NATION : Gentler Yeutter Takes Over GOP
WASHINGTON — Clayton K. Yeutter took over today as Republican Party chairman, softening his earlier comments suggesting that the Persian Gulf War could be a major partisan issue. The idea of rallying behind the war effort, he said, “is widely shared by the American public, by Democrats and Republicans alike.”
Yeutter ignored his prepared speech text, which drew some sharp domestic policy distinctions between Republicans and Democrats, and softened the partisan rhetoric.
“I have lots of friends on the other side of the aisle,” he said at the close of his remarks.
Yeutter, the former secretary of agriculture, succeeded Lee Atwater, who is battling an inoperable brain tumor. With Atwater’s wife, Sally, present, the committee saw a filmed tribute to the former chairman and then elected him general chairman of the party, a new advisory position.
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