"You Learn As You Go"

Of all the riders on the New Frontier, none sits taller in the saddle, spurs his job harder or shoots from the hip quicker than Arizona's Stewart Udall, 41, the athletic Secretary of the Interior. In his office by around 7:30 each morning, Udall puts in a twelve-hour day, manages to ruffle a good many feelings throughout Washington in the process. Less than a month after taking office, Udall frankly stated that he would play politics "to the hilt." He annoyed Capitol Hill by stating publicly that he had twisted congressional arms to help President Kennedy's showdown fight to expand the House Rules Committee. Next, Udall stirred up a minor fuss by bluntly advising the Washington Redskins pro football team to sign on some Negro players if it wants to use the new District of Columbia stadium that Interior has built as part of its parks system. Last week Udall blazed away again--and was blown out of the saddle by a fusillade from friend and foe alike.

During the darkest hours of the Administration's soul searching about the Cuban fiasco, Udall went on TV. Attempting to explain that the purpose of Kennedy's meetings with Republican leaders was national unity, Udall remarked: "After all, President Eisenhower and his Vice President conceived this plan. They started it; they, I suppose, in effect handed it on to the President."

The explosion was immediate. "A cheap and partisan trick," snapped Richard Nixon. Senate Republican Leader "Ev" Dirksen declared that Udall apparently wanted to become "Secretary of the Exterior and take over a domain in which he has no business." And President Kennedy, struggling to achieve a bipartisan atmosphere, said he was "strongly opposed to anyone within or without the Administration at tempting to shift the responsibility."

Chastened, Udall apologized. "Maybe it was idiotic on my part," he said. "You learn as you go along. I certainly learned a hard lesson out of this one."

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