Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-05
ANT|-HOOVER MEN
COUNT ON P|NCH0T
Promote Race to Stir 0ppo-
sition and Get Coolidge
to Run Again.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.

The potential candidacy Of Gov. Gif-
ford Pinchot of Pennsylvania Tor the
Republican presidential nomination Is
Of course, primarily, an affair OF the
Progressive wing of the party. 1t has,
however, an aspect which illustrates the
intricacies Of politics, and shows a re-
former may sometimes find himself In
strange bed-fellowship. 1t shows also
a Don Quixote in politics may some
times find himself arm in arm with the
octopus.
without Gov. Pinchot's planning,
and without intention on the part OF
the Progressives, the Pinchot movement
is an indispensable step in the calcula-
tons Of small group promoting IAN
tastic draft Coolidge" scheme. 1t
should be said, II 1t needs to be said,
enterprise, no liberation for the idea
and certainly no belief in its practical
bility. On the contrary he alternates
between irritation and amusement at all
draft Coolidge" suggestions. Neverthe-
less the group promoting the plan are
preceding on a gamblers chance that at
the last moment they may have an
opening to put 1t over.
The one indispensable step, without
which they can do nothing,is that Gov.
Pinchot should oppose Mr.. Hoover for
the nomination. The group incubating
the draft Coolidge" movement are as
far as possible from sympathizirig with
the politics of either Pinchot or the
ProgressiveS. Some OF them, indeed, are
associated with the public utility In
duStry Their interest in Pinchot Is
merely the hope that Pinchot, by fight
ing Mr.. Hoover, will stir up the maxi
mum Of opposition to the President.
Coolidge Cool to Idea.
AS soon as Gov. Pinchot has done
that the plan of the group Is to bear
down" on ex-President Coolidge. They
propose to say to Mr.. Coolidge that
President Hoover in the Northwest, that
this dissatisfaction may hang over into
the election, that therefore Mr.. Hoover's
reelection against the Democratic can
didate in the general election Is en-.
dangered-in short, that there Is a
party emergency and that Mr.. Coolidge
must permit himself to be drafted.
Mr.. Coolidge will reject the idea
forthwith. He has already rejected 1t.
He Will continue to reject 1t as surely
as he rejected the same notion in
1928. The effort to "conscript" Mr..
Coolidge in 1928 was prolonged until
within "a hours Of the time when Mr..
Hoover was actually nominated The
present draft Coolidge" group Is very
much smaller than the 1928 one.
The present movement is, indeed,
little more in numbers than a tiny
cabal. In the Republican national or
ganization as now constituted they
have literally no weight. Out Of the
104 members Of the Republican Ma
tional Committee not more than two,
according to reliable information, have
any tolerance for the movement. New
erthelesS the group has had in the
past much political experience of
behind-the-scenes sort and they have
a gift for political intrigue of a
familiar and legitimate kind as poll
tics goes.
While Gov Pinchot's candidacy Is,
without his so intending indispensable
to the plan Of the draft Coolidge"
group, the latter have some additional
resources. Part of their preparation in
cludes plan to get anti Hoover dele
gates in Southern States. A further de-
tail is to urge Senator Hiram johnson
to run against Mr.. Hoover in his home
State, California, with the object Of
embarrassing the President.
Depends on Pinchot Candidacy.
The whole of the plan, however, falls
down unless Gov. Pinchot runs. He is
the only potential candidate who can
assemble as many as 100 anti-Hoover
delegates in the convention. AS many
as 80 more anti-Hoover delegates might
be assembled from the South and else
where. That would only be 100 out of
roughly 100.
The promoters Of the draft Coolidge"
movement. however depends not en-
strength, but on psychology. They think
the stirring up of even q slight oppo-
sition to Mr. Hoover, coupled with per-
haps the continuation OF depression,
may create what they hope will seem to
be a real party crisis Tor the Repub-
licanS
In that condition the promoters of
the plan think they may be able to
impress Mr.. Coolidge with the sense
OF emergency and persuade him to be
conscripted.
Though the plan is fantastic, It exists.
The fatal impeachment to 1t is Mr.. Cool
idge. Many persons called on Mr.. Cool
1dge at his retreat in Northampton.
Some cannot resist the temptation to
make pass" at him by some remark
or other about nominating him. After
ward such visitors usually repeat in
private conversation what they say that
Mr.. Coolidge said. All are to the effect
that Mr.. Coolidge will not run under
any circumstances.
One visitor reported Mr.. Coolidge as
saying. in effect, that If the Republican
nomination in 1892 Is worth anything,
Mr.. Hoover deserves 1t; and If 1t isn't
worth anything, why nominate any
one else.