In & Out of Retirement

In the four months since he left the White House, Dwight Eisenhower. has kept his opinions to himself. But last week Ike returned to Washington and,"to the unconcealed delight of 5,000 fund-raising Republicans, broke his silence with a fiery attack on the Kennedy Administration's domestic policies. It was, in fact, one of the most politically outspoken speeches of Ike's career.

"For America's sake, we take sharp issue with the leadership now in power," he said. "I am sick and tired of hearing alleged leaders scoff at a balanced budget." Putting aside his prepared text for a moment, he snapped angrily: "Is it so wicked to show some respect for the pioneer qualities of thrift and energy? . . . I believe deeply that continuing deficit spending is immoral . . . I look in vain, and with deep concern, for fiscal responsibility today in public affairs."

Ike was emphatically riled at the New Frontier's domestic program: "No one can stand, simultaneously, for more individualism and more centralized Government. The proposals now flowing in such abundance to the Congress can lead to nothing but greater centralization. We Republicans take our stand for the individual . . . We consider it sheer arrogance to believe that people in Government know better for the people than they know for themselves . . . We are against the insulting concept of Government by Big Brother. Excessive public housing, rampant public power, federalized youth programs are cases in point."

In keeping with his own rules of political combat, the former President refrained from any criticism of his successor's foreign policy: "As the President attempts to preserve our freedoms, as he seeks to strengthen peace, as he confers with foreign leaders whether friendly or hostile, he has the hopeful and sympathetic good will of all loyal Americans, regardless of party . . . We cannot allow, today, the nation's basic unity of purpose to be in doubt." Without mentioning the Cuban fiasco, Ike had a wry reminder of the minority party's right to be informed: "Republicans rightly expect to be consulted before, not after, the hour of decision or the moment of action."

With the cheers of the aroused Republicans still ringing in their ears, Ike and Mamie Eisenhower went off for a weekend in New York (see SPORT) before slipping back into the busy routine of retirement in Gettysburg. No one believed that the former President could be anything but busy in retirement, despite his announced intention several times to spend his days sitting in a rocking chair.

Ike, who suffers from insomnia, is up with the birds each morning. He dresses quietly, then slips downstairs. Eleanor Moaney, his housekeeper, is aware of the ex-President's habits, and he does not have to wait long for his breakfast-orange juice, a small filet mignon, and toast. By 7:30, Ike is on his way to his office, four miles away in a red-brick building that was once the home of the president of Gettysburg College.

The office hours of an ex-President are full. Most of Eisenhower's working time is spent dictating to Mrs. Ann Whitman, his longtime secretary. His mail is formidable--more than 2,300 letters a week. Then there is the work on his memoirs of his White House years. And each day there is a parade of visitors (among recent callers: former British Prime Minister Earl Attlee; Admiral Lewis Strauss; Texas' new Senator, John G. Tower). At 12:30, Ike goes home for lunch and a nap, returns to the office in midafternoon. One day two weeks ago, he came home at lunchtime as usual, realized that Mamie was entertaining a group of Republican ladies, and slipped out again, unnoticed, to lunch back at his office on a bowl of soup and a sandwich from the Lamp Post Tea Room.

There have been a few minor adjustments to private life: familiarizing himself with telephone dials again and learning to drive a modern car after 20 years of chauffeurs (he has a Pennsylvania beginner's operating permit). Most evenings, Ike and Mamie are content to stay at home. Unusually rainy weather since his return to Gettysburg in April has kept him off the golf course except for one nine-hole round. The Eisenhower social life is limited: Ike went to a stag party at a neighbor's house recently, and old friends drop in now and then. But by ii most nights, the lights are out in the big, rambling farmhouse, and only Heidi, the Eisenhowers' pet Weimaraner, is awake to bay at the moon.

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