Jessen's weekly., 1962-04-11
TO oidsfers.

now become Secretary of State
again. While he was in Geneva at
tending the disarmament conference.
the real Secretary of State was
none other than John F. Kennedy.
There was almost no detail JFK
did not handle. He personally
checked on State Department staff
work, conferred with State Depart
ment subordinates, made decisions
on individual countries. He even got
involved in State Department per-
sonnet problems.
Kennedy was also on the trans,
Atlantic telephone to President de
Gaulle in Paris and Prime Minister
Macmillan in Londen-which, how
ever. is not unusual He phones the
heads of states in NATO countries,
including Chancellor Adenauer,
more than any other American Pres
ident. In this case. he conferred
with De Gaulle about the Algerian
crisis.
In addition, Kennedy was on the
telephone to Rusk in Geneva on
every important move and ordered
him to wait in Geneva for the new
Berlin proposal being readied by
Foreign Minister Gromyko. 1t
turned out to be a rehash of past
proposals.
The public didn't know it, but
Kennedy also handled personally
the demand of Chang Kai-Shek that
he be allowed to invade the Chinese
mainland With Chinese unrest in
creased by the food shortage, Chang
claimed the time was ripe Kennedy
considered this carefully, finally de-
cided the risk of precipitating
World War III was too great In
stead he ordered a close watch on
Chang to make sure he doesn't at
tempt an invasion without US. help.
1t was also the President who
made the decision to call Ambassa-
dor Everett Drumright hastily home
from Formosa before the State De-
partment papers were published on
past U.S.-Chinese relations. They
are somewhat embarrassing.
Kennedy also studied economic
and political reports on every Latin
American country and even got into
the act as to whether President
Goulart of Brazil should address a
joint session of congress- He also
read the latest intelligence reports
on the growing crisis in Iran and
decided to bring the Shah to Wash
ington for hurry-up visit to bolster
the Shah's sagging rule.
All in all it was a busy three
weeks for JFK. Now that Secretary
Rusk is back, Kennedy is turning a
little of the detail back to him.
One Judge Statutes Another
The highest judge of the land
Chief Justice Earl Warren, flew
5000 miles across the United States
last week to pay tribute to another
judge. In this case a retired Califor-
mia Superior Judge = Peter J.
Shields.
Judge Shields is 100 years old. He
was born April 5, 1862, just one year
after the Civil War started. He has
lived through the Civil War, the
Spanish American War, and two
World Wars. But he continues to
be man who hopes for peace.
He also continues to have his
faculties, his sense of humor, and,
most important of all, his liberal
outlook on life. On every birthday,
Judge Shields walks into the Del
Prado restaurant in Sacramento to
lunch with George E. johnson,
another California liberal, to dis
cuss politics and the state of the
union.
So Chief Justice Warren, a Re-
publican, flew across the continent
to help pay tribute to Judge Shields,
Democrat, as the University of Cali
fornia named park in the judges
honor in commemoration of his
founding of the agricultural college
of the university.
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