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

after the war , Ball was a founding partner of the law firm now known as Cleary 

, Gottlieb , Steen and Hamilton , with offices in New York , Washington , Paris 

and Brussels . At his death he was of counsel to the firm . Politically he was a

ctive in the presidential campaigns of former Illinois Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson ,

 the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956 . Ball had known Stevenson since his da

ys as a young lawyer in Chicago . He was director of Volunteers for Stevenson in

 1952 , and was director of public relations for the Stevenson-Kefauver ticket i

n 1956 . . In 1960 , he backed Stevenson again for the Democratic presidential n

omination . But after Kennedy 's election , a report by Ball and a colleague on 

economic policy and the balance of payments caught the new president 's attentio

n . He named Ball under secretary of state for economic affairs , the third-rank

ing post in the State Department . Ball was appointed under secretary of state ,

 the second-ranking position , in November of 1961 . That same month , Ball reca

lled in his 1982 Memoirs , `` The Past Has Another Pattern , '' he warned Kenned

y privately that it would be a tragic blunder to commit U.S. troops to Vietnam .

 `` Within five years , we 'll have 300,000 men in the paddies and jungles and n

ever find them , '' Ball recalled saying . He wrote that Kennedy answered him , 

`` You 're just crazier than hell . That just isn't going to happen . '' During 

the Johnson presidency , Ball was often called the `` Devil 's advocate , '' on 

Vietnam , but he maintained a close personal relationship with Secretary of Stat

e Dean Rusk , a supporter of the war . They often enjoyed a drink together at th

e end of the day , and when Ball resigned in 1966 , he left on good terms . Ball

 then joined the investment banking firm of Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb as a senio

r partner . He resigned in May of 1968 to become United Nations ambassador , but

 he returned to the firm in 1969 . He retired in 1982 as senior managing directo

r . In addition to his memoirs , Ball was author of four other books , including

 `` The Discipline of Power , '' published in 1968 . In it he wrote , `` Today ,

 America is in an ugly mood . By a series of small steps , taken in good faith o

ver a period of years , we have mired ourselves in a frustrating war that turns 

our otherwise sensible countrymen into placard-carrying hysterics . Already we h

ear the querulous frog croaks of an old isolationism . '' Ball 's other books in

clude `` Diplomacy for a Crowded World '' ( 1976 ) , `` Error and Betrayal in Le

banon '' ( 1984 ) and `` The Passionate Attachment : America 's Involvement with

 Israel , 1947 to the Present '' ( 1992 ) . He was a recipient of the Medal of F

reedom , the highest U.S. civilian award . His wife of 50 years , Ruth M . Ball 

, died in 1993 . Survivors include two sons , John C . Ball of Concord , Mass. ,

 and Douglas B . Ball of Rockville Centre , N.Y. ; and two grandchildren .

