Evening star., 1940-07-05

Charles G. Ross. the conclusion
may be true. 1t represents the gen,
eral belief at Washington. The Re-
publican high command sees Mr..
Roosevelt as the opposition candi-
GATE and is making its plans ac-
cordlngly. And certainly the hopes
OF the thlrd-termers within the New
Deal-hopes which were on the ebb.
despite all the brave talk to the
contrary. prior to the Republican
convention - have been increased
commensurately with the tremen-
oouS increase in the bread-and-
butter demand on the President
from the practical" men of the
party machines not to let the party
down.
Still no one knows for certain
what the President will do.
War Helped Willkie Win.
1t is not to make anv prophecy
that the third-termers will be
proved wrong to suggest that the
on the spot" argument is too facile.
another view of the reaction of the
PRESIDENT to the unorthodox nomi-
nation of Mr.. Willkie by the Repub
mean party is entirely plausible.
Mr.. Wlllkle' unQuestionably owes
his nomination in large part TO
the Hitler blitzkrieg and its drasti-
cally upsctting effect on American
tnought. He was seen as the new
man needed to cope with new issues.
He preached competence" in gov
ernment as prime essential in the
building up of our armament, There
was a freshness about his approach
10 our problems that captured the
imagination of the rank and file of
MS party and ended the defeatism
In which the party was becoming
begged down.
But II Mr.. Willkie was the prod
uct OF the Hitler aggressions, he
was the product also of Mr.. Roose-
welt. 1t is not only Hitler who has
reorlented the thought of the coun-
try and paved the way for new men
and new measures; it is also Mr..
Roosevelt. Mr.. Roosevelt has been
DONG that for the last seven wears.
save for the New Deal-or. more
accurately, the forces which brought
about the New Deal and to which
the New Deal has given emphasis
and direction-the political outsider.
Wende-l Wlllkie, would not be the
nominee Of the Republican party.
Third-Term Threat Aided Willkie.
That is point number one. Num-
Der two is that Mr. Roosevelt is
not only indirectly responsible for
Mr.. Willkie. through the New Deal,
but is Immediately and directly re-
sponsible for him. through the
threat of a Roosevelt candidacy for
third term. If it hadn't been for
that threat. Mr.. Willkie surely would
have been blackballed and the NOM
lnatlon would have gone to some
longtime and impecably regular"
member OF the inner Republican
club-as it turned out. to Mr.. Taft.
Mr.. Taft almost got the prize,
anyway. He was deprived of it by
the feet that Mr.. Willkie had skill
fully sold himself to the Repub-
hcan public-and through this pub
lie to the delegates-as the one
man under consideration who would
nave chance to beat Roosevelt. I
doubt if there is any informed per-
son who will contend that Mr..
Wlllkle would have been nominated
II the shadow of Roosevelt hadn't
hung o"cr the Philadelphia con-
VentiOn
The reason why he wouldn't have
oeen nominated without this third
term threat was not his public util-
lty connection. In his campaign
Ing he had shaken eff that liability
even, perhaps. converted it into
an asset. The reason was the fact
OF his Democratic antecedents. That
was the hard pill for the Repub-
hcan delegates to swallow. DESPITE
an the soothing sirup administered
oy Cows. Stassen and Carr and
Baldwin. and the lesser political
leaders attracted to the Willkie
camp, the convention would have
grlped on that pill and nominated
a regular Republican wheelhorse if
II hadn't been for the fear of
Roosevelt.
G. o. P. "On the Spot"
SO 1t is that Roosevelt in a
double sense, as the chief Author
OF the New Deal and as a potential
candidate, is responsible for the
nomination of Mr.. Willkie.
So it is that Mr. Roosevelt can
fairly argue that he has put the
Republicans on the spot.
One cannot pretend to know what
is in the mind of the President.
but it does not stretch the imagi-
nation to conceive that the nom
lnatlon of either Taft or Dewey
would have been the final straw
required to tilt the scales in favor
OF a third-term race. He may have
felt that with either of these men
a candidate, it would be his duty
to run in order to protect, 10 the
utmost of his strength, the course
he has followed in foreign relations.
Mr.. WILKES nomination, on a
platform open to Interpretation by
the candidate, would appear to place
no such compulsion on the Presi-
dent. Unlike the views of Taft and
Dewey, which have shown a strong
isolationist slant, the views which
Mr.. Willkie has expressed on cur
foreign relations have been essen
italy the same as the Presidents.
Mr.. Roosevelt can gracefully take
himself out of the race on the
ground that the nomination of Mr..
Willkie, far from placing him on
the spot, has in fact served one of
his own great objectives; that with
respect to the other objectives, in
the domestic field, the contest
should be free of the complication
OF a third-term candidacy.
Something of this sort the Presi-
dent might conceivably say. No
prophecy is here intended that he
will say it. The pressure on him to-
run again is terrific. I only want
to suggest that the Willkie candi-
dacy can plausibly be viewed a.