EISENHOWER: MAN IN MOTION

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER is the most photographed and best reported man in the world, yet the stranger who sees him for the first time is inevitably surprised at what he sees. Partly this is true because newspaper readers and TV viewers think of Ike in black & white photographs, where his bland coloring makes for a washed-out picture. (Before he makes his TV broadcasts, the makeup men have to pencil in hairline and eyebrows.) But in full color Ike Eisenhower emerges as a warm study of a man of 63 years, ruddy of complexion from the jaw to the top of his broad, bald head, with the ruddiness contrasted by blue eyes, blond-whitish eyebrows and thin wisps of greying blond hair. The pictures on the following pages were taken at the White House and in Augusta, Ga., during the period when the President was working on his State of the Union message. They show that Ike is, facially and bodily, a man in motion.

Irrespective of their actual ages, some people move old, some move young. Ike moves young. It is noticeable in the spring of his walk as he enters a room. It is' noticeable in the flash-like speed in which he moves from sitting to striding in the middle of an interview. It is noticeable in a meeting when, with youthful effortlessness, he swings from a low slouch (pressure on third lumbar) to bolt upright.

The only time Ike seems to sag is when he is bored. When he is interested, his eyes sparkle and his mobile mouth twists to a hundred shadings of response--grins of varying intensity if he approves what he hears, a shallow 5 in disbelief, a wry turndown at the corners if he is disgusted. When the going is heavy he concentrates as he listens, sometimes fiddling absently with a cap on a front tooth with thumb and forefinger. Sometimes he picks up his heavy-rimmed spectacles and twirls them or chews the stems. Or he will play with the top of his right ear, then drop his hands to the desk to rub his knuckles and massage each finger (see spread).

Then Ike is out of his chair, ready with an answer. He paces the deep-piled green carpet, stopping occasionally to cock his head at the ceiling to get a grasp on his thoughts. As he talks, he comes back to his desk, stands at an easy parade rest, plunging one hand into a pocket, or crossing and uncrossing his arms. His gestures have no oratorical flair, and betray no nervousness. Ike does not squirm or fidget. He moves smoothly, as an athlete moves.

If he is dictating he likes to sit on the edge of the desk and swing a putter or a nine iron. Or sometimes he slips a specially designed 5-lb. weight over the toe of his left shoe, and swings the leg back & forth to exercise the knee which he injured during his West Point football career.

If he is speaking to a small group, he may stab the air with an emphatic forefinger (above). Or, as he makes a solid point, he may make a clenching gesture with one fist, held so close to his side as almost to escape notice. But his expressive face does most of his gesturing for him; people rarely misunderstand Ike in a face-to-face conversation, even though, in cold transcript, his sentences sometimes balloon into syntactical confusion.

Ike's staff knows the signs when his temper is tried. He claps a hand across his mouth, his long, spatulate fingers covering most of his face, and slowly appears to wipe the anger away. Occasionally he lets go like a geyser. His face creases with angry lines. His jaw juts out and he seems to be grinding his teeth. His face and head, to the back of his neck, turn red, and the veins in his temples throb. He bounds out of his chair and lets go a burst of profanity to scorch the ears of an infantryman. Then, with the pressure off, he relaxes almost contritely.

Far more frequent than the temper outburst is the magnificent Eisenhower laugh. It seems to start inside. His eyes turn warm, his eyebrows knot over his nose, the skin crinkles around the edges of his eyes, his nose flares, his head goes back and he roars with a deep-down merriment.

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