"She set her own little rule, and she broke her own little rule." With that quip, Nancy Reagan's press secretary Elaine Crispen tried to defuse the controversy that erupted last week after TIME reported that the First Lady had failed to disclose the borrowing of lavish designer outfits, a practice she had promised to stop six years ago. By week's end the question of whether borrowed outfits were hanging in the First Lady's closet had been eclipsed by the White House's gyrating attempts to explain away the affair.
When first asked about the matter two weeks ago, Mrs. Reagan stated flatly...