Evening star., 1948-01-17
Presidents S Message
Seen as Not Helping
Marshall Program
Legislative Proposals
Viewed as indicating
Need for New Advisers
By Frank r. Kent

sion OF the PreSident'S message on
"the state of the Union" and with
his second annual economic report"
only a few days old, 1t is clear that,
excepting only the Marshall Plan
for European economic recovery,
there is slight expectation in either
party that single one of the multi
tudinous recommendations therein
made will be adopted.
And If, as expected, the Mar
shall Plan goes through, it will be
because of the leadership on one
hand of Secretary OF State Marshall
and on the other Of Republican SEN
ator Arthur Vandenberg. And not
because of the Truman recommends
ton. AS matter of fact, If half the
vague and costly projects Mr.. Tru-
man urged in his January 6 appeal
should be adopted, the Marshall
Plan would become financially i'm
possible and all control over our
fiscal affairs be lost. Thus, that
message is scheduled to be an un-
precedented flop. 1t already has the
record for the iciest congressional
reception ever accorded a personally
delivered message. 1t now seems
fairly sure to make new record for
futility.
The Republicans almost solidly
are against it. Some Democrats are
openly in opposition; others are dis
tressed over the direction in which
their party is again pointed: still
others, supporting the President, are
discouraged at their inability to
get anywhere. Not more than a
handful of House and Senate Demo-
Gratis are enthusiastic, or even
pleased. The reaction in the press,
as in Congress and the country, was
generally bad. The overwhelming
view-and by no means merely the
Republican view--waS that this was
demagogic political message, fore
shadowing the kind Of platform Mr..
Truman wants to run on and the
character of his campaign appeal.
Who Were the Advisers.
This Is the plain truth about the
message situation as of today. Thus,
it is of especial interest to know
who were the Truman advisers in
preparing these several documents
and the ideas they represent. In this
connection, three things have been
established. One is that neither the
words nor the music are Mr.. Tru-
mans own. A second is that the
messages do not represent the views
of the Truman Cabinet and were
not approved by the majority there
of. The third is that the President
did not call in any detached and
nonpayroll counselors, such as Mr..
Baruch, nor, so far as is known, any
of the Democratic leaders in Con-
gress. And ex-Judge Samuel Rosen-
man, who used to write for the late
Mr.. Roosevelt, denies he had any
thing to do with them.
Who, then, did this important job
for the President? According to
those in best position to know, it
was largely the work of two young
men-Clark Clifford, whose title
Is counsel to the President, and
Leon Keyserling, vice chairman of
the Presidents Economic Council
Mr.. Clifford has had good deal
of publicity in recent months. HeI
has been called the Presidents
"one-man brain trust" is said to
have more influence with Mr.. Tru-
man than any one else and is con-
stantly referred to by the Leftist
columnists and commentators as
"able," Clever" and "astute."
On the other hand, Mr.. Keyser-
ling has had practically no pub
ucity at all. Yet there are those
who regard him as more liable, "
"clever" and "astute" than Mr..
Clifford and attribute most of these
messages, including the Taft-Hart-
ley veto message (also not ap-
proved by the majority of the Cab
ineD to Mr.. Keyserling. Perhaps
he is not as close personally to Mr..
Truman as Mr.. Clifford, but Mr.
Keyserling is very close personally
to Mr.. Clifford. He is about SO years
old. He came to Washington origi-
nally as secretary to Senator Robert
F. Wagner, of New York. After the
New Deal was launched he went to
. the old AAA under Henry Wal
lace. Then he was an official of
the National Housing Administra-
ton and has now been several
years with the Economic Council.
He was and is an advanced and
ardent New Dealer, whose views
are accurately reflected in these
two messages.
Forecast Borne Out.
It Is interesting to note that some
weeks ago 1t leaked out" that the
state-of-the Union message would
take Mr.. Truman much farther toI
the Left than he had been before;
that it would present crusading,
spending social program well calcu-
lated to appeal to liberal sentf-
ment" and stop Mr.. Wallace in his
tracks. Whether or not this has
been done, the forecast about the
swing to the Left and the social
program has been borne out. The
idea was that regardless Of the
1acC CllAI no part ol ClllS program
stood a chance Of adoption, it was
smart politics to propose 1t, clever
to have Mr.. Truman identify him
self with the cause of true liberal
ISM"
Considering the present situa-
ton this does not now seem smart
at all. Most of the proposals have
been branded as phony. They have
diminished Mr.. Truman's reputa-
tion for sincerity. They have in
spired a convincing attack upon
them as fraudulent, and certainly
no votes he did not have before
, have been gained. When these
papers, said to have been the
work of the Messrs. Clifford and
Keyserling, are analyzed it is not
easy to escape the conclusion that
the authors produce rather crude
campaign speeches more easily
than sound presidential messages.
Even from the political angle, itI
would seem healthful for the Presi-
dent-and for the country to in
crease the number and caliber Of
his cOtInselOrS, "a