The Promise of Spring

In south Georgia the piney woods were green, yellow forsythia buds were breaking open, and the camellias--pink, red and white--were in full glory. The buoyancy of spring was on the land, and Dwight Eisenhower, fresh in from Washington, was a man eminently in tune with his environment. From the moment he stepped out of the Columbine at Moultrie at midweek, the President's progress was reminiscent of the heady days of the 1952 campaign.

Standing up through the open roof panel of his black Chrysler Imperial, Ike enthusiastically acknowledged the cheers of the crowds that gathered at every populated spot along the 43 miles from Moultrie to Treasury Secretary George Humphrey's plantation. At the Atlantic Coast Line tracks in Thomasville, a train engineer gave a long salute on his whistle, and Dwight Eisenhower, looking every inch a candidate, waved delightedly in reply.

Full Report. Part of the President's renewed, buoyancy unquestionably stemmed from the clean bill of health he had got from his doctors. The day before the President started his Georgia vacation a panel of six doctors gave a press conference a full report on his latest physical examination. Presidential Physician Major General Howard Snyder led off with a flood of technical talk: "This cardiovascular examination revealed no physical abnormalities other than those associated with the scar in the heart muscle," said he. The two-centimeter (about 3/4-in.) scar was "well-healed," blood pressure has been stable, circulation excellent, and the President has suffered neither shortness of breath nor anginal pains.

All this was translated into more pertinent language by the famed heart specialist, Dr. Paul Dudley White: "We believe that medically the ... President should be able to carry on an active life satisfactorily for another five to ten years." Under persistent questioning White made it clear that by "an active life" he meant the presidency, with all its burdens.

Full Bag. With the doctors' verdict in, Ike had headed off to Georgia to consult his own feelings--a process that, he warned two weeks ago, would influence his decision more than any medical report. For relaxed self-analysis it was hard to imagine a more suitable spot than George Humphrey's appropriately named plantation, "Milestone." The chief products of Milestone's 600 acres are quail and wild turkeys, and the plantation's main attraction is its hunting.

Within 15 minutes of his arrival Ike, who had brought two shotguns* with him, was out with Humphrey in a hunting wagon. Accompanied by eight pointers, the two men rolled through the piney woods to the hunting area, where the dogs soon flushed two coveys of quail. Ike fired at both--and missed. (Next day the President was sighted in; he shot a full day's bag of twelve birds, grinning: "It's a funny thing . . . All the birds started to cooperate.")

"A Little Frightened." Ike turned from hunting to his first love--golf. At Thomasville's Glen Arven Country Club, the President, undeterred by a drizzle, played a nine-hole round for the first time since his heart attack. Moving from hole to hole in an electric cart, Ike shot a 47. (Par for the nine: 36.) His long shots were ragged--he was obviously reluctant to hit down into the ball--and as he left the course he remarked: "I'm a little frightened, not only of the strokes, but also I'm a little frightened of myself." (Said General Snyder: "Of course, the President is a little concerned . . . You're longer getting over the psychological factor [of a heart attack] than you are the physical.") Even in the relaxed atmosphere of a south Georgia spring, however, Ike managed to get some work done. In between hunting and golfing, the President dealt decisively with the natural gas bill and wrestled with the question of arms shipments to the Middle East (see below). Concerned by the plight of Western European nations currently suffering one of their worst winters in recent years, Ike also announced that the U.S. stood ready to rush surplus agricultural commodities to the blizzard-stricken areas. Presumably, too, he was still thinking toward a decision on the second term issue. But as the week rolled on politicians and newsmen alike were becoming convinced that the decision was a foregone conclusion. A poll of White House correspondents who had made the trip to Georgia showed that 16 out of 20 believed that Ike would run. (Six weeks ago, at Key West, eleven out of 14 thought that he would not run.) In Washington, House Minority Leader Joe Martin was ready to go all the way out on the limb, flatly predicted: "Come March 1, the President will say, 'I shall accept the nomination.' "

* Ike's guns: a Belgian .410 over-and-under and a double-barreled 20-gauge Winchester.

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