National Affairs: The Rock

Up the steps of Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Denver bounded a lean, taut man carrying a briefcase. To the photographers who flashed and clicked at him, he cast a cold glance of recognition and offered the slightest suggestion of a wave with his right hand. Hurrying into the hospital to see Patient Dwight Eisenhower, the visitor was confirming the estimate of a White House staffer who had said: "We'll have a taut ship now that old gimlet eye is here."

Old gimlet eye is Sherman Adams, Assistant to the President of the U.S., who last week settled into his newly adjusted position...