Evening star. [volume], November 12, 1956, Page A-15, Image 15

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
P AVID LAWRENCE
Political ‘Fallacies' Are Noted
Republican Party Called Not 'Weak'
In View of Obvious Democratic Split
There are lots of fallacies
being spread now about the
trends In American politics,
based on a superficial glance
at last week's election returns.
One is that there is some
thing inherently "weak” about
the Republican Party and that
the Democratic Party, with its
irreconcilable divisions and
control of certain committee
chairmanships by Southern
leaders, is to be regarded
somehowas a 'stronger” party.
Another is that a President,
when elected to a second
term, loses his influence with
his party.
A third is that Vice Presi
dent Nixon and Senator Ke
fauver are sure bets for the
1960 presidential nominations.
The available evidence on
each and a realistic examina
tion of the customs of Amer
ican politics refutes every one
of these assumptions.
Thus, the Republican Party
evidently was not the “weaker"
party in the Eastern States,
where old-line Republicans
decisively beat Democrats for
Congress who had been elected
in the recession of 1954. Like
wise, Mr. Eisenhower himself
dropped several points from
h'is 1952 majority of 70 per
cent and 65 per cent in some
of the farm districts of West
ern States. In some instances
he was in the minority him
self in congressional districts
where the Republican candi
dates lor Congress lost. He
was ju3t as "weak” as his
party in many areas.
All this clearly proves that,
when the Republicans are in
power, they must have good
economic conditions uni
formly good throughout the
country—and must capture at
least two-thirds of the seats
in the North in order to get
even a working majority of 25
seats in the House. This is
because the Democrats start
out each time with 65 to 70
seats unopposed in the South.
Actually, according to the
latest returns, the Republi
cans last Tuesday won 200
DORIS FLEESON
Republicans Are on Probation
No Mandate Given to Either Party;
Both Planning for ‘lke-Less l 1960
The voters have put the
Republican Party on proba
tion and kept the Democrats
in business. In both cases,
their action amounts to con
siderably less than a mandate
to either side.
As a result, agonizing re
appraisals are in progress
among the experienced poli-.
ticians of both parties who
realize that it Is not too soon
to start preparing for Ike-less
1960.
Republicans have certain
immediate advantages which
will enable them to work more
slowly and secretly to repair .
their fences. The Eisenhower
facade behind which they
operate has just been strength
ened and burnished to new
luster. White House patron
age and prestige is all theirs.
The President has proclaimed
his intention to do all he can
to rebuild his party.
But while Republicans may
proceed if not exactly at
leisure with some delibera
tion. Democrats like any de
feated party must face up to
an immediate struggle for
power over the party ma
chinery. It has already begun
and it reflects the North
-Bouth schism which has so
long hanassed them.
Northern moderates and
liberals are trying to put to
gether a coalition of the 28
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seats in the House as against
169 by the Democrats apart
from the uncontested districts
in the South. The final fig
ures show that the Republi
cans won 17 Senate contests
and the Democrats 12. There
were six uncontested Senate
seats in the .South. Yet now
the boast is heard that the
Democrats are the "stronger”
party—and this in the face of
the fact that the Northern
Democrats in Congress will
vote in January to give the
chairmanships of the com
mittees, indeed the machinery
of control in both houses, to
the minority faction of Demo
crats who are committed by
the voters of the South to
block civil-rights legislation.
The next fallacy—about the
supposed decline of presiden
tial Influence in a second term
—is one that Adlai Stevenson
tried to use as a campaign
argument. If accepted, it
would logically mean that no
President on either ticket
ought even to be elected for a
second term.
But an examination of the
records will show that Presi
dent Theodore Roosevelt, who
had eliminated himself as a
candidate for a third term,
virtually nominated in 1908
his successor—William How
ard Taft—who never had been
elected to public office before.
Recent history is even more
to the point. President Tru
man in 1952, after he had
eliminated himself as a can
didate for another term, could
have blocked the nomination
of anybody and influenced the
choice of the man he favored
—as revealed in his memoirs.
No President loses influence
for a single day if he stands
well with the people. His
power with public opinion is
such that he can shape poli
tical events by an outspoken
declaration on any issue. His
party will follow him rather
than risk an uprising at the
polls in the next election by
the people who agree with a
President'.s viewpoint.
Mr. Eisenhower said in a
Democratic Governors, the
big city managers—to call
them bosses after the No
vember 6 returns would be
hardfy accurate and the
newly developed centers of
strength in the Northwest. Its
aim: To elect James A. Fin
negan of Philadelphia, Adlai
Stevenson's campaign man
agers national chairman.
The present national chair
man. Paul Butler, has called
a meeting of the national
committee for November 26-27
here. The coalition is driving
toward a solution by that
date.
The coalition argument is
that it is imperative to set up
immediately a counterpoise to
the party influence of the
Southern-led Democratic Con
gress. Speaker Rayburn is not
its target, he has been out
standingly loyal to the New
Deal direction of the national
party since 1933. But Senator
Lyndon Johnson, who is al
ready claiming that the elec
tion endorsed his down-the
center leadership, is a target
and so are right wing Demo
cratic chairmen including, of
course, Senator Eastland of
Mississippi.
