Evening star., 1948-03-06
The Political MM
Democrats Must Stand
On Administration Record
Truman Unlikely to Be Regulated
Despite Clamor for Military Man
By GoMid Lincoln


On the eve Of the primaries In which dele
gates to the major political parties are chosen
and q preference is expressed for presidential
candidates. the Republican Party has .
plethora and the Democratic Party only .
single man to advance. Ther1 are able men
In the Democratic Farty-but which among
them Is so nationally known that his nams
springs naturally to mind should President
Truman not be the party's nominee for the
presidency?
With the Wallace cannon to the left Of them
and the Southern fire on the right, leaders of
the Democratic organization are almost as
unhappy rs Job. They hear on all sides ths
prediction that President Truman cannot
possibly be reelected: that Mr.. Truman should
be ditched, If he cannot be persuaded to step
aside, and another nominated In his place
Strangely enough. most Of the clamor Is for
the nomination Of a military hero out Of the
last war. Some Of the Democrats would 20
to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and now thers
is talk Of nominating Gen. Douglas Mac.
Arthur. Neither Of these gentlemen has ever
indicated he Is = Democrat. Indeed. there ia
every reason to believe that both are either
Republicans or inclined toward Repubhcanisn.
But desperate Democrats seem to believe that
either or both might be persuaded to accept
= presidential nomination no matter whether
1t came from the Democrats or the Repub.
licans.
Party Must stand On Record.
Gen. Eisenhower. moving over to the presi.
dency Of Columbia University has declared
he could not accept a nomination for the
presidency Of the United States. and has given
his reasons. He did so to take himself out
Of the hght for delegates to the Republican.
not the Democratic National Convention. In
the Wisconsin primary for the election Of
delegates to the Republican National Con-
vention, full slate OF delegate candidates has
been entered pledged to Gen. Macarthur.
Either could have sque1ched these moves by
declaring himself . Democrat
The truth OF the matter Is that the Demo-
cratic Party must stand, In the coming election,
on the record Of the Truman administration
II 1t should repudiate Mr.. Truman and his
administration, by running to another csndi-
date for the presidency, the party would be lett
IN a most unenviable position It has been
suggested that Henry Wallace would abandon
his third-party candidacy should Mr.. Truman
not be nominated. But which Democrat could
be nominated who would abandon the foreign
policy of the United States, exemplihed In
the Marshall Plan and opposition to the ad-
RhICc O1 NtInbldI1 GOfIiiiiuTLSJlf lHlS IOIClSH
policy, according to Mr.. Wallace, is his chief
reason for leaving Mr.. Truman and the Demo-
cratic Party.
The lack Of outstanding Democratic possi-
bilities for a presidential nomination grows
ont of the fact that the late President Franklin
D. Roosevelt. having made up his mind to
keep on running for the presidency, did not
cultivate any prospective presidential nominees
in the Democratic Party. Mr. Truman in
herited the presidency when Mr.. Roosevelt
died-and since he, under the usual program.
was entitled to at least one full four-year
term-if he could be elected to it--nothing
has been done since his entrance into the
White House to build up any other Democrat
for the 1948 presidential nomination.
outburst in Massachusetts,.
The recent outburst of two former Democratic
Governors Of Massachusetts,. Mayor jim
Curley of Boston and former Gov. Ely, against
Mr.. Truman and in favor of Gen Macarthur as
q presidential nominee is almost as indicative
OF trouble for the Truman forces as the revolt
Of the Southern Governors and Southern MEM
bers Of Congress-
Ali Of this fighting in Democratic ranks has
given the Republicans great encouragement.
Nevertheless there is D distinct feeling among
many Of the Republican leaders there should
be no letdown-that they should pick the
strongest presidential ticket possible, both for
the campaign and for the administration OF
the Nations affairs later. Everything possible
is being done to discourage the idea that the
COP can win with any candidate" ...
In New Hampshire there is still q strong
undercurrent of sentiment for the nomination
OF Gen. Eisenhower. This was evidenced in
a recent editorial In the Manchester Evening
Leader, entitled Changing Political Scene
This editorial clearly intimates q belief that
Gen. Eisenhower would accept a nomination
If he were drafted by the Republican con.
vention The editorial said:
The Nation continues to look to Gen. Eisen-
hover a. the man best qualified to assume
the duties of national leadership. The
real factor making his draft increasingly pos
sible Is the direction Of world affairs
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