A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

 personally approved of Shikler 's portrait , which was paid for by the White Ho

use Historical Association . But at the time , some art critics found Shikler 's

 impressionistic full-length romantic portrait of Onassis standing in front of a

 fireplace at her New York apartment `` other-world-ish '' or `` veiled . '' Shi

kler 's comment to The Washington Post at the time was , `` Anyone could paint h

er prettiness . I wanted to paint the haunted look in her eyes . '' Last week , 

Hillary Rodham Clinton asked that the portrait of Onassis , which was completed 

by Shikler in 1970 , be moved from the Vermeil Room where it is usually displaye

d to a more heavily trafficked area of the White House to honor Onassis 's memor

y . The first lady also requested that a bouquet of peach Osiana roses , a Clint

on favorite , be placed in front of the portrait . According to the first lady '

s press office , the portrait will hang in the ground floor corridor until the e

nd of June .

 Not long ago , Mike Goff , who spends his summers near Seneca Rocks , W. Va. , 

was stopped by police in nearby Petersburg , W. Va. , after they had spotted him

 driving up and down the town streets . `` I was looking for a cash machine , ''

 Goff said , `` and I was surprised when they told me you had to drive to Mooref

ield ( W. Va. ) to find one . '' At the rate at which automated teller machines 

are spreading , it probably willn't be long before there 's one in Petersburg as

 well as Moorefield , 15 miles away . In fact , the number of banking offices is

 now falling while the number of ATMs is soaring . By the end of last year , the

re were more than 95,000 of the machines across the country far more than the nu

mber of bank head offices and branches up from only 2,000 in 1973 . Probably not

hing else has changed the way people manage the cash in their pocketbooks as the

 advent of ATMs . Most ATMs are open all the time , so depositors with ATM cards

 tend to make more than twice as many cash withdrawals as those who do not use t

he machines . Depositors found the machines so convenient that they used them 7.

7 billion times last year , an average of 6.7 times a month each , according to 

the Consumer Federation of America , drawing on data from the Nilson Report and 

the University of Michigan 's Survey Research Center . The spread of the machine

s has not been just a matter of customer convenience , however . Banking executi

ves have seen ATMs as a cheaper way to handle routine transactions that otherwis

e would require a teller and possibly more banking offices . The number of banki

ng offices was , until a couple of years ago , also going up . But such experts 

as David B . Humphrey , a banking professor at Florida State University , say th

at the rise in the number of bank branches was the result of a relaxation of ban

k branching restrictions in many states . Meanwhile , the number of bank head of

fices has gone down as bank failures and mergers have reduced the country 's tot

al number of banks . The Consumer Federation released a study this week saying b

anks are overcharging customers for the use of ATMs . `` Throughout the economy 

, self-service facilities result in lower costs for the consumer , '' said Chris

 Lewis , the group 's director of banking and housing policy . `` But in banking

 , self-service is regarded as a privilege for which the consumer is required to

 pay a premium for saving the bank money . '' The consumer organization noted th

at most banks charge a fee , usually about $ 1 , when customers use ATMs other t

han those belonging to the institution at which they have their accounts . About

 a fifth of the banks also charge about 25 cents each time a customer uses an AT

M of their own bank . And there are other fees in some cases , it said . Altoget

her , banks took in more than $ 2.55 billion in ATM fees last year , while buyin

g and operating the machines cost $ 2.9 billion . But the banks came out way ahe

ad , the group argued , because they saved $ 2.34 billion in teller costs that t

hey would have incurred if all those ATM transactions had been handled by a pers

on in a banking office . Indeed , one of the major reasons for the rapid spread 

of ATMs has been that a transaction on them costs about half the $ 1.12 cost est

imated by the American Bankers Association for a transaction requiring a teller 

. However , contrary to the Consumer Federation 's complaint , Florida State 's 

Humphrey found that use of ATMs has not necessarily saved banks money because th

e convenience has encouraged so many more transactions . In an article in the sp

ring issue of the Quarterly Review of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank , Humphr

ey wrote : `` The expectation that ATMs would reduce bank costs has not been rea

lized . Indeed , costs appear to be slightly higher .... '' The Consumer Federat

ion recommended that bank customers minimize their ATM fees by using their own b

ank 's machines whenever possible and by withdrawing larger amounts of cash if a

nother bank 's machines must be used . Finally , it said , `` If convenient , us

e a teller . '' `` We don't apologize for the fees , '' said Ed Alwood of the Am

erican Bankers Association . `` We think we deliver a valuable service , and obv

iously our customers do too . '' Depositors found ATMs valuable enough to use th

em 7.7 billion times last year , fees and all .

