Reluctant Recruits

Richard Nixon continued his slow methodical labors at transition. His attention focused on Defense Secretary Clark Clifford, whom the President-elect would like to persuade to stay on in his arduous job. Failing that, Nixon may turn to Washington's Senator Henry ("Scoop") Jackson, 56, whose experience on the Senate Armed Services Committee and hard-line views on U.S. defense policy would equip him well, in Nixon's view, to take over at the Pentagon. Democratic regulars have taken to referring to such possible apostates as "Uncle Toms."

Nixon's main trouble last week was that some major figures of both parties seemed reluctant to sign on. New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller was at least a possibility to go to the U.N., but a meeting last week with Nixon only hardened Rocky's conviction that he would rather remain Governor. Some observers also thought it doubtful that his brother David Rockefeller would accept a Nixon offer to become Secretary of the Treasury.

Massachusetts' Edward Brooke, the first Negro to serve in the Senate since Reconstruction, was a Nixon favorite to take over the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but last week Brooke refused the job. Besides feeling some restiveness about Nixon's approach to minority problems during the campaign, Brooke cherishes his independence in the Senate. A new possibility for HUD may now be Urbanologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat.

New Power Structure. While Nixon remained preoccupied with his Cabinet selections, he continued slowly enlarging his personal staff. Robert Ellsworth, a former moderate Republican Congressman from Kansas and national political director of the Nixon campaign this year, will become a White House assistant and a troubleshooter on both foreign and domestic problems. Nixon also named Campaign Aide Herb Klein to be the spokesman for the executive branch (see following story). Harvard's Henry A. Kissinger, a former foreign-affairs adviser to Nelson Rockefeller, was sought to take over Walt Rostow's job as chief staff director of the National Security Council. Kissinger has been the nation's foremost theoretician of "limited war" and flexible response to prevent Communist aggression. Last summer, however, Kissinger helped to draw up Rockefeller's four-point formula suggesting steps to de-Americanize the war in Viet Nam.

California's Lieutenant Governor Robert Finch was a good bet to become overseer of Nixon's entire domestic program, possibly as Secretary of HEW or HUD. Campaign Manager John Mitchell is a fair guess to become Attorney General. The Nixon camp leaked the word that G.O.P. National Chairman Ray Bliss, 60, will probably be sacked. Nixon believes that the Republicans need a more activist, youthful image, but the move will cause bitter feelings among party regulars.

Eventually, Nixon will have both a party and an Administration fashioned to his liking. Thus far, the progress of his transition suggests very much the qualities of the Nixon style that will come to prevail in Washington: steadiness, caution, efficiency and the utmost discretion.

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