THE ADMINISTRATION: Doctors' Verdict

Down the ramp of a Military Air Transport Service Super Constellation at Washington National Airport one morning last week came the familiar figure—a big man, shoulders somewhat hunched, black Homburg squarely planted, a briefcase in hand, blue eyes sober behind rimmed bifocals. After a six-day trip to London, Paris and Bonn, John Foster Dulles was home once again. His mileage to date in his service since Jan. 21, 1953 as U.S. Secretary of State: 559,988 miles, the equivalent of 22 times around the world, or to the moon and back.

But this time, as the Secretary greeted his aides and settled back into his Cadillac for the ride to Washington, the routine began to break pattern. Dulles confided that he had been suffering about a month from a hernia, that it had pained him continually during his European trip, and that he was going to see his doctors that morning. Dulles, who will be 71 next week, did not need to add details of his recent health record: surgical removal in Nov. 1956 of a large cancerous lesion of the colon, a sharp attack of diverticulitis last December.

Low Battery. The Cadillac dropped him off at his Norman-style home at 2740 32nd Street N.W. There he rested while waiting for his doctors. The key men: Walter Reed Army Hospital's Major General Leonard D. Heaton, the President's surgeon, and Dr. A. D. Daughton, Dulles' own personal physician of eight years. Their recommendation: surgery.

Dulles consented, notified President Eisenhower, went down to the State Department later to keep longstanding appointments with visiting Austrian Vice Chancellor Bruno Pittermann and West Berlin's Mayor Willy Brandt. He phoned Under Secretary of State Christian Herter, then vacationing in South Carolina, gave him the news of the doctors' verdict, told him there was no need to hurry home. Remarked Dulles to a friend, as he headed off for an appointment at the White House: "When your battery runs down, you just can't operate. You've got to get it recharged."

In the White House the President quickly approved a letter from Dulles that 1) announced plans to go into Walter Reed Army Hospital next day, 2) requested a temporary leave of absence, 3) turned the State Department over to Chris Herter and in Herter's absence to Under Secretary for Economic Affairs C. Douglas Dillon, 4) reserved control of the German crisis policy for himself so as to avoid any new uncertainty about the U.S. position. Foster Dulles' friends smiled as they translated the letter to mean: "Don't touch anything until I get back." He would expect, Dulles told Eisenhower, "to resume fully the duties of the office." Time out: probably six to eight weeks.

Sense of Unease. Next morning at 9:30, Dulles and wife Janet headed in his Cadillac (JD-25) to Walter Reed Hospital. Luggage: two overnight suitcases, a pile of about a dozen mystery books, the inevitable briefcase. General Heaton installed Dulles in the presidential suite, told reporters flatly that Dulles was "worn out." Decision: delay operating for three days to give the Secretary's colon inflammation time to subside, give him some rest before the ordeal.