National Affairs: Stand-In

Secretary of State Byrnes spent more than half his 18 months in office traveling about the world. In George Marshall's 24 months as Secretary, he had been away from his desk more than 200 days. The new Secretary, Dean Acheson, wanted to keep his toothbrush and razor at home. Last week, at his urging, President Truman nominated Philip C. (for Caryl) Jessup, 52, to be the nation's first official ambassador-at-large,* and the nation's $25,000-a-year representative at diplomatic meetings at home and abroad.

It was the kind of work that friendly, unassuming Philip Jessup had been tackling ably but not dramatically most of...