Evening star., 1951-08-28
Toft Covers the Nation
Like Dew in Campaign
Wins Many Friends in ToIks;
Tour Moy Take Him to Coust
The Political Min
By Gould Lincoln

In his effort to learn whether the Re-
publicanS want him for a presidential
nominee next year Senator Robert A.
Taft of Ohio is covering the United
States like the dew
Recently he completed a trip to New
England in which he visited Massa-
chuSetts. New Hampshire and Maine.
In September, he strikes out for the
Middle West His schedule calls for
speeches in Minneapolis September 20.
Grand Forks, N. OAK, September 81;
Fargo, N. OAK, September %; Cincin-
natl, September "a; Pittsburgh, Sep
tember Is; Omaha, September %; De-
troit, October 3. october and 8. the
Senator will be speaking in Columbus
and Cincinnati. and October % he will
visit Des Moines, Iowa, and November
and 8 he will be in Missouri, receiving
an honorary degree at William Jewel
College on the 9th and moving on to
Kansas City on the 9th. Already plans
are in the making for tour that will
take him to the Pacific Coast
Recalls al Activities.
Presumably the Ohio Senator will
meet Republican leaders in all Of the
States to which he is travelling. and
from many of them he will receive as
surances of goodwill His prodigious
program of travelling and speaking is
totally in line with his previous cam
paigning. 1t recalls similar activities in
1947, which took him on a several weeks
trip to the Pacific Coast which resulted
in his presidential candidacy in l948.
and in 1949 and 1850. when he spoke
in every county in his home State. seek
ing reelection to the Senate. AS a
campaigner, Mr. Taft is thorough.
Should he be nominated to oppose Presi-
dent Truman, the President will need
a lot of whistle stop" trips to even
up with the Ohioan.
While Senator Taft is running about
the country making speeches-and max
ing friends-the candidate of many Of
the East and West Coast party leaders
is in Europe, engaged in the tremen-
dously difficult job of building up forces
capable of resisting Communist aggres-
sion, wherever and whenever it comes.
But while Gen. Eisenhower is in no
position to go out campaigning for
presidential nomination, he has plenty
of friends who are working quietly, and,
incidentally, are endeavoring to prevent
a AlONClAChO 2OA GA ASAoNA-
hover draft. They assert they are not
downhearted, although they admit that
Senator Taft may be making headway.
They expect that if and when there is
an announcement of Gen. Eisenhower's
availability" the Eisenhower draft will
roll up like q snowball-and they will
be ready to push it along.
Latest Eisenhower Reports.
The lotact ran0rtS Whiph onnaar
have validity are to the effect that Gen.
Eisenhower would not accept Demo-
cratic nomination. Nor is It expected
that he would make the kind of cam
paign Senator Taft is apparently en-
gagged in for a Republican presidential
nomination. His two great hurdles, il
he is to have the G. o. P. nomination,
are opposition of the Taft followers
and the followers of Gen. Douglas Mac
Arthur.
Gen. Eisenhower has gone along with
the Truman program of national de-
tense and to, that extent he has en-
braced the administration foreign pol
icy in Europe. AS commander of the
NATO forces. the Far East is not his
dish. Many Of the Republicans who are
now openly favoring Gen. EiSenhower's
nomination have occupied the same po-
sition on national defense and foreign
policy.
Supporters of Senator Taft insist that
if Gen. Eisenhower were the G. o. p.
nominee the campaign against Mr.. Tru-
man would be merely shadow boxing
where foreign policy is concerned. But
that is not necessarily so. Nor is it
entirely certain that, if the Republican
National Convention nominates Gen.
Eisenhower, Mr.. Truman will seek re-
election. On the other hand, the prob
ability Of Truman campaign to defeat
Senator Taft for the presidency seems
excellent.