Riddling the Ritual

By all the rules of retiring from high Administration office, Assistant Labor Secretary J. (for nothing) Ernest Wilkins should have dropped by the White House, received a pro forma pat on the back and presidential thanks for faithful performance. But Wilkins, due to retire for "reasons of health," last week riddled the ritual: no sooner had he got his backslap and thanks from Dwight Eisenhower than he blurted that his high blood pressure had little to do with his leavetaking, that he really did not want to resign. The real reason behind his retirement: a continuing clash of personalities and philosophies with his boss, Labor Secretary James Mitchell, whom Wilkins had criticized for giving "leftist labor leaders" too much voice in department policy.

Astonished by his own outburst, Ernest Wilkins, 64, escaped to his office without ever having had his resignation formally accepted. That left Eisenhower aides, aware their problem was politically delicate because Wilkins is a Negro, still trying to decide what to do about his resignation. At his press conference last week, President Eisenhower hesitated, finally indicated there had been no decision. Said the President: "I have never urged him to [resign], nor asked him to, nor anything else. I have had a very--as a matter of fact, very--congenial talk with him." Most likely outcome: Wilkins will stay for the few months necessary to qualify him for a higher pension. His probable successor: Mitchell's administrative assistant, George Lodge, 31, son of U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge.

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