Evening star., 1952-10-25
The Political Mil
The Political Mill
rumun Label to Help
Eisenhower in the South
Real Contestants Are Showed
Aside in Bitter Campaign
By Gould Lincoln

BY 6ould Lincoln
PHILADELPHIA. Oct. 25-As this
bitter, mudslinging presidential cam
palgn draws to a close, strenuous efforts
are made on the Republican side to con-
vince the voters that President Truman
is the head or forefront of the Demo-
cratic Party--not Gov. Stevenson OF
Illinois, the actual candidate The Tru-
man label, If they can make it stick-a
personal label-will in all probability
swell the Eisenhower vote in Texas.
Louisiana. Florida, South Carolina and
Virginia. Without that label. Gov. Ste
venson would run like deer in all the
States of the solid South.
AT the same time, the Democrats are
engaged in painting a Taft Carthy-
Jenner label on Gen. Eisenhower, the
G. O. P. standard bearer. They center
many OF their hopes of success in this
labelling process. They believe so-called
independents, internationally minded
voters and disgruntled Democrats will
rush from the Eisenhower camp to that
OF Stevenson. because of it.
Contestants Showed Aside.
In some measure. therefore. Truman
and Taft shove aside the real contest
ants. President Truman has maintained
from the start that he is key figure
and his program the key issue in the
Democratic campaign for victory.
Senator Taft has said several times
he is back in the Eisenhower vanguard
because he was convinced by the general
that his, Taft's, ideas of government and
the campaign issues were satisfactory
to Eisenhower.
The Democrats consider it an ad-
vantage to their campaign to make the
voters believe that Eisenhower is a Taft
twin. The Republicans are using every
device to show Stevenson in Truman
clothing and colors
The truth of the matter, of course is
that Eisenhower and Stevenson have
strong individualities of their own.
However, it has been clear for a long
time that Stevenson would have to run
on the record of the Democratic Party,
made under Truman, and more re-
motely, under Roosevelt. Eisenhower,
who has never been in politics before.
nor held public office except as a mill
tary man. doesn't have to run on any
ones record. His party has not been in
power for twenty years. The demand for
change in Washington has been
strong because of the failure of the
Truman administration to bring peace.
and because of corruption in high office
and waste all along the line. Eisenhower
represents to many voters real change.
With Truman on his back, insisting
there Is no need for a change, Steven
son is having a tough time explaining
there will be any change if he is elected
President
Twist and turn as they will, Presi-
dent Truman and Gov. Stevenson are
unable to show there is no Korean war.
with more than 100000 American
casualties and huge cost to the tax
payers in dollars. The war is there.
The administration in power must bear
the resentment which war has created
among millions of Americans. Truman
and Stevenson have tried to shove re-
SpOnSibility for the war onto the shoul-
ders of the Republicans. The answer is.
the TrumaniteS were in power They
failed to so conduct foreign relations as
to avoid this war-Which in itself is
an offspring Of the loss of China to the
Reds.
Played Into Hands of Reds.
The policies pursued by the Demo-
cratic administrations played into the
hands OF the Chinese Reds, notwith-
standing all the efforts of the Truman
Democrats and Gov. Stevenson to show
otherwise.
Gov. Stevenson has pledged himself
to clean up corruption in Washington.
corruption which President Truman
minimizes as he did the threat to Amer
lcan security from Communists and fell
low travellers who had wormed their
way into the Government. The charges
of communism, made by the Repub-
licanS. Mr.. Truman called a ''red her
ring" and the charge of corruption
in Government. he warned the people,
was an attempt by the Republicans to
destroy their faith in their Government.
The Communists were there, however,
and the corruptionists, too. Both got
in their dirty work.
The need for a Change" Is great.
Money in the pocket, through the in
fiationary policies adopted by the Tru-
man administration, Is not the answer
to this need, although the Democratic
campaignerS say it is. In the meantime,
Democratic campaign orators seek to
obscure the facts that lie at the bottom
of the need.
A principal tactic particularly of Pres
ident Truman is to try to break down
and besmirch Gen. Eisenhower. The
President, before Gen. Eisenhower was
nominated by the Republicans, warned
the general he would face rough han
ding If he became candidate Mr..
Truman has done his best to prove him.
self a master prophet. His effort to tie
religious and racial bigotry label on
the general has proved a boomerang
rightly so.