ARMY & NAVY: A Gown for a General

For a long time Dwight Eisenhower had been thinking of retiring from the Army (TIME, June 23). Last week he confirmed reports that he has a place to go when he does. Columbia University had asked him to be its president, a job vacant since the retirement in 1946 of blind, aged Nicholas Murray Butler, who had served for 44 years. The probable time for 56-year-old Ike Eisenhower’s shift: some time after Jan. 1, 1948.

Political observers immediately took off on speculative flights. It was noted that once Eisenhower dropped his active military status, he would be in “an open arena” a few months before the presidential conventions. It was also noted that Eisenhower is an acknowledged “catalyst,” and that he had the magic ability to unite dissident factions. No party could overlook his enormous prestige. But no one knew for sure whether he was a Republican or a Democrat.

From the General himself, of course, nobody got any political information. The last time Ike discussed his future, he had said that he would like nothing better than to go fishing.