Evening star., 1952-07-27

not lead him as a partisan into
either camp. It could lead him
only to an awareness that there
was something to be said for both
sides, and that the interests of
the party as a whole could not be
served by a crushing defeat for
either side.
Stevenson's initial support came
from balance-of-power middle
group in the convention which like
wise was not directly involved in
the .factional controversy.
On his side, too, were old hands
in the party's high councils; not
necessarily because they liked him,
but simply because it was only in
Stevenson that these men could
see any future for the party to
which they had devoted their lives.
Silly ToIk
There was a lot written, during
the convention, about the "bosses"
and "big city machines" that were
supposed to be pushing the band
wagon into motion. Most of this
was just a little silly. 1t is true
that the eminent Col. Jake Arvey
of Chicago, a longtime Stevenson
adnirer and good man to have
on your side in a brawl, labored
industriously for Stevenson on the
convention floor. It is true that
he gave the Liberal crew a slight
working-over when the going got
rough in the late stages of the
proceedings.
But Mr.. Arvey was not Steven
sons man. And Stevenson was not
Arvey's man. The party profess
sionals, in general, all worked for
Stevenson. Even Harry Truman.
They did so because they wanted
the party to win in November.
These men knew that only the
whole party behind a strong can
didate-North and South, Liberal
and ConServative-had chance of
winning.
Extremists Mystified
These two sets of extremists at
the convention, the Russell people
on the one hand and the Kefauver
people on the other, never quite
knew what to do about this man
nobody owned. Even while they
flew at each others throats, they
wrestled with the common problem,
and 1t was natural that they should
come up with identical answers
fitted to the realities of the situa-
ton as it developed. So long as
there was chance of stopping
Stevenson, both the Conservatives
and thesLiberals tried to stop him.
AS soon as it became evident that
Stevenson would win, each tried to
claim him as theirs.
The crisis for the Liberals came
after their Thursday night of de-
feat. The middle-road Stevenson
delegates had sided, that night,
with the beleaguered and defiant
Southerners, voting finally to seat
the delegates from Virginia, South
Carolina and Louisiana, of whom
the Liberals had tried to make an
object lesson. At 8 am. Friday,
when the Liberal leaders got to-
gether to talk things over, they
were in near-apopletic mood.
Stevenson, they told themselves,
had turned on them in their hour
Of need-he had taken his stand
with the South, swinging the Illi-
nois delegates to Dixie's support
when the showdown came. Gas a
matter Of fact Stevenson himself
does not seem TO have been con-
suited regarding that vote, but the
Liberals were out to "get Steven
son"-that was the battle-cry In
the hrst hour of the Liberals
caucus.)
The Ubiquitous Humphrey
Then the, tide turned. The man
who turned it was none other than
the ubiquitous. Hubert Humphrey
OF Minnesota. They must not do
this, Humphrey told the Liberals.
They must not throw Stevenson to
the South. They could not afford
to. The intimation was that Stew
ensen was likely to win anyway,
and that the Liberals must be pre-
pared to see to it if they could that
he won as their man-not 1.-THE
South'st man.
In sense, therefore, the factional
battle waged in Chicago last week
was not merely a battle around
Stevenson. It was q battle over Ste
venson-a battle to possess him.
The amazing thing was that Ste
venson emerged unpossessed. It
was quite literally true that he had