Bush Forcefully Defends Quayle, Cites ‘Bum Rap’ : Politics: President says second-in-command is doing ‘a first-class job.’ Succession issue stirs public concerns.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush stood by his beleaguered vice president Wednesday, declaring that Dan Quayle is “getting a bum rap” from critics in the wake of the President’s recent hospitalization and asserting that his second-in-command is performing “a first-class job.”

“I don’t know how many times I have to say it but I’m not about to change my mind when I see his performance and know what he does,” Bush said.

The President’s remarks appear to be his most emphatic yet in support of the vice president. They reflect White House concern that Bush’s recent problem with an irregular heartbeat has increased public apprehension about the line of presidential succession.

In a wide-ranging news conference, Bush also addressed subjects ranging from Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s pressing political and economic difficulties to renewed rumors of a Ronald Reagan campaign deal with Iran to delay the release of U.S. hostages until after the 1980 election.

Bush described Gorbachev as a man of “enormous accomplishments.” At the same time, U.S. officials predicted that Washington and Moscow would soon resolve a festering dispute over Soviet compliance with the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty signed last year, clearing the way for a Bush-Gorbachev summit meeting in Moscow, probably next month or in July.

Bush’s forceful defense of his vice president, offered in response to a reporter’s question, demonstrated the President’s concern that his hospitalization over the weekend has renewed public debate about Quayle’s qualifications to assume the presidency.

The White House, meanwhile, disclosed that Bush had suffered another brief episode of atrial fibrillation Tuesday evening and that he had begun taking an anticoagulant drug in an apparent effort to lessen the risk of a stroke.

A spokesman said that the relapse was quickly corrected and that Bush was free of symptoms on Wednesday. The President’s doctors have said that his condition appears to be caused by an overactive thyroid gland that should be easily treated.

Quayle has struggled for nearly three years to overcome his rocky start on the national political stage after Bush’s surprise announcement at the start of the Republican National Convention in 1988 that the little-known senator from Indiana would be his running mate.

Referring to continuing criticism of his vice president, Bush said: “I think it’s probably been quite hurtful to him but he’s a man, strong man.”

In October, 1989, less than a year into his term, Bush moved to shore up support for the vice president by taking the highly unusual step of disclosing that he would keep Quayle on the 1992 ticket--assuming that Bush runs for reelection, as is widely anticipated.

A Los Angeles Times poll made public Wednesday found that even though a majority of Americans continue to doubt Quayle’s qualifications, his presence on the 1992 ticket would not cause most Bush supporters to vote against the President.

Bush’s reluctance to distance himself from the vice president reflects his longstanding emphasis on personal loyalty, expecting it from those he supports, while demonstrating that it will be repaid by him. In addition, dropping Quayle from the ticket would be an acknowledgment that he had made the wrong choice in one of his most crucial decisions.

Bush rushed through a hectic schedule Wednesday, beginning with a sunrise trip to Bethesda Naval Medical Center for what was described as the first of several tests to pinpoint the cause of his thyroid problem.

He later met with the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, who urged him to distance himself from Gorbachev. The President, however, insisted that the U.S. relationship with the Soviet leader is “strong and, I think, good.”

President Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania and Prime Ministers Edgar Savisaar of Estonia and Ivars Godmanis of Latvia called on the United States to reject Moscow’s request for $1.5 billion in U.S. loan guarantees for the purchase of American grain. But Bush made it clear that his sympathies are with the beleaguered Soviet president, even though he said last month that the Soviet Union “regrettably” has a very low credit rating.

“I don’t want to see a breach in a relationship that is very strong, that’s served us extraordinarily well in recent times, during the (Persian Gulf) war itself where, for the first time, the Soviet Union and the United States worked in sync on those matters. And I give President Gorbachev great credit for that, because he was under some pressure at home.”

Separately, U.S. officials predicted that the United States and the Soviet Union would soon settle their dispute over Soviet compliance with the conventional forces treaty.

On Tuesday, Gorbachev ordered Gen. Mikhail A. Moiseyev, chief of the Soviet General Staff, to visit Washington next week to discuss U.S. complaints that the Soviet military had sought to circumvent the treaty. The Administration contends that Moscow has transferred tanks, artillery tubes and other weapons from the regular army--which is covered by the pact--to coastal defense forces, long-range rocket forces and naval infantry--which are not. The effect of the switch, if allowed to stand, would be to save the weapons from destruction as required by the treaty.

In a related development, the White House announced that ships from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Albania will be permitted to call at all U.S. ports provided they give 24 hours’ notice.

Previously, ships from Eastern European countries were banned from the ports of San Diego; Port Hueneme; Charleston, S. C.; Pensacola, Fla,; Hampton Roads, Va.; Port Canaveral, Fla,; Honolulu; Kings Bay, Ga.; Port St. Joe, Fla.; New London and Groton, Conn.; Portsmouth, N. H., and Panama City, Fla., and were permitted to call at other U.S. ports only with two weeks’ notice. There was no relaxation in the rules covering Soviet shipping.

At his news conference, Bush once again denied allegations that during the 1980 presidential campaign, when he was Reagan’s running mate, he and others met with representatives of Iran’s radical government to delay the release of the 52 American hostages until after Election Day.

“Grossly untrue, factually incorrect, bald-faced lies,” he said of the allegations, advanced by, among others, Gary Sick, who was President Jimmy Carter’s chief National Security Council expert on Iran, and Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, Iran’s former president.

Sick has said that his sources, whose names he has not disclosed, have reported that Bush took part in a meeting in Paris in October, 1980, with representatives of Iran. Bush, who was campaigning at the time, has denied having been to Paris at any time during 1980.

“Those critics, those who continue to pass this little word-of-mouth, ugly rumor, ought to have the decency and the honor to say: ‘This takes care of the question.’ I’m talking about myself. And I can categorically deny any contact with the Iranians or anything having to do with it,” Bush said.

Meanwhile, Bani-Sadr, in a closed-door meeting Wednesday with members of Congress, said that he has documentary evidence of a deal with Reagan campaign officials to delay the hostage release.

Rep. Robert G. Torricelli (D-N. J.) said that Bani-Sadr claimed to have letters and other “crucial” documents detailing the progress of the alleged deal. But, Torricelli said, Bani-Sadr offered to give the evidence to congressional investigators only if Congress decides to launch an official investigation into the allegations. “He was saying that he’ll be serious if we’re serious,” Torricelli said.

On another matter, Bush said that he would unveil within 48 hours an updated policy on the use of Air Force jets by White House staff members. The policy review was made in response to recent disclosures that John H. Sununu, the White House chief of staff, had used Air Force jets more than 70 times in the last 2 1/2 years. Only four trips were listed as personal business, for which Sununu reimbursed the government at standard airline coach fares.

Staff writer Michael Ross contributed to this story.