Evening star., 1952-09-28
BY Crosby 5. Noyes


If the feeling Of the people on Gen.
Eisenhower's campaign train IL any
reliable thermometer, the Republican
Party has emerged from the Nixon
affair healthier and sassier than at
any time since the start Of the cam
paign.
Any one who tries to tell you that
he knew all along what would happen
in the Nixon case is either a lot
smarter than the Republican high
command, or he IL talking through
his hat. Whatever appearances they
may have been able to keep up in the
dark days last week. the @. o. P.
strategists were on the brink Of panic.
Their sxuberance today is the par
donabls attitude Of q man who, sees
the executioner pun the switch and
give himself nasty shock.
First Rejection
When the news first broke that
Senator Nixon had been on the re-
ceiving end of an $4,000 trust fund
raised by a group Of wealthy constit-
uents the first reaction of the brass
was to dump Mr.. Nixon and do it
fast. without any graceful prelimi-
naries. The argument was that the
situation was beyond complete SAL
wage. The best hope was that dras-
tic action might prove to most peo-
pie that the Republicans meant busi-
ness about the corruption issue. It
might even, they figured, result in a
strong reaction Of public opinion at
the moment public opinion was look
ing very grim.
In this thinking, there was, Of
course, little or no concern about
Senator Nixon. The fact that he was
the center of the discomfort was ex-
cuse enough for any measures that
might be taken. The eye had offended
and was ripe for the plucking.
What happened next was curl
Gus tribute to the mental fexibility
of politicians. The general-who ap-
parently was the last person on the
whole train to get a reasonably clear
idea of what had happened-said let's
hold on. This statement was care
fully non-committal. But it suggested
at least the possibility that all might
not be lost. At least. said the general,
he wanted to hear what Senator
Nixon had to say for himself.
Big Switch
The announcement, with It's tenta-
tive expression Of faith. had o re-
markable effect on the high COM
mand. Within few hours the line
changed completely. Instead Of dump
ing the vice presidential candidate.
the word went around that every
thing was all fixed to keep him on
the ticket.
After the first couple Of days, in
fact, it seemed that the only person
who still had doubts about the out
come Of the Nixon affair was the
general himself. When he let down
his hair, the chief seemed much
grimmer and more distressed than
his subordinates. There was one fact
which he took great pains to make
perfectly cleari The newspaper sto-
ries had put his running mate in .
very tough spot and Senator Nixon
would have to come up with some
thing good 30 get on Of 1t. Defense
that simply disposed Of the legal
questions raised by the Senator'S
trust fund would not be good enough.
Around the country, the headlines
picked up the promise: Clean as o
hounds tooth or out.
Considering the number Of the
people who heard Senator Nixon's
Tuesday night performance from
Hollywood and the amount Of critical
comment that has been devoted to it,
there seems little to add at this point.
It might be said. however. that most
Of the correspondents aboard the
Eisenhower train were impressed by
the open appeal to emotionalism that
seemed to be the main element in
the Senator's defense. They still
wanted to hear what the general
would say when he left the television
set and faced his Cleveland audience.
But the generals decision had been
made for him. People In the hall