July 29 1952
Forecast
Despite two long talks and watching DR in officers conferences I find a good deal of uncertainty accompanies most of the following forecasts.  I haven't seen him at home, nor heard him make a formal speech to the Trustees or others, nor have I seen his mind at work to decide the values among factors I knew.
I don't have the feeling that he is a man of really superior intellect, nor of marked originality or very deep convictions.  He has a shrewd intuitive feel for people and for a non-irritating way of dealing with them.  He will not have neurotic quarrels or antipathies.  I don't think he will extend CIB's mechanization of procedure: that will coast rather than be accelerated or meticulously maintained.  He will avoid open quarrels or head-on fights.
I shall get along well with him.  I like his detached sense of humor and of proportion.  It is possible he will use me for opinion and suggestions, but if not I think he will not interfere or criticize.  He is not an erratic or dramatic mover, but cautious and sensitive.  He is efficient and hardworking.
With the Trustees I think he will get on well.  When Foster Dulles leaves I don't know who among the Trustees he will rely on or consult.  I hope he will bring in one or two people he knows and trusts for by 1954 he will realize the limitation of JDR III more clearly than he can as yet.
What he sees for the RF to do I don't know but I think he will stand for some larger expenditures than we've been doing in the past.  I think he will favor items in the Social Sciences even though he may soon come to the view that JHW lacks the measure of incisiveness that
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DR would like to see.
Greater balance of US versus other countries I think he'll reach out and do more travel than RBF or CIB did.  He will use Kimball steadily hard and well.
I don't think he writes much or with my pleasure in writing and the Public Relations preoccupations of CIB won't ride him hard.
I'm not sure that he is going to avoid illness: he looks to use like the kind that acute infections or diabetes or nephritis might attack.
He is not quick, impulsive, or magnetic as a speaker but he is a sound understander of people and I think his appointments will be shrewd.
I don't yet have any idea of what he dislikes, fears or avoids.  Nor what gives him major satisfaction. Nor what his picture of himself may be.  Nor can I guess where his preferences among the directors is going to lie.  I think he is going to be a smooth moderator and a good judge of people.  I am fairly inclined (70%) to think he will stay with the Foundation.  He will not be as forceful as CIB nor as intellectually active and alert.
I think he is honest and never devious, and placid enough so that office morale will be good.  He has the capacity to grow and change but he won't reach his full stature until some (or most) of the present directors have been followed by men of his choosing.
A.G.