Evening star., 1952-10-02
Gen. Eisenhower
|nvades Rivals
Home Territory
Major Talk Tonight
At Peoriu to Climax
Tour of Illinois
Bv Crosby s. Moves
By Crosby S. Moves
Sfor Stoff Correspondent

ABOARD THE EISENHOWER
SPECIAL. Oct. 2.-Gen. Eisen-
hover, who believes in the mill
tary axiom about carrying the
fight to the enemy. invaded the
heartland of his Democratic op-
ponent today.
His special train crossed into
Gov. Stevenson's home State of
Illinois for seven-speech tour
to be climaxed by a major ad-
dress on Republican economic
policy tonight at Peoria.
The general received a roaring
welcome at Champaign, and he
declared both World War II and
the Korean War might have been
avoided under better leadership.
10000 Greet General.
A crowd estimated by police at
10000 turned out to hear Gen.
Eisenhower appeal for the support
of youth and hold out the promise
of an administration that would
give hope" to young people. The
general struck at policies which
he said led to the war in Korea.
Then he added:
If there must be a war in Asia
let it be Asians against Asians
with the United States on the side
of freedom"
Later Gen. Eisenhower's special
train moved on to Springfield,
where the general scheduled visit
to the tomb of Abraham Lincoln
and a speech at the courthouse.
There is a popular notion among
the correspondents on this cam
paign train that, if the legal
voting age were lowered-say to
14-the general would win in a
walk. The impression was never
stronger than yesterday as the
Eisenhower Special wound its way
through Michigan.
All the way from Bay City to
Kalamazoo-through some of the
most solidly Democratic industrial
communities in the country-the
crowds were uniformly big and
enthusiastic. But observers could
not help being impressed by the
fact that, in many places, at least
half of the audience was in the
bobby-sox age group. with a
boby-soX interest in the general.
Generals Car MObbed.
At Flint, where schools and fac
tories closed down for the show.
the juvenile group swarmed
through police lines to mob Gen.
Eisenhower's car and interrupt his
speech with squeals of emotion. At
jefferson, one swooning teen-ager
was stretched out at the speakers
feet during most of his address
Observers at Grand Rapids were
startled by the delegation OF
youngsters carrying placards that
read: Veterans for Eisenhower"
At Lansing, there was touch OF
incongruity in the generals appeal
to the ranks of Solemn-faced
youngsters to join his crusade
against corruption and waste in
Washington.
This is not to say that Gen
Eisenhower support in Michigan
or elsewhere is by any means linn
tied to the younger set. 1t does
however, bear out the observation
that his drawing power is not nec-
essarily limited to politics.
Vandenberg View Confirmed.
From political standpoint, tn
Michigan tour was notable chief!
for the confirmation of the lat
Senator Vandenberg as the patrol
saint of Republican foreign polio.
and the re-emphasis OF the gen
erals idea that isolationism, a
a force in American politics. n
longer exists.
Throughout the day, especial,
at Flint, Gen. Eisenhower re
turned to the theme that tn
administration has ignored Re
publican offers of cooperation il
the foreign field. The successful
measures against communism il
Europe. he said, were the result o
Republican support. The failure
in China and Korea were the re
suit of policies in which the Re
publicans had no voice, he said.
The central theme:
The administration has tim
and again repudiated bipartisan
ship and the Republicans, never
theless, patriotically, public spir
itedly. have stood by it and ar
still practicing it whenever the
are allowed to do so."
Plagued by Engine Trouble.
At a couple of stops. the gen
eral was plagued by engine trou
BILE.
Just as he was about to addres
q crowd of several thousand 9
Lapeer, the train pulled out, Will
the general protested helplessly O
the observation platform.
At Saginaw, where admirel
presented the general with
crock of baked beans. he had tin
for only a few opening pleasant
ries before the schedule-conscio,
engineer whisked him of agai
This time the general returne
to his car in a fury.
MY God" he said. "you didn
even give me time to thank the
for the damn beans"