Eye on the Sky

Under a bright sun that was AWOL during his visit last month, Dwight Eisenhower last week stepped from Columbine III at Augusta's Bush Field. "Boy," said he, "this is better weather." Budget problems pressing, his strenuous mission to eleven countries only three weeks away, the President was eager to relax. Sped to the Augusta National Golf Club, he swapped his brown business suit for slacks and a sports shirt, was on the practice tee within 15 minutes.

Next day, beneath leaden skies, Mamie Eisenhower and Mrs. George Allen arrived by train; on hand to meet them were Ike and Jester George, whose early-October Palm Springs hospitality the Eisenhowers were returning. As they chatted on the platform, Mamie looked at the overcast, said to Mary Allen: "If the sun doesn't shine, Ike will be mad." Ike, sporting the National's green blazer and a grey and tan checkered sports shirt, replied confidently: "Don't worry, it will burn off." Sure enough, sunshine poked through the clouds that afternoon; after some paper work at his office above the pro shop and lunch with Mamie and the Aliens, Ike had his round of golf.

Highlight of the vacation was Mamie Eisenhower's 63rd birthday, celebrated at week's end at a dinner party in "Mamie's cottage" on the Augusta National's grounds. Dressed in a brown silk print with a fitted bodice, the First Lady happily posed for a birthday picture, recalled the time six years ago at Augusta when Grandson David ("just a little boy then") had "gathered up all the blown flashbulbs" after photographers left. Golfer Ike posed impatiently. "Looks as if it's going to rain," he grumped, turned on his heel and strode away.

Last week the President also:

P: Added meetings with Tunisia's President Bourguiba, the West's warmest friend in North Africa, and Spain's Generalissimo Franco to his tightly scheduled, 20,000-mile grand tour (TIME, Nov. 16); the President will invite Bourguiba aboard the cruiser Des Moines for an afternoon's conversation in the Bay of Tunis, will visit Franco on an overnight stop in Madrid while flying home from Paris.

P: Instructed Labor Secretary James Mitchell to sound out industry and union leaders on a labor-management conference suggested by A.F.L.-C.I.O. President George Meany to study ways of forestalling costly strikes.

P: Appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William P. Snow to be U.S. Ambassador to Burma. Maine-born Snow, 52, will replace resigning Walter P. McConaughy.

P: Appointed a six-man National Advisory Committee on Inter-American Affairs, headed by Secretary of State Herter and to include Brother Milton Eisenhower, to study troubled U.S. relations with Latin America, develop "useful ideas," and promote "wider understanding" (see THE HEMISPHERE).

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