DECISION-MAKING IN THE WHITE HOUSE

Subtitled ""The Olive Branch or the Arrows"", with a Foreword by John F. Kennedy, and based upon the Gino Speranza Lectures which Mr. Sorensen delivered at Columbia University this past spring, this slim volume has nothing new to offer on the subject of how the office of Chief Executive functions, but it does constitute fair, brief review of major aspects. The author is a White House Aide and no doubt has a great many valuable personal observations to communicate, but very few will be found between these covers. On the crucial question of who advises the President, for example, he will go no further than to assure us that President Kennedy's confidence in the Attorney General is ""based not on fraternal ties alone but on long years of observing and testing his brother's judgment and dependability"". Having made a little analysis go far enough--at least as far as he is concerned--Mr. Sorensen concludes by telling us: ""the only way to assure good presidential decisions is to elect and support good Presidents"". And who'll argue with a profundity like that?