Falling Short

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Having insisted on making a bravura entrance into the South African debate, * Reagan seemed anxious to tiptoe away from it all during his swing through the South last week. For the most part, he deflected or ignored questions hurled at him whenever he was in earshot of reporters. When given the chance, he seemed to set the stage for a shift in policy in the wake of the reaction he had provoked. When a reporter shouted a query in Columbia, S.C., about whether new sanctions were out of the question, the President stopped to answer. "We haven't closed any doors yet," he said.