Anderson joins Reagan in rapping Carter for VFW

Although the Veterans of Foreign Wars had endorsed Ronald Reagan for president, for a moment independent presidential candidate John Anderson won the hearts of VFW conventioneers Wednesday, correspondent Jonathan Harsch reports. He sparked warm applause by quipping that President Carter turned down an invitation to address this convention because "he is unwilling to leave his telephone -- he is still waiting for another call from Teddy."

Mr. Anderson echoed Ronald Reagan's earlier attacks on Mr. Carter, and accused the President of "weak and vacillating leadership" in the face of the Soviet Union's "massive arms buildup." Calling for the strengthening and re-equipping of US military forces, he said the challenges facing Americans "require us to demonstrate that our democracy can conduct a sensible foreign policy, and that it can anticipate and prevent crises as surely as it can surmount them."