Evening star., 1952-07-19
In Defense Of Unp|edgedD c. Delegates
To the Editor of The Stor:

To the Editor of The Stor:
THE TIME has come when all Repub-
l. licans in the District Of Columbia
must get together behind that great
American, Gen. Eisenhower. to assure
his election as President next November
and it is my belief that the recent con-
test between the Eisenhower-Ta forces
in the District of Columbia will soon be
forgotten.
However, the article entitled cease Of
the Unpledged D. c. Delegates" written
by Crosby S. Noyes and appearing in The
Star July Is, seems to require some
comment from me.
When the Republican primaries were
held this spring. the Republican State
Committee leadership advocated sending
an uninStructed delegation to Chicago
with the right to exercise its best judg-
ment based upon current conditions.
From the beginning the opposition to the
State committee policy contended that
the committee was dominated by mem
bers who favored the presidential can
didacy of Senator Taft. Therefore, early
in the proceedings, the issue of prefer
ence between Gen. Eisenhower and SEN
ator Taft was injected in the contest in
spite of the desire of the Republican
leadership to keep candidates out of the
precinct level.
A review of the newspaper coverage
during the period of the precinct meet
ings shows the following from The Star:
On May is, 1852, a news item written
by Crosby S. Noyes contained head
line, Taft and Eisenhower Forces Make
Final Pleas in Hot Fight" and the news
article itself contained the statement,
1.-THE contest has taken on the flavor of
a ft-Eisenhower showdown"
An article in The Star on May II
was headlined "Old Guard Wins First
Round in Primary Here" and a sub
heading reads Taft Forces Now See
Decisive Defeat of Eisenhower Backers."
The article itself contained the fol-
lowing: Veterans of the Taft-flavored
District of Columbia Old Guard, jubi-
liant over their first-round defeat of
rebel Eisenhower forces last night, were
looking forward today to decisive vic
tory in the remaining primary elections"
The Star of May 20 contained the
headline, Taft Continues to Roll Up
Big Margin in District Primary" and
the news item read, supporters of Sen
ator Taft continued to win most races
for seats on the District Republican
Committee last night"
The Star of May 81 was headlined,
"Taft Candidates Rule Primary in Dis
trict Republican Race" and a separate
article was headlined, Taft Takes 10
D. c. Precincts, But Loses in His Own
District"
A Star article Of May % was head
lined, Taft Wins More District Con-
tests for Convention Delegates" and in
the body of the article the reporter
wrote, Apart from the local issue. the
primary result spelled a victory for
Senator Taft"
The foregoing represents the inter-
probation of the local Republican pri-
maries by Star reporters and headline
writer's.
The same Interpretation was given
by The Star in an editorial which ap-
peared May 20, from which ! quote as
follows:
THE other interesting development is
that while the battle between the Eisen-
hover supporters and the local Repub-
1ican State Committee began over the
issue of an instructed or non-instructed
delegation. the election of precinct dele
gates brought about clear-cut contest
between Eisenhower and Taft. It was
not planned that way But the result is
pleasant compliment to Senator Taft
to whom the Districts six convention
votes become increasingly important"
Also. Crosby Noyes in his review of
the Republican primaries which ap-
peared in The Sunday Star of May 25,
after attempting an analysis of the con-
test, had the following to say:
Whatever truth there may be in this
analysis, there is no blinking at the
decision that was made by the voters
between presidential candidates At
almost all of the District meetings, it
fight been directly between Senator Taft
and Gen. Eisenhower, the Senator would
have won hands down."
I am confining my review of the news
paper coverage to The Star since am
now responding to an article in The
Star. However, a review of all other
Washington papers shows the same in
depreciation of the result in the Re-
publican primary elections.
At the District of Columbia Republic
can convention of June 5, which fol-
lowed the close of the precinct elections,
delegates and alternateS to the ma
tional convention were elected by an
overwhelming vote of those in attend
ance. They were uninstructed but car
ried authority to exercise their best
Judgment for the welfare of the coun-
try and the Republican Party
Even an uninstructed delegation must
decide some time on how it is going to
vote. In the past. that time generally
has come when the delegates assemble
in the convention city.
That was the situation in Chicago
this year. The delegation met in cau-
Gus on Sunday, July 6, the day before
the convention was to open. Several
members of the delegation had been in
Chicago for nearly week. The total
delegation unanimously decided. in the
light of what transpired in the pre-
cincts and in the light of the condi-
tions which they then found in Chicago,
that they should cast their vote for