Evening star., 1947-02-22
Senate Split Asunder
In Fight on LiIienthol
Attacks Have Run Whole Gamut,
Yet Republicans Must Decide
By Gould Lincoln

Yet Republicans Must Decide
By Gould Lincoln
David E. Lilienthals appointment to
be chairman of the Atomic Energy
Commission has divided the Senate to
a degree seldom reached in the past
over nominations to public Office.
Indeed, not since President Truman
sought in the last Congress to obtain
Senate confirmation for Edwin c. Pauley
to be Undersecretary of the Navy and
failed, and the late President Franklin
D. Roosevelt sent in the appointment of
Henry A. Wallace to be Secretary Of
Commerce, have there been comparable
goings on in this dignified body.
The attacks on Mr.. Lilienthal have
run the whole gamut-from charges
that he has favored Communists and
Communism to charges that he is heart
and soul tied in with the philosophy
of Government ownership. He has been
opposed on the ground that he has been
100 per cent Roosevelt New Dealer and,
as such, Republican Senate should
reject him. Race and religion-ugly
issues which have no place in determin-
ing an Americans fitness for public
ofice-also have entered into the strug-
gle. On behalf of Mr.. Lilienthal, on
the other hand. 1t has been charged
that the great power interests of the
country have been moving heaven and
earth to bring about his rejection by
the Senate.
Needs Republican Votes.
Obviously Mr.. Lilienthal can be con-
firned in his new appointment-he has
been heading the Atomic Energy Com
mission since January 1-only with the
aid of Republican votes. For the COP
has majority in the Senate. Just as
obviously some of these Republican
Senators, who detest the Roosevelt New
Deal and everyone connected with it
in varying degrees, are having tough
time stomaching Mr.. Lilienthal. There
are Republicans who recall that It was
with the support of a handful of Repub-
lican Senators that Mr.. Wallace scraped
by-for the crucial vote came on a mo-
ton to take up the Wallace nomination
for consideration-before legislation had
been passed separating the RFC from
the Department of Commerce. It was
well understood that had the nominal
ton been taken up at that time Mr..
Wallace would have been rejected.
There are plenty of Republicans. in
the Senate and out, who today con-
tend that Mr.. Wallaces confirmation
should never have been voted: that his
service as Commerce Secretary put him
in position to do irreparable harm-and
that he did it when he permitted the
release of a report which sought to
prove that industrial wages could be
increased in this country by Is per cent
without an increase in prices of COM
modities; that Mr.. Wallace, by his ap-
pease-Russia speech in New York,
caused trouble for the United States
delegation in Paris under the leader
ship of Secretary of State Byrnes. Some
of these are among the Republicans who
insist that it is the wiser course now
not to take any chances on having
Mr.. Lilienthal head the tremendously
important new Atomic Energy Commits
sion.
How Leaders Line Up. o2
Republican leadership in the upper
house has lined up, in the main, against
Mr.. Lilienthal. Senator White of Maine,
majority leader; Senators Taft of Ohio,
chairman of the Republican Policy
Committee; Wherry of Nebraska, Re-
publican whip, and Bridges of New
Hampshire, chairman of the Appropria-
tions Committee, all have come out
against Mr.. Lilienthal and demanded
his rejection. On the other hand, it
is confidently predicted that when the
showdown comes on the nomination,
Mr.. Vandenberg of Michigan, president
pro tempore of the Senate and chair
man of the Foreign Relations Commit
tee will be found in Lilienthal's corner
Senator Vandenberg who is regarded
as the Republican leader on all issues
that relate to foreign affairs. Other
Republicans who have either announced
or let it leak out they will support the
appointment are Senators Lodge OF
Massachusetts,, Tobey of New Hamp-
shire, and Aiken of Vermont.
Despite the fact that up to date, the
great bulk of Senators have made no
lormal announcement Of their stand on
Mr.. Lilienthal, it is firmly believed that
majority of the Senate will vote for
his confirmation.
The bitter fight over the nomination,
however, is by no means over. The
prospect is that his appointment will
be favorably reported to the Senate by
the Atomic Energy Committee OF tina.
body-and probably by a considerable
majority. So far, there has been no
public debate nor will there be until the
nomination has been reported by the
committee to the Senate. Once 1t is
launched, there may be much bitter
conversation.
How Fight Began.
The fight against Mr.. Lilienthal began
with an attack on his appointment by
Senator McKellar, Democrat, OF Ten
nessee, an antagonist Of Mr.. Lilienthal
over many years-growing out Of differ
ences OF opinion over the conduct of the
Tennessee Valley Authority which Mr..
Lilienthal headed until he quit to take
the new job offered him by President
Truman. 1t was charged by friends OF
Mr.. Lilienthal and enemies Of Senator
McKellar that the attack was due to
personal spleen and because Mr.. Lilien-
thai had rejected Senator Mckellars
demands for political patronage in the
iva. Mr.. McKellar, however. points
out that when he asked Mr.. Lilienthal