Evening star., 1952-06-01

the Ohio Senator while the other
leans" to- him. Previously, Dis
trict conventions had named eight
pro-Taft delegates.
The delegates at large are Fred
McWain of Lynchburg, C. P. Gill
lespie of Tazwell, Robert H. Woods
of Pearisburg and State Senator
Ted Dalton of Radford.
Virginia has % votes in the Re-
publican National Convention.
This is how the remaining dele
gates, previously selected. stack
up:
Six are uncommitted but a ma
Ijority of them favor Senator Taft;
one is for Gen. Eisenhower; two
have yet to be selected in the 7th
Congressional District, and two
will be selected in Chicago.
The convention also elected a
new State G.. o. P. chairman. He
lis State Senator Floyd Landreth
Iof Galax. In a passionate hour
long roll-call, the Southwest
Virginian was voted in to succeed
Robert H. Woods of Pearisburg,
who wanted to remain in Office.
But the victory was 405 to 287.
Both Favor Taft.
This was not necessarily 4 VIC
tory for Senator Taft inasmich as
both Mr.. Woods and Mr.. Land
Ereth had expressed themselves in
Ithe Ohio Senator's favor.
The convention, was held in an
auditorium at the rear of a hotel
where an estimated 1000 delegates
and their wives. were staying. For
the first few hours, all that could
be seen was patriotic colored
bunting punctuated by pictures
land placards for Eisenhower. But
as the evening wore on, Senator
Taft's picture decorated the ros-
trum and other likenesses hung
on the back props of the stage.
An on-the-surface air of tran
guilty prevailed in most of the
committees. But there was one
- the credentials committee -
where open warfare broke out
between the Taft and Eisenhower
factions.
The controversy involved seat
ing delegates from the Sd (Rich-
mond area) District.
Indirectly, it also involved the
Sd Districts delegation to Chicago.
Two national convention states
were selected by two conventions
in the 3d..
Old Guard Compromise.
The "old guard" Republicans
elected two delegates, one of
whom is for Senator Taft and the
other uncommitted. A ''rump"
convention selected two for Gen.
Eisenhower.
The State convention had to de-
eide on the qualifications of dele
gates sent here. The credentials
committee decided to accept both
delegations and give each dele
gate one-half vote.
Oren r. Lewis of Arlington,
sporting a Taft button on his
lapel, said this was done in the
interest of "Republicanism." But
the cards, apparently, were
stacked in favor of Senator Taft.
Robert Groom of Arlington
brought this out when he tried to
divide Richmond's 73 delegates
equally between the two factions
with 36h votes apiece. It took
nearly an hour to settle that one.
There were shouts of "Mr. Chair
man. Mr.. Chairman" that went
|unheeded. There were those who
said they wanted to restore rep
|resentative Government in Vir-
ginia."
This was exactly the phrase
used by a Democratic candidate
for the Senate. Frances Pickens
Miller. against Senator Byrd.
The battle between the Eisen-
hower-Taft forces drew top-level
party brass to this southwest Vir-
|ginia city.
Reece and Scott Present.
Representative Reece Of Ten
nessee, southern campaign man
lager for Senator Taft, was here.
Also seen frequently on the con-
vention floor and darting in and
out of hotel parlors was Hugh
Scott. Representative from Penn
sylvania. director of regional or
ganization for Gen. Eisenhower.