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Frederick Andrew Seaton, 47, after seven months as Secretary of the Interior, is the youngest Cabinet officer in age and service. Succeeding Douglas McKay, Seaton assumed a difficult job with the light hand and sure footwork that marked earlier Washington assignments, e.g., as Charlie Wilson's public relations counselor and as presidential administrative assistant. Currently Seaton's touchy job is to reverse some McKay water and power decisions that proved to be vastly unpopular in the Far West, e.g., to shift emphasis from McKay's theories of all-out help for quick, private-power development to a more moderate Seaton program of maximum use of each river valley, and possibly increased federal development. Along these lines, Fred Seaton may yet reopen the celebrated Hell's Canyon dispute (TIME, Oct 22 et ante), come out for a modified federal high dam of some sort.
Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield, 57, followed the traditional path of victorious presidential campaign chairmen to the Postmaster General's chair, there largely abandoned politics to supervise sweeping Post Office reforms. To the public, modernization shows up in such improvements as red, white and blue mailboxes and trucks and trim new uniforms. To business experts it shows up more impressively in such innovations as administrative streamlining and cost accounting. Return ing for a new term. Summerfield must tackle a task he has failed at before: convincing Congress that rates should be upped (present thinking: 5¢ for all first-class mail) to put the red, white and blue Post Office on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Sinclair Weeks, 63. Secretary of Commerce, has never completely overcome his conservative New England business views. (A portrait of Herbert Hoover occupies the honor spot in his office.) But in four years he has marched much closer to Eisenhower progressivism, especially in the sphere of international trade. He has mellowed towards lower tariffs, fought for U.S. membership in the antiprotectionist Organization for Trade Cooperation. To Weeks goes major credit for fostering U.S. participation in foreign-trade fairs that have combated Communist propaganda and helped raise U.S. exports. He has made such long-needed improvements as a Patent Office speedup, broader Weather Bureau services, steady support for the merchant marine.