Club Meeting

A golfer named Ricardo ("Dickie") Arias, who is President of Panama, last week sent an amiable invitation to a golfer named Dwight ("Ike") Eisenhower --and to the chiefs of government of the 19 other American republics. Come to Panama, said Dickie, on June 25 and 26. Occasion: the anniversary of the Congress of Panama, called in 1826 by Liberator Simon Bolivar. *Motive: nothing more than a get-acquainted meeting of the Presidents' club, with whatever dividends of good will and better understanding that might flow out of such newly made friendships.

Though he gives the credit to Bolivar, Dickie Arias himself apparently thought up the idea for the gathering, as an extra flourish to a commemorative meeting of the Council of the Organization of American States starting in Panama June 22. It was a proposal that might have aroused nervous objections; leaving 20 capitals without Presidents all at once was an idea without precedent. But the invitation got a warm reception three days after it had gone out; seven Presidents accepted. Among those who approved the idea in principle--subject to demands that may be made on him by the adjournment of Congress--was President Eisenhower.

-Though only four nations (Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Guatemala) attended, it is regarded as the birthplace of Pan American unity.

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