Evening star., 1952-09-14
Eisenhower0ff
Today on Tour
OF Midwest
Optimism Is High
On Eve Of Sturt of
WhistIe-Stop Trip
By Crosby S. Noyes
Stor Stoff CORRESPONDENT

NEW YORK, Sept. 13.-The Re-
publican presidential campaign
gets back on the track tomorrow
as Gen. Eisenhower hits the rails
for an extended whistle-stop tour
of the Midwest.
The candidates special train
will pull out of New York at $40
Gen. Eisenhower Is Fishing for His Poitieo
Personality. Poee All
p m, headed for Fort Wayne, Ind. :.
and the first of nearly 10 back
platform speeches scheduled dur
ing the 13-day trip. Before re-
turning to New York, the general
will have carried his appeal to
voters in II States and covered
about $500 miles of critical elec-
ton territory.
In the confusion of departure,
there is a feeling of excitement
and optimism in the Eisenhower
camp. The last week has been a
trying one, devoted to the neces-
sary job of rounding up the party
strays and getting the organiza-
ton back into something like CO.
hesive shape.
Hold No Illusions.
That job, it is fervently hoped
was accomplished in the meeting
between Senator Taft and Gen
Eisenhower yesterday. But it was
accomplished at the cost OF
considerable head-shaking and
tongue-clucking from the more
liberal Republicans who are the
generals original and most sin
cere admirers.
Everyone, from the general on
down, is under no illusion that the
events of the last week have pre-
sented a particularly inspiring
spectacle to the average voter.
Now that the preliminary chores
are out of the way, the great cru
sade" can get rolling again.
There was more than hint of
this in the generals talk to some
1000 Eisenhower Nixon supporters
at the Park Lane Hotel here today.
The group was drawn from all sec
tions of the country, and it rep
resented the generals original VOL
unteer boosters rather than the
professionals who have moved in
since the convention. The seven
Washington contingent,
for example, was headed by Rob-
ert E. Mclaughlin and included
many who sparkplugged the drive
in the Capital for Gen. Eisenhow-
er's nomination.
Change Its Tone.
The Generals little talk to them
marked an abrupt shift from the
tone of recent statements and
provides a tip for what may be
in the coming campaign
tour.
II believe, of course in organi-
zation," he said, "but I believe far
more in spirit. I believe far more
in. the heart than in the mind.
Men react to emotion and senti-
ment far more than to logic and
statistics"
This, perhaps, is surprising
talk coming from a military man.
1t is, however, the words of a
man who has just finished making
a very strenuous bow to the neces-
Sity of organization and who
realizes that spirit and sentiment
also are important ingredients of
victory in an election.
There are other reasons why
the coming campaign trip is ex-
pected to provide needed shot
in the arm to the Eisenhower
crusade. At all times, the general
has been effective as a speaker
in direct proportion to his feeling
of closeness to his audience. The
crowds at station platforms -
such as those who turned out to
greet him on his way from Den
yer to Chicago before the con-
vention, are his special meat.
Gen. Eisenhower, by his own
admission, is the kind of speaker
who needs the sense of close
communication with his audience
to be effective. And he is more
likely to get it in the course of
eight or ten brief whistle-stop
appearances a day than he is in
the wide-spaced, airborne cam
paign that he has conducted SO
far.