Tiffs Between Mrs. Reagan, Regan Alleged

WASHINGTON — Donald T. Regan twice in recent weeks hung up the phone on First Lady Nancy Reagan and, as a result, the President’s wife tried to get the White House chief of staff to resign, NBC reported Thursday.

The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Mrs. Reagan and Regan are no longer speaking. NBC reporter Chris Wallace quoted a source “very close to Mrs. Reagan” as saying: “In fact, Mrs. Reagan purposely leaked the story that she is no longer talking to Donald Regan . . . to try to force Regan to step down.”

NBC reported: “Last December, Regan and Mrs. Reagan had a fight on the telephone and . . . Regan hung up on the First Lady.”

Regan, at his wife’s urging, eventually called back to apologize, it was reported.

But on Feb. 10, Wallace said, the two got into another telephone argument with “Regan saying that now that the President’s recovery (from surgery) is over, he ought to get out more, Mrs. Reagan disagreeing, and . . . Mr. Regan again hung up on the First Lady. They have not, apparently, spoken since.”

A spokesman for the chief of staff told United Press International that “Mr. Regan will not comment on backstairs gossip.”

In December, Mrs. Reagan was reported as having led her husband’s oldest friends in an effort to have the President fire Regan for Administration mishandling of the Iran arms- contra aid scandal.