The Presidency: How to Handle a Broom

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One secret of success for any U.S. President is to prove himself the keeper of his own political household—and last week John Kennedy proved himself a housekeeper of rare skills. He whisked around nearly a dozen White House staffers and State Department officials in such a fashion that even those most immediately involved could not quite tell whether they had been swept in or out of presidential favor.

Human nature being what it is, some people are simply not other people's cup of tea, and John Kennedy, a positive, pragmatic product of Massachusetts politics, could hardly be expected to cotton to Chester Bowles, an adman turned liberal hero and exponent of the international big think. Almost from the moment he appointed Bowles as Under Secretary of State, Kennedy began regretting the decision. Bowles was plainly inadequate as administrator of State's 24,000 employees, seemed happy only when away from his desk on global speaking tours. Last summer, after the U.S.-backed Cuba invasion had flopped, Bowles went out of his way to tell newsmen that he had been against the project from the beginning.

A Flurry of Protest. That did it. Kennedy determined that something would have to be done about Bowles. But Bowles got word that he was about to be booted; he stirred up his liberal followers to a flurry of protest. At that time Kennedy was still feeling his way in office, and his self-confidence had been seriously shaken by the Cuba debacle Hearing the boos from the Bowlesers, he backed away—for a while.

But last week Chester Bowles's period of reprieve came to an end, and Kennedy handled his personal personnel problem with almost offhand ease. From Hyannisport to Washington went the order for State Secretary Dean Rusk* to take responsibility for telling Bowles that he had had it as Under Secretary. Then, returning to Washington, Kennedy invited Millionaire Bowles to the White House, soothed his sore sensibilities by offering him a symbolic pay raise (from $22,500 to $25,000 or more) and giving him a new job with responsibility "second to none'' in the Administration. Bowles's high-sounding title for an amorphous assignment that will get him clean out of State's chain of command: Special Representative and Adviser to the President for African, Asian and Latin American Affairs.

A Fitting Choice. To replace Bowles as Under Secretary, Kennedy hit upon a choice happily suited to his Administration's policies. He appointed Lawyer George Ball, 51, who had been serving as Under Secretary for Economic Affairs. An expert in international economics (as Washington attorney for the French government, he was involved in France's entry into the Marshall Plan and the Common Market), Ball shares the President's belief that U.S. diplomacy and economic policy must be closely related. As Under Secretary of State, he will symbolize the Kennedy Administration's announced intention to go all out next year for liberalized foreign trade.

With the Bowles-Ball changes made, others fell fittingly into place. To help Ball with State's paper work, Kennedy named George McGhee, an able administrator who had been less than a howling success as State's Counselor and Policy.