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Go South. Back in Washington, the President measured his work load against a sudden desire to get into warm country, found the balance in favor of a long weekend vacation. With the special messages on education ($1 billion over four years to step up U.S. education in the satellite age) and on reciprocal trade (see Foreign Trade) dispatched to Congress, the only big hurdle was a Friday-morning breakfast speech to the Republican national committeemen. Taking the hurdle in stride, the President got off the kind of no-clichés-barred political pep talk GOPoliticians wish he had delivered the previous week in Chicago, where he went through a nationally televised twelve minutes without once directly calling for a Republican Congress this fall. "We all know that the political prophets have already [figured] the odds the Republicans are up against. But these calculations overlook the decisive element. What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight—it's the size of the fight in the dog . . . Some people say a political party needs a working majority. It's even more important right now to have a majority working."
Leaving the party faithful chuckling behind him (they gave Vice President Nixon a slightly warmer hand), the President boarded the Columbine. In two hours he was in balmy Augusta, Ga., and within 15 minutes after getting to Mamie's Cabin was out on the fairways, to shoot 15 holes before dark in a threesome that included Investment Banker Cliff Roberts and Manhattan Businessman (Cluett, Peabody & Co.) Barry Leithead. Early in the evening while playing bridge, the President was called aside by Press Secretary Jim Hagerty, who told him that prospects were improving for a satellite blast-off that night. During the evening the President was on the phone repeatedly, keeping up with the Explorer countdown. At 12:45 a.m. he got the final word from Hagerty, fired off a well done to Dr. Alan Waterman, director of the National Science Foundation.
Next morning gusts up to 38 m.p.h. and temperatures in the low 405 discouraged much golf. But Ike did play the Augusta National's sheltered 11th-through-14th holes, then returned to the cabin for more bridge. Overnight, the temperature fell to subfreezing. This week, rested but not very much exercised, the President flew back to Washington.
*There were seven Eisenhower brothers, sons of David (1863-1942) and Ida (1862-1946) Eisenhower: Arthur (1886-1958); Edgar, now 69; Dwight, 67; Roy (1892-1942); Paul (1894-95); Earl, 60; and Milton, 58.