THE PRESIDENCY: Up & Around

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As he was wheeled up to the waiting group, Ike squinted in the brilliant October sun and grinned. "It's a long time since I've seen you fellows," he said. "You have been working hard, I suppose." Then, at the President's request, the medical staff on duty gathered around his chair. Ike wanted to be sure that everyone who was caring for him got in the pictures. "Be sure to get Sergeant Vaughn up here," said the President. With a snappy "Yes, sir!" a brawny Negro Medical Corpsman stepped up to his side. After the eight-minute appointment ended, Hagerty and the photographers withdrew quietly, and Ike put on his sunglasses and stretched out in the healing sun.

Through the week the President continued to make steady progress. For the first time since his heart attack he shaved himself. For the first time he sat up in bed without assistance. One day he stood up and took several wobbly steps—a short trip from his bed to an easy chair. Later there were more and longer trips, and by week's end Ike was strolling around his room almost normally. His appetite continued to be hearty, and because of his increased activity the doctors raised his daily caloric intake from 1,600 to 1,800 calories.

Westerns & Work. One afternoon Ike attended a western film in the small auditorium on his floor of the hospital. One morning he was wheeled to the third floor of the hospital, where he had a fluoroscopic examination and the first standing X rays since his illness. The doctors had waited anxiously until Ike was able to stand up for the crucial examinations, were relieved to discover that his heart shadow showed no enlargement or other abnormalities.

Along with his medical progress, the President's working program was stepped up. Bedside appointments with government officials were more frequent and longer. Among the week's visitors: U.N. Representative Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson (see above), Interior Secretary Douglas McKay. One afternoon Dr. Arthur Burns, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Gabriel Hauge, the President's personal economic adviser, met with Ike and got his approval of a domestic Point 4 program (see above). One morning the President worked for 45 minutes on a draft of his 1956 State of the Union message, with Presidential Assistants Sherman Adams and "Jerry" Persons and Speechwriter Kevin McCann. Each day he read Secretary Dulles' reports from Geneva. The number of documents signed by the President increased from a trickle of papers of top importance to an almost-normal flow.

Barring unexpected complications, next week will probably be the President's last in the hospital. After a few more days of accustoming himself to walking, trying out the stairs, and increasing his official activities. Ike will be ready, by the end of next week, to walk out of the hospital and board the plane to Washington.