The Milky Way

In countries that have a lot of cows, politicians sooner or later must take a position on milk. Even Sir Winston Churchill, who personally prefers strong stuff, gave a limited endorsement to milk: "There is no finer investment for any community to make than putting milk into babies." France's Premier (1954-55) Pierre Mendes-France urged his countrymen to give up wine in favor of milk; most Frenchmen considered Lactophile Mendes-France some sort of nut, and he did not last long as Premier. Even more recently, the British National Milk Publicity Council, backed by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, achieved a dramatic upsurge in the national milk intake by a campaign that featured a catchy slogan (DRINKA PINTA MILKA DAY) and pictures of shapely milkmaids.

Last week John F. Kennedy got into the act. Appearing before the National Conference on Milk and Nutrition in Washington, the President sipped a foaming glass of milk in public. "I have long been convinced," he said, "that milk is an important aid to good health. This has led me to direct that milk be served at every White House meal from now on." The same day, at a White House luncheon for a group of publishers and editors, the President almost tripped up: no milk was served until the U.P.I.'s abstemious Lyle Wilson, refusing a rose wine, accepted milk instead.

President Kennedy's pro-milk demonstration was made at the urgent request of the Agriculture Department. Last year, it seems, the U.S.'s 46 million cows contentedly did their duty--but the U.S. public did not. To be sure, Americans put away some 26.4 billion quarts of milk (enough to keep Niagara's Horseshoe Falls flowing at the usual rate for one hour), but that was about 35 million quarts down from the previous year. If that trend continues, the U.S. taxpayer will almost certainly have to fork out even more than the $300 million paid for supports for milk and other dairy products in 1961.

Milk's slump is generally attributed to three factors: 1) high price, about 25-c- a quart in most city stores, 2) fear that strontium 90 particles from Russia's atomic tests have contaminated milk, and 3) the theory that milk, as a major source of cholesterol, the fatty substance that clogs blood vessels, may be a cause of heart disease. President Kennedy last week argued that milk is a good buy. He gently reassured the strontium 90 worriers: "The cow itself, along with other factors, makes our milk very safe." And he tut-tutted the cholesterol carpers: "It has not been sufficiently established to justify the abandonment of this nutritious element, except where doctors have individually prescribed special diets. . ."

John Kennedy himself, like most members of his family, has always been an enthusiastic milk drinker, and his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy is a milk lover without rival; one of his favorite treats is a glass of milk that has been chilled for precisely 15 minutes in a Deepfreeze. Other members of Kennedy's official family are falling into line. Last week, holding one of his daily press briefings, News Secretary Pierre Salinger passed glasses of milk around to reporters. All gamely drank, including Salinger.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.