Evening star., 1953-09-07
White House Moves
To Knit Senate Hold,
Pushing Own Men
By jack Bell
Associated Press Stoff Writer

The Eisenhower administration
is moving quietly under the guild
ling hand of Vice President Nixon
to organize it's own team of sup
porters to fill the legislative gap
left by the death of Senator Taft,
Republican, of Ohio.
Mr.. Nixon repeatedly has White
House approval for an effort to
bring to the forefront in the next
session of Congress such active
supporters of President Eisen-
hover as Republican Senators
Ives of New York, Duff of Penn
Sylvania, Carlson of Kansas, Sal
tonStan of Massachusetts, and
Hendrickson and H. Alexander
Smith of New Jersey.
Most of these Senators were
for Gen. Eisenhower when SEN
ator Taft was conteSting for last
years nomination. Despite their
individual activities, they were
somewhat eclipsed in this years
session by the dominance of Mr..
Taft and his followers in the
legislative councils.
Each to Be Put Toward.
The plan, as Mr.. Nixon has
outlined it to friends, is to push
each Of these Senators forward
as an expert on some particular
phase of the legislative program.
1t is felt at the White House that
they more nearly represent Gen.
Eisenhower's views than some of
the sponsors of bills in the pre-
vious session.
Under this plan, Senator Ives
would be advanced as an admin.
istration spokesman for changes
in the Taft-Hartley act.
Senator Duff might be used.
along with Senator Saltonstall,
to speak on military matters.
Senator Hendrickson would be
the mouthpiece on civil rights
legislation. Senator Smith would
be a source of information to
his colleagues on foreign affairs.
And Senator Carlson would han
die the proposed postal rate in
crease and civil service matters.
KnowIand Still Chief Voice.
It was emphasized by Mr..
Nixon in his talks with friends
that this move was not aimed
at undermining the influence of
Senator Knowland of Califor-
mia as Senate Republican
leader.
Senator Knowland will con-
tinue to be the official Spokes-
man for the Senate Republi-
cans, have the chief voice in the
scheduling of legislation, and
represent them along with other
leaders at White House confer
enceS.
But even Senator Knowland's S
best friends do not believe he
can come close to the dominance
exerted by Mr.. Taft on the Re-
publican program in the Senate.
AS one of them put it, the other
Republicans will be dealing with
a contemporary in Mr.. Know
land. and not a national figure
like Senator Taft, who was
dubbed "Mr. Republican"
Contrast Not So Big Now.
Similarly the stars of the
Eisenhower team are expected
to shine more brightly, without
being eclipsed by Senator Taft's
broad knowledge of almost
every subject that came before
the Senate.
To re-enforce his Senate
team, Gen. Eisenhower has ap-
pointed former Senator Fred
Seaton Of Nebraska as assistant
Secretary of Defense. Mr.. Sea-
ton, one of the pre-convention
supporters Of the President in
1852, will have the dual job of
public and congressional rela-
tions at the Pentagon.
However, in all these arrange
ments, the White House appar-
emily is not losing sight of the
fact that it will have to deal
with a substantial body of G.
o. P. Senators who more nearly
shared tn views of Mr.. Taft on
domestic and foreign issues than
they do of Gen. Eisenhower.
Martin to Help.
To keep this contingent in
close touch with the President,
Gen. Eisenhower has named I.
Jack Martin, Senator Taft's
chief aide, as a White House ad-
miniStrative assistant.
Mr.. Martin and Gerald D.
! Morgan are expected to take over
q