The Washington times., 1931-09-08
MUM COOLIDGE
AS BAD AS
STATIC
II He'd Only Say a Word
to Quiet "Draft" Talk It
Would Please Hoover Clan
By WILLIAM C. MURPHY, Jr.

BY WILLIAM C. MURPHY. Jr.
The most irritating bristle in
the Administrations hair shirt
just now is Calvin Coolidge, Of
Northampton, Mass.
Mr.. Coolidge, it appears, is up
to his old trick of keeping people
guessing. From August 2, 1927,
until June, 1928, he kept his
party on the anxious seat trying
to interpret what he meant by
saying Il do not choose to run
for President in 1928"
Republican presidential hope
fuls did not know whether to
start their campaigns or not and
Mr.. Coolidge would not en-
tighten them.
Draft Coolidge"
It was not until several months
after President Hoover was in
augurated that Mr.. Coolidge, in
a magazine article, broke his
silence to say he had never in
tended to run in 1928.
Just now the political ether is
again full Of draft Coolidge"
impulses. From an Administra-
tiOn standpoint it sounds like
static.
But whatever it is, there is a
feeling that it is interfering with
a proper reception of the great
groundswell demand that Presi.
dent Hoover be accorded a second
term.
Such a groundswell is nor.
mally detected by a party in
power about this long before a
presidential election.
Silence, As Usual
What is rather disconcerting
from an Administration viewpoint
is the failure, so far, of Mr..
Coolidge to do anything to stop
this new drafting movement.
There is some ground for be-
lieving he has received sugges-
tons that an emphatic disclaimer
of 1882 presidential ambitions
from him just now would be vel
coined.
If he has received such sug-
gestions he has not acted upon
them. About the only solace, il
such it be. is the probably apoc-
ryphal story to the effect that
Mr.. Coolidge told an intimate
friend that if the Republican
nomination in 1882 was regarded
as worthwhile then Mr.. Hoover
would get it, and that if it was
regarded as a liability then Mr..
Hoover even more certainly would
get it.
Visitors In Camp
There has been a notable pa
rade of Coolidge friends to Mr..
Hoover's Rapidan lodge during
the past few weeks.
The first was former Senator
William M. Butler, of Massachu-
sets, who was the Coolidge cam
paign manager in 1924. Then
came Edward T. Clark, former
private secretary to Mr.. Coolidge.
The following week the list in
cluded Charles D. Hilles, Repub-
lican national committee man
from New York and one of the
leaders in the 1928 draft Cool
idge" movement.
The latest development is a re-
port that White House emisSary
has sounded out Mr.. Butler on the
latter'S willingness to manage the
Hoover campaign in 1882.
That report materialized in
Massachusetts, soon after Theo-
dore Joslin, of the White House
Secretarial staff, departed on mo-
tor trip through New England.
Cryptic Phrase BOthersOme
The Butler-for-chairman rumor
is discounted at the White House,
but political prognosticators were
quick to speculate about the posi-
bility of emasculating the draft
Coolidge" movement by putting a
known Coolidge adherent at the
head of the Hoover campaign.
In the background of all this
speculation is a curiosity as to why
Mr.. Coolidge said Gin 1928" when
he made his cryptic announce.
ment in 1927.
It is pointed out that he could
have saved a word by saying Il
do not choose to run for President
again.