Evening star., 1953-12-29
The Political Mill
Presidents Popularity
Cove 6. O, P. Success
Republicans Cont Afford to
Buck White House Proqrum
BY Gould Lincoln

SHSD~o"S Sou NibOtU "
Buck White House Program
BY Gould Lincoln
The Republican National Committee,
called to meet here February and 6,
may be in position to do an effective
job for President Eisenhower and the
Republican Party generally. BY the
time these Republican leaders from all
48 States. the territories and the Dis
trict Of Columbia are coming into the
National Capital the Eisenhower legis-
lative program will have been before
Congress and it's standing committees
for almost month. The national COM
mittee, through its own deliberations
and through its individual contacts with
Republican members of the House and
Senate. will be able to give the program
strong backing, with reports fresh from
home. President Eisenhower and the
Republican congressional leaders, after
many hours of conferences at the White
House, have predicted that the program
will have unified support. 1t is too
much to expect, however, that the
G. o. P. front will be solid The men,
bers of the national committee can well
work on the "Strays."
Revealing Statistics.
A few bald statistics quoted to the
rambunctious ones of the Capitol
G. o. P. may be effective. In fact, these
statistics indicate pretty clearly that
the Republican control of the 83d Con-
gress is due to the tremendous personal
f1OY1111o ritNJ of
doubtful and marginal districts
which elected Republican Congressman
in 1852 might have gone Democratic if
any one but Eisenhower had headed the
G. o. p ticket Take look. Eisenhower
polled approximately 1913 million votes
to 27.3 million votes for his Democratic
opponent, Adlai Stevenson. On the same
election day, Republican candidates for
the House. on the other hand polled
only 28.4 million votes to 28.3 million
votes for their Democratic opponents.
Also the President carried 295 congress
sional districts, and the Republican
candidates for the House, only 221. The
Democrats carried 212 districts. the in
dependents one, and there was one va
cancy.
Some of this big discrepancy is ac-
counted for by the support given Demo-
cratic congressional candidates in the
States of the "solid South" but not all.
Considering the big sweep for Eisen-
hover, it was amazing the Republicans
should have failed to win substantial
working majorities in both House and
Senate. Eisenhower's popularity made
it possible for the Republicans to pick
A- sxNt4
one in North Carolina. Had those dis
tricts remained Democratic in 1852 con-
greSSional elections, the division in the
House would have been PIT Republi-
cans, ZIG DemocratS-with one certain
Democratic district vacancy to be filled
(Which had been represented for years
by the late Representative SABBATH Of
Illinois) and which soon afterwards
elected a Democrat-and one inde-
pendent.
Unity Necessary.
It has been suggested in. some quar-
terS that individual Republican mem
bers of the House and Senate who hail
from safe" Republican districts and
States will feel at liberty to buck the
President and his program. If they do
so however, and weaken the whole Re-
publican structure. they may easily lose
to the Republican Party-and to them
selveS-committee chairmanshipS and
other positions of power. which is the
other selfish angle.
In recent weeks, crop of defeatiSt
comment has developed among too
many Republicans. 1t has been sown
and well watered by the Democratic
New Dealers. The burden of it is that
nothing has been done by Gen. Eisen-
hover and his administration and by
the Republican Congress. Obviously. it
is designed to weaken the President and
his hold on the public. 1t is also de-
signed to drive wedge into Republican
ranks in Congress. The President and
his administration. as matter of fact,
have done a great deal-Some of it with
the aid of the Republican Congress.
First, the President has brought to an
end the fighting in Korea. Second, the
President and Congress acting together
have saved the American people billions
of dollars, made it possible to permit
scheduled tax reductions the first Of
the new year, and put an end to cor
ruption in high Government places. In
the coming eight or ten months, the
Eisenhower accomplishments will be as
great or greater, unless all signs fail.
These are the things which the Repub-
lican national organization, as we'll as
the administration and the Republican
Congress, must make clear to the peo-
pie. so they may vote intelligently in
November, 1854.