Evening star., 1952-07-27
Eisenhower Victory
Will Not Be Eusy
Democrats on the Defensive,
But He Faces q Difficult Fiqht
By Fronk R. Kent

Dy fronk X. Kent
Aside from candidates and platform,
the Democrats will 60 into this cam
paign with handicaps so heavy that it
is not surprising their more thoughtful
leaders are depressed and their better
grade men were reluctant to accept
nomination. Despite the enpurpled con-
vention speeches and the blatant pre-
dictions of victory. the facts protrude
so Starkly that they cannot be covered
up by the most passionate political
propaganda. The Democrats today are
on the defensive and likely to remain so.
1t is not only that they have been in
power far too long for the health of
both party and Nation, but the means
by which they have acquired and re-
tanned that power have become so clear
that few dispute them. Every informed
and detached citizen must now know
that the Democratic Party is dependent
upon and dominated by the labor union
bosses and the professional Negro poll
ticianS. These together with a vast
and eyer-expanding Federal job-holder
machine (now 2.5 million strong) con-
Stitute the most formidable combination
ever conceived in American politics. It's
existence and its strength were openly
demonstrated in the Democratic con-
vention-by the speeches, the platform
and the candidates.
The only way to break their hold is
to make people understand what it
means and the only way to do that is to
keep presenting the facts One outStand-
ing fact is that the most potent single
individual influencing the convention
was Philip Murray, head Of the CIO.
With his country in peril from a foreign
foe, two months ago he precipitated
devastating steel strike that has Grip
pied our defense effort and cost q stu
pendous sum in money and material.
An undisguised ally of Mr.. Murray, Mr..
Truman and his administration sup
ported and encouraged this strike from
the start. Mr.. Murray, as delegate at
large from Pennsylvania, and his young
friend, Walter Reuther, as a delegate
from Michigan, have been in fine posi-
ton to see that nothing was done by
the Democrats at Chicago displeasing to
them. Nothing was. It would not have
been If they had not been there.
Once grasped by the people, this
unhappy situation alone would seem
enough to arouse inert and Indifferent
voters to bust the combination and
sweep this administration out of WASH
ington.
But it is not as simple as that In the
first place, that Democratic combination
is in full operation and fighting for it's
life. In the second place the Republic
can Party is not as yet, Fundamentally
united. True, Senator Taft has declared
he will support the ticket to the limit
and there is no doubt he will do exactly
that. But that does not mean that all
his friends will follow. Some of his
most conspicuous managers are openly
diSaffected, and at best will give luke
warm support. Others privately spread
the word that "Ike can't win" in the
way the Ike adherents spread the same
thing about Taft in the Denomination
period. In other words, they are "sore."
In the third place. great deal de-
pends on Gen. Eisenhower and Senator
Nixon. What kind of campaign will
they make? There is no denying that
some of his friends were disappointed
in the early Eisenhower speeches. There
is no denying that some of the Eisen-
hover glamour has gone since he got
out Of uniform. There is, however, no
reason to think that any one originally
for the general has changed. But, can
he reach and stir that great mass of
Indifferent voters who four years ago
stayed away from the polls and per-
mitted Mr.. Truman to win by fiuke?
Undoubtedly, Eisenhower and Nixon
have the better case. The question is
can they present it effectively to the
people. It is too early to tell about that.