Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-09-13
The Political Mill
Eisenhower Main Threat,
Taft Buckers Recognize
General Could Bow Out by Declaring
Il Am Democrat Writer Notes
BY Gould Lincoln

The TAFT inner circles, ike those OF Gov.
Thomas E. Dewey, recognize by this time that
the biggest dark horse" threat to the presi-
Dental nomination CT the Ohio Senator-or to
that Of the New York Governors Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nor is 1t relieved in any
sense of the word by Gen. Eisenhower's recent
statement to the press in Washington that he
"deplores" efforts to put him in the presidential
race next year. Quite the contrary. They have
read with disquietude the letter Of ALT Landon
Of Kansas, elder statesman of the COP, to
Raymond Moley, saying: UNLESS the general
takes himself out of the picture by some un-
equivocal statement, he will be factor at the
Philadelphia convention, whether an an
nounced candidate or not"
Gen. Eisenhower, who has refused so far to
say whether he would accept presidential
nomination on the ground that he does not
care to answer hypothetical questions, could
quite effectually take himself out of the picture
by making one simple statement:
Il am Democrat
Truman Might Be Dropped.
1t is not within the bounds of probability that
the Democrats would abandon President Tru-
man for nomination or that If he were Demo-
crat, Gen Eisenhower would run in the Demo-
cratic National Convention next year against
the President.
His silence on this subject seems to assure
an eventual statement by the general that
he is Republican
Mr. Landon asserts with great poSitiveneSS:
IF the general is a candidate it will be for
the Republican, not the Democratic nominal
ton" AS fellow Kansan, it may be pre-
sumed that Mr.. Landon knows what he is
talking about. Milton Eisenhower, the gen.
erals brother, is president of Kansas State
College-and he is a registered Republican.
In the Hoover administration, Milton Eisen-
hover went to Washington as an assistant
to Secretary of Agriculture Jardine, Kansan.
He remained on for while after President
Roosevelt entered the White House but even-
tually returned to Kansas During the last
war, he again entered public service in the
OWL Gen. Eisenhower was appointed to West
Point by Senator Bristow of Kansas, a Re-
publican, and his son received a similar ap-
pointment at the hands of another Republic
can, Senator Capper of Kansas.
The Taft people who in this Western swing
Of Senator Taft are seeking particularly to
build strength for their candidate with the
Republican organization leaders of the Pacific
Coast and the Mountain States-the men and
women who have much to do with the Sc
lection of delegates to the Republican Ma
tional Convention-take hope against this
Eisenhower threat from two angles. First.
that the American people may be hesitant
about selecting professional soldier for their
Chief Executive. The last one was President
Grant. Second Gen. Eisenhower's views on
domestic problems of the day are SO far COM
pletely unknown. The country does not know
how he stands on labor management problems,
on taxes on social welfare problems on the
tariff on finances and economy, for example.
Senator Taft and his supporters are taking
great satisfaction from the victory of the Re-
publicans in the 9Th congressional district
of Pennsylvania-which elected Franklin H.
Lichtenwalter over his Democratic-CIO oppo-
nent, Philip Storch. The Ohio Senator feels
Hartley labor law cannot be successfully
made a campaign issue"
Correspondents of the metropolitan news
papers Of the country now travelling with Mr..
Taft regret that the Ohio Senator's speak
ing engagements on this trip do not call for
large mass meetings-where popular sentiment
regarding the Ohio Senator and his attitude
on public questions in some measure could be
gagged In almost every instance his speak
ing engagements are with specially selected
groups-like the California Bar Association
and the Commonwealth Club Of San Fran
cisco, the World Affairs Council and Republic
can committee meetings. There is a great
deal of interest in this first tryout of Mr.. Taft
as a potential nominee however, and wide
publication Of his speeches may serve the pur-
pose And certainly the main bid by Mr.. Taft
at this juncture is for organization support.