The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1938-11-30
G,O,P.FRAMES
MIDDLE-ROAD
POLICY FOR 40
Hoover Won't Be Party
Choice That's Certain
BY THEODORE HUNTLEY
at won't be Hoover"


cit won't be Hoover"
You can put that in your pip
and smoke it as the net produc
of COP. thinking about 1910, nov
that the medicine men are bacl
home or on their way to thei
wigwams.
Yesterdays gathering of the Re
publican national committee il
Washington, the first for a year
may not have produced many set
tied conclusions as to where thu
party will 60 from here. But i
did yield enough cautious com
ment to indicate where it won't go
SOME EXAMPLES
For example:
It will not renominate Herbert
Hoover in 1910.
It will not nominate anyone un
ACCEPTABLE to the liberal wing OF
the party.
1t will not try to get by during
the next two years or in 1910
simply on a program of opposition
to the New Deal-aS it did in the
November elections.
To shift from the negative to
the affirmative, public and pri-
Vate expressions pointed to:
/. An effort to crystalline party
thinking and formulate a pro.
gram in the coming Congress
which may serve as the founda-
ton for q more comprehensive ex.
preston Of party policy two years
hence.
MIDDLE PLAN
2. An equally positive attempt
to keep both conservatives and
liberals in the party in a good
humor by making moderate con-
cessions both ways and in general
pursuing a middle-of-the-road pro-
gram between standpatism, or
what has been described as the in
action Of Hooverism, and the dar-
ing dreams of the starry-eyed boys
who would make the world over in
four years or less.
8. A cautiously aggressive policy
of persuasion designed to bring
the lost sheep back 10 the COP.
fold by making it clear that the
Republicans are not against the
Roosevelt reforms which public
opinion has come to accept, but
only those it condemns. Put more
bluntly, the COP. program for
the next two years, if yesterdays
expressions are any guide to the
future, will be opportunistic to the
nth degree.
LIKE DEWEY
For the time being, party lead
erS are trying not to think toe
much in terms Of personalities
There is a growing sentiment in
the national organization-even
in some Of the big eastern States
which have led the conservative
parade-for the racket-busting
New York prosecutor, Mr.. Dewey
There is a little for Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge Of Massachu
sets. But all they said about
Hoover was NO" and they never
mentioned Landon.
It was acknowledged even by
Chairman Hamilton in his final
comments on the 6 gathering
coupled with a glimpse into the
future, that the national commit
tee does not after all formulate
party policy. but carries on
against the common enemy.
Aside from raising money tc
finance national campaigns
whether for the Presidency or the
election Of Republican Senators
and Representatives its function
normally is to raise Cain with the
other fellow between times, an6
thus pave the way for the party
messiahs when they appear tt
preach their own gospel.
STATE BOSSES"
Beyond that, however, the
Washington gathering and al
other meetings of the nationa
organization are significant in
that the members Of the nationa
political committees frequently
are the bosses Of their States. o.
the mouthpieces for those WHIT
run politics from the wings, with
out themselves coming before thu
footlights.
They have much to say as X
who shall serve on the platform
committees in national conven
tions, and sometimes control tn
action of their State delegation
when the time comes to chooS'
the nominees.
For tn at reason the COP
roundup in a limited sense point
the way to 1910. Boiled down. tn
gathering showed that the old ele
phant is still an elephant. He
not going to cross any bridge
without testing them. He's no
unwilling to cross streams II h
has to-but he wants to be sur
he gets to the other side.
CALL 1T ANYTHING
Call it cautious liberalism Q
practical progressivism or prai
matism or streamlined conServi
tism. It all comes down to tn
same thing: The COP. won
swallow the New Deal whole, bl
It will swallow some of it if