 WASHINGTON Swift passage of long-promised legislation to overhaul congressional

 campaign financing laws has been jeopardized because the House and Senate remai

n sharply divided over limits on contributions from political action committees 

( PACs ) , the chief sponsor of the Senate bill warned . `` I would say the fate

 of campaign finance hangs in the balance .. . the chances of enactment are now 

only about 50-50 , '' Sen. David L. Boren , D-Okla. , said in an interview Thurs

day after the latest in a series of inconclusive meetings on the issue between H

ouse and Senate Democratic leaders . Boren 's assessment was made as Congress sl

owed its earlier fast pace of action , sending lawmakers home for their 10-day M

emorial Day recess without final action on any of the major bills that congressi

onal leaders hoped to send to President Clinton before the holiday . Two of thes

e measures a big anti-crime bill and legislation to tighten controls on lobbyist

s and restrict or ban gifts to lawmakers are headed for House-Senate conferences

 when Congress returns June 7 , facing what negotiators describe as difficult bu

t not insurmountable obstacles . But the campaign finance bill , which passed th

e Senate nearly a year ago and the House last November , is stuck in pre-confere

nce talks between the top leaders of both chambers , with increasingly impatient

 Republicans grumbling from the sidelines . Just six weeks ago , congressional l

eaders appeared optimistic about a speedy completion of the nearly decade-long s

truggle to pass the first comprehensive bill to tighten campaign finance rules s

ince the post-Watergate reforms of 1974 . Both House and Senate bills would set 

voluntary spending ceilings for congressional candidates , provide incentives fo

r compliance and tighten controls over special-interest spending . Even the sens

itive issue of how to fund public subsidies for candidates without dipping into 

general tax revenues considered a taboo in the current political climate is in t

he final stages of being worked out by House leaders . But there has been little

 if any movement on the key issue : what limits to put on contributions that can

 be made to any single campaign by PACs , which are created by corporations , un

ions and other interest groups to influence legislation by raising funds for can

didates . In its original bill , the House voted to retain the current $ 5,000 l

imit . The Senate voted to ban PACs or , failing that , to reduce the limit to $

 1,000 . Senators have suggested compromising at $ 2,500 , but House leaders are

 resisting any change . House Democrats believe they risk crippling Democratic d

efections if PAC limits are reduced too far , but Senate Democrats cannot break 

a GOP filibuster without help from a half-dozen Republicans who are insisting on

 the lowest possible PAC limits for all congressional races . House members care

 more about PAC money because they receive proportionately more from PACs than s

enators , who raise contributions from a larger base . In addition , many female

 and minority members of the House contend they could not run competitive races 

without PAC help . Enthusiasm for the legislation is not high among rank-and-fil

e members on either side of the Capitol . But concern over the bill 's impact on

 incumbents ' traditional fund-raising advantage is especially strong in the Hou

se , where members face election every two instead of six years . Senate Republi

cans and some Democrats complain that House Democrats are trying to have it both

 ways : in guaranteeing the bill 's defeat by giving Senate Republicans a bill t

hey are sure to reject and then blame them for the results . `` They 're trying 

to find a politically correct way of killing the bill .. . by blaming us , '' co

mplained Sen. James M. Jeffords ( Vt. ) . He is one of seven Republicans who hel

ped break a filibuster against the bill last year but who have said they will no

t do so again unless several conditions are met , including reduced PAC limits a

nd equal rules for both chambers . At Thursday 's meeting with Speaker Thomas S.

 Foley ( Wash. ) and other House leaders , Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitc

hell , D-Maine , Rules Committee Chairman Wendell H. Ford , D-Ky. , and Boren wa

rned that they wanted no part of such a strategy , one source said . In an inter

view , Mitchell said he remained confident about passage of the legislation but 

acknowledged that `` there is disagreement on PACs . '' Rep. Sam Gejdenson ( Con

n. ) , chief architect of the House Democratic plan , said he thought the proble

m could be worked out , but added , `` I think the danger here is some ( Senate 

) Republicans are threatening to filibuster if they don't get this or that . '' 

Gejdenson also questioned the efficacy of lowering the maximum PAC contribution 

. `` You 're in effect sending people to more PACs . In reality , that 's not re

form . '' Boren argues that large contributions tend to increase the obligation 

that the recipient feels toward the giver , often pouring in at the last minute 

for maximum impact . Asked if the House could accept less than a $ 5,000 PAC lim

it , Gejdenson said , `` I don't think there 's any need for that to move . '' T

he conference to resolve differences between House and Senate anti-crime bills w

hich would reimpose the federal death penalty , increase penalties for violent c

rimes and pump more money into prison construction and crime prevention probably

 will get started shortly after the recess and continue for several weeks , a Se

nate source said . Many believe the toughest issue will be a House provision , o

pposed by the Senate , to allow use of sentencing statistics to challenge death 

penalties as racially discriminatory . A compromise on the issue could be diffic

ult , but House Judiciary Committee member Charles E. Schumer , D-N.Y. , said he

 would propose to `` make explicitly clear it 's not a quota bill and you can't 

use general population figures '' to challenge death sentences .

 The Justice Department has begun an antitrust investigation of Los Angeles-base

d Ticketmaster after the rock band Pearl Jam accused the giant ticket agency of 

pressuring promoters to boycott the band 's low-cost concert tour . Lawyers for 

the Seattle-based band , the biggest selling rock group in the country , complai

ned on May 6 in a memo to the department 's antitrust division , accusing Ticket

master , the world 's largest ticket agency , of exercising a monopoly over tick

et distribution in this country and using that influence to keep promoters from 

booking the Pearl Jam tour this summer . The memorandum to the Justice Departmen

t filed by Sullivan & Cromwell , a prominent New York law firm that specializes 

in antitrust issues , said that Ticketmaster has exclusive arrangements with all

 important concert venues in the country and uses these arrangements to `` cemen

t control over the distribution of tickets to concerts . '' Sales of Pearl Jam '

s last two albums exceeded $ 137 million . Ticketmaster , which is privately hel

d , last year reportedly earned about $ 200 million in service and sponsorship f

ees on $ 1.3 billion in sales of tickets to concert and sporting events . A spok

eswoman for the Justice Department declined comment on the probe . Ticketmaster 

and representatives for Pearl Jam also did not comment . The investigation is li

kely to focus new attention on a growing furor over skyrocketing concert ticket 

prices and service fees , and the arrangements among managers , promoters and se

rvice companies that underlie pricing decisions . Ticketmaster collects a phone 

service fee for tickets to rock and pop concerts , typically $ 6 to $ 8 per tick

et , although the agency 's fee for $ 350 tickets for Barbra Streisand shows amo

unted to $ 18 in some cities . Ticketmaster pays a portion of the fees to mainta

in exclusive long-term contracts with the owners of the largest concert venues .

