Dimming Watt

Intense pressure to quit

After James Watt took off last week on what his aides insisted was a "long-scheduled" vacation in California, Washington buzzed with this question: Would he ever return as Secretary of the Interior? The answer from Ronald Reagan's White House staff: Probably. But whether it would be for more than a few days was another matter.

Ever since his flippant remark three weeks ago about the presence of "a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple" (see ESSAY) on his coal-leasing commission, Watt's chances of staying in office have ebbed almost daily. The Secretary long ago alienated the left and center with his policy of opening vast tracts of Government-owned land to commercial exploitation. Now the Republican right fears that he will be a 1984 campaign liability to G.O.P candidates.

Democrats last week introduced a "sense of the Senate" resolution, to be taken up next week, demanding Watt's ouster. Republican Senators met for their regular weekly lunch and concluded that they, too, wanted Watt out. It had been thought that dismissing Watt would anger Western conservatives, an important constituency for Reagan. But at the lunch, one Western Senator after another reported that the Interior Secretary had lost his popularity among their constituents, and that appeared to decide the matter. Said one Republican later: "He's gone."

In a Senate speech, the G.O.P.'s Slade Gorton of Washington put some of his colleagues' thinking on the record. Gorton called Watt "a failure on his own terms, a destructively divisive force in American society, an albatross around the neck of his own President." The message got through to Watt. After the Republican lunch, Alan Simpson of Wyoming, a close friend of the Interior Secretary's, discussed with Watt what the Senators had said. Simpson quoted Watt as asserting, "I can't believe the viciousness of their remarks."

As late as the end of September, White House aides were predicting that Watt would ride out the storm, then quietly resign in early 1984. Now they doubt he will last the month. Reagan is exceedingly reluctant to fire Watt under pressure. The President remarked last week that the Secretary had "done a fine job" and did not deserve to be ousted for "a stupid remark." White House Spokesman Larry Speakes said that Reagan would not feel bound by a Senate vote on whether Watt should go, however it might come out.

Watt said nothing, but Reagan's aides believe he will resign rather than face Senate condemnation, and they would like to delay the vote in order to permit additional time for a more graceful exit. Watt is said to have given his top aides at Interior the green light to look for new jobs. Indeed, presidential aides are already speculating about a new job for Watt on Reagan's re-election committee.