Posters have been used to promote everything from Jane Avril to Zanzibar, but Pop Artist Robert Rauschenberg, 42, believes that salesmanship begins at home. A new 17-ft. by 4 1/2-ft. Rauschenberg poster at Manhattan's Whitney Museum advertises the artist himself. Entitled Autobiography, the gaudy billboard includes a life history in telegraphese, his horoscope, and a skeletal portrait of himself composed from 13 X rays. With the backing of a group headed by Poster-Art Enthusiast Marion Javits, wife of the U.S. Senator, 2,000 copies of the work will be reproduced and sold to hard-core Rauschenberg admirers at $150 a throw.

First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of the Fashion Foundation of America. That would be General William Westmoreland, 53, U.S. commander in Viet Nam and the leading figure on this year's list of best-dressed men. Westmoreland was chosen, said the Fashion Foundation's Charles Richman, because "when you see a military man in a really trim uniform, a thrill goes through you--that's what uniforms are for." The general has yet to be told of his latest victory. "After all," Richman explained, "there's a war on."

For the past six years, Jacqueline Kennedy, 38, has occasionally been wearing a magnificent leopard coat made from $30,000 worth of rare skins given her by the Somali government when she was First Lady. Last month the generous Somalis presented a similar token of their esteem to Muriel Humphrey, 55, during her African jaunt with the Vice President. Alas! The intervening years have seen the passage of a law prohibiting Government officials from accepting any gift of more than "minimal value," and Muriel had to turn the furs over to the State Department. There is a possibility, said State, that Humphrey might be allowed to carpet his office in leopard, but the skins are the Government's property and will stay after the Humphreys leave.

Daddy thought it would be nice to give his only daughter a christening present--a painting, say, like the 16th century Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach. And since Daddy was Nazi Reichsmarshal Hermann Goring, the city of Cologne thought it prudent to turn over the priceless painting. Daughter Edda Goering, now 29, has more or less owned the Madonna ever since, though last week she lost another round in her court fight to keep from returning the painting. Edda's lawyers have already slipped and dodged for 18 years, and she has two appeals left.

SING IT, RUDY, BUT CUT THE JOKES ran the headline over a column in the Phoenix Gazette, which went on to suggest that antique Entertainer Rudy Vallee, 66, could improve his nightclub appearances measurably by canning the comedy. The reproof brought a straight-faced letter of rebuttal from Rudy, who insisted that his singing now makes audiences rebel, and that he is making his living primarily as a gagster. One recent singing LP sold only 10,000 copies, Vallee reported, while his comedy album has sold 400,000. As for nightclub fans: "When I began to sing, they invariably began to talk. I have been convulsing them with stories."

At one time or another, the Post Office Department has seen fit to immortalize five Chief Justices of the Supreme Court: John Jay, John Marshall, Harlan F. Stone, William Howard Taft and Charles Evans Hughes. Now the P.O. has decided to honor some Associate Justices who were every bit as great as their chiefs. First on the list: Oliver Wendell Holmes, who died in 1935 at the age of 93. Come March, his wise and bearded visage will look out from a new 15-c- stamp.

Closed since the night of April 14, 1865, when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated as he sat watching Our American Cousin, Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., has now been restored at a cost of $2,700,000--and reopened as the permanent home of the National Repertory Theater. Opening night proper will not take place until Lincoln's birthday, but last week a large cast of dignitaries turned out for the dedication ceremonies. Said North Dakota's Senator Milton Young, who worked for 19 years to get the necessary restoration appropriation from Congress: "For those who revere Lincoln, it is a dream come true."

The Most Reverend and Right Honorable Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, is hardly used to such epithets as "traitor" and "betrayer of Protestantism." But the ecumenical-minded Archbishop, 63, accepted an unprecedented invitation from John Cardinal Heenan, 63, to speak at London's Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral. Demonstrators from the conservative British Council of Protestant Christian Churches waited for Ramsey outside the cathedral, name-calling and waving placards that accused Ramsey of "Running to Rome." In the pulpit, His Grace was unwavering. "We are able now," he said, "with the authority of both our churches, to act together not as rivals but as allies."

Few people know more about wedding gowns than Elizabeth Taylor, 35, and it would be a shame to let all that experience go to waste. So when her two friends Mia Fonssagrives and Vicky Tiel showed their first collection in Paris, Liz contributed her own inspiration for a nuptial garment: a white body stocking worn under a diaphanous floor-length veil embroidered in flowers. But that was nothing compared with the outfit that Liz wore to the opening--a tunic and tights of hyperkinetic geometric pattern. "She's not supposed to be chic," explained Mia. "Her career requires that she be stupefying."

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