Evening star., 1947-07-19

participate IN the 1S4o campaign.
A hook-up between Senator Taft
and Gen. Macarthur could be i'm
portant especially as affecting the
presidential primary in Wisconsin
next April S, which traditionally has
provided hot opener of Republican
preconvention contests. Lansing
Hoyt, chairman of Wisconsin Mac
Arthur for President organization,
declared Tuesday that he had been
assured from a source on the level
in Tokyo" that Gen. Macarthur
will be available" as Republican
presidential candidate in l948.
Mr.. Hoyt's statement was pro-
voked by dispatch from a Mil
waukee newspaper editor, visiting
Tokyo, declaring that Gen. Mac
Arthur had told him he planned
ito go back and settle down in Mil
waukee" after the peace treaty with
Japan is signed.
Showing in 1914.
Gen. Macarthur ran second to
Gov. Dewey but ahead of both
Harold E. Stassen and Wendell L.
Willkie in the 1914 presidential pri-
mary in Wisconsin.
The showing of Gen. Macarthur
then was credited mainly to support
of him by the La Toilette brothers,
who have been reported a. PLAN
ming to attempt political come
back in Wisconsin next year by
again going all-out for Macarthur.
The Chicago Tribune, which has
widely circulated Wisconsin edition,
has been boosting Taft and Mac
Arthur about equally as presidential
possibilities, while bitterly opposing
Dewey, Vandenberg and Stassen.
Add the circumstances that Sen
ator Taft, in the course of the
1916 primary campaign, wrote let
ter boosting Senator Robert M. La
Toilette for denomination and you
have the making of political pot
pourri as scrambled and juicy as
ever was served up to American
voters.
The expectation heretofore as to
Wisconsin has been a bitter battle
between Dewey and StasSen. Gov.
Dewey won the primary there in
1910, as well as in 1914, and he nosed
out Mr. Stassen in a close preference
vote by delegates to Republican
State convention at Milwaukee last
month. Mr.. Stassen has the back
ing of Tom Coleman. Republican
State chairman, and Senator Joseph
Mccarthy, who defeated Robert La
Toilette for denomination last year.
Formidable Contender.
But should Senator Taft now
throw his weight behind Gen. Mac
Arthur in Wisconsin, along with the
8 La Follettes and the Chicago Tri-
bune, Gen. Macarthur might become
a formidable contender, and this
more so if he should stage a tri-
umphal homecoming to Milwaukee
before the election.
Because he always has eschewed
preference primaries, excepting in
his own State, Senator Taft prob
ably would be well pleased to have
Gen. Macarthur his stalking horse
in other States besides Wisconsin.
An exception to this might be Ne
braska, where Senators Wherry and
Butler, reputedly in control OF the
Republican State machine, are eX-
pected to support Mr.. Taft. With
that setup Mr.. Taft might decide to
run himself against Gov. Dewey and
Mr.. Stassen in the Nebraska pri-
mary. Or Senator Wherry may be
entered as a favorlte son.
Alf M. Landon, in Washington re-
Gently, ventured the opinion that
international developments during
the coming year might be such as
to cause the Republicans to pick a
military man-for example, Mac
Arthur or EiSenhoWer-as their can
didate. AS a fellow Kansan, Mr..
Landon was suspected of putting up
a trial balloon on behalf of Gen.
Eisenhower.
Gen. Macarthur always has
seemed to have special appeal to
isolationists, and this is nowhere
better illustrated than in the Wis
consin situation. Both the Chi
cago Tribune and the La Follettes
have been strongly isolationist, and
Senator Tafts leaning generally has
been that way, although he has
voted the same as Senator Vanden-
berg on all foreign-policy issues
passed upon in the present Con-
greSs.
If a Taft Macarthur combination
comes into the open, displaying an
isolationist tendency, it very well
might lead to ganging up of candi-
dates more Observation-Disclosures
Dewey, Vandenberg, Stassen and
IGyorreo for eYamDlP