• April 01, 1974
• Vol. 1
• No. 5

Lookout

David P. Rusk is, as he puts it, "the first Rusk to ever run for public office." But being the son of the Kennedy-appointed Secretary of State gives his name political clout in the wide-open race to become the first mayor of Albuquerque, N. Mex. since the city—population 280,000—was recently reorganized from a city-manager system of government. Rusk arrived in Albuquerque only three years ago to manage the community manpower program, so inevitably he has been accused of carpetbagging. "What magic benefits does being native-born confer on a person in terms of recognizing community problems?" retorts Rusk. The answer, to judge from the highly effective program which Rusk set up to find jobs for Albuquerque's unemployed, is that it matters very little. At 33, Rusk is the youngest of some 12 candidates—all required to run as "independents" in the May election. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, he first went to Washington to do research in Latin American studies before his support of the civil rights movement in the early '60s led him first to the Urban League and then into the Department of Labor. Married to Delcia Bence Spinosa of Buenos Aires—they have three small children—the young campaigner's fluency in Spanish should count for something with the local electorate. Even if he loses his well-financed campaign to become mayor of Albuquerque, Rusk is not likely to vamoose soon. "I would not return to federal service under any circumstances," he says, "while Richard Nixon is President."

Dorothy Hamill thrilled to her greatest triumph to date at the recent World Figure Skating Championships in Munich only minutes after what may be the ugliest memory she will ever have. Antagonized by a low score awarded a West German skater by the U.S. judge, the crowd of 8,000 aimed their displeasure with America at the next contestant, 17-year-old Dorothy, who hails from Connecticut. So obnoxious was the partisan chorus of boos and whistling that U.S. team officials waved her off the ice, at which point Dorothy broke down sobbing on the shoulder of her father. Five minutes later, however, she composed herself, strode onto the ice, and as the audience switched to wild cheers, soared to a second-place silver medal. Skating has been a way of life for Dorothy ever since her family sunk $6.95 into a pair of blades when she was 8. The extraordinary promise she displayed over the next nine years has cost the Hamills much more. So that her daughter could study under the famous professional Carlo Fassi of Denver, Mrs. Hamill left her husband back East to set up house in Colorado, where Dorothy's rigorous training for her ultimate goal—the 76 Olympics—leaves barely enough time for her studies at Colorado Academy, let alone family life. "We'd do it all over again," says Mrs. Hamill, "if that's what Dorothy wanted to do."