A MUZZLE FOR MOTORMOUTH

ANDREW YOUNG -Photo unk

JIMMY CARTER -Photo unk
A MUZZLE FOR MOTOR MOUTH
Time 25 April 1977
Under another President, he might have been in the Maldives by now, or at an obscure desk in a State Department subbasement. It is a tribute to the uniqueness of the new Administration, however, that Andrew Young not only hangs on to his sensitive post but is still considered a valuable member of Jimmy Carter's Cabinet.
Whatever his virtues as U.N. Ambassador, the former Georgia Congressman has displayed an almost arrogant carelessness in his statements—so much so that State Department officials have tagged him "Motor Mouth." Young, 45, had barely been sworn in when he said that Fidel Castro's Cuban mercenaries "bring a certain stability to Angola." That was only a warmup. There were bloopers about sending U.S. troops to Rhodesia, about Britain having almost "invented racism," about Arab attitudes toward Israelis being akin to Ku Klux Klan attitudes toward blacks. Soon the State Department found itself working almost full time to clarify, correct or apologize for Young's remarks.
Last week "Motor Mouth" was in overdrive. First he said that Americans should not get "all paranoid" about "a few Communists [in Africa], even a few thousand Communists." Then, asked if he thought the South African government was "illegitimate," he replied with a breezy "Yeah." In Pretoria, the U.S. ambassador was immediately summoned for an explanation. In Washington, a State Department spokesman formally repudiated the remark.
Still, Carter refused to reprimand his longtime friend. At week's end, however, there were rumors of an effort by the President to rein in Young. There was also a White House announcement that Vice President Walter Mondale had been asked to assume a key role in U.S. policy toward Africa—an area in which Young has taken a special interest. Any connection? Perhaps not; Carter told Mondale two weeks ago to help get the U.S. some friends in Africa. Still, the suspicion lingered.
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