Evening star., 1936-11-22
BY MARK SULLIVAN.


ton, the future, II any, OF the
Republican party. can be best
= approached by considering its
immediate past. Let us therefore
begin by going slight distance back.
When Mr.. Landon was nominated
when he and his associates took hold
Of the party organization and began
their campaign, he thought, naturally,
in terms of that part Of the Republican
party that was nearest to himself. He
was o Midwesterner, and he thought
Of the Midwestern section OF the
party. Instinctively he reached out
for those who were geographically
nearest to him. And since the West
ern Republicans were suspicious Of
the Republicans Of the East. Gov.
Landon and his associates undertook
to please the Western Republicans by
Eastern and conservative ones.
The politics Of this was, to degree,
sound enough. 1t was based on what
seemed at the time a sound assump-
ton. The Eastern and conservative
Republicans would be obliged to vote
for Mr.. Landon-for the sufficiently
good reason that they just had to
vote against Mr.. Roosevelt. Since
apparently he could get the Eastern
Republican vote without material ef-
fort, the problem was to get the West
ern Republican vote-which was less
welded to the Republican party.
which had no strong prejudice against
voting for Mr.. Roosevelt, much OF
which, indeed, had voted for Mr..
Roosevelt four years before.
But Mr.. Landon and his associates
went farther than merely to emphasize
their appeal to the Western Repub-
licans. They thought they could please
the Western Republicans by discrim-
mating in some ways against the
Eastern and conservative ones. They
assuming that the entire past history
of the Republican party for % years
was wrong. They sought to establish
Gov. Landon as the direct successor
of Theodore Roosevelt. AS part of
this purpose they took, tacitly. the
ground that the entire course of the
Republican party during 28 years,
from Theodore Roosevelt up to 1886,
was a mistake. that it had been a
straying from the truth, wandering
in the wilderness.
Skeleton in Closet.
To assume that meant to assume
that four Republican Presidents, Taft,
Harding. Coolidge and Mr.. Hoover,
had all been wrong. Without re-eX-
amining Mr. Landon's speeches. sus-
pect any reader could 60 through them
minutely without finding much al
lusion to Presidents Taft, Harding,
Coolidge or Hoover. The whole past
history Of the party was a void lex
cepting the presidencies of Theodore
Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln). The
rest of the history of the Republican
party, and all the other Republican
Presidents, was kind of skeleton in
the closet.
Against the only living Republican
ex-President, Mr.. Hoover, the attitude
was one Of hardly concealed discrimi-
nation. Early in Mr.. Landons rise,
last February and March, he, or per-
sons close to him. undertook to i'm
pose political and Intellectual death
on Mr.. Hoover as effectively as literal
death had removed every other Re
publican President. 1t may be that
Gov. Landon personally had little or
no hand in this. 1t may be the idea
was conceived and carried out by
some OF those who we're at the time
promoting Gov. Landon for the Re-
publican nomination. Several Of these
associates were able and broad-minded
men, but a few made somewhat the
impression of being "Small-town
smarties." They made an alliance
with Mr.. William r. Hearst for the
purpose of reducing Mr.. Hoover to
complete absence Of influence, even in
his own State of California. 1t was
not a matter of preventing Mr.. Hoover
from getting the presidential nomina-
ton, for the idea that Mr.. Hoover
might get the nomination did not
exist. 1t was, rather, an attempt to
deprive the only living Republican ex-
President a voice in the councils OF
the party.
The story Is too long to repeat here
in detail. Briefly, in California sub
stantially all the Republican groups
including friends of Mr.. Hoover, had
united in a movement to name "har-
mony" slate of delegates to the Re
publican National Convention, slate
not specifically instructed for any one
candidate. Practically all these har-
mony delegates, practically all the in
terests promoting the harmony move
ment, were friendly to Mr.. Landon and
expected to support him for the nomi-
nation. They felt they had the assent
of Gov. Landon and his associates tc
their plan for a harmony delegation
uninstructed.
But abruptly, Mr.. Hearst, a new ant
ardent recruit in the Landon cause
decided that he with some others
would like to put up slate of dele
gates specifically instructed for Gov