Into the Stratosphere

For as long as hot air holds out, there will be trial balloons in U.S. politics. The device is especially useful in the vice-presidential area. In his 1960 pre-convention campaign, John Kennedy won support from at least half a dozen Democrats by convincing each that he was a likely choice as a running mate. Some, like ex-Governors George Docking of Kansas and Herschel Loveless of Iowa, have hardly been heard of since.

Last week President Johnson seemed to be sending up a trial balloon for Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver. He had asked Shriver, off on a Peace Corps inspection trip, to deliver personal, confidential messages from the President to Pope Paul VI in the Holy Land, to Jordan's King Hussein, and to Israel's Premier Levi Eshkol.

This demonstration of trust set Washington's Veep watchers to beeping. Johnson unquestionably thinks well of Shriver. When he was Vice President, he once sent Shriver a praise-filled letter which ended: "The Peace Corps job is being not only well done, but extremely well done." Moreover, Shriver is only 48, a Catholic, a liberal, has a Midwestern background--and is married to Jack Kennedy's sister Eunice.

Shriver did no better than fifth in a recent vice-presidential poll among the nation's Democratic county chairmen, and that apparently wasn't good enough for Johnson. So last week, to a surprised group of women reporters at a White House reception, he said apropos of nothing in particular: "I regard Sargent Shriver as one of the most brilliant, most able and most competent officials in government. I regard him as one of my real confidants." And that sent the Shriver balloon soaring up into the stratosphere.

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