Evening star., 1953-08-16
Toft's Death Not FutuI
To Eisenhower Proorom
Writer Sees President Goin
In Political Experience
By Fronk R. Kent


By Fronk R. Kent
1t may seem strange to many that
the most oleaginous eulogists of Sen
ator Taft since his death are the
Journalistic and radio columnistS and
commentators who never said good
word about him while he lived. Among
these are the men who dWelt most
heavily upon Mr.. Taft's alleged iso-
lationism, who regarded him as
sinister and reactionary figure in the
Senate and constantly strove to drive
wedge between him and the President.
Less than a month ago they thought
the Taft influence on Eisenhower a
very unhealthy sign. Today. the con-
tention is that the Eisenhower admin
istration will not be able to function
without Senator Taft and accordingly
the Republican Party is in bad way.
about to bust up.
Without Taft, it is declared, Gen. Ike
has no one to lean upon and his "con-
ception of the presidency" (Which they
profess to know all about) will result in
disaster and collapse not only for his
party but for him. All of which is4the
most complete nonsense. The explana-
tion is that 1t comes almost exclusively
from wishful thinkers who are inher-
emily New Deal, were strongly pro-
Stevenson in the campaign and who
now suffer great pain at the thought
of a successful Eisenhower administra-
ton. OF course, as Mr.. Eisenhower has
said. Senator Taft's death is a great
loss to the administration, the party
and the country. But to contend that
the Eisenhower program was so built
around Senator Taft and so dependent
on him that without him it falls to
the ground, is to be absurd.
Actually, there is full justification to
believe that in the next session Of
Congress Gen. Ike will be very much
more successful than in the one just
ended. One reason is that he and his
heads of departments will have had six
months experience in dealing with
Congress that he lacked last January.
This means a lot. Gen. Eisenhower
and the men around him may not be
politicians-and certainly they are not
politicians in the sense that Roosevelt
and Truman were. But they are neither
dumb nor incurably naive and any one
who thinks they are is just plain
stupid. In their first six months they
did extraordinarily we'll for amateurs
and any informed and unbiased man
who thinks that in the next session
they will not be immeasurably more
effective is just not. facing realities.
Every man on the Eisenhower team
from the captain down-will know
vastly better what to do and how to
do it than when he first took Office.
Senator Taft will be missed, Of course.
but the notion that his passing means
either the end of the Republican Party
or the crumbling of the Eisenhower
administration is too silly to discuss.
And Mr. Taft would be the first man
to say So.
Another reason is that members OF
the House Call of whom come up for
denomination or reelection in 1851
and members of the Senate, one-third
of whom must run again next year.
will spend the next few months at
home in their districts and States.
They will have ample opportunity to
discover, what every poll has. shown.
that Gen. Eisenhower is not only just
as strong as he was when elected but
has gained in popularity and prestige
through the Korean truce, through
the record of the last congressional
session and by the healthy change, in
atmosphere which he has effected in
Washington.
The fact is that the Democratic Ma
tional Committees anti Eisenhower
propaganda, the silly speeches of Sena-
tor Wayne Morse of Oregon and the
solemn pronouncements of the New
Deal columnists have had no percep-
tible effect. AS whole, the people who
elected Mr.. Eisenhower are Just as
strongly with him now as they were
last November Every test shows this
to be true There is not the slightest
doubt that members of Congress, dur
ing this recess. will fully realize these
facts. Inevitably, the result will be
that when they return to Washington
next January their disposition will be
to follow the Eisenhower leadership
more devotedly than before.
Senator Knowland, perhaps. is not
the intellectual equal of Senator Taft.
but he is a strong. able, honest man,
twice elected to the Senate, who will
certainly work effectively with Presi-
dent Eisenhower in the next session
and will have the regular Republican
Senators firmly back of him. There
will not be Republican in House or
Senate who will not be perfectly aware
that upon the success of Eisenhower
as President depends his own political
future in 1854 and the Republican
Party's future in 1856. Under these
conditions it would seem idiotic for any
Republican coming up for election next
year or two years from then to put
himself in opposition to the Eisenhower
policy or program. What possibly
would he have to gain? Thus, the
shrill cries of the windy Mr.. Morse and
the efforts of the erudite left-wing
publicists to create Republican rift
for next year are not very promising.