Down from the Mountains

Last week President Eisenhower went back to Denver from his vacation-within-a-vacation at Aksel Nielsen's rustic camp (TIME, Sept. 7), and resumed his schedule of work & play. The President was refreshed and jaunty after a week in the air-cooled Rockies, although his bruised elbow had cut into his fishing (he did catch the biggest fish of the week, a 15 3/8 in., 1 1/4 lb. rainbow trout). On his return to Denver, Ike hardly had time to greet the First Lady and Mrs. Doud before he was engulfed in affairs of state. Robert Cutler, chairman of the Planning Board of the National Security Council, had flown in from Washington with a fat dispatch case full of international problems, and was waiting at the summer White House when Ike arrived. After a four-hour conference, the President decided to summon John Foster Dulles to Denver for a full report and consultation (see above).

Next morning a heavy load of work was ready for the President when he sat down at his desk at Lowry Air Force Base at 7:45. During his seven-day absence, three large leather pouches, chained and padlocked, had arrived in Denver. Dozens of letters, written and typed up in Washington, awaited his approval and signature. The two-foot pile of "urgent" papers before him was higher than the length of the rainbow trout. With an audible sigh, Dwight Eisenhower settled down to work.

One of his first acts was to sign an executive order abolishing the Psychological Strategy Board and substituting a new Operations Coordinating Board, completing a new and far-reaching reorganization of the national security machinery.

Last week the President also:

P: Ordered Foreign Operations Administrator Harold Stassen to ship up to 10,000 tons of surplus farm commodities to famine-withered Jordan.

P: Authorized $45 million in aid for bankrupt Iran (see FOREIGN NEWS).

P: Visited a Denver osteopath for treatments to his bruised elbow, and told reporters that it was healing satisfactorily, though it still bothered him after a month.

P: Announced that, barring emergencies, he would stay in Denver for two more weeks, flying East just in time for a speaking engagement at a Republican rally in Boston on Sept. 21.

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