No, No, NO, Mr. Kennedy

Foreign aid is in trouble again. Mr. Passman made heavier cuts than usual in Congressional allocations, and made them stick; Mr. Bowles, one of the program's fondest defenders, accused it of failing to require sufficiently high standards of planning; and now the agency director is about to pack his briefcase and return to New York, where no Congressman will ever come to shatter his sleep.

It was never really clear why the President appointed Mr. Fowler Hamilton to head the newly-formed Agency for International Development. Mr. Hamilton's announced intention not to stay long in the job jarred strangely with the new Administration's hopes for long-term projects. Furthermore, his appointment over that of Mr. Henry Labouisse, a career officer and director of the old I.C.A. greatly piqued a large section of the agency Mr. Labouisse went off to Greece, and Mr. Hamilton, an undeniably efficient man, had to face a serious problem of morale

Now the President must choose his successor, and the choice is an important one: A.I.D. has reformed and refined its operations, but it lacks a central mind to determine the criteria of eligibility for aid and to persuade the Congress of the value of experiment. There is some thought of appointing Mr. Sargent Shriver, a splendid Peace Corps Director whose designation by the President might be all that is needed to discredit the entire Kennedy family. Only one man seems to have all the necessary virtues: Mr. Eugene Black, who just retired from the World Bank. Mr. Black can do more than run a program superbly; he can command the respect of Capitol Hill and the affection of the agency staff at a moment when both are slipping. The President should implore him to take the job.