THE VICE PRESIDENCY: The Veep Most Likely to Succeed?

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In Training. Nixon reportedly wants Ford to become director of the Domestic Council, a post now held by Melvin Laird, who intends to leave. The word in Washington is that Laird is decamping because the President rarely heeds his advice. Ford is eager to take on responsibility; yet he is deeply disturbed by the prospect of losing Laird, one of the few White House aides with excellent connections in the Republican Party and on Capitol Hill. Speaking of Laird and Presidential Counsellor Bryce Harlow, another political veteran who plans to resign, Ford says: "I hope that they don't leave too soon. We need them badly."

The job Ford is clearly best qualified to take on is that of White House liaison officer with Congress. As a parting gift, Speaker Albert offered him the continued use of one of his offices in the House. Moreover, as Ford points out, he is not starting cold with the members of the Senate. "I've served with 34 Senators when they were in the House," he says. Now that Ford is Vice President, leaders in both houses hope that for the first time their views will have direct access to President Nixon. Arizona's intellectual and staunchly conservative John J.

Rhodes, who was unanimously elected by House Republicans to succeed Ford as minority leader when Rhodes' only challenger, Illinois's Leslie C. Arends, withdrew from competition, firmly endorsed such hopes.

Ford's performance as Vice President will almost inevitably be judged as if he is in training for another post.

Though he has declared, "I have no intention of being a candidate for President or Vice President in 1976," he will be a leading prospect—if he does a good job. Those who doubt Ford's capability point out that he has had almost no experience in foreign affairs. Ford is determined to remedy this shortcoming in frequent sessions with Kissinger, who would almost certainly be asked to continue his geopolitical goals unchanged in any Ford Cabinet.

Faint Praise. Not everyone believes that Ford would distinguish himself as President. Many congressmen question his intellectual qualifications, about which even some Ford supporters provide faint praise. "Maybe he is a plodder, as some people here say," remarks liberal Democrat Richard Boiling of Missouri, "but right now the advantages of having a plodder in the presidency are enormous." Ford has impressed others with his drive and determination to do a solid, honest job. "Jerry Ford exudes the kind of confidence that I hope to see in a President," says Democrat Edward P. Boland of Massachusetts.

"He could be the kind of President that Harry Truman became."

Above all, the nation will be looking for Ford's instincts, both political and human. Congressman Donald W.