Turning the Corner

For President Kennedy, in Florida on what was to have been a relaxed holiday, the year ended bleakly. His father lay weak and ill in St. Mary's Hospital in West Palm Beach, his side paralyzed and his voice still. Joseph Kennedy's stroke was further complicated by sudden pneumonia; he had to be wheeled to an operating room for a tracheotomy that drained off bronchial secretions and eased his breathing. The pneumonia subsided following the operation. Emerging from his two-a-day visits to his father's bedside, the President looked weary and worried.

The President also suffered a disappointment relating to his own health. Dr. Preston Wade, a New York back specialist, gave Kennedy a physical checkup; rather than a clean bill of health, the President got a tinted report. Explained Press Secretary Pierre Salinger: "The President's back is stronger. It will be several months, however, before the President can resume vigorous physical activity, and he must expect to experience, as do all people with similar back problems, ups and downs and occasional setbacks." So hopeful had Kennedy been beforehand of a favorable prognosis that he proposed a golf match with Jacqueline and visiting Sister-in-Law Lee Radziwill, his first in seven months. After the checkup, the threesome settled for a cruise aboard the presidential yacht Honey Fitz.

Palm Beach was a working vacation for the President; all week dignitaries dropped in like sun-seeking tourists. Argentina's President Arturo Frondizi, completing a 32-day tour of Canada and the Far East, came for a 90-minute conference on Cuba. Kennedy had hoped to enlist Frondizi's support of sanctions against Fidel Castro, but from a nation that has been notably easygoing against Fidel, he could get no more than agreement on a wrist-slapping resolution (see THE HEMISPHERE). Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon and Budget Director David Bell brought along the fiscal 1963 budget. Kennedy approved a budget that is in balance at more than $92 billion, and $3 billion higher than this year's. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman arrived to unveil his "new agricultural program for the 60s."

As the year turned its corner, Jack Kennedy was looking ahead, spending most of his time on his annual State of the Union message scheduled to be delivered next week to Congress. He will request a broad new foreign trade bill, medical care for the aged, sweeping tax reforms, emergency economic powers for times of recession, and a new Cabinet-level Department of Urban Affairs. All face rugged opposition in an election-year Congress.

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