Evening star., 1932-10-27
In for a Fight-and Knows It.

in the sense that it may be intended
to fool anybody, in the strategy adopt
ed by the Republicans for the final push
OF this campaign. The only strategy
the Republicans know now is fight.
The President is taking himself into
the thick of it. His appearance at Des
Moines was in the nature Of a rude
awakening from the Midsummer S
dream of a campaign directed from
G. H. @. in the Lincoln study, with
perhaps a few well-timed addresses over
the radio as his own personal contribu-
tion to the cause. All that is over and
done with. From now on the President
will be out in front, leading the forces
The days news carries the program for
his trip to Indianapolis. with rear-end
platform appearances going and COM
ing, to be followed by another dash to
Madison Square Garden and another
series of stop-over speeches en- route
The President will speak some twenty
three times in three days.
All of this being plain, the advisable
lty Of such strategy has been questioned,
the theory being that its adoption is
open admission that the situation IS
desperate and only desperate methods
can possibly cope with it. Such an ad-
mission, it is argued. is poor psychology
The sight of the man with his back to
The wall invites the crowd to close in.
But is 1t poor strategy? The al
Tentative. of course, would be to adopt
the method traditionally credited to the
ostrich and, refusing to see any occasion
for stiff fight, merely to stand pat in
the belief that what is not seen does
not exist.
Under present circumstances that
would be suicidal. 1t may be admitted
for the sake of argument that had the
election been held a month ago the
Democrats would be in. On the other
hand, the prevailing note in the dis
patches to The Star from its political
correspondent, Mr.. G. Gould Lincoln,
as he travels about the country, is the
revival of Republican hopes and pros
poets that began with the Presidents
speech in Des Moines and has gathered
force ever since. The dispatches of
other political analysists emphasize the
same note. 1t is the President, more
than any other individual in his far
flung array Of campaign shock troops,
to whom this revival in hopes is cred-
tied. If the Presidents tactics were
successful in Des Moines, Cleveland and
Detroit. and If these tactics revivified
Republican hopes, 1t Is only logical to
assume that they will be as successful
in Detroit and Madison Square Garden,
and while there is life there is hope. The
Presidents tacit admission, conveyed
through his actions, that he is In for
a fight and plans to fight back is the
greatest single obstacle that Democrats
find facing them in what at one time
may have seemed clear and open path
to victory.
The Presidents own belief that the
best interests of the country demand his
reelection and continuation Of the pres
ent administration of the Nations af-
fairs of course justifles him in making
every effort to bring about his re-
election. From this point of view. his
fight can be dissociated from mere
personal ambitions.
His success SO far might be attributed
to two things. For the first time since
his introduction to the American public
the President has shown himself in the
role of real fighter. and it fits him
surprisingly well. The people like a
fighter and are drawn to the man who
is putting up fight.
Again, he has chosen as texts for his
speeches the explanation of exactly what
the country has been facing in the way
of realities, and what the administra-
ton has done and plans to do. The
facts have not only been enlightening,
but interesting. The President refuses
to believe that people merely listen and
do not think. He is giving them some
thing to think about.