 WASHINGTON Our ids obviously don't like squids . The Smithsonian has just put i

ts second giant squid on display , and this one is even creepier than the first 

. It comes with blue-green flashing lights and rows of nasty hooks on its tentac

les that guarantee the first embrace with the creature will be the last . Taning

ia danae let 's just call her Tonya was netted off Cape Cod a couple of years ag

o . Reduced by the preservation process to a fraction of her former 7-foot , 135

-pound self , she nestles nastily in a plastic tank at the National Museum of Na

tural History . One of the rarest of deep-sea specimens , Tonya 's permanently p

aired with her big sister Archie ( Architeuthis dux ) , a half-grown 440-pounder

 with 30-foot tentacles that washed ashore on Plum Island , Mass. , in 1983 . Cu

rator Clyde Roper , the Smithsonian 's squid expert , thinks the two of them are

 just beautiful , making allowances for the fact that pickling has turned them a

ll gray and ooky . Roper regards squids as pinnacles of evolution , having gone 

about as far as could be expected of any spineless creature . Some grow 50 feet 

long , maybe much longer , he exulted at Tonya 's press debut , ignoring the ala

rm on the faces of the hard-scribbling scribes . `` We talk of giant squids as r

are because we don't see many of them , '' Roper says , `` but in fact they may 

be common . They mainly live in the deep open ocean . If sharks and sperm whales

 don't get them , they 're eaten by scavengers when they die . '' Roper loves sq

uids . He can't stop talking about them . `` You know how shallow-water squids e

mit puffs of ink to distract predators , '' he says . `` It attacks the ink clou

d while the squid squirts away . But of course that wouldn't work in the deeps ,

 where it 's always dark . So there 's a squid that squirts luminescent ink ! ''

 Among newcomer Tonya 's charms , as enumerated by Roper , are eyes as big as gr

apefruits , backed by a large and complex brain . Two of her eight arms were equ

ipped with powerful bioluminescent organs that apparently are used to warn or di

stract predators , making her , in the sober and precise language of science , `

` the world 's largest flasher . '' While it 's possible the lights may also be 

used to attract or dazzle prey , it 's doubtful , science says , because a squid

 already is uniquely equipped to reach out and clutch someone . Speaking of whic

h , Roper wishes it known that all those myths and legends about giant squids ar

e just stories . Although some squids grow bigger than many oceangoing boats and

 one could if it wanted overtake a boat at 45 mph after spotting it through the 

darkest night with volleyball-size eyes and has tentacles that could easily snak

e their way over the side across the deck down the hatch through the galley and 

into the sail locker where the crew has retreated in terror and although the ten

tacles are enormously powerful and have suction cups rimmed with sharp teeth or 

backed by cruel barbs and could easily grasp shrieking sailors and slowly and re

lentlessly draw them into a mouth equipped with a flesh-shearing bone-crunching 

beak leaving the craft bare and abandoned like the Flying Dutchman or Marie Cele

ste , this has never been proved to have happened . So calm down . -O- GIANT SQU

IDS , on permanent display at the National Museum of Natural History .

 WASHINGTON If you go to the National Gallery of Art 's newest show , don't sit 

on the two white benches . Alarms will sound and guards will come running , beca

use they 're not benches at all , they 're art . Furthermore , they 're importan

t art , two of 90 artworks selected from the world-famous contemporary collectio

n of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel . The Vogels , who are a heartwarming legend in t

