Evening star., 1937-06-14
Third Term Talk,

Colonel House, confdant of Woodrow
Wilson and student of the BACKGROUND
OF politics in this and other countries,
has predicted that President Roosevelt
will not be candidate for a third term.
The very fact that Colonel House made
the statement to the newspapers is in
dlcative Of the interest with which the
third term possibility is regarded. The
President himself has given strong indi-
cation that he will not seek to succeed
himself when his present term of office
expires. 1t is one thing, however, not to
seek an Office and quite another thing
not to have the Office seek the man.
1t is quite obvious that President
Roosevelt has had the support of a
large number of persons in this country
who do not think alike on political
issues, some of which are fundamental.
Take, for example, Senator Carter Glass
Of Virginia and John L. Lewis. head of
the c. I. O., or Senator Burke of Ne
braska and Sidney Hillman of New York.
These gentlemen are by no means in
accord on many issues. They all, how
ever, voted for the President If Frank
lin D. Roosevelt steps out of the picture
as the leader of the conglomerate mass
which has come to be known as the New
Deal Party-although it bears the name
OF the Democratic Party-who is there
who can hope to hold these groups to-
gether?
Early as it is, the discussion of Mr..
RooseVelt's successor-the next nom
inee of the Democratic Party for Presi-
dent-has already developed on a wide
scale. There are those who insist that
the Postmaster General and chairman
OF the Democratic National Committee.
James A. Farley, is laying the ground
work for the presidential nomination.
for himself. Mr.. Farley gallops from
one end of the country to the other, lay
Ing corner stones and making speeches
and making friends He is constantly
on the CO. and constantly building up
the party organization. Could Mr.. Farley
count on the support of all the elements
which have turned to Roosevelt? The
answer is probably he could not. There
are others who are mentioned frequently
for the nomination, among them Gov
ernor George Earle of PENNSYLVANIA.
Senator Barkley of Kentucky, former
Governor McNutt of Indiana now this
country's representative in the Philip
pines; Senator Clark of Missouri, Sec
retary Wallace of Iowa, the farmers
friend; Governor Frank Murphy of
Michigan, Senator Harry Flood Byrd of
Virginia and string of others, not to
mention John L. Lewis
None OF these gentlemen, it seems.
even if one of them had the blessing of
President Roosevelt, is likely to be able
to hold the various elements of the
New Deal Party in line when the next
campaign rolls round. No one realizes
this any better than these individual
elements or groups. All of them, how
WA, oCAlC'c IIIdI Illey can WIN With
Roosevelt If they continue to so be-
lleve until the Summer of 1910, doubt
less there will be a demand for the
denomination of Roosevelt from some Of
them, If not from all Under such cir
cumstances, draft Roosevelt move
ment may be expected. How far it will
go remains still in doubt.
The anti-third term tradition has
existed from the early days of the
Republic. People looked on it as they
did the Constitution or the Supreme
Court. In the last campaign, and in the
congressional campaign of 1884, the word
went forth that people cannot "eat" the
Constitution, and since the last presl-
dental election the Supreme Court has
been held up as an anachronism. Is
there any reason to believe that the
anti-third term tradition will stand the
present wave against things as they
used to be?
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