Evening star., 1946-10-21


less the whirlwind type who caused
a big stir in washington last week
when, with his own peculiar mix
ture. of persuasiveness and lnde-
fatigable charn," he talked with the
"bigwigs of the administration from
President Truman and Mr.. Hanne-
gan down; also with leaders OF
labor and the left from Henry Wal
lace and Philip Murray down."
Then, it is reported that Mr.
BoWles let it be known at Demo-
cratic headquarters that invitations
for him to speak in the campaign
would be favorably considered and
that already there is great demand
for him. Finally, we are told that
despite the political catastrophe that
overlook him in Connecticut, it
would be great mistake "to count
Chester Bowles out"
Conflicting Reports.
Following Mr.. Bowles visit there
have been conflicting reports: First,
that Mr.. Truman had offered MIN
the post of social security director
if and when Congress creates this
new cabinet position; second, that
Mr.. Bowles, convinced that he had
been "bamboozled" out of that nomi-
nation in Connecticut, had asked
for that job-and one or two others.
Whatever the truth of this, the TACT
is perfectly clear that Mr.. Bowles
is undaunted by defeat and deter
mined to make his mark in the
political world as he already has IN
the advertising world.
In pursuit of his quite evident
political ambitions, which seem en-
tirely undiluted by the Connecticut
experience, Mr.. Bowles appears to
have two distinct liabilities which
somewhat offset the assets claimed
for nin.
One of these assets is that "pe-
culiar mixture of persuasivenesS and
indefatigable charm" This evi-
IDENTIFY refers to the Bowles per-
sonality which, however it may
have endeared him to some, others
have found, while indefatigable, not
Irresistible at all A second asset
is his extreme enthusiasm about
himself, plus his. skill and expert
ence in the great art OF publicity,
which Is the very bloodstream OF
politics.
Moley Explains Defeat.
Here, too, there is slight draw
back to the asset-first, because, it
is contended, the publicity Is
slightly overdone, and, second, be-
cause his enthusiasm about himself
is rot shared by enough people. For
example, take the explanation OF
his. Connecticut defeat given by the
erudite DR.. Raymond Moley, recently
returned from Hartford. According
to DR.. Moley, Mr.. Bowles was not
"bamboozled" out of the nomination,
as his journalistic refectors IN
Washington allege. DR.. Moley as
serts that Mr.. BoWles lost the nomi-
nation for the simple reason that
he did not have enough convention
delegates and that was due to the
fact that "the convention, like the
Connecticut Legislature, heavily
loaded with rural elements, simply
lied Mr.. Bowles along with the old
OPA ration cards"
AS to Mr.. Bowles' liabilities in the
gorgeous political future which his
literary liberal friends are picturing.
they seem fairly obvious. One is that
instead of having made himself an
outstanding champion of the COM
mon man" by his administration OF
and fight for the OPA, he has
merely identified himself with what
certainly has wound up as one OF
the most unpopular and sloppily ad-
ministered of all the many Federal
agencies created since 1888. The
other liability is that, as reported
by his journalistic refectors, Mr..
Bowles conceives himself as the
link between the Truman admins
tration and the left" At least he is
portrayed as believing that he could
be of a great use to Mr.. Truman, his
administration and the Democratic
party If he were properly placed for
use as the link.
Senators Wary.
Quite clearly Mr. Bowles does not
intend to permit himself to be
counted out" but whether the
President has been sold on the idea
of counting him in is matter OF
doubt. However, it is pretty gener-