heir own time , have given or promised the gallery their entire assemblage of mo

re than 2,000 drawings , paintings , sculptures , constructions and whatever . G

allery Director Earl A . Powell III praises the Vogels ' `` extraordinary connoi

sseurship and love of art , '' and says the gallery is honored to be given stewa

rdship of `` one of the broadest , deepest and most discerning collections of la

te-20th century art . '' The works once filled the Vogels ' New York City apartm

ent `` literally from floor to ceiling-living room , bedrooms , bathroom , where

ver , '' laughs Ruth Fine , curator of the gallery 's modern prints and drawings

 , who organized the show . `` The collection touches virtually all the importan

t elements of minimal , post-minimal and conceptual art . '' Not only that , it 

was assembled on a shoestring by two of the nicest people you 'd ever want to me

et . Dorothy and `` Herby '' Vogel , as she calls him , are an only-in-America l

ove story . She was a librarian , daughter of a stationer ; he was a postal cler

k , son of a tailor . They met at a reunion of Catskill resort patrons , and the

ir devotion to each other has always been matched by their love of art ( much of

 their 1962 honeymoon was spent exploring the National Gallery ) . Both studied 

art and dreamed of being artists , but then came to the conclusion that others w

ere doing much more important and exciting work than they ever could . For 30 ye

ars they lived on her salary and spent his on art , meanwhile becoming friends a

nd patrons of scores of struggling unknowns who went on to fame and fortune . In

stead of cashing in on the enormously enhanced value of their modest purchases ,

 the Vogels , now retired , donated them to the nation . `` We didn't do it to m

emorialize ourselves , '' Herbert Vogel says , `` we did it to maintain the inte

grity and personality of the collection . '' Who could resist such a story ? The

 only thing that tarnishes this bright and shining tale is the show itself . If 

this is the cream of contemporary art , then bring on the millenium and get us o

ut of this drab , desultory , declining century . The abovementioned non-benches

 , for instance , are far from the silliest pieces in the show . The broad white

 platforms are used to display a pair of small , untitled cast-iron sculptures b

y Joel Shapiro ( born 1941 ) that might at least serve as paperweights . For max

imal silliness in minimal sorry , conceptual art , there 's an irregular form , 

covered in brown paper by mega-wrapper Christo ( born 1935 ) that 's called `` P

ackage '' ( 1974 ) and leaves one oddly uncurious about what might be inside . T

here are a few , too few , relieving flashes of wit . Robert Barry ( born 1936 )

 , draws a chuckle with `` Closed Gallery '' ( 1969 ) , which is an invitation t

o an exhibition `` opening '' that consists of closing his gallery for a couple 

of weeks . `` Colorfast ? '' ( 1975 ) by Edward Ruscha ( born 1937 ) , is printe

d in beet juice on paper , and the answer is no : The letters have all but faded

 away . -O- FROM MINIMAL TO CONCEPTUAL ART : Works from the Dorothy and Herbert 

Vogel Collection , through Nov. 27 in the East Building , National Gallery of Ar

t .

 WASHINGTON The life cycle of the senior political appointee lasts just over two

 years . The number , calculated by the General Accounting Office in a report re

leased this week , represents the median length of service for presidential appo

intees who undergo Senate confirmation . During the 1981-91 period surveyed by G

AO , these positions turned over between two and three times , on average . It u

sually took months , sometimes years , to fill the vacancies , GAO noted . GAO f

ound that the position with the highest turnover seven appointees in 10 years wa

s the Commerce Department 's assistant secretary for trade development . The nex

t highest turnover occurred in the Justice Department , where there were seven d

eputy attorney generals in 10 years . Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chai

rman John Glenn , D-Ohio , who asked for the GAO study , often points out at pan

el hearings that high turnover in senior positions disrupts programs and undermi

nes an administration 's policy initiatives . Glenn also usually asks appointees

 during confirmation hearings whether they intend to stay for the full president

ial term . They almost always answer yes . Last year , Glenn discussed prelimina

ry figures on appointee turnover with President Clinton , contending that the te

nure question had been neglected too long . In a letter to Clinton last week on 

the new GAO findings , Glenn said he has `` grown concerned by the increasingly 

apparent relationship between troubled programs and the recurrency with which ke

y leadership posts have changed hands , or which have remained vacant for long p

eriods of time . '' For example , Glenn wrote , the Federal Aviation Administrat

ion has had seven appointed and four acting administrators in the last 15 years 

, the Federal Housing Administration has had 13 commissioners within the past 14

 years , the General Services Administration has had 18 administrators in the la

st 24 years , and in an 18-month period in 1991-92 , three different appointees 

served as assistant secretary for postsecondary education . `` These programs we

re responsible for some of our more recent , and major , management crises .. . 

( such as ) housing fraud , student loan delinquencies , exorbitant federal buil

ding expenses , and excessive cost overruns and delays on multibillion-dollar co

mputer systems , '' Glenn said . In reviewing turnover rates , GAO looked at eig

ht departments and agencies to determine if positions remained empty for extende

d periods . GAO found that it took six months ( at the State Department ) to 20 

months ( at Health and Human Services ) on average to replace a departed appoint

ee . GAO surveyed Cabinet departments and major agencies in gathering its data ,

 but did not try to explain why political appointees seem to sign on for brief t

ours of duty . `` In most cases , we could not determine from the information we

 gathered specifically why an appointee left a position , '' the report said . C

ritics assert that too many appointees come to Washington to enhance their resum

es , but others note that appointees leave for a wide variety of reasons . The l

ack of senior appointee staying power has been documented in previous studies by

 the National Academy of Public Administration , Paul A . Volcker 's commission 

on public service and a number of management specialists . The GAO report , said

 Patricia G. McGinnis , president of the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Gov

ernment , `` points up the importance of leadership among the career civil servi

ce , which is the institutional foundation of these agencies . '' The report 's 

findings , she added , underscored the need for a re-examination of the appointm

ents process , which currently consumes weeks or months as appointees undergo ba

ckground checks and Senate confirmation . Patricia W. Ingraham , a Syracuse Univ

ersity professor who has studied political appointees and their relationship to 

the bureaucracy , said two-year tenures frequently do not allow enough time for 

appointees and career officials to learn to trust one another . `` The longer a 

political appointee stays in place , the more he or she comes to appreciate that

 there is a great deal to learn on the job , and that they need a teaming arrang

ement with a career executive , '' she said . Sheila K. Velazco , president of t

he National Federation of Federal Employees , said political appointees are need

ed to set an administration 's tone and philosophy , especially at a time when n

ew labor-management partnerships are being tested . `` We want the political app

ointees to have the ability to have some effect on down the line , '' she said ,

 `` and the longer they are there , the better that can happen . ''

