More Than Orchid-Bearers

In Denver last August, Dwight Eisenhower said to a group of women campaign workers: "I'll tell you this, if the women don't get on the campaign train, I'm going to get off." The women responded by turning out in droves to work for Eisenhower, not only as orchid-bearers and stenographers, but as policymakers, strategists, speakers and doorbell ringers. Political reporters and politicians agree that the women's vote was an important factor in Ike's victory. By last week it was a good bet that Ike was giving careful consideration to the possibility of appointing some women to key posts in his Administration--not necessarily at the Cabinet level,* but not necessarily far below it. Among the leading prospects:

Mrs. Katherine G. Howard, the poised and pleasant G.O.P. national committeewoman from Reading, Mass., secretary of the Republican National Committee and of the Chicago convention (whose most memorable appearance on television was the day she slipped off her shoes on the platform to ease her tired feet). A Republican worker for two decades, she came out for Ike before the convention, was in his campaign retinue from beginning to end as the only woman member on the top strategy committee.

Mrs. Oveta Gulp Hobby, editor and executive vice president of the Houston Post, head of the Women's Army Corps during World War II, who announced for Ike four months before the political conventions, published a "political primer" which was instrumental in getting pro-Eisenhower Texans into the G.O.P. precinct conventions last spring. During the campaign, she headed the national Democrats-for-Eisenhower movement.

Mrs. Clare Boothe Luce, playwright, author and onetime (1943-46) G.O.P. Representative from Connecticut, one of the earliest Eisenhower supporters, whose effective campaigning on radio and television won the cheers of the Eisenhower organization from Ike on down.

Mrs. Mary Lord of New York, member of Minnesota's Pillsbury flour family, the efficient and articulate co-chairman of the national Citizens-for-Eisenhower organization, a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, and a familiar figure in New York City welfare work.

Mrs. Ivy Priest of Bountiful, Utah, chairman of the Republican National Committee's women's division. A worker in the G.O.P. ranks for 20 years, she has been a member of the national committee since 1944. She announced for Eisenhower before the convention, spent considerable time on the campaign train, has said she expects Ike to appoint women to some important posts.

*The only woman Cabinet member in U.S. history: Frances Perkins, F.D.R.'s Secretary of Labor for twelve years (1933-45).

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