THE PRESIDENCY: The Youngest Brother

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The White House servant, tray in hand, tapped on the door of the Upstairs Red Room. Where did the guest want his breakfast served? "Would you take it to the President's room?" asked the guest. Moments later, the guest followed the servant across the hall to the spacious south bedroom occupied by the President of the U.S. He entered and found Dwight Eisenhower in shirtsleeves, already wading through the morning papers and his usual breakfast beefsteak (rare). At sight of the visitor, Ike's face broke into a grin of particular welcome. He waved his guest into one of three overstuffed chairs, and within seconds the two were deep in an informal, give-and-take discussion covering the breadth of U.S. policy.

The special guest was Milton Stover Eisenhower, 58, president of Johns Hopkins University, topflight educator, a governmental pro of 30 years' experience, youngest of the brothers Eisenhower and the man nearest to Ike in all the world.

In Heart & Mind. Dwight Eisenhower's inner circle includes such top aides as recently embattled Assistant to the President Sherman Adams, whose "OK, SA" must still go on every staff paper submitted for presidential decision (TIME, Jan. 9, 1956), and Press Secretary James Hagerty, whose job it is to ken the presidential mind (TIME, Jan. 27). On less official but equally close terms are the American Red Cross's president, General Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, speaking as an old comrade in arms, and ex-Treasury Secretary George Humphrey, for whose economic. views the President has enormous respect.

Yet none of those friends approaches the place held by Milton Eisenhower in the heart and mind of his brother Dwight. The relationship between Dwight and Milton Eisenhower can be traced in part—but only in part—by specific examples of his influence on Ike's political career and presidential administration. Items:

¶ Having contributed to Dwight Eisenhower's basic, middle-road political philosophy, Milton helped persuade Ike to run for President in 1952. Again, after the President's 1955 coronary and 1956 ileitis attack, Milton, more than anyone else, helped Ike weigh the pros and cons of standing for reelection. CJ Milton advised and encouraged Dwight Eisenhower to go before the United Nations in 1953 with his historic atoms-for-peace proposal.

¶ Milton Eisenhower has contributed heavily to the President's views on foreign economic policy. Says Milton: "There are manifold opportunities for economic cooperation and technical assistance, as opposed to economic support, which will help all nations, including the U.S."

¶ Johns Hopkins' President Eisenhower is a key adviser to onetime Columbia University President Eisenhower in the field of education, encouraged Ike to call the 1955 White House Conference on Education, played a part in formulating this year's Administration program to provide U.S. aid to spur scientific education.

¶ As the President's personal emissary to Latin America in 1953 and again this summer, Milton Eisenhower has become an expert in hemispheric relations, urged U.S. programs to help Latin America help itself.