The Wilmington morning star., 1944-10-22
Presidential
Qualification
BY ARTHUR KROCK

D1 ARAhON A1eONA
WASHINGTON, Oct 18 Until the votes
have been counted, including those from mem
bers of the armee services, there will be no
guide to the issues which the American
people will base their impending choice of a
President. Even with the statistics in hand
and after careful analysis, the conclusions OF
one expert will be disputed by another.
This has always been true. The common be-
lief is that Cleveland overlook Blaine's lead
in 1884 because the Reverend Mr.. Burchard,
a Blaine supporter, made the remark about
Rum, Ronansm and Rebellion" But there
were statistcians then who proved to their
own satisfaction that Cleveland would have
won, anyhow AS for professional politicians,
they are never unanimous after the fact about
what produced the fact. And that will be
r3roved again in the post-mortems on the cleo
ton of 1914.
This time the Democrats are stressing the
Presidents experience and breadth of know
ledge of world affairs, acquired during twelve
years in Office, while the Republicans are
emphasizing Governor Dewey's youth
vigor by way Of contrast. They are calling
attention to the fact that only four men who
were 63 or more have been inaugurated, two
of whom died in office, and that no one OF
Mr.. Roosevelts age as of Jan. 20, 1945, has
been inaugurated since 1857. But whether
enough voters will make their choice on these
grounds to decide the election one will
ever be able to demonstrate.
This issue of comparative youth versus COM
parative age and experience has, however, I'M
PEELED an American historian to look into the
record on these points, and while his dis
coveries offer no guide to Nov. in this par
ticular, they are very interesting and inform
ing The historian is Prof. Asa E. Martin OF
Pennsylvania State College, whose general con-
| clusion is that history fails to supply any
| convincing evidence as to the value OF age,
youth or previous experience in public service
as necessary prerequisites for success In Of
fice.'' Here are some of his findings
Theodore Roosevelt, whom Franklin D.
Roosevelt lists as one Of our truly great Presi-
dents,' was only AZ with less official ex-
perience than Mr.. Dewey when. he entered
| the White House. Grant was 49,; Cleveland,
A. Pierce, 48; Polk and Garfield each 40. But
John Adams was 81; Jefferson, 81; Madison,
| 81; Monroe, So, and jackson, 81, when each
became President. and some of these are
ranked by many higher in the scale of achieve
ment than Theodore Roosevelt. So much for
| age. Now for prior experience in public office.
Taylor and Grant had never held office in
civilian life. Lincoln had only served seven
years in the Legislature and two years in
Congress before he went to the White House.
Wilson's Presidency was preceded by but two
| official yearS-as Governor of New jersey
and Cleveland's by two years as Mayor of
Buffalo and a similar period Governor of
New York. On the other hand, Mr.. Hoover
had eight years of Cabinet experience. B. Har-
rison six years in the Senate and Franklin
Roosevelt three years in the Legislature, eight
years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and
| four vars at Albany.
Eight Presidents had previous Cabinet SER
vice. Twelve had been members of the Senate,
and twelve had been members of the House.
But fifteen were Governors before becoming
Chief Executive, and it may be noted that the
two current major candidates have served as
! Governors of New York
Il: spite of the growing importance of for
elgn affairs in the political life of the nation
says Professor Martin, surprisingly few OF
our Presidents have had any experience what
ever in the diplomatic service" The number
is seven, less than a fourth of the total num-
Der: the two, Adamses, Jefferson, Monroe,
Van Buren, W.. H. Harrison and James Buch-
anan This record is diverse enough to prove
nothing.
1.-The above classifications present little evil
dence," says Professor Martin, "that pre-
vious exper1ece of candidates for the Presi-
dency Cor their relative ages) has played any
large part in their selection. i. There has
been little relation between the success of a
President in dealing with foreign affairs and
any training that he may have had in diplo-
macy before his election, although experience
in the diplomatic and other public service OF
the Government may be of great assistance
to President in the performance of his
duties
The historical statistcian concludes that 'in
almost all cases party expectancy, or the
ability to win votes. is the determining consi-
Iteration. Obviously, therefore, the success
of our Presidents in the past has not depended
to any great extent on their youth or age
| or on the record of previous public service.
Nevertheless, despite the practice of the major
political parties in placing expediency above
al else in nominating their candidates for our
highest office, certainly health, education and
experience in public service must be assets
to the President
It all gets you nowhere It got Professor
Martin nowhere. The voters may have opinions
on the issue and in expressing them will de-
terrnine whether Mr.. Roosevelt is to begin a
fourth term at 60 or Mr. Dewey is to begin
first term at AZ. But no one will know for
| certain, even the most assduous taker Of
sample polls or the straw-vote factory mana.
ger who is confident that his sytem produces
the least margin of error what is sadder sill
the professional politicians won't know. either.