Evening star., 1945-06-23


three is likely candidate for Pres
ident in his own right. And the
same can be said for Justice Byrnes
whom those who seek to run the
country by rumor already have in
stalled in Stettinius' seat.
Rayburn? The country could dc
worse and has done SO many times
But no man from a poll tax State
can be elected to the presidency in
these days. McKellar? No man from
poll tax Tennessee, no man from the
inner recesses of Ed Crump's vest
pocket. Byrnes? Poll tax. Stetti.
Mus? Well, everybody seems agreed
he just amt the type.
So we'd get somebody else, Demo.
crat or Republican. And since il
could be a Republican unless the
Democrats offered strong candi'
date, it would be political wisdom or
the part Of President Truman tt
have a strong candidate before tht
public eye, which means in the
Office of Acting President in case Of
his own death. cts hard to keer
this discussion from becoming ghoul.
ish, but after all 1t was the President
himself who started it,
First Amendment.
The first amendment therefore
that I would offer to the Truman
proposal if l were member of Con-
gress would be to leave the success
sion as it is and provide only fol
the early election. If Majority Lead
er John Mccormack rallied his
sometimes loyal followers and voted
this down. I'd offer another. I'd
propose that the majority leader
himself, not the President pro tenn
of the Senate, should be next after
the Speaker in the line of succession
This not merely because Mccormack
Is pretty high-grade citizen and
not merely because the country
would suffer an attack of the colly-
wobbles at the prospect of McKellar
occupying the White House, even
briefly. 1t is for the reasons stated
by the President in putting the
Speaker first on the list:
90 the members of the Sen
ate are not so closely tied In by the
elective process to the people as are
the members of the House of Repre-
sentatives. A completely new House
Is elected every two years and al
ways at the same time as the Presi-
dent and Vice President. Usually it
Is in agreement politically with the
Chief Executive"
This, as well as the rest of the
Presidents argument in favor of the
Speaker, applies equally to the ma
jority leader. True, the President
did say the Speaker is elected by
The votes of "all" the other Repre-
sentatives, but In practice that
means he is elected by the men,
bers Of his own party. the same as
The majority leader. ...
Second Suggestion.
Now, the second suggestion is en-
irely in the interest of pure democ-
,acy. Actually it runs contrary to
;he idea Of providing the party
with a strong candidate at the
polls. Mccormack would not be that,
unless the country should become
more broad minded than it has been
n the past on the subject Of Catho-
ic candidates. However, McCor-
mack ought to like my amendment
30 ought the minority leader, hav-
ng in mind that the Republicans
ire still hopeful Of winning a ma
Iority Of seats in the 1916 election
One effect Of such a change in
The law might be to make the Rep
;esentatives give hard thought to
The selection of Speaker and ma
lority leader and the people to give
hard thought to the candidates for
Congress. Congressman are elected
Tor all sorts of reasons, mostly local,