Monday, Feb. 21, 1955

Two in the Bag

With the eagerness that he always shows when exercise in the open air is in prospect, the President of the U.S. left the tensions of Washington behind last week and flew to south Georgia for some quail hunting. Within 15 minutes after he arrived at Secretary of the Treasury George Humphrey's 600-acre lodge, Dwight Eisenhower was in his hunting clothes, had his 20-gauge, double-barreled shotgun on his arm and was pacing nervously beside a mule-drawn hunting roadster.

"One thing about the Army," he mused, "it teaches you to dress fast. I'm gonna jump on the Secretary when he comes out. He's holding us up." When Humphrey came out after five minutes of presidential pacing, they decided to go ahead and let another roadster bring the third hunter, Financial Adviser Clifford Roberts. Cracked Ike: "Why, it will take him two hours to dress."

In spite of wet brush (which hampers the dogs' work), a cold wind (which causes quail to take cover) and the gathering dusk, the President and the Secretary of the Treasury bagged two birds each. But for most of the time the President was in Georgia, the weather was so unpleasant that he stayed inside and resorted to bridge. This week Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower were back in the White House to observe, as they always do, their engagement anniversary. On St. Valentine's Day, 39 years ago, Lieut. Eisenhower gave a duplicate of his West Point class ring to Mamie Doud, who still wears it.

Last week, before and during his holiday, the President also:

P: Dispatched a special message to the officers and men of the Pacific Fleet who participated in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands (see FOREIGN NEWS), to tell them: "Yours was a difficult and delicate assignment. On behalf of a grateful American people: well done."

P: Publicly admitted he had erred, and reversed his decision denying Northwest Airlines a certificate to continue its route to the Hawaiian Islands (see BUSINESS).

P: Sent to Congress an emergency plan for easing the shortage of schoolrooms in the U.S. (see EDUCATION).

P: Nominated: to be a member of the District of Columbia Public Utilities Commission, Washington Lawyer George E. C. Hayes (the successful defense counsel in the security-risk case of Army Employee Annie Lee Moss), who will be the first Negro ever to serve on the commission; to be Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation, Kansas City Merchant Louis S. Rothschild, now chairman of the Federal Maritime Board.

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