National Affairs: Capital Notes: Jan. 27, 1961

L.B.J. in Orbit

Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who in keeping with his new office now wears a discreet grey fedora instead of a wide-brimmed Stetson, is taking seriously his responsibility as chairman of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. After a Kennedy task force recently submitted its report on the nation's space goals, Lyndon flew off to Texas to study the document, came up with some recommendations of his own. Among them: tighter Government control of space activities, a priority list for projects, a crash program, if necessary, to develop more powerful rocket boosters.

End Men

The Senate's slickest new comedy team is the improbable combination of Democratic Liberal Hubert Humphrey and Republican Conservative Barry Goldwater, who traded off quips for a boffo hour at a recent banquet of the Women's National Press Club. Humphrey's best line: "Barry's so handsome that I understand he's been offered a movie contract—with 18th Century-Fox." In turn, Goldwater compared Humphrey's druggist background with the academic luster of the new Cabinet appointments: "I can't see how the Denver College of Pharmacy jibes with Harvard."

Bipartisan—But

Eager though he was to give his Cabinet a bipartisan look, President Kennedy made sure that his prospective Republican selections did not intend to use their secretarial posts as steppingstones to future political advancement—particularly as Republicans running against Democrats. Kennedy point-blank asked Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon whether he still had hopes of running for either Governor or Senator of New Jersey, got assurance that Dillon was willing to sacrifice his personal political ambitions. Until he selected Republican Dillon and Independent Bob McNamara for the New Frontier, Kennedy thought seriously about retaining Eisenhower Appointee Thomas Gates as Defense Secretary. But Pennsylvania Democrats were convinced that Philadelphian Gates had his eye either on the Harrisburg Statehouse, held by Democrat David Lawrence, or on Democrat Joseph Clark's Senate seat, and would have raised a howl had Kennedy decided to reappoint Gates.

False Note for McNamara's Band

President Kennedy has given Defense Secretary Robert McNamara a free hand in selecting his subordinates—even at the risk of backing down on some implicit pre-election promises. One victim of the policy was Joseph D. Keenan, international secretary-treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a loyal Democratic campaigner. Kennedy had Keenan in mind as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, but when McNamara proved lukewarm, the President decided not to press his choice. After he vetoed Keenan for the Defense Department post, McNamara attempted to soothe hurt labor feelings by calling on A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany, assuring him that "I'm not anti-union." Meany was unmoved and unsoothed. Said he: "His visit to me was a gratuitous insult as far as I'm concerned."