The First Five

Bolstered by his hope that Secretary Dulles may recover sufficiently to return to office, President Eisenhower has not given any serious thought to a successor. But those who know the President best--and who also fear that the problem of the successorship might soon become urgent--see these as the top five names:

No. 1: Under Secretary Christian Herter, who is next in the line of State Department succession; anyone other than Herter would have to be named over the Acting Secretary's head. Herter's arthritis had been considered a strong factor against him, but he himself, when asked last week if he would accept the job, replied unhesitatingly, "If the President wanted me to, I would." Herter is highly respected by the Democratic majority in Congress and by liberal Republicans; conservatives fear that, in modern diplomatic parlance, he may be too "flexible" for the best U.S. interests.

No. 2: Under Secretary for Economic Affairs C. Douglas Dillon, by all odds the Capitol Hill favorite, and probably (if agreement in principle is the prevailing factor) the likely choice of Foster Dulles himself. Dillon also rates high with Ike, but to name him would be to move him ostentatiously over Herter's head.

No. 3: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., 56, heir to a great Republican name, for 13 years Senator from Massachusetts, Dwight Eisenhower's campaign manager in 1952. President Eisenhower has great respect for Lodge, has insisted that he attend Cabinet meetings. But the nomination of Cabot Lodge, for all his obvious abilities, would almost certainly invite trouble in the Senate, where oldtimers still remember the impetuous, sometimes undependable ways of his youthful days as a Senator--even though an older and more considerate U.N. ambassador has long since mended the ways.

No. 4: John Jay McCloy, 63, chairman of the board of the Chase Manhattan Bank. Philadelphia-born, Amherst-and Harvard-educated. Lawyer McCloy left a thriving New York practice in 1941 to become Assistant Secretary of War, served until war's end, later became president of the World Bank, resigned to take over from General Lucius Clay as U.S. High Commissioner for Germany in 1949. In Germany he won the esteem of SHAPE'S Commander Dwight Eisenhower, has remained one of Ike's close friends.

No. 5: Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, 59, president of the American Red Cross, longtime Eisenhower Chief of Staff, friend and bridge partner. Highly successful in his own right as one of Ike's successors in NATO, West Pointer ('19) Gruenther has only one thing working against him: West Pointer ('15) Eisenhower is reluctant to have a Secretary of State who is also a retired military professional.

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