The New Look

Up Capitol Hill from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last week charged House Republican Leader Charles Halleck, determined to do or die for the Eisenhower Administration's request for an additional $225 million for the Development Loan Fund. The request had been killed by the powerful House Appropriations Committee, but Halleck visited with Ohio's Republican Representative Frank Bow, a bitter-end opponent of foreign aid, persuaded him to vote with the Administration. When Halleck took his case to Michigan Republican Alvin Bentley, who had rarely voted so much as a nickel for foreign aid, Bentley said: "You may be surprised by what I do." Halleck was indeed surprised. Bentley not only voted to restore $100 million, but actually made a speech in favor of foreign aid. Where in past years scores of Republican Congressmen could be expected to vote against foreign aid in any form, last week only 26 of the 152 G.O.P. members stood in opposition. Charlie Halleck had an explanation for the remarkable showing: "They're beginning to have a feeling of better liaison with the White House. It makes them want to go along."

A major reason for the improved feeling between the Hill and the White House lay in the performance of Major General Wilton B. (for Burton) Persons, successor to New Hampshire's Sherman Adams as Assistant to the President of the U.S. The difference between Sherm Adams and "Jerry" Persons is more of manner than method. Adams was the stern, testy New Englander, all business and no chitchat. Persons, 63, is a mellow, Scotch-sipping, storytelling Alabaman, whose years as a U.S. Army liaison man on the Hill (1933-38, 1939-49), as head of the Defense Department's Hill representatives (1948-49), and as Ike's link with Congress (1953-58) make him alert to congressional sensitivities and sensibilities. He may not manage his time--or Ike's--with quite such crisp efficiency as Adams did. But perhaps because they like him better Congressmen consider him by far the more effective of the two. Says a White House staffer: "The problem at the White House is 'erosion' of good relations. Jerry tries to keep irritation to a minimum."

Slipper & Smoking Jacket. Persons' office looks more like a den (a tiger skin, two mounted bonefish, his two-starred major general's flag) than a command post of Government. There he operates with a sort of slipper-and-smoking-jacket informality. He still makes his own telephone calls to Congressmen; no Senator is ever kept hanging on the wire by a secretary. He takes virtually every incoming call ("When I get to Arlington National Cemetery," he sighs, "I'll stop taking them"), even encourages the last little argument, sometimes past the point of productivity. To Persons, it is all part of his job of keeping himself informed--so he can help keep the President informed. "When I am dealing with the President's business," says Jerry Persons, "I am not going to act without adequate consideration. I may take a little bit more of his time, but I want to be sure to get all the arguments on both sides."

Staff Chief Persons works on the theory that the way to lead Congress is to exploit the natural desire to work and plan for common ends. Time and again Persons will listen to an idea, then drawl: "Right--I agree with you. I'll get cracking right away. I'll get to work." Recently, when a Congressman complained of something, Persons answered: "If I can't get this straightened out in 48 hours, I'll help you write the speech attacking us." Somehow, even the noes sound pleasant. Says one Congressman: "Jerry maintains the attitude that 'all you guys are our friends'--and we believe him."

Respect & Affection. The proof comes in the regular Tuesday morning White House conference with congressional leaders. Under Adams, G.O.P. wheel horses were merely informed of what the agenda would be. Under Persons, the White House invites ideas. If a Congressman thinks that farm policy should be on the agenda, Persons' staffmen make all the arrangements, call in departmental experts, invite ranking G.O.P. members from the congressional committees concerned, work up needed materials and arrange for Ike to be briefed in advance.

In his dealings with Dwight Eisenhower, Persons fits comfortably. He was a close companion of Ike's in the War Department in the 1930s, but never served under him until 1951, when he was called out of retirement and his job as superintendent of Virginia's Staunton Military Academy to become special assistant and liaison man at SHAPE headquarters in France. Where Ike looked on Sherm Adams with profound respect, he regards Persons with profound respect and great affection. Persons can and does take strong positions on the awesome problems that confront the President. In the six months since he took over Adams' office, Persons has saved the Administration some major headaches. Last December, when the White House was deciding whether or not to go for a balanced budget, some Cabinet members argued that an exact balance was unimportant, that it should be sacrificed if necessary to present attractive and salable programs. Persons said no; Ike must stand for an actual balance or else he would find it impossible to withstand spending pressures. Argued Persons: "A break is a break, and if we allow it, the floodgates will open." Persons won--and in that, as in many another way, he has more than earned his keep at the top level of Government.

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