home care. The bottom line is that if in fact the individual has difficulty in toileting, getting in and out of bed, of dressing, maybe home care isn't the appropriate care setting.

HOLMAN: But there are other alternatives to nursing homes, as Elizabeth Skidmore found out. She found Kelly Noram, who runs a small group home for the elderly. The first time she was hospitalized, she ended up in a nursing home. Two months of bills ate into her small savings. But then she moved into Noram's group home and it is there that she returned after her most recent hospital stay. ELIZABETH SKIDMORE: I don't have that worry here that I had there. That I was going to run out of money before I could handle everything. When I first came here, they just made me feel so at home that I was so happy to be here and so when I was in the hospital I kept singing out I'd get back there some day. KELLY NORAM: I'd try to get up once a week and chew her out so she'd get up and do. Mrs. SKIDMORE: She did. She made me do it.

HOLMAN: Living in Noram's home costs $800 a month, cheaper than a nursing home, but still more than Skidmore's monthly income. When her savings are gone, she too might end up on Medicaid. While group homes and home care can be less expensive than nursing homes, it's clear that long term health care no matter where it's administered, is still too expensive for the elderly to manage on their own. The question is, is there a better way to help them pay the bills? One new solution being proposed is private insurance. Recently, 70 companies started offering policies. Mr. WEBSTER: Anybody who has a grandmother, grandfather or parents that fall into that age category should be looking at long term care insurance as one of the ways of dealing with the costs of that care.

HOLMAN: One problem with insurance policies that pay for long term care is that buyers often are mistaken as to what is covered. Jeanette Miller thought her mother had insurance, but her claim was denied on the grounds that her condition didn't fit the policy's narrow definition of an illness that required skilled nursing care. Mrs. MILLER: I don't think you'd want to hear what I feel about that. And I quite honestly cannot tell you how anyone could see my mother and not realize that she most definitely needs care, skilled care.

HOLMAN: According to Consumer Reports Magazine, policies now being offered seem to be more liberal. But the report warns that coverage still is confusing, that most benefits do not rise with inflation and that the premiums can be very costly. Dr. Robert Kane, who writes extensively about elderly health care, sees another problem as well. Dr. ROBERT KANE, University of Minnesota: If one is going to sell long term care insurance privately, then you have to make the benefits sufficiently attractive to encourage people to pay for them. The way you do that, of course, is to make the benefits under the government system pretty awful.

HOLMAN: May experts say the real solution lies with the federal government. The highly publicized catastrophic health care bill would not significantly help those who need long term care. But other legislation would. Most of the proposed laws would extend Medicare to cover home care or nursing homes, or to cover a range of alternatives. Critics say such legislation would be prohibitively expensive. Supporters insist the programs would be self financing. Dr. Kane says he has an idea guaranteed to be cost effective. Dr. KANE: We use the dollars that we're using more efficiently. The way to do that is to begin to provide out common centers, where one would pay more for patients who improve their status within the bounds to which would be reasonably expected. That is, one doesn't simply expect them to get better, because not everybody in long term care is going to get better. What you would do is you would reward those providers who in fact were able to work with patients to encourage them to function as independently as possible. We do just the opposite right now. We pay people more the sicker the patient gets.

HOLMAN: That concept is supported by many in the long term care industry. But Dr. Kane wants to go a step further. He wants to do away with the separation between Medicare and Medicaid. And establish one payer, one medical payment system. Dr. KANE: We need, and I think are coming to appreciate as a country, to develop a universal entitlement system that covers both medical services and long term care, certainly for the elderly. It's inefficient to spend all your time worrying about trying to move the cost from one pocketbook to the other.

HOLMAN: Those working on solutions to long term care are guardedly optimistic. But for those in the middle of the crisis there seems to be only one solution. Mrs. MILLER: Right now the only relief in sight financially is for her to die. And that's a very sad situation when you think that the only way it's going to get better is when she dies, she's no longer around. Where's the Beef MacNEIL: We close tonight with a slice of Americana. We look at cattle rustling in Texas with a modern day lawman who rides the range on horseback as well as behind the wheel. Dan Gifford of Public Station KUHT in Houston has our report.

