South Africa Laying Down the Law

Few Presidents have excelled Ronald Reagan at winning showdown foreign policy votes on Capitol Hill. Through a combination of astute compromise and skillful personal lobbying, the President has managed to persuade reluctant legislators on such hotly contested matters as sending advanced AWACS surveillance aircraft to Saudi Arabia and aid to the contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. But ) last week Reagan's fabled reserves of luck and persuasion finally ran out. Both houses of Congress voted decisively to override his veto of a bill calling for stiff economic sanctions against South Africa.

It was only the sixth of 50 vetoes to be reversed...