Evening star., 1946-12-20

ability to do anything about it.
Here it Is more than year and
half before the national conventions
and yet from now on practically
everything Gen. Eisenhower doe.
will be construed in political terms
Every time he makes a speech il
will be analyzed for its political sig
nificance. If he follows out his
desire to retire as chief of staff, the
same thing will happen.
Pefusal Not a Solution.
II he should now make an un.
equivocal statement that he will not
be a candidate, does not want to be
drafted and will not accept nomi-
nation by either party, it would not
better the situation very much sc
far as he is concerned. In the first
place, he would seem to be declining
something that had not yet beer
offered him-and which may never
be offered. In the second place, his
uninhibited boosters would insist
that his declaration only made him
stronger as candidate. increased
the desirability Of drafting him
They would point out that this was
the correct position for him to as
sumo but that, of course, he would
not refuse to run if drafted and
that his genuine unwillingness was
exactly what might be expected OF
him.
So the general is in a fix where
he can do nothing about this presi-
dental publicity one way or the
other. The thing that makes the
Ak somewhat more painful Is that
it seems perfectly apparent that
even II he were cooperating under
cover the chances Of his being
drafted by either Democrats or Re-
publicans would be exceedingly poor
For one thing, there appears nc
public demand for such action any
where-certainly not among the
veterans of the last war. Recently
Fortune Magazine published poll
of veterans taken by Elmo Roper
which showed an emphatic major
ity of veterans against the nomina-
ton of either Gen. Eisenhower OF
Gen. Macarthur.
Dewey First in Poll.
The veterans, Mr.. Roper reported,
are against the generals, politically.
According to this poll. the choices OF
the veterans for President are. In
the order named-Gov. Dewey, for
mer Gov. Stassen, President Tru-
man. Henry Wallace and Senator
Taft. Both Gems. Eisenhower and
Macarthur are farther down the
line. Thus, it seems, that there not
only Is no substance to the Eisen-
hover movement now, but 1t is very
unlikely there win be any later.
His boom Is largely the publicity
product Of a small number of left
wing Democrats who are bitterly
hostile to Mr.. Truman.
Besides providing an unpleasant
experience for Gen. Eisenhower. all
the movement has done SO far is
to make the Truman nomination in
1913 more sure. An Eisenhower
draft. with Mr.. Truman concurring
is one way this could be avoided
The other way is for Mr.. Truman
absolutely to decline to become the
candidate. Both these contingen-
cies are exceedingly remote. Con-
corning the latter, men close to the
President say that he is not at all
impressed by those who now tell him
that because he stood up and fought
John L. Lewis instead Of appeasine
him, he has made a great political
comeback.
Aware Of COP Odds.
He Just smiles at that, though he
must know that his stature in the
country has been enhanced by his
frmness and courage. But this
gives him no illusions about either
himself or the Democratic pros
poets. He is quite well aware that
the odds favor the Republicans ano