REAGAN DENOUNCES REPORTS OF WIFE'S ROLE
President Reagan angrily denounced
press reports that his wife, Nancy, is running the government
as "despicable fiction."
    He said the reports had "touched a nerve."
    Reagan made the comments at a photo session with William
Webster, his nominee as head of the Central Intelligence
Agency.
    The president and Mrs Reagan celebrate their 35th wedding
anniversary today as Reagan prepares to make an address to the
nation on the Iran-contra scandal tonight.
    When a reporter asked about Mrs Reagan's role in
government, Reagan replied: "I think this is being bandied by
the press. That is fiction and I think it is despicable
fiction.  And a lot of people ought to be ashamed of
themselves."
    Pressed for further comment, Reagan said, "The idea that she
is involved in governmental decisions and so forth... and being
a kind of a dragon lady, there is nothing to that."
    Reagan flatly denied that that his wife had had a role in
the departure from the White House last Friday of Reagan's
chief of staff, Donald Regan, as has been widely reported.
    Regan's successor, former senator Howard Baker, was in the
room as Reagan made his comments.
 Reuter
