Evening star., 1953-05-03
By Allen Drury

py AIIen DIuIy
A pro-Eisenhower research
firm has confirmed what a lot
of pro-Stevenson voters angrily
suspected-the President con-
sistently led the Governor in
total press publicity in the 1852
election with the exception of
the second week in August and
three weeks in the fall when
President Truman dominated
the Democratic campaign.
Contrary to Gov. Stevenson's
own analysis, hoWever-that the
generals lead was all a plot on
the part of the one-party press"
the organization offers a diff
ferent explanation.
Gen. Eisenhower got more cov-
erage, it says, because Gen.
Eisenhower was bigger news.
Research Associates, Inc,
formerly known as the Eisen-
hoWer-N Nixon Research Service,
made a daily analysis of 33 lead
ing newspapers in % major cities.
Through c. D. Jackson, former
publisher of Fortune Magazine
and now a special adviser to
the President on psychological
warfare, it sent steady stream
of advisory letters, wires and re-
ports to Eisenhower headquar-
ters. Three days before the elec-
ton it predicted Ike would get
81 per cent of the vote, slightly
less than he did, while all Re-
publican candidates would poll
a little more than so per cent,
just about what they did.
Offers Detailed Analysis.
Now it has come up with a de-
tailed analysis of the campaign
in support of an agrument which
goes basically like this:
Publicity-Wise, Gen. Eisenhow-
er's victory was created over a
10-year period during which he
was constantly in the headlines
and constantly before the eyes
of the public. In a sense, he
was elected President the day he
was appointed Supreme Com
mander in Europe in World War
II.
Consequently, Gov. Stevenson
never really had a chance in
the competition for publicity. He
realized this himself, admitting
freely that his principal problem
was to make himself known to
the country. He never solved it.
Given Gen. Eisenhower's enor-
nous advance build-up stretch
ing back over a decade, there
probably was no way in which he
could.
To support this analysis. which
sharply challenges the conten-
ton that a majority of the press
deliberately slanted it's news in
favor of the Republican candi-
date, Research Associates points
to. what happened when that
other headline-maker, President
Truman, entered the battle.
Democratic publicity promptly
shot up, outstripping Republican
publicity for the periods Septem-
Der q to october 10 and October
18 to October "a. Whatever the
sentiments of publishers may
have been, they couldn't ignore
Harry any more that they could
ignore the general. When he got
up and hollered. everybody
wanted to listen, and to cuss if
not to compliment. The news
papers automatically responded
to reader-interest and Mr.. Tru-
man and the Democratic Party
remained on top of the headlines
during his major periods of &C
tive participation in the cam
paign.
Truman Makes The News.
Furthermore, Research Associ-
ates notes, Mr.. Truman held the
same almost automatic promin-
ence all during the pre-conven-
ton months. AS President he re-
ceived the major share of the
news columns during the time
both the Democratic and Re-
publican nominations were in
doubt. In the 33 papers analyzed.
Mr.. Truman received 166,159
column inches of publicity from
November, 1851 to June, 1852.
while Gen. Eisenhower received
1913. $50. A total of 22.5 per cent
of the Presidents news was on
the front page, with the general