Evening star., 1952-03-30
Eisenhower Has Inside
Trock for Nomination
But Toft ls!Still in Contest:
Macarthur Poor Dark Horse
Rx Ernnk z Want
By Eronk r. Kent

In this space on January IS the as.
sertion was made that II Gen. Eisen-
hover were not nominated by the
Republicans their nomination would
hardly be worth the proverbial plugged
Nickel" and II they did nominate him
then the Democratic nomination would
not be worth that much.
At that time-nearly three months
ago-there were some In both parties
who resented that statement as extreme,
far-fetched and unjustified by the facts.
1t does not seem so now. On the con-
trary, 1t seems q most reasonable ex-
pectation. Without exception, the polls
and primaries since the first Of the
year have greatly strengthened the be-
lief that more people In the country
want to see Ike" President than want
any other man. New Hampshire and
Minnesota made that so clear that some
influential Republican politicians in the
South characteristically have swung to
the Eisenhower side, and certain State
leaders. such as Gov. Driscoll Of New
Jersey. have openly declared for him.
This does not mean that the fight Is
over. Wisconsin, Nebraska and other
States may revitalize the Taft drive.
Senator Taft Is courageous and re-
Sourceful man and there Is plenty Of
time for the Eisenhower managers (not
all Of whom are too bright) to make
mistakes. However, Senator Taft's most
recent eulogies Of Gen. Macarthur. CO.
inciding with various published reports
that the general himself wants the
nomination and is actively working for
it. appears slightly absurd when the
realities are considered. It. Of course.
is true that Gen. Macarthur favors
Taft over Eisenhower and that, natu-
rally. Senator Taft favors Macarthur
over Eisenhower. That Is easily UNDER
stood. What Is not credible at all is
that Gen. Macarthur should cherish
personal hopes Of the nomination or
enter into plans to obtain 1t.
To believe those things one has to
believe that Gen. Macarthur is q per-
sonal humbug (Which he certainly Ia
not) and that his attitude toward the
nomination since his return from Korea
has been utterly insincere. In addition.
one would have to believe that he knows
very little about the realities of o ma
tional convention. There is, for ex-
ample, the statement that the plan Is
to permit the situation to reach the
point where the Taft Eisenhower forces
are clearly deadlocked and then have
Gen. Macarthur appear before the con-
vention and sweep the delegates OF their
feet with the sort Of eloquence Of which
he is capable.
There are two things to be said about
this idea. One is that II the Taft forces.
supported by Macarthur, cannot noni-
nate Taft. then the Macarthur forces,
supported by Taft, cannot nominate
Macarthur. The other is that delegates
to national conventions are not swept
on their feet" by eloquent addresses.
They are not "stampeded." or carried
away"
The great majority Of the delegates
to national conventions Of both parties
are controlled by the hard boiled bosses
or party leaders from the different
States. There Is not the slightest doubt
Of Gen. MacArthur's eloquence, but these
bosses and leaders are simply not swept
on their feet" It just does not happen
and Gen. Macarthur would be very
foolish to count on 1t. The truth is
that this new boom for Macarthur does
not come from his friends at all.
Neither does it come from the Taft
sources. Scrutiny of the various
stories" about his hat "being in the
ring" reveals that they are inspired
by left-wing CIO propagandists, who
hate both Macarthur and Eisenhower
and feel the way to promote the Demo-
cratic nomination Of Adlai Stevenson
Of Illinois is to block Eisenhower. Know
ing well that Stevenson will not run
against the former-for the simple rea-
son that he knows he could not win
they seek to use Macarthur for their
purposes.