 In addition , Ticketmaster also pays a portion to some promoters , managers , a

gents and artists . In March , Pearl Jam sent letters to promoters vowing to per

form concerts this summer only at venues that charged $ 18 for a ticket and no m

ore than $ 1.80 for service or handling charges . A representative of the band s

aid Pearl Jam was seeking to keep prices in the range of its young fans . But so

urces in the concert industry said the group encountered immediate resistance fr

om Ticketmaster and members of the North American Concert Promoters Association 

a McLean , Va.-based group that represents the nation 's largest promoters . In 

two letters obtained by the Los Angeles Times , Ben Liss , the executive directo

r of the association , warned promoters that if they booked Pearl Jam under the 

band 's conditions , they could face possible lawsuits from Ticketmaster . `` ( 

Ticketmaster ) views the Pearl Jam issue as an all or nothing proposition , '' L

iss wrote in one of his letters on March 24 . `` ( Ticketmaster chief executive 

Fred Rosen ) has indicated that he intends to take a very strong stand on this i

ssue to protect Ticketmaster 's existing contracts with promoters and facilities

 and , further , ( Ticketmaster ) will use all available remedies to protect its

elf from outside third parties that attempt to interfere with those existing con

tracts . '' Liss did not return phone calls seeking comment . After being turned

 down by virtually every promoter in the country for bookings , Pearl Jam postpo

ned its summer tour . ( Optional add end ) As part of its preliminary inquiry , 

three Justice Department officials from Washington flew into Los Angeles on May 

24 to interview music business figures , sources said . Sources close to the cas

e said that Ticketmaster and members of the North American Concert Promoters Ass

ociation will soon be served with `` investigative demands '' the civil equivale

nt of a subpoena . The demands would require the companies to turn over document

s relevant to the probe . Ticketmaster has dominated the ticket market since 199

1 . In May of that year , the Justice Department 's Antitrust Division gave the 

go-ahead for Ticketmaster to buy certain assets from Ticketron . At that point ,

 Ticketron was Ticketmaster 's only major competitor . The government inquiry co

mes at a time when Ticketmaster plans to expand into a variety of new ventures ,

 including movie ticket sales and an interactive TV channel devoted to tickets ,

 concert merchandise , records and videos . Ticketmaster is controlled by billio

naire Paul G. Allen , who co-founded software giant Microsoft and owns the Portl

and Trail Blazers basketball team . Allen reportedly paid more than $ 250 millio

n last November for controlling interest in Ticketmaster from the Chicago-based 

Pritzker family , who retain a small piece of the firm as part of their vast hol

dings , which include the Hyatt hotel chain . Allen , who also holds a 24 percen

t stake in the America Online interactive computer service , has already joined 

forces with EMI Music , PolyGram , Sony Music and the Warner Music Group to crea

te a video music channel to challenge MTV . Executives of those four recording c

onglomerates have been subpoenaed in a separate antitrust probe by the Federal T

rade Commission , which is investigating compact disc pricing policies .

 xxx China 's demands . '' In Washington , however , White House officials made 

an apparent effort to show how hard Clinton worked to try to achieve human right

s progress in China . The officials disclosed that a Cabinet-level meeting in Ap

ril led to a plan to send Michael H. Armacost , former U.S. ambassador to Japan 

, to China as a private emissary . At the time of former President Nixon 's fune

ral in Yorba Linda , Calif. , in April , three top administration officials met 

with Chinese Vice Premier Zou Jiahua in a private room of the Nixon Library to t

ell him of the emissary 's plan to visit . `` Clearly , the feeling was that an 

additional channel was needed , '' one senior administration official said Frida

y . The official said the administration had also sent messages to the Chinese l

eadership through other private American citizens , including former national se

curity advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski and Henry A . Kissinger . Clinton also consu

lted with former President Jimmy Carter , Kissinger and Brzezinski , according t

o White House officials .

