Evening star., 1940-06-21

Charles G. Ross. raignment of the
President for the appointment of
two leading 'interventionists" TO the
shocked expression of Senator
Bridges, candidate for the Republi-
can presidential nomination, that
ne had been rendered incapable of
comment"
Speculation of the politically
minded addressed itself in large part
to the effect Of Mr.. Roosevelt's un-
precedented action on the fortunes
OF the Republican party. That the
PRESIDENT with a characteristic piece
OF strategy had "blitzkrieged" the
party was a frequent remark. The
truth OF this assumption remains to
be tested, but certainly, in the mean.
time. he has given the platform
makers at Philadelphia something
to think about.
If they approve, by silence or
otherwise, the course which the
President has followed in foreign
affairs, they will destroy or meas.
urably weaken the "war-minded.
ness issue around which a section
OF the Republican party in the last
two or three weeks has been build
ing great hopes.
Dramatic Split Otherwise.
If they attack the aid-to-the.
Allies policy and practice of Mr..
Roosevelt, they will dramatize a
party split on the foreign relations
issue and repudiate-in effect, read
out OF the party-two of its most
outstanding figures, one Of whom,
Col. Knox, carried its banner as vice
presidential nominee in the last
campaign.
Already unenviable, the plight Of
Mr.. Landon and the others charged
with framing a foreign relations
plank for the G. o. P. is made worse
by the shrewdly timed bombshell Of
the President.
So much for the narrowly polit-
ical aspect Of Mr.. Roosevelt's sum.
moning into his cabinet two out
spoken opponents of his domestic
policies. Unquestionably, he acted
with full awareness of the strictly
political implications of his move.
One can imagine him chuckling over
the discontinue Of his opponents.
Yet it would be unfair to assume
that he was motivated by the lower
kind of political considerations. Mr..
Roosevelt Is profoundly convinced
OF two things-flrst, that material
aid to the Allies (or perhaps one
should now say to Great Britain)
Is a first line of defense for tho
United States; second, that the pre-
paredness program should be exc
cuted with all possible speed. In
calling to his aid two Republicans
who have differed with him radically
on other issues but who see eye to
eye with him on those points, he
demonstrates to the country the
depth Of his conviction that all
problems today must be subordi-
mated to the imperative need Of
building up our defenses. His &C.
ton is an appeal to the country for
united front on foreign affairs.
No Coalition by Truce.
1t is loose use of words to say
that he has formed a coalition cabi-
net. There was no coalition when
he took two former Republicans,
Secretaries Wallace and Ickes, into
his cabinet in 1888, and there will
be none with the addition of Messrs,
Knox and Stimson. A real coalition
cabinet would be one formed by q
truce between the parties on all con-
tentious issues in order that the ma
taonal energies might be centered on
one great critical issue. There has
been no such truce, nor is there
likely to be. The Roosevelt domes-
TIC policies in any case (save only
II we should get into the war; will
figure Importantly in the campaign,
1t takes two to make q truce.
Obviously, with the Republicans
about to name q presidential and
vice presidential candidate at Phila.
delphia from out of their own ranks.
on platform taking issue with the
New Deal, there has been no suspen-
sion Of traditional party hostilities,
and hence no coalition.
Mr.. Knox and Mr.. Stimson are
acting in their individual capacities
rs American citizens, and, to their
great credit, they are putting what
seem to them to be their duties a
American citizens ahead of party
expediency. Their action, in the
face OF a certain avalanche Of crit
icism from within their party, Is q
measure Of the depth Of their con-
viction that partisanship has no
place in the crisis that the menace
OF Hitlerism has brought upon the
United States.
Logic in Selection.
Politics aside. there is osmplete
logic in their selection. Both ara
administrators Of proved capacity,
both command widespread respect,
both have supported consistently
at times preaching party lines to do
SO the foreign policy of the ad-
ministration. BY their appointment,
Mr.. Roosevelt gives welcome reas-
surance that the defense program
Is not to be slowed up by PARTISAN
ship in the two vital departments of
War and Navy. In the War Depart
ment, he brings to q belated end
the unseemly and potentially dis
asrous quarrel between the two top
executives.
To revert to the politics of the
matter. The appointment Of Messrs.
stimson and Knox may be a two
edged sword. If the Republicans
seek to put the tag Of war party"
on the Democrats Ito do which they
will have to repudiate these two
leaders,, they will certainly use the
appointment In support of their
argument. So doing, they will risk
the loss Of that section Of the Re-
publican party which approves the
Roosevelt course in. foreign rela.
tions.
It's hot political poker that the