 WASHINGTON If President Clinton 's D-Day visit to the beaches of Normandy next 

Tuesday is a success , he can thank a tiny Pentagon agency with an unwieldly tit

le that was created four years ago by the Bush administration . Since 1990 , the

 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Committee , a military agency th

at is no more a committee than the Pentagon is a private corporation , has been 

plotting how the federal government should remember the war . Armed with a budge

t of $ 2.8 million hardly enough to run the Pentagon 's motor pool the committee

 has undertaken a broad , ongoing international agenda that ranges from staging 

presidential visits to creating classroom posters . For Tuesday 's events , the 

Navy will send an armada of ships across the English Channel and write off the c

osts of the exercise as a training mission . So will the Army and Air Force unit

s participating in the ceremonies . The events in which Clinton and the leaders 

of 13 other nations will participate have been scripted `` like a military opera

tion . '' There 's an obvious explanation for that says Sgt. Jeffrey C . Fry , a

 committee spokesman : `` Well , we are a military operation . '' It was a Bush 

administration decision to place the World War II ceremonies under the control o

f a military rather than a civilian commission , Fry noted . That has allowed th

e committee to stage a relatively low-cost commemoration by getting military com

mands and local communities to underwrite most of the costs of staging ceremonie

s and projects on their own . The Army Reserve recruiting command was tapped to 

print classroom posters on the war and the National Geographic Society printed m

aps of the war 's key events . The National Archives and Records Administration 

reproduced World War II photographs and exhumed wartime propaganda films includi

ng a famous seven-part series by movie maker Frank Capra titled `` Why We Fight 

. '' `` It 's been a labor of love , '' said Claude M. Kicklighter , a retired t

hree-star Army general who became executive director of the committee a month af

ter he left the Army 's Pacific Command in July 1991 . Since taking charge , Kic

klighter 's goal has been to give top priority to honoring the 8.2 million survi

ving World War II veterans . At his direction , spokesmen say the committee will

 ensure that veterans who make it to Normandy are be given the best seats for Tu

esday 's ceremonies . Veterans who attended the 40th anniversary ceremony , comp

lained that they could not see much so committee spokesmen say Kicklighter order

ed that veterans headed for any major World War II event get a Veterans Identifi

cation Badge , assuring them priority access . Working out of a small office in 

a Crystal City high-rise with a staff of 35 , the committee has enlisted about 3

,000 communities and military commands to stage ongoing World War II events . To

 officially participate , all a community or base has to do is stage three event

s a year and follow committee guidelines . `` We are not celebrating , we are co

mmemorating , '' said Michael Humm , a committee spokesman . That means no comme

rcialization of the events and , in Fry 's words , `` no pie-eating contests . '

' If communities follow the guidelines , the committee will not interfere . `` W

e don't dictate content , '' Fry said . Participating communities receive a flag

 with the committee 's motto , `` A Grateful Nation Remembers. '' and the commit

tee 's logo , the `` ruptured duck '' eagle patterned after lapel pins presented

 to all veterans discharged after the war . The community program has been so su

ccessful that the committee recently expanded it to include private companies an

d labor unions that played a role on the World War II homefront . Cooperating fi

rms and unions will be given a commemorative `` E '' flag similar to the World W

ar II Efficiency award flags that the Army and Navy gave defense contractors . T

his week 11 committee staffers went to Europe to help manage events there . The 

D-Day ceremonies are the highest-profile event the committee has orchestrated si

nce the Pearl Harbor anniversary Dec. 7 , 1991 . The agency will continue to ope

rate though 1995 with its `` grand finale , '' a week-long commemoration in Wash

ington to mark the end of the war . Humm said `` the day the door closes '' prob

ably will be January 1996 . By then the committee will have drafted an after-act

ion report that will recommend how the nation marks the 50th anniversary of the 

Korean War . Or , as Humm puts it : `` See you in the year 2000 . ''

 NEW YORK In an artist 's eye , a bale of hay , old newspapers or piles of tarni

shed vintage pennies become the unlikely stuff of dreams a bench for the horsewo

man 's dressing room , a durable chair for a child , a coppery etagere for the h