Berlin's Lincoln Expert

Trim in a charcoal grey suit, black loafers and grey Homburg, Berlin's muscular Mayor Willy Brandt, 45. bounded down the steps of the plane from Ottawa last weekend before Washington's photographers could get their cameras aimed. Brandt and his pretty, blonde wife were met by State Department Berlin Expert Eleanor Lansing Dulles, whose brother John Foster had just flown off to confer with German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer about Brandt's Russia-menaced city. Said Brandt: "I will tell my friends in the U.S. about free Berlin . . . You can rely on the people of the city of Berlin, as the Berliners know they can rely on the people of the U.S."

Like the late Socialist Mayor Ernst Reuther in the days of the 1949 airlift, Socialist Willy Brandt had come to tighten that mutual reliance between Americans and Berliners. His method, beyond talks with President Eisenhower and other Washington brass: a Meet the Press TV appearance, a banquet hosted by A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany, luncheons with New York businessmen, press conference and dinner in Los Angeles (whence he flies on around the world). In the growing tradition of nondiplomat diplomacy, Mayor Brandt came not at the invitation of the U.S. Government but to be feature speaker this week at the Springfield, Ill. celebration of Republican Abraham Lincoln's 150th birthday. Explained the program chairman: "Brandt is a fighter for freedom, just as Lincoln was."

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