What Edgar Said

Tacoma Lawyer Edgar Eisenhower, 68, breezed into Washington all ready to sit on the opposite side of Griffith Stadium from his brother Dwight, 66. For the baseball season's opening game, Edgar was the guest of the visiting Baltimore Orioles (he had met Manager Paul Richards while vacationing near the Orioles' Arizona training camp), while Dwight was the first-ball pitcher and No. 1 rooter for the Washington Senators. Before Edgar left Washington, he hit the brotherly differences clear out of the ballpark.

International News Service Reporter Ruth Montgomery knew Edgar was in town, and she had heard he had some critical opinions of brother Dwight's Administration. When she first called for an interview, Edgar was about to go out to Griffith Stadium and asked if she would call back at111 o'clock next morning. But at 9 a.m. Newshen Montgomery was awakened by her telephone: a cheery Edgar was on the line, wanting to know if she could hustle right over to the Statler. Edgar had plenty on his mind--so much that after 50 minutes of breathless note-taking, she had to remind him of a White House appointment, and give him a shove in the right direction.

"All Too Liberal." What Edgar said: "I can't for the life of me understand what persuaded Dwight to go for that big budget this year. All his campaign speeches and promises were for decreased Government spending. I'd sure like to discover what influence is at work on my brother."

Then Edgar began pointing at brother Milton, 57, who is president of Johns Hopkins University, at Eisenhower Adviser Paul Hoffman and at White House Staff Chief Sherman Adams. Said Edgar: "Hoffman's made a flop of everything he ever put his hand to. Adams and I certainly don't see alike. In fact, we rub each other the wrong way, but I think he has tremendous influence with Dwight. I know Dwight listens to him all the time. He's indicated that about Milton too. They're all too liberal for me."

By the time Edgar and his blonde third wife (his first marriage ended in divorce and his second wife died) returned from the White House, Ruth Montgomery's story had hit the wires, and newsmen were packed into the hotel corridor as thick as budget figures. Lucy Eisenhower took one startled look and said resignedly: "Let's face the music." Said Edgar, catching the tenor of the questions: "I have been badly misquoted."

The Perfect Answer. Next morning, reporters could hardly contain themselves while awaiting President Eisenhower's arrival at his regular weekly news conference. Edgar's remarks had already become the subject for serious dissertations by professional budget cutters across the nation. How would the President get out of this one? First crack off the bat, the question came about Edgar's opinions. The President paused for an instant, tapped his finger gently on his desk, grinned and answered. "Edgar," he said quietly, "has been criticizing me since I was five years old." The problem dissolved in a roar of laughter.

While the President's answer was a classic solution to a delicate problem, it was also the truth. Bluff Edgar Eisenhower, a popular and respected member of Tacoma's legal community, loves to recall how he and Dwight (two years younger) used to fight "for the sheer joy of slugging one another." In fact, he still boasts that he can lick young Dwight any time, any place--a statement that Ike heartily denies.

"I Want to Forget." Night after the President's press conference, both Edgar and Milton Eisenhower were guests at a White House stag dinner. Milton and Ike took Edgar aside for a brief lesson on how to keep out of trouble while talking to news-hungry reporters. Ike chided Edgar about his budget comments, asked how much Edgar's own office expenses had gone up. Edgar hedged. He had recently moved into a spanking new office (in Tacoma's Puget Sound Bank Building) and therefore had no basis for comparison, he said. Leaving the White House, Edgar said he had not changed his mind about the budget, but added brusquely: "I want to forget the whole thing as fast as I can."

The Eisenhower budget's professional and political critics would hardly allow Edgar to forget what he had said. But in their attempts to read a serious family split into the affair, they forgot something themselves: Edgar and Dwight Eisenhower have always fought for the sheer joy of slugging--but when blood poisoning set in after High-Schooler Dwight fell and hurt his knee back in Abilene, Kans., it was Edgar who stayed two days and nights at his bedside and prevented a doctor from amputating.

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