 VATICAN CITY Having battled his doctors to an amicable draw , Pope John Paul II

 left the hospital Friday to return to the Vatican and a dramatically changed pa

pacy . The 74-year-old pope , who will be forced to modify his hectic lifestyle 

, left Rome 's Gemelli hospital four weeks after surgery to repair a thighbone b

roken in a bathroom fall at his Vatican apartment . He walked without a cane the

 few steps from the hospital doorway to a waiting limousine . Pope John Paul int

ends to make a Sunday morning appearance to pilgrims from a window overlooking S

t. Peter 's Square , and will receive a visiting President Clinton as scheduled 

on Thursday , the Vatican said . `` He may lean on a cane or against a table , b

ut the Holy Father will certainly be standing to greet the president , '' papal 

spokesman Joaquin Navarro told reporters Friday . Doctors , who say they are ple

ased with Pope John Paul 's progress , originally estimated that he would remain

 two to three weeks under hospital care . They would have released him last week

 , they say , except that he insisted on returning to the Vatican instead of to 

Castel Gandolfo , the papal summer residence south of Rome where therapy could h

ave included swimming and garden walks . As the price for returning directly to 

a hectic and more restrictive Vatican life , the pope agreed to remain longer in

 the hospital , Navarro said . `` Some say the broken leg is not all bad because

 it forces the pope to take time to rest ; he works too hard , '' said a Europea

n bishop at the Vatican . Boston Cardinal Bernard Law was with another cardinal 

and three bishops who traveled to Gemelli Friday to present Pope John Paul with 

a copy of the long-delayed English edition of their church 's new catechism . ``

 He was in a better state than I would have expected after such a long hospitali

zation . He was himself , '' Law said . Looking thin but fit and obviously in hi

gh spirits , Pope John Paul used an aluminum walker to leave his hospital room .

 He stopped along the way to chat for 20 minutes with children being treated for

 tumors . `` You have treated me very well , and I thank you very much , '' the 

pope told doctors as he left , `` but don't expect to see me back here soon . ''

 ( Optional add end ) Over the years , Pope John Paul has shown a remarkable abi

lity to snap back from medical emergencies ranging from a gunshot to a colon tum

or to a broken collarbone . The leg injury , however , marked his second fall an

d second broken bone in five months . It sparked concern about the pope 's incre

asing frailty and speculation about a successor . `` We must pray for the Holy F

ather . We can see his energies draining away as he tries to do more and more , 

'' one cardinal was heard to observe after Easter Mass , three weeks before John

 Paul 's latest fall . While he was in the hospital , the Vatican denied a repor

t in Spanish newspapers that the pontiff , whose left hand shakes , is suffering

 from Parkinson 's disease . Vatican administration , largely on hold in the pop

e 's absence , resumes next week with the publication of a letter Monday reaffir

ming a ban on female priests . But the hospital stay has put the papal schedule 

badly out of sync . An unusual meeting of all the church 's cardinals was cancel

ed this month ; rescheduled for June , the conference is to discuss the state of

 the Roman Catholic Church and its policies as it enters a third millennium .

 WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve began raising short-term interest rates earlier 

this year `` without widespread indications that inflation has picked up , '' Fe

d Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday , because the central bank feared that low

 rates and rapid growth would make inflation worse . But two senior Democrats on

 the Senate Banking Committee , Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland and Jim Sasser of T

ennessee , accused Greenspan and the Fed of jumping the gun . They argued that i

t was certain that higher rates would slow growth and cost the nation jobs , and

 that the central bank could not be sure inflation would worsen even if interest

 rates remained low . `` We 've got a basic disagreement , Mr . Chairman , '' Sa

sser told Greenspan . `` I don't see the inflation , and I 'm willing to run a t

iny little risk ( to ) get some quarters of robust economic growth going here , 

not putter along indefinitely at 3 percent , 2.5 percent ( growth ) , with high 

rates of unemployment . '' Greenspan told the hearing , `` History unequivocally

 demonstrates that monetary accommodation ( taking no action ) when the economy 

is strong risks a significant acceleration of inflation . '' Committee Chairman 

Donald T. Riegle Jr. , D-Mich. , noted that with an upward revision in growth fi

gures for the first three months of this year , announced Friday by the Commerce

 Department , the economy has grown by 3.7 percent in the year ended in March . 

At the same time , employment was up by 2.3 million jobs and the unemployment ra

te down by a full percentage point . Riegle , unlike his colleagues , did not di

rectly criticize the Fed . Instead , he said that while he does not want to lose

 the gains that have been made against inflation , `` it would be foolhardy to u

s to needlessly bring this economic expansion to a premature shutdown . '' The B

anking chairman urged Greenspan not to raise interest rates any further while th

e economy `` digests '' the 1.25 percentage point increase in short-term rates t

hat the Fed engineered since early February . `` I think we may need a pause her

e to sort of see how these adjustments are taking hold . The upward revision in 

first quarter growth figures by the Commerce Department , from a 2.6 percent ann

ual rate advance estimate last month to 3 percent rate in Friday 's release , ca

ught virtually all analysts by surprise . On the basis of the additional data av

ailable since last month to the statisticians who compile the figures for the gr

oss domestic product , the analysts had been looking for a reduction of a quarte

r of a percentage point or more rather than an increase . However , the analysts

 had missed a surprising jump in non-defense federal spending in March which cha

nged what had been listed as a decline for first quarter federal spending into a

n increase . But the analysts generally said that the revision did little to cha

nge either their sense of the state of the economy or their expectations about g

rowth in the April-June period , which several put at 3.5 percent to 4 percent o

r slightly more . Part of the higher growth this quarter is due to a rebound fro

m the effects of severe winter weather that reduced economic activity early in t