Cabinetry

The white Lincoln moved slowly through Georgetown's narrow streets, picked up speed as it headed downtown toward the Capitol. In the back seat President-elect Jack Kennedy fiddled with the electric window switch, then sat back and. as if thinking aloud, discussed the vast difficulties of forming a new U.S. Administration. "It's tough to find the kind of people we want," he said, "but we're coming along now."

At that moment last week Kennedy had already announced, or was ready to announce, several key appointments, and had all but finally decided on several others. For Secretary of Agriculture, he had in mind South Dakota's Democratic Congressman George McGovern, 38, an ex-Air Force hero who ran this year against Republican Senator Karl Mundt and lost. A onetime history professor at Dakota Wesleyan University, bright and energetic George McGovern in 1956 became the first Democrat in 20 years to be elected to high office in his state. His views on agriculture match Kennedy's: he favors high price supports, fat acreage cuts, and an all-out food-for-peace program. A second possibility for the job--and one eagerly promoted by such farm-state influences as Stuart Symington and Hubert Humphrey --was Missouri Farmer Fred V. Heinkel, 62, who for 20 years has been president of the important Missouri Farmers Association, the biggest statewide farm cooperative in the nation. If Heinkel got the nod, Kennedy planned to make George McGovern chief administrator of the food-for-peace program.

Kennedy's top choice for Secretary of the Interior was another young, aggressive Congressman: Arizona's Stewart Udall, 40, just re-elected for a fourth term. Heir to one of Arizona's most respected names (his father was Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court; three other Udalls have held office on state benches), Mormon Stew Udall has made his own reputation as an effective House liberal. A member of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Udall holds strong opinions favoring public power, new conservation programs and greater understanding of Indian problems.

Not all went according to Jack Kennedy's plan. He very much wanted able New York Banker Robert Lovett, 65, in a key spot. One of Henry Stimson's and George Marshall's top men in the '40s, later Harry Truman's Defense Secretary, Republican Bob Lovett is experienced and respected. One Kennedy staffer said that he wished there were three Lovetts, so that one each could be Treasury Secretary, Defense Secretary and Secretary of State. But Lovett has had a serious stomach operation, and regretfully turned down a Cabinet post.

And then there was the ticklish problem of Brother Bobby, 35. The Presidentelect wanted him as his U.S. Attorney General--and knew there would be an outcry against it. Jack Kennedy thinks crime needs major attention--not only juvenile delinquency but also labor racketeering (with particular reference to Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa). He also wants a good, hard look at the federal regulatory agencies, and feels that Bobby would make an able crime-busting investigator. But both brothers knew that there would be a fuss; Jack Kennedy argued that it would blow over. In private conversations he indicated a willingness to take the risk. "I'm going to have this job for four years," he said. "I want to do the best I know how. What counts is results."

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