THE ADMINISTRATION: Three Ambassadors

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Diplomatic appointments of the week:

¶ To be Ambassador to Brazil, succeeding Herschel Johnson: James S. (for Scott) Kemper, 66, Chicago insurance executive and onetime (1944-46) treasurer of the Republican National Committee.* Kemper, who climbed from a clerkship to be head of seven companies which together form the Kemper group, one of the world's largest casualty and fire insurance groups, is a bluff, bustling, self-made businessman. He has long been interested in Pan American amity, helped found the Inter-American Council of Commerce and Production, has been decorated by Brazil and Ecuador. Kemper belongs to the conservative wing of the G.O.P., did yeoman work for Ike's campaign in the Midwest.

¶ To be Ambassador to Norway, succeeding Charles Ulrick Bay: L. (for Lester) Corrin Strong, 60 (Washington, D.C. banker), a modest, hard-working administrator with long experience in Government service and international relations.

A reserve colonel, Strong during World War II was chief of the liaison branch of the Army Service Forces' international division. He came back into the Govern ment in 1947 as chief of the EGA Loan Division, joined the Ike-for-President forces in 1951. He and his wife are personal friends of Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha of Norway. Strong's appointment was held up for 3½ months because of security investigations into reports that he had been socially acquainted with Alger Hiss.

¶ To be Ambassador to Portugal, succeeding Careerman Cavendish Cannon: Colonel M. (for Meyer) Robert Guggenheim, 68, head of the copper-rich Guggenheim clan. A heavy contributor to the Eisenhower campaign, Bob Guggenheim is a noted Washington partygiver whose invitations are valued for the lavishness of the entertainment. His Rock Creek Park mansion has its own organ, swimming pool and bowling alley. A reserve colonel, he rose from private to major in World War I, was kept out of No. II by a heart murmur. He likes to sport the ribbons of the Silver Star and the Purple Heart in the lapel of his dinner jacket. Guggenheim says that as a boy he .had three ambitions: to win the English Derby, to marry a pretty woman and to be Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. He never won the Derby, gave up trying years ago. His fourth wife, Polly, is blonde and pretty, and while Lisbon is not London, it's still an ambassadorship.