The coalition spokesmen
see no chance of winning in
1960 unless Democrats can re
capture the urban majorities
so decisively won by Presi
recent press conference: "Cer
tainly, whoever is the aspirant
at the end of two terms for
President will want that Pres
ident’s support, and will want
his blessing as he seeks any
nomination and election. . . .
I do believe that the office,
the power that goes with it, is
such that his Influence with
his own party will still be
great.”
So far as 1960 is concerned,
the presidential candidates
chosen by both parties will
have to fit the then-existing
conditions. Senator Kefauver
may not have a chance against
newcomers like Senator Ken
nedy of Massachusetts, former
Mayor Clark of Philadelphia
and some governors in Demo
cratic States who may be in
the limelight in 1960. Senator
Humphrey of Minnesota may
be the candidate of the
"liberal” wing.
As for Vice President Nixon,
if fate should put him in the
White House before 1960, he
would naturally be a candi
date to succeed himself and
the Republican Party would
nominate him. But if Tom
Dewey decides to run for
governor of New York in 1958
and beats Governor Harriman
decisively, lie will have staged
a real comeback and could be
an important factor in Hhe
presidential race two years
later.
Nor is William Knowland of
California, Republican leader
of the Senate, to be disre
garded as a potential candi
date. He is one of the finest
men in public life—an excel
lent speaker, a man of pre
cision in his public statements,
and a conscientious exponent
of deep-seated convictions on
national and international
questions. He is highly re
spected in Congress by both
parties.
The Important point is that
the times and the issues will
determine the candidates in
both parties—not what they
did or said in 1956. Four years
can make a whale of a differ
ence in the mood of the
country.
(Reproduction Rights Reserved)
dent Eisenhower last week. To
do that, they believe a na
tional ideological tone far
different from Johnson's must
be re-established somewhere.
The national committee is the
obvious and indeed only ve
hicle open to them.
Chairman Butler reversed a
Stevenson post-convention de
cision to replace him with
Finnegan by appealing to
loyalties he had built up
within the committee. There
will doubtless still be com
mitteemen who want him to
stay until they see the future
a little more clearly.
The next 10 days should
show the extent to which the
Governors can be interested
in the long view approach of
the coalition. Governors easily
take control of conventions
away from Senators as was
shown strikingly at Chicago
in 1952 and last summer.
What they don’t always realize
ahead of time is that they can
be fatally handicapped in the
relatively brief election cam
paign by the record the party
in Congress makes or fails to
make in the preceding years.
This is what happened to
Republicans many times prior
to 1952. It has just happened
to Stevenson w r ho found he
could not In two months de
stroy an Image of Eisenhower
that Democrats in Congress
permitted to be built up with
out let or hindrance for the
better part of four years.
LOUIE —By Harry Hanan
* .1 ■
KIH» | |j j "
POTOMAC FEVER
FLETCHER KNEBEL
Eisenhower Republican: A Republican who never opposes
more than one administration program at a time.
¥ ' ft 4* * ’•-
The Nation gave Harry Truman a;,thundering vote of con
fidence. He wes the first to say Stevmsbn couldn’t win.
Politicians' glossary: Close adviser—A fellow politician
you're afraid to let out of your sight.
* * * *
The new Congress will have 16 women members. Women
make excellent politicians. They're never happier than when
over-spending the budget. /
m *. * *
With Ike in the White House and the Democrats in control
of Congress, something will have to give—probably the taxpayer.
* * * *
A woman without a man is incomplete. A man without a
woman is income sweet. J
* * * *
Republicans figure the only way to win again in 1960 is to
repeal the two-term limit—and make Ike agree to undergo two
more major operations.
Gomulka Helped Avert
Uprising, Senate Is Told
Wladyslaw Gomulka was
brought to power just in time
to put a “stove lid” on a rebellion
of the Polish people, according
to a former high official of the
Polish Communist party now
living in the United States.
Serweryn Bialer, until last
February a top Red propagandist
in Warsaw, was called in two
weeks ago by the Senate Inter
nal Security Subcommittee to
give his views on events in
trouble-racked Poland and Hun
gary. In testimony released yes
terday, he said:
“In Poland the present Com
munist leadership got to power
half an hour before the revolt
was to take place and in Hun
gary half an hour after the revolt
actually did take place. '
Mr Bialer said that members
of the politburo of the Polish
Communist Party “pushed”
Gomulka into the leadership be
cause as a man who had dared
oppose Stalin in some instances,
he could be a “stove lid" on the
seething anti-Communist feel
ing of the masses.
"They do not have any inten
tion of identifying themselves
with what Gomulka really is,”
he added.
The former Polish Red said
that both Gomulka and Imre
Nagy in Hungary (who failed
to survive when the Russians de
cided to crush the rebellion
there', identified themselves
with the anti-Soviet feeling
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among the masses and therefore
were a form of insulation against
anti-Communist movements.
