The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1949-06-30
GAME OF
POLITICS
Copyright by The Baltimore Sun and
reprinted in The Republican by per
mission.
The Democrats In '52
BY FRANK r. KENT

Though soon after election last
wear Mr.. Truman did Indicate he
would not run again, there is nothing
to prevent a man from changing his
mind. If things seem propitious it is
by no means sure he will not go after
a third term. Nor is there anything
to prevent him from getting the
nomination if he wants it. The IL
diculous collapse of the opposition to
him in the last convention, with its
silly draft Eisenhower or Douglas
ballyhoo, was sufficiently complete to
make it clear that a sitting President
can always nominate himself. This
has been demonstrated so often in
our history that it ought to be plain
now even to the second-rate amateur
politicians who tried to throw Mr..
Truman out of the ring a year ago.
Notwithstanding this, the general
belief among Democratic politicians
is that he definitely has made up his
mind not to be candidate. This ac-
counts for the number Of more or less
notable citizens obviously afflicted
with an acute desire for the 1852
nomination. Coy as they may be,
most of them are being well adveT-
tised as presidential candidates and
none can be called uncooperative. One
among these is the windy and ag-
gressive Chester Bowles, now Gov
ernor of Connecticut, once director of
the OPA and a very loudly processing
'liberal indeed. Another is the more
modest and attractive Adlai Steven
son. Governor of Illinois, also
"Hberal" though not so loud a one.
He carried his State last year by an
unprecedented majority, pulling Mr..
Truman and the rest of the Demo-
cratic candidates through.
However, the two generally re-
garded as most formidable are Secre-
tary of Defense Louis Johnson and
Supreme Court Justice W., o. Doug
las. The present pose of these two
cagey gentlemen is that the thought
of running for the presidency has
never entered their minds. But the
pose is extremely unconvincing. Take
the case of Mr.. johnson. A shrewd
politician, he is well aware his only
chance of being nominated lies in OBJ
tanning Mr.. Truman's support. SO
long as Mr.. Truman remains in the
field Mr. johnson is blocked, and any
suspicion of dsloyalty to his Chief
would be devastating. If and when
Mr.. Truman eliminates himself, his
support still would be Mr.. Johnsons
first essential. Clearly, there is moth
ing much he now can do to promote
the presidential aspirations most of
his friends and all Washington OBJ
servers are quite sure he chcrishes.
Nevertheless, in certain ways he
seems to behave unmsIakably like 4
candidate.
One of these is in the assiduity
with which he cultivates selected
newspaper and radio commentators.
To quite a few of these at small, I'M
advertised luncheons and dinners he
has revealed all" Another is MS
willingness to address relatively IN
important gatherings at which he has
nothing particular to say. An example
was his recent speech at the Jewish
endowed university, Ycshiva, in New
York. On this occasion Mr.. johnson
had no message to impart, no news
to present and no great thought to
express. His speech was one hundred
percent laudation of the university
and the Jewish people-a typical
candidatorial performance. Though
Mr. Douglass position would seem to