Washington-U.S.A.
HERMAN, GEORGE E.
WASHINGTON-U.S.A. By George E. Herman Kennedy Tightens the Reins It seems certain that for the rest of this century every government of the United States will be a crisis government,...
...only the sun-tanned face, smiling and relaxed...
...He snatches time to watch the World Series, reads when possible, swims, sails at Hyannisport or Newport...
...He has often referred to this, but he has not expounded upon it and questions on the subject at his news conferences appear to embarrass him...
...Cuba produced a real intervention without any strong statement...
...Africa...
...Then came the test of reality...
...There is no strict line of command, no flow chart, just a determination to keep as few bodies between the President and his principle officers as possible...
...But the temper is seldom on public view...
...By George E. Herman Kennedy Tightens the Reins It seems certain that for the rest of this century every government of the United States will be a crisis government, taking office during a time of emergency and dealing with enormous pressures from its earliest moments...
...Under those circumstances, he asked ruefully, where was he to turn...
...There was no great mystique in this...
...For this could alarm not only the neutrals but the men in the Kremlin who, if sufficiently alarmed, might consider taking drastic preventive action...
...Actually, Kennedy himself remains determinedly cool...
...Vietnam where the end of the rains may mean the beginning of a red offensive...
...The failure of each had a sobering effect on the Administration...
...The resignation of Brazilian President Janio Quadros, the unfortunate battle for Bizerte, the death of Dag Hammerskjold—it all made one aide say, "It's enough to persuade you that God is on Khrushchev's side...
...There is no pre-digesting office to feed him a brief precis with all the conflicting arguments ironed out ahead of time...
...They still go to parties, although they leave a little earlier...
...The scars don't show...
...Certain natural abilities serve Kennedy well: an ability to sleep quickly whenever opportunity presents itself, and an ability to feel that he and his associates have done the best they can...
...He relaxes with purpose, jokes about his regular weekends away from Washington and plans to continue them...
...it was a self-evaluation based on knowledge of his own abilities and a study of the men who had held the office before...
...He had followed their advice, and it had been wrong...
...The first reaction was shock at the weight of the responsibility and some grim humor at finding, in Kennedy's own wisecrack, that the situation was fully as grave as his campaign speeches had made it out to be...
...Numerous assistants and advisors prepare analyses and suggestions...
...This must be taken as wry humor rather than as a sign of any weakening in the conviction that we are destined to come out on top in the world struggle if we can muster the will to win...
...The President quickly found himself struck by a truth which had already become commonplace in this age of atomic warfare: that a nuclear attack on the United States would probably kill 70 million Americans and might kill 100 million...
...They work harder now, but their offices are still uncluttered by the memos, reports and red tape directives which so often pile up as an administration ages...
...Kennedy had hoped for six months of grace from the Kremlin to set his house in order and train himself and his men to use the vast and historic machinery of the Executive Branch...
...There was the threat to Laos in March...
...Or some totally unexpected spot where bad luck could cause a blow up...
...McGeorge Bundy and Walt Whitman Rostow, advisors on National Security matters, retain a self-assurance and energy characteristic of the younger men of this younger Administration...
...Officials who visit the White House regularly say they are still uncertain how deeply it has scarred him...
...George E. Herman, whose first contribution to these pages appeared in the October 2 issue, is White House correspondent for CBS News...
...The unfortunate Cuban disaster was most telling on the President...
...This has in no sense diminished the work and the responsibilities of his staff...
...The answer was: inward, to himself, to the only man holding the constitutional responsibility for making final decisions...
...A graph of the Presidential nexus would resemble an hourglass...
...But he got virtually no time at all...
...Events so far have demonstrated the President's capacity for standing up under the pressure of the bad news of the past months and the bad news he has said he expects for much of this decade...
...Kennedy is determined that his Administration shall let him perform his chief function, that of acting as President and making his own decisions...
...Thus the Kennedy Administration was not able to grow into its new offices and then turn to face the world in crisis...
...Harry S. Truman used to keep a sign on his desk which read, "The buck stops here.' John F. Kennedy, never a buck-passer, grasped the responsibility of decision more tightly rather than more loosely after the slaughter at the Bay of Pigs...
...A study of history has taught him that soldiers and statesmen are not always in control of events: They sometimes can only do their best amid the conflicting currents of great forces and watch and wait to make the most of every opportunity or disaster...
...And he continues to be a source of what McGeorge Bundy has called that "steady flow of questions, of ideas, of executive energy which a strong President will give off like sparks...
...their effects do...
...The former illustrated the danger of speaking without a full understanding of all the consequences, the latter pointed up the danger of acting without full consideration of all consequences...
...He had listened to what he considered the best brains in the country...
...Almost the whole brief history of the Kennedy Administration is a story of learning the ropes and finding a crisis at the end of each one...
...Laos produced a strong Presidential statement in a televised news conference, an implied promise of American intervention...
...The bad news of the daily intelligence briefing is delivered to him by his Army aide, Major General Chester (Ted) Clifton, selected by the President for his ability to pick out what Kennedy calls "the gut issue" in each problem...
...Will it be Iran where Soviet agents have dangerously stirred up the Kurdish tribesmen...
...At times it almost seems that luck is owned by the Communists...
...They still wander informally up and down the high-ceilinged halls of the Executive Office Building in their shirt sleeves, gaze out the window at the White House across the street, munch an apple and ponder aloud the next grave crisis...
...All other issues come directly to the President from the man or group responsible...
...Kennedy has returned to one of his original, basic attitudes—skepticism...
...He had consulted the highest ranking experts left over from the previous Administration...
...Cuba came in April...
...His wit is as ready as ever, his temper just a trifle readier: When Republicans attack his foreign policy in public it bursts out with Irish fervor...
...And Berlin loomed continually in the background despite the "somber" Vienna session in June...
...He came to office further armored with a certain sense that he was a man of destiny, fated not only to be President of the United States but a great President in a cruel time...
...Nor has the pressure brought visible change in the men around the President...
...It had to grow into the job and the crisis simultaneously, learning meanwhile that the two are now quite inseparable in any 20th century democratic government...
...A grain at a time these historic sands of decision pass through the President's hands and fan out for subsequent action and implementation by the proper officials...
...One impediment is clear: He wants to avoid creating the image of a young President whipping up war spirit...
...Bolstering his self-confidence, too, was his conviction that he had chosen the best possible men for the key jobs in the Administration, and had allowed for the freest possible play between their talents and his...
...The President is aware that mustering America's will and determination is still his most urgent problem...
...Kennedy is a tough man...
...This was common knowledge to Congressional experts...
...But it was dramatically and burningly new to the President that he held powers whose misuse could snuff cut the lives of so very many fellow human beings...
Vol. 44 • October 1961 • No. 35