Mr. Bialer predicted that the
drive for more freedom by the
Polish people will grow stronger,
the demand being fed by the
rights already won.
“The Polish people for the
first time have learned that they
are strong—that they can win
certain of their demands.” he
said "Before, they were as if
asleep under the Communist
terror. Now, they are as if
awakened.”
According to the witness, the
Polish and Hungarian crises de
veloped out of a miscalculation
on the part of the Kremlin. He
explained:
“After the death of Stalin,
(Party Boss Nikita S.) Khru
shchev and the Soviet leader-'
ship wanted certain minor;
changes W'hich would deceive
world public opinion as to the
nature of the Soviet methods.
However, once they, started this,
it got entirely out of their con- j
trol and assumed such propor
tions that I could not identify
the present state of affairs with
their original initiative.”
Although he stated that he
did not believe Soviet troops 1
would leave Poland, Mr. Bialer
said he is convinced that the
Russian officers corps would be
withdrawn from the Polish army
and Poles would take their
places.
DOROTHY THOMPSON #
How Russia Got in Middle East
Columnist in 1945 Predicted Alienation
Os Arab World Would Open Gates to Reds
To go back to that Demo
cratic advertisement appear
ing the day before the elec
tion. It contained the charge,
against the Eisenhower ad
ministration. "Russia has been
let into the Middle East.”
Who and what “let” her in?
A reader sent me, the other
day. a copy of this column
dated from Jerusalem. May 6.
1945, just before V-E day. I
was startled to reread it. and
I hereby republish it in part:
“From a long view the most
important single fact of the
war is the emergence of the
Soviet Union as the undis
puted premier power of the
whole Eurasian mainland.
“In 1919 the eminent British
geographer. Sir Halford Mack
inder, projected the concept
that the Eurasian continent,
stretching from the English
Channel to Vladivostok and
the Pacific in an uninterrupted
land mass and containing a
great majority of all humanity
had its heartland in the area
where Russia borders Europe
and Asia” (actually he uut
the exact heartland center in
Jerusalem' “and that he who
is uniquely all-powerful in
this, area can be master of the
globe.
“This concept, taken o'ver by
the German, Haushofer, was
the basic theory of the gen
eral staff. But this military
geopolitical theory has also
been the gospel of the Russian
general staff.
"Knocking out Germany
now leaves the Soviet Union
without rival or balance of
power on the Eurasian main
land. There is but one for
midably power left in the
world's greatest continuous
land mass.
"Soviet recognition of this
fact is obvious in its con
temptuous treatment of Bri
tain and American protests
over Poland and the repercus
sions of that fact resound
throughout the Middle East
in all the Arabian states.
"Conquest of this world by
military might or political
absorption is inevitable in the
Russian program. To anyone
who would be world master, as
Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler
all knew as the Kaiser knew
with his Berlin - Baghdad
pact, the creation of the
friendliest relations with this
world is essential as it is es
sential to any opposing such
dominion.
“If the Free World acts in
the spirit of Western institu
tions it should promote some
form of federation for the
Arabian states. They are de
sirable as co-operating mem
bers of a world organization
where mutual security is guar
anteed and wherein they may
find room for a Jewish home
land.
“But whatever the great
powers may say in San Fran
cisco, here in the Holy Land
the three religions see a
scarcely veiled struggle be
tween the way? of life in the
Near East and the concepts
of world organization in the
Western Hemisphere—a mani
fold. democratic freedom-lov
ing associaton not based, as is
Russia's, on despotic egalitar
ianism or 'realistic' domina
tion.
“Here the burning question
is. can Britain continue modi
THE EVENING STAR. Washington, D. C. *•
MONDAY. NOVEMBER IS, l»M
fying imperialism in the con
cept of a world commonwealth,
or will Russia, from her un
precedented military - political
position, embark upon a course
of world domination via this
area.
“And what will be the role
of the United States?"
The United States when I
wrote that article, nearly 12
years ago, was in the best posi
tion of any great power to forge
the friendliest relations with all
the Arab states, which, as I
then stated, was essential to
prevent Russian world dom
inion. Only within a frame
work of such relations might
there be found room for a
Jewish homeland.
But what we did was to im
pose that “homeland” upon the
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Arabs, in the form of a highly
dynamic, militaristic, racist
and ambitious state, over whose
policies we had no control
whatsoever, but whom we have
supported as no foreign state
has ever been supported in
American history.
Pressures in behalf of Israel
have forced American public
opinion to be. or appear t® »
be, consistently anti-Arab
throughout the whole post
war period.
This anti-Arab campaign had
nothing to do with Gamal
Abdel Nasser, who. during most
of it. had never been heard of.
Nasser is a result not a cause;
the result of a decade of
mounting Arab exasperation,
which has finally qpened the
gates to Russia precisely as
this column predicted that the
alienation of the Arab world
would do.
A-15