U.S. Cautious on Waldheim Election

The Reagan Administration reacted cautiously Monday to the election of Kurt Waldheim as President of Austria, after allegations of involvement in war crimes had thrust the candidate’s campaign into an international arena.

“The people of Austria have made their choice in a free and democratic election,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said in a statement. Speakes announced that President Reagan would send “the usual diplomatic letter to the new President” congratulating him on his victory.

At the same time, he told reporters that the Justice Department was continuing an investigation to determine whether the former United Nations Secretary General should be barred from the United States. But he stressed that “the President has not prejudged the allegations.”

Not yet informed that the Socialist Austrian Chancellor Fred Sinowatz had resigned Monday, following Waldheim’s victory, Speakes noted that the Chancellor was scheduled to visit the United States June 24. But he would not comment on whether Waldheim was likely to receive an invitation to the U.S. as well. The President in Austria, as in Israel, has no real power over the government which is headed by the Chancellor.

MEETING SET WITH WALDHEIM’S ATTORNEYS

The Justice Department, meanwhile, said it would go ahead with plans to meet attorneys representing Waldheim in the U.S. sometime this week, in order to hear arguments in the President-elect’s defense. Such a meeting had been planned for last week but was cancelled due to a death in the family of one of the attorneys, Justice Department spokesman Patrick Korren told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Members of Congress and others had criticized the Justice Department for delaying a decision until after the elections, so as to avoid the appearance of interfering in Austria’s domestic affairs. Some had suggested that the agency was deliberately dragging its feet until the election results which could determine whether the matter should be swept under the carpet.

But Korten maintained Monday, as he has for the past several weeks, that “the decision will be made without regard to the outcome of the elections” and in spite of the fact that a decision to bar Waldheim from the country would be effectively void for the duration of his six-year term as Austria’s President.

Waldheim’s election campaign was dominated by revelations–primarily from the World Jewish Congress–that the former UN official had concealed his war-time role as an officer with the Wehrmacht in the Balkans, where he was attached to a group responsible for atrocities against Yugoslav partisans and linked to the deportation of thousands of Greek Jews to death camps. Among the revelations was a UN document accusing Waldheim of war crimes.

The Justice Department investigation was undertaken last month, after Neal Sher, head of the agency’s Office of Special Investigations, recommended that Waldheim be placed on the “watch list” barring individuals accused of war crimes from entering the country.

The State Department had launched an inquiry of its own. But spokesman Bernard Kalb, asked for a reaction to Waldheim’s election, made no mention of the status of the investigation.