CAPITAL NOTES

Back Again

The White House does not talk about it, but President Kennedy's back is still bothering him. Newsmen noticed that while the President was getting off his jet in a recent visit to Columbus, he hung tightly to the ramp railing, quickly lowered himself step by step. Earlier, while seated at a press briefing, the President dropped some papers on the floor. To avoid bending over, he fished up a few between his feet, then asked aides to pick up the rest.

High Morale

Even John Kennedy handles tough, testy General Lucius Clay with care. After recent Clay complaints that U.S. Army commanders in Berlin do not have sufficient on-the-spot authority, the President decided he had better have a talk with his special Berlin representative. He asked Dean Rusk to send a message to Clay, suggesting that if Clay's morale was suffering, it might be a good idea to visit Washington and examine the problem from the U.S. side of the Atlantic.

Clay's retort: "My morale is no problem." But of course, he did agree to fly back for discussions with the President.

Departing In-Law

Up for a reshuffle: the Administration's "Crisis Center," an agency set up to coordinate cold war planning between the

White House, State Department, Pentagon and Central Intelligence Agency. Established last spring after the failure of the Cuban invasion, the agency's performance has never quite lived up to Administration hopes. Among the departing Crisis Center officials is Deputy Director Stephen E. Smith, 34, husband of President Kennedy's sister Jean. Smith has resigned in order to go to New York and help manage the Kennedy family's millions.

Sidelined

The most frustrated member of the Kennedy Cabinet is Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udall. Since entering office, Udall has formulated a sweeping new conservation and national parks program. But his ideas have received no more than polite attention at the White House, and Stew is stewing.

Off the Reservation

Capitol Hill may have its first full blooded American Indian as a U.S. Representative next year. For Arizona's newly created Third Congressional District seat, state Republicans are talking about running Navajo Tribal Council Chairman Paul Jones, 71, who has ably supervised his tribe's business interests, including uranium and oil deposits. One argument for Jones: some three-quarters of the state's 83,400 Indians live in the new district.

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