People: Apr. 20, 1962

Warming up at a press conference for a bit of political education work among his Iowa minions in Des Moines. Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa righteously excoriated Old Enemy Bobby Kennedy for "acting like a little hoodlum" and "not representing this country's democracy in a proper manner." The Attorney General's offense: "He travels around the world in his shirtsleeves."

In a gambit that Capablanca never dreamed of, bumptious U.S. Chess ChampionBobby Fischer, 19, invoked the majesty of the law against former Champion Samuel Reshevsky, 50, himself an ex-boy wonder. Having defaulted a 16-game series with Reshevsky last summer by disdaining to show up for an 11 a.m. match, Late-Riser Fischer sued for resumption of the competition lest ''his reputation as the most skillful and proficient chess player in the U.S. be irreparably damaged and tarnished."

By way of proof that not all Harvardmen fetch up on the New Frontier. Massachusetts' Senator Leverett Saltonstall ('14) assembled at a Capitol lunch eleven fellow alumni who are all Republican members of Congress. Flaunting their Cambridge-induced independence of mind by wearing their three-button suits, the old boys did not hesitate to bite the hand that had fed them knowledge. "A Harvard professor." proclaimed Ohio's Representative John Ashbrook ('52), "is an egghead who thinks the American eagle needs two left wings." The consensus was best expressed by New York's Senator Kenneth Keating (LL.B. '23 ): "It's about time it is known that Harvard turns out enlightened men as well as Democrats."

Under the apprehensive eye of a more practiced Pagliacci, Emmett Kelly, 63, Novice Clown Debbie Reynolds, 30, went through her droopy-trousered paces at a Los Angeles premiere of the International Super Circus. Other show business talents ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to Jayne Mansfield also donated their services to the benefit performance in support of a cause peculiarly appropriate for Hollywood: a clinic for emotionally disturbed children.

The White House lawn provided a cornucopia of attractions for the twin firmaments of the Washington week. Jacqueline Kennedy and Empress Farah (see THE NATION ). "Be sure," Fledgling Hostess Caroline Kennedy told Mother, "to show her Robin's grave." The beloved pet bird (a canary despite its name) had been laid to rest just a day before, and the visiting queen stifled a smile to affect fitting bereavement. Most fawned-over fauna on the landscape, however, was John F. Kennedy Jr., 1½, who sprang up in his perambulator to pay court to the dazzling empress, but adamantly said, "No" when she proffered a daffodil.

Having decided after long and clamorous struggle that "the day of the small, family-held corporation is gone." Vivien Kellems, 65, Connecticut's would-be Joan of Arc whose "voices" seem to ring like Ayn Rand, sold out her 34-year-old cable-grip works in Stonington. But her vendetta against the Internal Revenue Service would go on. Renouncing a 1961 pledge to stick to her "knitting by the fireside" (among other reasons: she can't knit). Liberty Belle Kellems menacingly warned the bureaucratic foe: "I'm just getting a second breath."