A Day in the Life of the New President: Ronald Reagan

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Going over the day's drill, Reagan is also resigned to a packed agenda. He will not have time to change for dinner that night at the vice presidential mansion. Glancing down at the new dark blue suit he is wearing, he says, "I looked at the schedule. I'm already dressed."

At 9:15 George Bush and his chief aide, Admiral Daniel Murphy, arrive at the Oval Office to listen to the daily briefing by National Security Adviser Richard Allen. Reagan moves from the desk to a peach-colored wingback chair in front of a crackling hearth. Allen sits in a matching chair while the others occupy two sofas separated by a coffee table and a bouquet of freshly cut daisies, carnations and snapdragons. Allen starts with Poland. As the civilians who lack security clearances file out of the room, Reagan asks about the political leanings of Warsaw's new premier, Wojciech Jaruzelski.

Twenty minutes later, Allen is replaced by Press Secretary James Brady and Max Friedersdorf, chief of congres sional liaison. Brady wants Reagan to drop into the press room later that day to help publicize the release of an Administration "audit" of the state of the economy. Reagan readily agrees. Friedersdorf tells Reagan that Congress will again postpone the proposed pay increase for se nior Government officials. "That's too bad," Reagan remarks. "I guess it has to be, under the circumstances."

Strangely, considering the pressure of the clock, the conversation bogs down in minutiae: the choice of a chamber in which to hold a congressional briefing on the grain embargo issue, and the distribution of seats in Nancy Reagan's box when the President addresses Congress Wednesday night. The staff has already chosen the wives of several important congressional leaders. Reagan adds: "You know somebody else who ought to be in there? Paul Laxalt's wife."

At 10:07, after a recess of just ten minutes, Reagan takes a seat in the Cabinet Room for what has been the daily "budget working group" session for the past three weeks. In these meetings, Budget Director David Stockman and heads of Cabinet departments have been going over spending cuts, agency by agen cy and sometimes project by project. Reagan begins the session on a light note.

After some research, the President tells Treasury Secretary Donald Regan, he has discovered a class distinction in the way their similar Irish names are pronounced.

The President says of his subordinate's ancestors: "Those who called themselves 'Reegan' were the lawyers and doctors.

It was only the laborers and the farmers who called themselves 'Raygan.' " As the group laughs, Reagan scoops a handful of jelly beans from a glass vase and puts them on the table before him. He will eat them, one at a time, as the discussion goes on. He also doodles on a White House memo pad; his genre is comic-strip caricature, vintage 1935.

Despite this manual activity, Reagan pays close attention as Stockman, sitting beside him, leads the group through summaries of proposed reductions. The Bud get Director critiques, harshly, the spending habits of the Export-Import Bank and lays out his proposal. "Anyone have any comment?" Reagan asks. There is virtually no dissent as a large reduction is agreed on.

The Energy Department is next.