Worth Waiting For

One noon last week the President said, "I've been waiting a long time for this," reached across the brown blotter on his desk for a pen, and signed his name to the bottom right-hand corner of the last page of a blue leather-bound book. Then he handed the Paris accords to John Foster Dulles, who signed in the lower left-hand corner. Beaming, the President added, "Here are the two offspring of the treaty," and signed two more papers before handing them to his Secretary of State. The three documents granted West Germany sovereignty, ended the Allied occupation, approved West Germany as the 18th NATO nation, and authorized U.S. troops to remain in West Germany. Said the President: "This is the biggest treaty signing I've ever had."

While more than 25,000 Easter-week sightseers trooped through the White House without seeing the, President, he also:

P: Appeared before movie cameras in the Rose Garden to record a message to Sir Winston Churchill: "We shall never accept the thought that we are to be denied your counsel, your advice. Out of your great experience, your great wisdom and your great courage, the free world yet has much to gain."

P: Received a resolution from the Pennsylvania state legislature welcoming his intention to become a voting resident at his farm near Gettysburg. His former voting address: Columbia University, 60 Morningside Drive, New York.

P: Accepted gold season passes for himself and Mamie from Clark Griffith, president of the Washington Senators, who has presented passes to every President from William Howard Taft on.

P: Made plans to return to West Point this June for the first time since he became President. It will be the 40th reunion of his class (1915). Classmates include General James A. Van Fleet. General of the Army Omar N. Bradley and Lieut. General George E. Stratemeyer.

P: Agreed, for no apparent reason other than Sweden's request, to revive a commission to preserve peace between Sweden and the U.S., which was set up in 1914 by Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan and forgotten since 1944, when the U.S.-appointed neutral member of the commission, Albert Auguste Gabriel Hanotaux of France, died. The President named French Historian Andre Siegfried (America Comes of Age), 79, as the U.S.-appointed neutral representative.

P: Called off his press conference and packed to leave for a ten-day holiday in Augusta.

P: Revealed that a Cleveland firm of consulting engineers was at work on plans to provide adequate office space for the White House staff. One probable improvement: an auditorium in which to meet the press and other large groups.

P: Attended Easter services at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, while Mrs. Eisenhower remained at Gettysburg.

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