Weaver's Long Wait

"May the good Lord have mercy on you," said Lyndon Johnson--and, under the circumstances, the benediction seemed appropriate. Johnson was speaking to the man he had just nominated as head of the new Department of Housing and Urban Development, Robert Clifton Weaver, who will be the first Negro to sit in the Cabinet. Weaver, 58, will preside over the Federal Government's first comprehensive attack on the problems of metropolitan areas, which now contain 70% of the nation's people, are expected to double in population by the end of the century. If he takes his job seriously, even with wads of federal cash to throw around, he will have a tough time.

No Prejudice. Patience and fortitude he has. The department was first proposed in 1961 by John Kennedy, who announced his intention of appointing Weaver to the job. Congress balked twice, partly because it did not like the idea and partly because it was not ready for an integrated Cabinet. Lyndon Johnson finally got the bill through last summer--without saying who would lead the new department--and then gave every indication of not having made up his mind. He signed the bill on Sept. 9, and the department came into being on Nov. 9. While Weaver continued to head the Housing and Home Finance Agency, precursor of the new department, Johnson sifted through 300 possible appointees, leaned toward two or three who were apparently unavailable. Finally, he chose Weaver.

The atmosphere on Capitol Hill has changed since Weaver was first talked of for the job. Democrats, mostly Southerners, had charged earlier that Weaver would use his office primarily to promote racial integration in housing. Senator A. Willis Robertson, the Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Banking

Committee that must consider Weaver's nomination, voted against Weaver's appointment even to the HHFA five years ago. Now Robertson--and others--predict easy confirmation for Weaver. "I thought he was going to be prejudiced," says Robertson. "But I have seen no evidence of prejudice."

Administrative Monstrosity. The great-grandson of a slave and the son of a postal worker, Weaver grew up in segregated Washington. He trained in his teens to be an electrician, but could not penetrate the union's color bar. Instead, he went to Harvard, where he earned three degrees, including a doctorate in economics. In 1933 he became an aide to Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, in the first of a long succession of Government and state posts he has held, most of them in the housing field. Along the way he taught at three universities, served as board chairman of the N.A.A.C.P. (in 1960), wrote two books on Negro problems. Then President Kennedy brought him to Washington to head the HHFA.

The old HHFA, which now forms the core of the new department, has been what Weaver calls an "administrative monstrosity," comprising five major sub-agencies that have not always worked together--or with Weaver. Under the new law, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary gets authority to bring his subordinate offices into line. Weaver's responsibilities will doubtless grow fast. A presidential committee headed by Dr. Robert C. Wood, 42, chairman of M.I.T.'s political-science department, has reported to the President on what additional functions--such as air pollution control--HUD should acquire. Which of the still-secret proposals Johnson will adopt for recommendation to Congress is as yet uncertain. In any case, Weaver will have every opportunity to hear them in detail: Johnson named Wood the new department's first Under Secretary.

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