PUTTING THE CASE TO NASSER

The man in charge of persuading Nasser to reach a Suez agreement: Australia's Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies, regarded by some of his Commonwealth partners as the ablest statesman now in office in the Commonwealth.

Early Life & Politics: Son of a village storekeeper and grandson of a miner who lost his job trying to start Australia's first miners' union. A selfmade man of 61 who is tremendously proud of his background, he calls himself "a reasonably bigoted descendant of the Scottish race." Winning top scholarships from schooldays on, he took first-class honors in law at Mel bourne University and went on to become Melbourne's ranking barrister, earning $50,000 a year and "taking silk" at 34, to become the youngest King's Counsel in Australian history.

A Conservative from the minute he entered state politics in 1928, he once explained: "I have a respect for the rights of the top dog [and] no use for the foolish doctrine of equality between the active and the idle, the intelligent and the dull, the frugal and the improvident." Became Attorney General almost the day he was elected to the federal Parliament and by 1939 was Prime Minister, taking Australia into the war at Britain's side. But when the Laborites forced him out in 1941, Australians shed no tears. "The trouble with Bob Menzies," said one politician, "is that he is not clever enough to hide his cleverness." Eight long years in opposition mellowed him. Coming back in 1949 to win four elections in six years, he has been Prime Minister longer than anyone in Australian history.

Family: In 1920 married Pattie Maie Leckie, a Senator's daughter. They have two sons, a daughter, four grandchildren.

Personality: Six feet two, known as "Burly Bob to constituents, Menzies looks every inch the statesman. A renowned, mellifluous, graceful and witty orator, he disdains speechwriters, has immense personal courage and an effective way with interjectors (Australian for hecklers). Once, after delivering a speech in a 103DEG fever, he asked the Duke of Gloucester: "Sir, what did I talk about?" His Royal Highness replied: "My dear boy, I don't know, but it was damned good." After Menzies took office in 1939, a brash reporter asked: "I suppose you'll consult the powerful interests who control you before you choose your Cabinet?" Said Menzies: "Naturally. But, young man, please keep my wife's name out of this." During weighty Commonwealth talks in London in 1952 on how to shore up the pound sterling, he scrawled on his doodle pad:

With singular agility,

And technical facility

We seek convertibility,

Which means (I'll have you know)

A quid for every quo.

Last year he rewrote the Merchant of Venice's trial scene because he thought Shakespeare's law was bad. The result was better law if only passable verse.

Habits: Prodigious cigar smoker (Churchill sends him his Havana specials by the hundreds) and wine connoisseur. Follows tennis and cricket "not as a fan but as a fanatic," and has been known to adjourn state conferences in London to attend Davis Cup and cricket Test matches.

Present Assignment: Called to London by his old friend Eden at outset of Suez crisis, he soon showed himself a man who could put the case of the 18 nations appealingly without compromising their essential principles, and was entrusted with what may prove to be one of the trickiest diplomatic missions in postwar history.

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