DAN GIFFORD, KUHT, Houston: Doyce Cook is a vestige of Old West law enforcement, tracking cattle rustlers the same way his predecessors did. Field Inspector is the official term, cow cop some call him. But be sure and smile when you say that. Of course he's not always on horseback. He can't be. Not with a seven county beat on the Texas/Gulf Coast to cover that's as large as New Jersey and Delaware. As one of 32 special Texas rangers, Doyce Cook is a throwback to a time over 100 years ago when Texas cattle ranchers got their security men deputized. Salaries for field inspectors like Doyce Cook are still paid for by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association from membership dues, not public funds. In a high tech world, Doyce rides herd on crime in a world that many sophisticates don't realize exist, a basic world, where the morning light sends real cowboys riding off to round up cattle. Where real ranch work is still done under a hot sun with a hot branding iron. Where doing lunch means cornbread and beans on the front porch. And liking it. And evening entertainment might draw a giggle from city visitors. DOYCE COOK, Special Texas Ranger: Rustling is still a big business in Texas. We lose hundreds of heads of cattle to raids. They may slip in there and haul them cattle 150 miles and sell them. The next night they may go get them 20 or 30 more somewhere. Now, you're talking about 30 head worth $400 a piece $12,000 a night. GIFFORD: Twelve thousand dollars a night? Mr. COOK: Twelve thousand a night. You see, what we're saying, rustling's a big business.

GIFFORD:And all it really takes for a cattle thief to do is come out here one night, clip this barbed wire, lure these cows onto a waiting trailer with a little bit of feed, and away you go. That can be done in about 15 minutes or less. It's an amazingly easy crime to commit. Mr. COOK: And that's what makes it such a pliable business here. You're driving along a road and you see some people out there penning cattle on horseback and there's two trailers sitting around a pen, now you're going to think that's a thief? You're going to say -- Mr. Hatch is working his cows today.

GIFFORD: Rancher Rod Hatch drove us down to one of his pastures to show us just how easy cattle calling really is. Branding is still the preferred way of marking ownership, and hopefully discouraging rustling. Texas brands are registered by county, so there can be others with the same brand within the state. Since there may be duplicate brands. Some ranchers also register an earmark together with their brands. This cow used to belong to a state prison ranch and has both markings. Mr. COOK: You see this one here? When she turns her ear how there's a slice out of it? That's a prison earmark. With the State of Texas brand, with the star branded on the left hip.

GIFFORD: Calves often aren't branded, but the mama test resolves doubts about ownership. Mr. COOK: If that calf's stolen we can retrieve that calf and bring it back to that cow, and that cow will accept it as her calf. Proof of ownership. Proof of identification.

GIFFORD: Proof of ownership isn't required to sells cows at an auction. Possession is the rule. Whoever has them is assumed to legally own them. Ranchers trade to add to their herds, thin them out and raise money. Hackers buy for slaughter. Brand inspectors for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association record details of all sales and forward that information on to the Associations's home office in Ft. Worth. There it's entered into a computer bank. That data base can be used by lawmen as a reference in solving and prosecuting cattle thefts. Mr. COOK: Any livestock stolen in Texas can be prosecuted as a felony. Whenever you talk about cattle theft it's a serious offense still in Texas. We take it pretty serious.

GIFFORD: So serious it used to be a hanging offense, on the spot. At least one suspect feared it still was. Mr. COOK: -- whether he saw some nylon ropes in the back of my car indicated to me that he thought that I was fixing to take him off down the County Road and hang him.

GIFFORD: Matagorda County Sheriff Sam Hurda is an old friend of Cook's. On this occasion a suspect has been found after a long hunt. SAM HURDA, Matagorda County Sheriff: Hey, got some good news. Located that guy you've been looking for haven't they? Mr. COOK: Yes, sir, it took about two years. He surfaced in Wyoming --

GIFFORD: For Cook that is good news. The kind of news that tempts him to go to Wyoming and see if that suspect can be brought back to Texas. If there weren't more pressing issues in his own back yard. Sheriff Hurda draws on Cook's statewide authority and persistence to make cases that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Sheriff HURDA: You know, he's like a bulldog. He gets on the trail, he stays on the trail and that's true law enforcement. Anybody who'll do something like that and not worry about punching a clock. Recap WOODRUFF: Now a final look at the major stories of this Monday. The White House denounced former Chief of Staff Donald Regan's kiss and tell book. A spokesman said Regan was exploiting the presidency for personal self interest. In Poland, strikers of the Gdansk Shipyard rejected a compromise offer as the strike spread to a tractor factory in Warsaw. And in Beirut, Lebanon, 65 people were killed in the fourth day of factional violence. Good night, Robin. MacNEIL: Good night, Judy. That's the NewsHour tonight. We will be back tomorrow night. I'm Robert MacNeil. Good night.