European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 14, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Cathar Weinberger Ute on Artill i concept of a soviet Anh Tarel lire interceptor at a detente deportment briefing. App non Weinberger single minded by Lee Byrd associated press t he office is on the e ring level three an the greenish hallway that gets you there is jus another drab Antiseptic link in the Pentagon labyrinth. But the scene inside is hardly government Issue. Rather Eclectic place says Caspar Willard Wein Berger former Royal Canadian air Force washout son of Harvard unabashed anglophile corporate wizard multimillionaire and Tor the last five years Secretary of defense of the United states. A Friend of mine came in and said it looks like a Mideast junk Eclectic yes. Junk. No. It is an office crammed with Gold and Silver precious gems and paintings the Orna ments and souvenirs of Power. Between White draped windows overlooking the Potomac hangs an original self portrait by Titian the 16th-Cenlury master a scant Inch or two above a futuristic switchboard that connects Weinberger with commands and weaponry that could destroy most maybe All life on Earth. In one Corner is a Mideast melange of bejewelled swords and daggers among them a $40.000 Gold Dirk from the King of Morocco. As opposed Weinberger notes wryly to the $40 gifts i m allowed to keep when he leaves the government. And that says the 68-year-old Secretary won t be anytime soon regardless of the rumours that have been whispered round town with each revelation of $640 toilet seats spats with state department and White House colleagues or failed bids in Congress to build More my super missiles and Jack higher the biggest peacetime military buildup in . History. And now it s taken a new says Weinberger of those poised to wave him goodbye it s1 Are you tired " actually thit turn in t All that new. More than two years ago. An old chum from Harvard. Theodore h. White wrote that in his struggle to push a live year $1.6 trillion defense plan through a recalcitrant Congress and a divided White House the cheerful Ever humorous Caspar Weinberger has been transformed into a gaunt somewhat lonely Man driving himself to the Edge of1 exhaustion and frequently Over that groans Weinberger when that quote is read to him. And when did he write that february 1983." Well there you Are. And i m still Weinberger remains trim As Ever but his complexion has the pallor of a Man who rarely gets into the Sun and whose idea of loosening up at the workplace is unbuttoning fhe jacket of his Pinstripe suit. He once jogged fairly regularly at 5 30 . He gave that up Tor All the Pago 14 the stars and stripes hassle it entailed with the secret service. His wife Jane a one time army nurse he met aboard a troop ship headed for the South Pacific in 194?, yearns Tor the Day they can retire to Maine where they set up a vacation residence Early in president Reagan s first term. His pastimes once plentiful have Long been neglected. He was an addict of the Art galleries and an avid Reader of English novels Thackery Trollope and Scott and biographies Churchill Disraeli and glad Stone. He played piano at Home often to a special symphony recording of Beethoven s emperor concerto that had the keyboard passages left out. He does t do anything anymore Jane once complained to a reporter. Just defense. I have a sign on my desk that says this too shall pass it been there for typically Weinberger arrive at the office from his Georgetown Home at 7 30 . And leaves 12 to 14 hours later with enough Reading material to occupy him until Midnight. He sometimes lunches at his desk on chocolate Chip cookies and lemonade his Adam Smith tie still firmly knotted and clasped. Often even in conversation Weinberger bows his head thumb and Middle Finger massaging his eyes As if he s about to Drift off. It is a disarming habit. Weinberger Mea sures his thoughts. When he Speaks the words Are Quick bold and plentiful tumbling into flawless Complex sentences in a dizzying flow which ceases generally with a crowning declaration designed to pre empt argument. For example he ends a Long defense of Reagan s record on arms control by saying agreements Are bound to come slowly and you May not get them at All. Because we want something that will require major reductions in nuclear weapons and that s a very hard thing to get. But that s the Only thing that will materially improve the chances of keeping peace and no matter How eloquent the arguments for alternative approaches for dealing with the soviets a nuclear freeze say or a moratorium on space weapons testing Weinberger invariably pronounces his Way . Reagan s Way As the Only Way. Even on such techno Cally Uncertain and Complex issues As Reagan s Strate Gic defense initiative or Star wars program his an Swers tend to be definite and absolute with no looking Back. Regardless of scientific doubt about its feasibility the enormous expense the soviet initiatives to Demilita Rize space Weinberger declares we will never give up our right to ski to seems unbowed by the responsibility of handling weapons of potentially unspeakable destruction. Any thing that can kill anybody is frightening he once said a Rifle is As a second lieutenant he enlisted in the . Army As a Grunt private after the Craf scrubbed him for faulty depth perception he fired his Rifle into the Jungles of Mew Guinea but does t know if he killed anyone. Across irom his desk is a Bronze bust of Gen. Doug Las Macarthur whom Weinberger later served in world War ii As an intelligence officer promoted by then to Captain. Weinberger once woke the general with the news that a japanese destroyer group had been detected steaming toward an american invasion Fleet. Macarthur asked him for his assessment. Sir Weinberger replied my feeling is that the Jap anese movement is coincidental. I Don t think tha have detected our Landing Force and i would go Macarthur did and the decision proved Correct. Weinberger like president Reagan reveres Macarthur to this Day overlooking his insubordination in Korea in favor of the old Soldier s boldness and obsession with country Honor and Victory. But the defense Secretary s greatest idol is Winston Churchill. Churchill after All browbeat a reluctant Britain into arming itself against Hitler at a time says Weinberger when civilization itself was at and now he believes the same threat applies emanating instead from Moscow and it is his and Reagan s destiny to meet that Challenge with churchillian deeds. There Are great similarities in the according to Weinberger. It was considered basically bad form Al ways to keep calling attention to nazi Power always urging rearmament. Now. It is considered kind of a nuisance if you cry but if i have too Little when the time comes there won t be time to say too late " so cry havoc is what Weinberger does whether in is budget confrontations with Congress in scores of speeches round the country in his seemingly weekly appearances on the television interview programs. Reagan May take the occasional evil Empire shot at the bowels Weinberger makes it an almost daily habit even As Fyk i ndudin9 the president himself seem to be tempering their rhetoric As the november Summit approaches. The soviets Are held in Check by our demonstration 01 resolve he said in a recent speech. Make no doubt about it. If we falter they will Only be encouraged to be More aggressive and Many in Congress regard him As a cold fish especially those who know him Only from his elaborate slide show presentations to the budget and oversight committees. Out o hers including democratic sen. Daniel p. Mount Han of new York see a warmer Side. Cap is a Man of peace. You could hardly enc out Ter a person with less aggression less anger less Malev Omerice. Moynohan has said. But he is perfectly Capa die of having a wrong perspective on the enormity of monday o
