Evening star., 1933-01-06
STIRRED
BY COOLIDGE DEATH
Fellow Republicans Regarded
Ex-Pfesident Strong 1886
& Possibility.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
A train Of political conjecture fol-
lows in the wake of the death of Cali
win Coolidge. .
Despite his nearly complete with
drawal from the arena Of party war
fare, Mr.. Coolidge was regarded by an
increasing number Of fellow Republic
ans as an outstanding presidential pos
sibility four years hence.
OF course, no one pretended to be
able to forecast with certainty whether
that actually was the direction toward
which Republican reorganization plans
were tending. The party leaders, still
suffering from the shock Of their No
vember defeat, haveSS considered only
tentative possibilities. ~,
Whether actual denomination was In
store for him, 1t is certain that had
he lived he would have been asked to
take large share in rehabilitattng the
party organization.
Felt Strength Waning.
What he himself would have said
about another nomination must also re-
main an unanswered question. He wrote
after leaving the White House that he
preferred to retire because, in part, he
felt he might not have the physical
strength to complete another terTn-a
prophetic conviction.
Doubtless he would have been coun-
seled that his interim of quiet In
peaceful Northampton had fortified
him for another spell of service. and
that new set of problems, arisen since
he left the White House. would give
him an opportunity to put into new
activity a. mental energy which he felt
had been much dulled before his re-
tirement .-.-
His death while the Republican
party was in the first throes of reor-
ganization carried along to the end q
striking analogy between his political
career and that of Theodore Roosevelt
Unlike as they were personally, far
apart as they were in their conceptions
of party regularity, the thread Of a
surprising similarity ran through many
dents-the only two in our times to
retire from the highest Office when
their personal popularity was at its
greatest peak.
Similar Climbs In Service.
Both assembled to the White House
from the vice presidency, after a long
climb, step by step, up the ladder of
public Office. Both struggled WITH sig
nal success to hold in line both the
conservative and the progressive wings
of the party, and keep the administra-
tton in good repute in both East and
West.
Either Roosevelt or Coolidge might
have remained In the White House had
he chosen to do so. and broken for the
first time the tWo-term tradition. Each
lived to see a successor, chosen from
his own cabinet, overwhelmingly re-
jected by the people after single term.
At the. time of his death on January
6. 1919, Roosevelt was the magnet
toward which a harassed party was
turning In increasing numbers for lead
erShip. Many think that had he lived,
his nomination and election in 1920
would have been almost foregone con-
clusion.
1t Is too early to make predictions,
but there are party leaders who now
think the analogy will go still further,
and the Republican convention Of 1886,
lacking a leader recognized by all fac
tions. may reproduce that of 1920. and
finally end its deadlock by turning to
some comparatively fnconspicuous IA
vorite son.