Evening star., 1939-06-18

AAA' SeAAANNoSS oAoiiS. nv ally Idte, lHdG
is his story, although he adds with char
acteristic frankness that he doesn't expect
any one to believe it.
He is curious blend of the statesman
of the old school and the politician of
the new, this selfmade man from Mchi-
gan. 1t is apparent in the way in which
even in an ordinary conversation he veers
from the almost oratorical to the good
natured Wisecrack. Vandenberg himself
recognizes this curious division in his
personality and traces it back to a youth
| in which he was deprived of most of the
things that boyhood means.
| TO be sure, 1t is the source of his am
bitlon, the spur that has driven him on.
But 1t Is also the reason why in later
life he has been looking for a chance to
relax and have fun, to get some of the
pleasures he was deprived of As years
ago. hardheaded observer of WASH
ington for the past 10 years, he knows
that whoever is in the White House in
1941 will not have very much fun.
"Nlneteen-forty will be easy" he saws.
compared with 1941 1t will be infinitely
easier to win in 1910 than to justify the
victory in 1941"
Thinks Roosevelt Will Run.
1t is Vandenberg's conviction that
President Roosevelt will run again for a
third term in 1910. Apparently the
Michigan Senator, analyzing the split in
the Democratic party, has felt for some
months that this was inevitable And it
Is his conviction too, that the Republican
candidate will win a fairly easy victory.
But having won, the Republicans trou-
bles will have just begun Here is the
way Vandenberg prescribes for next
yeas Republican candidate:
This will be no ordinary election. He
must go in absolutely free agent He
should have very clearly fixed in his
mind two attitudes, attitudes that seem
to me supremely important.
First, he should not hunt single
delegate. Because a man has to trade
to get delegates He has to offer to
give this in return for support from
that quarter. The problem is too big.
the crisis too terrific for that kind of
politics.
Second, he should maintain a con-
tinuation of his detachment from or
binary politics once he is in the White
House. 1t is the only way that he will
be able to get Democratic cooperation.
And, OF course, he won't be able to
move without the Democratic Senate.
Then too, he should make perfectly
clear how he stands on all issues. He
can't afford to have single vote under
false pretenses. And, finally, he should
say before he goes in, I'm here for
one term"
Maybe He Meant 1t.
1t is this last that Vandenberg said
for himself the other day in statement
which made him conspicuous as can
didate for the first time in more than a
year. From the very beginning, of
course. he has been regarded as pos
sible Republican candidate, just as he
was in 1896. But he had protested so
long and so loud that he would not seek
the office, that he did not want it and
that he preferred to have his friends
refrain from making any effort that
finally he was taken at his word. Po-
litical Washington believed that the
Michigan Senator in running away from
the Office actually meant it.
His statement has done much to
dispel that. He is still running away,
which is perfectly good political atti-
tude. But in his statement he paused
long enough to look back over his
shoulder to make sure he wasn't too
far ahead.
The earnest little boy who started a
pushcart freight service at years of
age has come long way At the age of
TO- as he tells the story, he was practi-
cally self-supporting, having organized
in his home town of Grand Rapids
business in which other little boys worked
for the Vandenberg pushcart freight
service.
His father had been a successful
harness maker who turned out fine work
for wealthy owners of blooded horses
not only in Michigan but in neighboring
States. The panic that began in the
administration of Grover Cleveland
ruined the elder Vandenberg and the
legend is that he put the full blame for
this on the Democrats, extracting from
Arthur deathbed promise that he
would always be Republican. 1t is an
interesting footnote that-like father,
like son-Senator Vandenberg has not
only remained true to the Republican
faith, but he has continued to blame
the Democrats for the economic ills of
the country.
Aided by Senator Smith.
Vandenberg started as a freshman at
the University of Michigan, but found
he could not keep up with his studies
and earn his own way. Back in his
home town he got job as reporter
on the Grand Rapids Herald and in
his new job was thrown in with the
man who was to give him his first big
step forward. He had long admired
old Senator William Alden Smith. And
Smith recognized in Vandenberg an up
and coming young man.
It was in 1906 that Smith bought the
Herald. AS Vandenberg tells the story,
on the night the sale was completed
the old Senator walked into the Herald