THE VICE PRESIDENT: Putting Rockefeller to Work

President Ford chose a fitting occasion, a Manhattan dinner honoring Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, to provide an answer to one of Washington’s most intriguing questions: How much power does he intend to give the former New York Governor? The answer, certain to further irk Ford’s restive conservative critics, was in effect “a lot.”

The President announced that Rockefeller will not only hold the title of vice chairman of the Domestic Council, which broadly shapes all domestic legislation and programs, but he will be charged with directly supervising its work. Moreover, two of Rockefeller’s close aides, formerly in New York State government and now in his vice-presidential office, will head the council’s day-by-day operations. Ford appointed James M. Cannon, 56, formerly Rocky’s top legislative aide in Albany, to the $42,500 post of executive director of the council after the present director, Kenneth R. Cole Jr., leaves on March 1. Richard L. Dunham, 45, former New York State budget director, will become deputy director.

Ford’s decision ended a suspenseful backstage White House drama. When he selected Rockefeller as his vice-presidential nominee, Ford promised to give Rocky more policy-shaping influence than past Vice Presidents have been accorded, and had mentioned a Domestic Council role for him. But for weeks Ford did nothing about this, and Rockefeller spent much of his time in his constitutionally delegated, largely ceremonial duty of presiding over the Senate.

Rockefeller was asked by Ford to suggest some names for the vacated top staff jobs on the Domestic Council. He nominated Cannon and Dunham —and nothing happened. Ford’s own aides, including Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, were reluctant to give that kind of authority to Rockefeller men. Rumsfeld’s prime candidate for Cannon’s job was Harvard Law Professor Phillip Areeda, who late last week announced his resignation as counsel to the President. The delay was awkward for Rockefeller. Two weeks ago, he met Ford for an hour behind the closed doors of the Oval Office—and Ford overruled his advisers. He saved for the dinner the announcement that the Vice President’s choices had been accepted.

Similar Duties. The Rockefeller men being promoted have varied backgrounds. Cannon is a veteran newsman, moving from the Baltimore Sun to become a TIME contributing editor, then Newsweek’s national affairs editor, chief of correspondents and a vice president. A native of Alabama, he joined Rockefeller’s New York staff in 1969. For Rocky, he held a post with duties similar to his Domestic Council position: chairman of the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.

By contrast, Dunham’s experience before becoming a Rockefeller budget expert at Albany in 1967 was in business and computers. A native of Rochester, N.Y., he got his B.A. from the University of Rochester and M.A. hi public administration from the University of Michigan, then worked for his family’s computer service firm in Rochester. He joined the staff of the state of Ohio’s legislative service commission in 1955, and served as an adviser for the U.S. AID program in Cambodia from 1957 to 1960.

Apparently to further strengthen the council, Ford added the heads of his Economic Policy Board and his Energy Resources Council to its membership. The council, whose membership also includes all the Cabinet Secretaries except those of State and Defense, rarely meets as a body, but its staff is highly influential. Ford said the council will assess the nation’s domestic needs on both a short-term and long-term basis, set national priorities and provide options for meeting those needs. Cannon will be able to report directly to the President whenever he wishes. Thus the council’s role is potentially powerful, although it must contend with the Office of Management and Budget, which puts practical funding limits on programs. Under Nixon, the Domestic Council was used by its director, John Ehrlichman, as a rigid barrier between the departments and the President.

Rockefeller seems far too sensitive to his touchy political situation to similarly push Cabinet members around. “Nobody can get between the President and his Cabinet, and nobody can get between the President and his staff without destroying his usefulness,” Rocky insists. Ford’s men are equally aware of the potential for high-level friction, but express optimism. “This is an ongoing experiment and unique policy in having complete harmony and concord between the President and his Vice President,” observes Presidential Counsellor Robert Hartmann. “A great many around this town believe this is impossible. But the President believes that you trust your Vice President and you trust your Vice President’s men.” It should be indeed a fascinating experiment, and if it works, help alter the tradition that, as Finley Peter Dunne’s Mr. Dooley put it, the Vice President is a man whose main concern is “lookin’ afther th’ prisidint’s health.”