Nation: An Idea Man For CIA

Who has no time for detail

As a young spymaster for the U.S. in World War II, he wore Navy blues that were usually spotted with crumbs, peanut butter and cigarette ashes. But behind that disheveled appearance lay a keen and free-wheeling mind that, by war's end, enabled him to put together a network of 150 agents in Nazi Germany. Now, after a highly successful career as tax lawyer, businessman and Government official, William Joseph Casey, 67, still looking rumpled in the best-quality dark blue suit, is returning to his first profession, as director of Central Intelligence.

Casey displayed so much energy as a child in New York City's Borough of Queens that playmates nicknamed him Cyclone. A 1934 graduate of Fordham University, he studied law at St. John's University at night while working as a city home-relief investigator during the day. After the war, he set out to make his fortune by practicing law for a New York firm and by writing a series of how-to books for fellow strivers (sample title: How to Raise Money to Make Money).

Though he refers to himself in his still pronounced New York accent as a "card-carrying Republican," Casey counts among his friends Liberal Democratic Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who says of the CIA nominee, "He has firm views and judgments, but his mind is not closed."

Casey ran for Congress from Long Island in 1966, but he lost in the primary. He ended up in Washington anyway, in 1969, when Richard Nixon appointed him to the advisory council of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. In 1971 Casey became chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. During his 21-month tenure, Casey won high marks for simplifying the regulations on issuing and trading stocks; at the same time, he developed a reputation for being a blunt-talking, decisive manager. Friends recall that when Casey arrived in Washington with his wife Sophia and daughter Bernadette, he offered to buy a Massachusetts Avenue mansion from the widow of Chicago Tribune Publisher Robert McCormick. Upon learning that the Japanese embassy had offered more money, he quickly made a yet higher bid and sealed the deal. When the flustered Mrs. McCormick asked what she should tell the Japanese, Casey tersely replied: "Tell them to remember Pearl Harbor."

Casey became Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs in 1973 and then served as president of the Export-Import Bank from 1974 to 1976, when he joined former Secretary of State William Rogers' New York law firm, Rogers & Wells. Casey barely knew Reagan when he was hired last February to straighten out the campaign organization.

Though some staffers criticized Casey for being disorganized and poorly versed in modern political techniques, such as television advertising and polling, admirers credit him with tightening the campaign's budget and making up for his shortcomings by surrounding himself with seasoned political professionals. As even his friends admit, Casey is not very good on specifics. "He's a great idea man," says one of them. "He can get people started, but then he loses interest. He's no man for detail."