Article: Eagleton's Report On `Nitwit' Nominee Awaits Response

Joseph V. Reed's nomination to the personal rank of ambassador while serving as chief of protocol was delayed for another week yesterday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, perhaps in part because of a letter that describes him as a "14-karat nitwit."

The letter was written in 1982 by then-Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton (D-Mo.) to then-Secretary of State George P. Shultz after a visit to Morocco, where Reed was ambassador. Eagleton wrote, "George, for the first time in my 14-year Senate career, I must write an overwhelmingly negative report on an ambassador." Eagleton said he found the embassy staff "demoralized."

Eagleton's letter was entered into the committee record by Sen. Jesse ...

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