The Kennewick courier-reporter and the White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1938-1939, 1938-08-11
More talk is going the rounds

More talk is going the rounds
concerning the possibility OF Mr..
Roosevelt running for a third term.
A considerable part of the talk Is
based upon unfounded rumor-but
there Is q leavening Of hard fact
that points to number of inter-
esting conclusions. ~. g.. +.
There are various obvious bar
riers to any presidents third-term
ambitions. In the the first place,
the strain of the White House US
ually is a man-killer-as the fact
that we have never had more than
two ex-presidents living at one
time indicates. However, in the case
Of Mr.. Roosevelt, this is not as i'm
portant as in the case of most Of
his predecessors-no president since
his distant cousin Theodore has
seemed to thrive so well on the CO.
lossal labors that fall upon the
Chief Executive.
In the second place, the "no-
third-term" tradition is still held by
millions of voters. Various polls,
such as those conducted periodically
by Fortune, show that the majority
Of the people, including those fav-
orable to the New Deal and the
President, are generally opposed to
more than eight years of office for
any president.
In the third place-and this is
especially true today-a president
who is known to be seeking third
term cannot help but meet stiff op-
position within his party ranks.
Many senators, governors. govern
ment officials and others envisage
themselves in the role of national
leader. They seek the mantle Of
greatness. And while they will not,
for the most part, openly oppose an
1ncumbent'S third-term ambitions,
they will usually pull all the strings
they can, privately, to make it i'm
possible.
Looking at the other side Of the
picture, there are valid reasons to
Indicate that Mr.. Roosevelt has an
excellent chance. to run again for
for his office whether he seeks 1t or
Is drafted by his party. The New
Deal is very largely q personal
thing-and the dominant PERSONAL
ity is Mr.. Roosevelt. He and his
satellites and official followers, Of
course, but none of them loom large
enough in the public eye to be first
rate presidential candidates. AL
the talk centers around Mr.. RooSe-
velt. He gets the blame and the
praise for everything the govern
ment does. No man in his party
stands out, for example, as Hoover
did when Coolidge was President
His cabinet seems to contain no one
with the possible exception Of Secre-
tary Hull, whose advancing years
practically preclude his candidacy
who could be counted upon as de-
pendable vote winning standard
bearer for the Democratic party.
Governor McNutt has the person
atty, many believe, and he appar-
emily wants the mountaineering II
Is also believed Mr.. Roosevelt op-
poses him. There is talk about
Postmaster General Farley Mr.
Farley, so far as is known, has nc
economic or social philosophy. It is
generally thought that he woule
work as hard for a conservative
president as he does for Mr.. Roose-
welt. Mr.. Farley's dominant char
acteristic IS loyalty, to whoever Is
head of the party he belongs to.
Most important of all is this ques-
ton: Does the President want 8
third term? He hasn't said yes. Mrs
Perkins recently made headline.
when she recounted how she hac
asked the President the question
and said that he looked thoughtfully
out of the window, smiled, and gave
no answer. And he hasn't said no
There Is q sound reason for this
even II he doesn't seek the nomina-
ton. If he declared himself out Of
1t, the party would fairly seeth with
efforts of Democrats to put them.
selves forward. BY saying nothing
he keeps his party control and al
the same time keeps his underling.
on tenterhooks.
It is q reasonable supposition, helC
BY the best informed commentators
that the President hasn't yet made