Amber Light

One afternoon last week, President Eisenhower motored down to Washington from his Gettysburg retreat for his monthly physical checkup. Since the third week of convalescence from his heart attack, the President's doctors had reported nothing but cheerful news and steady progress, and Ike, in an ebullient mood, had every reason to expect another green light. Instead, after a two-hour examination at Walter Reed Army Hospital, the doctors flashed a caution signal. The President, they said, was showing signs of fatigue. His heart may be slightly enlarged. The period of convalescence would be extended, and for the next few weeks, Ike's official activities would be cut back to allow more relaxation and rest.

One Mild Sedative. Looked at carefully, the doctors' report was not really so alarming as some newsmen seemed to think. Meeting reporters in the White House office of Press Secretary James Hagerty, Presidential Physician Howard Snyder seemed confident and unworried. Said he: "The President's condition, when examined today, was good. He has felt well and looked well during all these later weeks." Then Snyder ticked off the clinical details: in the eleventh week of his recovery, Ike was sleeping, resting and relaxing satisfactorily; he had used a mild sedative only once since leaving the hospital; his temperature was normal, blood pressure stable, and general circulation excellent. Blood-clotting time remained satisfactory, and blood-sedimentation rate had declined to normal range. The white-corpuscle count and serum cholesterol were both normal. Weight and diet were carefully controlled and satisfactory.

Then Snyder startled the reporters by announcing that weekly electrocardio grams "show residual abnormalities as a result of the scar in the heart muscle." The abnormalities "remain stable as is expected at this stage in the healing process. This stability is a desirable finding. The scar in the heart-muscle wall appears to be firm and of moderate size. Fluoroscopic examination indicates that the heart beat is good . . . The heart shadow, compared with films that were made in prior years and with those that have been made since the acute attack developed, shows no significant evidence of enlargement."

In the flood of questions that followed the report. Snyder and Army Doctor Thomas W. Mattingly took great pains to explain 'the unfamiliar terms. The "abnormalities" on the President's heart were actually normal aftereffects of any heart attack, like the scar tissue that covers a burn. In describing the heart attack as acute after they had always called it moderate, the doctors referred to the suddenness, not the degree, of the thrombosis. The scar itself measured about four-fifths of an inch, and was "average" for the type of attack. While the heart may have increased in size, Snyder said, it was "hardly demonstrable by the X-ray films."

Two More Months. Snyder agreed that Ike had suffered "a little fatigue," as the newsmen suspected, on some busy days recently. He had tried to slow the President down, Snyder admitted (see above), and the presidential work load would certainly be "lightened a little over the next few weeks." One of the doctors' orders, which had been violated last week and would be rigidly reenforced: Ike's midday break of 2? hours for lunch and a nap. The changed tone of the report seemed to reflect the doctors' annoyance with Ike and his associates for a faster pace of work than they had recommended at this time.

Should the President deliver his State of the Union Message to Congress next month in person? Said Snyder: "I shouldn't think so." Then, emphasizing that he was speaking only for himself, Dr. Snyder recommended that Ike postpone any decision on running again until mid-February.

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