, 1951-03-22
Is ike" An sdeuI Cundidute?.'

- INC fAaa aaGWa \U1EUlUuSCs
The people of the United States, and their govern
ment, are confronted by the gravest possible problems
war and peace, ever-rising taxes and lnflatlon, more
schisms between management and labor, the possibility of
having to support a great military force here and abroad
for many years, and so on down an almost endless list.
But, in this as in the other democratic countries where
free elections are still held, such problems never obscure
the great old game of politics. So the question of who's
going to run for President in unpredictable. 1852 is be-
ginning to be a hot topic of conservation among profess
SIGNALS and the rank-and-file alike.
First Of all, the feeling is very strong, in both De-
mocratic and Republican circles, that Mr.. Truman will
not run again. The Constitutional amendment restricting
any President to not more than 10 years in the job has
been passed and, while it specifically exempts the incum-
bent, it is an indication of public feeling. Moreover, men
close to the President say he has had enough of the job,
and that his family, whose wishes he respects very strong
ly, are fed up with it. Mr.. Truman has intimated that he
would like to return to the Senate. No one knows if he
really means this or not but, if he does, he would have a
famous precedent in the case of John Quincy Adams who
retired from the Presidency and spent the rest OF his life
as a member of the House of Representatives.
The great question mark is the appealing and
somewhat confusing figure of General Eisenhower. AS
News week puts it, IF Washington is right about Harry
Harry S. Truman, there's a good chance that General
Dwight D. Eisenhower can get the Democrats think he
can get it even without asking. Strangely enough, some
of the most powerful leaders of the Republican Party want
Ike just as desperately as the Democrats do"
In other words, no one knows whether the General
is a Democrat or a Republican. A professional soldier has
no politics. After he left the Army, he gave no public
evidence of an attachment to either party. And now he is
back in uniform again, so there is small chance of his
clarifying his political position in the near future.
Newsweek explains the Democrats keenness for
the General in these words, "The Democratic Party is
split wide open on almost every conceivable domestic
issue. On foreign policy, in contrast, the party is almost
completely united. likes very vagueness on domestic prob
lens, therefore, makes him an ideal Democratic candidate.
There is nothing in his record that could ALLEVIATE any of
the groups which compose the Democratic Party: the AID
A (Americans for Democratic Action) liberals, the con-
sentative Southerners, the big-city bosses, the labor-union
leaders, the Negroes" That is certainly not true of any
other potential Democratic candidate now visible to the
eye.
On the Republican side of the fence, he has the
strong support of such still-potent figures as Governor
Dewey. But here he runs into the powerful Senator Taft,
who clearly wants the nomination for himself, and who in
the view Of millions is now "Mr. Republican" The prob.
abilities are that the Senator now has the inside track,
but many a change could occur by convention time.
Ore more quotation from Newsweek indicates the
odd possibilities: eff the parties follow custom, the Re-
publicans will hold their national convention first. And as
things stand now, the choice will be Taft or Eisenhower.
If Taft gets it, the Democratic convention may we'll open
with Ike the almost unanimous choice"
H>~~nLm G~~m fits "for last September" unless