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The blare of bugles and the whine of bagpipes cut through the chilly Washington night as crack armed forces drill teams wheeled and countermarched on the floodlit White House lawn. From a bal cony watched President John F. Kennedy, and at his side was a welcome guest: Tunisia's President Habib Bourguiba, 57, the father of his young country and a staunch friend of the West.

John Kennedy and Habib Bourguiba hit it off splendidly during Bourguiba's state visit to Washington last week. Though he is something of a hypochondriac, Bourguiba diplomatically disregarded a sore throat to sit bareheaded with Kennedy to watch the drill teams--and picked up a touch of bronchitis that forced him to cancel trips to Texas and Tennessee.

At the lavish White House dinner for Bourguiba, Kennedy delivered a toast that likened the evening's guest to George Washington. In reply, Bourguiba raised a glass of lukewarm orange juice to say that he was flattered by the comparison, then added that his real hero was Abraham Lincoln, because, like him, "I found my country deeply divided, and for 25 years I have struggled to achieve the unification of my people."

Next day Bourguiba moved up to Capitol Hill to address a joint session of Congress. An eloquent orator and a practiced politician ("I am a political animal"), Bourguiba was right at home among the Congressmen and Senators. Said he: "What your country needs is not satellites who vote with you automatically on all issues because they want your money, but friends who support you from conviction and who may also oppose you from conviction. I can assure you that Tunisia will always tell you when we disagree with you, just as we will always applaud you when we believe you to be right. And we expect from you a reciprocal frankness."

Three times the assembled members of the House and Senate gave President Bourguiba a standing ovation. When he finished his speech, the sound of cheers cut through the wave of applause in a rare tribute from Capitol Hill to the doughty man who had spent eleven years in prison or confinement before carving a nation out of North Africa.

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