Evening star., 1935-12-01
HISTORY SEEN REPEATING
In LANDON-KNOX CASE
Observers Feel Familiar Psychology
Developing and They May ':Kill
Each Other OFF, i'm Convention.
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


" " ton situation is develop
ing which may result in
harm to the party and to the country.
Among the possibilities, two are. as
politicians say, "out IN 'front.'" Gov.
Landon of Kansas and Col. Frank
Knox Of Chicago AS of this time,
both are well ahead of all others. and
both are about equal in strength; If
the convention was held next week
probably each would enter it with
from 200 to $50 delegates (out of a
total of more than a thousand).
Because these two are out in front
and because they are equal. familiar
psychology is beginning to develop.
Persons familiar with the way such
things work say the two will kill
each other off," and that the nomina-
ton will go to another. There is as
much speculation about who would be
the beneficiary of a deadlock between
Gov. Landon and Col. Knox as about
the chances Of the two men them
selves.
For the possibility of an equal tug
of-war between the two leaders there
are many precedentS. In the cam
paign for the Republican nomination
In 1920 two excellent men, former
Gov. Lowden of Illinois and Gen.
Leonard Wood, were m front. each
having about the same number of
delegates. roughly 300. They killed
each other off. The nomination went
to another. Senator Harding, whose
manager. Harry M. Daugherty, had
shrewdly foreseen the mutual ex-
termination of Wood and Lowden and
had artfully arranged for the COM
paratively unknown Harding to be the
beneficiary.
Davis Got Nomination.
Similarly, in the 1924 Democratic
National Convention, two, Gov. Alfred
E. Smith and william G.. McAdoo.
were in front of all others. They had
approximately the same strength, and
through a convention that lasted
nearly three weeks they stood each
other of" In the end it was another
case OF mutual determination. The
nomination went to one who in the
beginning had had very little strength. !
John w. Davis.
The reason this happens is human |
psychology. To apply the psychology !
to the present situation. without neces- !
sarily predicting what will happen, the
mechanics of the nomination would
work out thus:
Some 200 to 800 delegates would go /
to the convention ardent for Gov. +.
Landon. As the contest warns up, as
it takes on the emotions of struggle. /.
the delegates for Gov. Landon would !
grow in loyalty and excitement. Pres |
emily. in their efforts to make Gov. !
Landon win, they would observe that
his chief rival, the chief impediment
in his way, is Col. Knox. Thereupon
the Landon delegates would pass
through a familiar transition Of feel
ing. More and more they would grow
hostile to Col. Knox. Finally, after
several ballots, with roughly the same
number of votes for Gov. Landon and
Col. Knox, the Landon delegates would
realize that their man could not win.
At that moment the Landon delegates
would pass from their primary emotion
of wanting Gov. Landon to win to
secondary emotion of determination
which would say, in effect. We'll, if
our man can't win, We will see to it
that Col. Knox doesn't get it." To
prevent the nomination of Col. Knox
becomes at that moment the most
ardent wish of the Landon delegates.
Whomever they vote for, after their
own man is seen to be through" they
will not vote for Col Knox. To pre-
vent Col Knox from getting the nomi-
nation becomes, so to speak, the con
ISOLATION prize" of the Landon dele
gates. 1t would be the same, of course,
the other way round; the Knox dele
gates would come to have the same
feeling against Gov. Landon. This is
the way, when there are two leading
candidates, they kill each other off,"
1t is familiar incident of the psy-
chology of politics.
Personal Interests Forgotten.
Now at the present time none of
this feeling exists between Gov. Lam
don and Col. Knox personally. I
know something of the minds of both
and have been astonished-to me 1t
Is a new experience in politics-to
observe the way in which they subor-
dinate personal interest to the cause
for which both stand. The cause, as
both see it, is to save America from
passing into one of the new forms of
society and government now conspicu-
ous-and to most Americans not pleas
ing-in three European countries. Al
most, one would say, both are reluctant
to get the nomination. Both see it as
a responsibility and a duty. a duty
which both realize will be difficult to
carry out. Each would say, I think,
that he would be pleased to see some
obviously better man than himself
emerge. So deep is the conviction Of
both that America is in serious dan
ger that I suspect both would give
hearty support to a coalition ticket
with Understanding Democrat as the
nominee, if that course were prac-
ticable. Quite certainly both would
throw their hearts into support of
another man, if some other should get
the Republican nomination. Neither
sees the nomination as prize to be
coveted. Neither, therefore, sees him
self as struggling against competitor.
While this is the present mental
attitude of Gov. Landon and Col.
Knox, and while as to them personally
this attitude viii last, there is, never
theless, danger that the emotion of
strife and tension will arise between
their respective followings. Through
out the, country, as local leaders and
individual voters take sides, the par
tisans of Gov. Landon will tend to
think of Col. Knox as their enemy and