Shortly after the Iran-contra scandal broke in late 1986, Nancy Reagan became concerned that her husband was not sufficiently alert to the political danger and arranged to have a few people brought in to explain things. To avoid publicity, the White House instructed the guests to report to the Treasury building. From there they were led through an underground tunnel to the adjacent White House. Robert S. Strauss, a former Democratic national chairman and also a frequent luncheon companion of the First Lady, was one of the group. He reports that he pulled no punches with the President. The result? Well, let Strauss describe it. "The President could not have been more gracious," says he, "and could not have ignored my advice more effectively."
Oh, well. Bob Strauss is not one to dwell on his failures. As a consummate inside political trader, perhaps the last of the breed, he never lacks new challenges. His predecessors, all the great political bosses and power brokers of the past -- Daley, Meany, Rayburn, Johnson -- are gone now, their reputations eroded by the winds of calamity and reform. Yet if today's prefab candidates and queasy partisanship make some voters long for the old smoke- filled rooms, they can take heart: the legacy of the backstage impresarios lives on in Strauss.
A lawyer and veteran of hothouse politics, Texas style, Strauss has a way, as he puts it, of "getting things done and making things happen." To some that means "influence peddling." To others Strauss has become, at 69, Washington's pre-eminent cutter of Gordian knots. And if a deadlock develops at the Democratic Convention this summer, some Washingtonians think Strauss will be the keeper of the keys. In fact, a few of his closest friends -- with aw-shucks encouragement from Strauss -- want him to be the nominee.
The idea, of course, is pretty farfetched. Besides, though Strauss would disagree, the Oval Office might cramp his style. Is Mikhail Gorbachev in town? Strauss -- and Gorbachev -- are at Mrs. Reagan's table for the state dinner. (Helen Strauss, his wife of 46 years, is at a distant table, seated between Caspar Weinberger and Meadowlark Lemon of Harlem Globetrotters fame.) Is William F. Buckley using his TV show to conduct presidential campaign debates? Strauss is co-Grand Inquisitor. When bad blood develops between House Speaker Jim Wright and Secretary of State George Shultz over Nicaragua, Strauss mediates. When a new bipartisan National Economic Commission is created, Strauss is quickly appointed and, thanks in no small part to his own efforts, elected co-chairman.