Evening star., 1953-08-02
Robert Tuft-An Appraisal of the Man and the Legend


to adulterate the influence of
moneyed interests he feared
would take advantage of the
Presidents inexperience.
Influence on Eisenhower.
That story is well known.
President Eisenhower came to
value the Senator highly, and the
Taft influence with him was al
ways a factor in White House
actions until the Senator fell i'll.
Time will also develop dra-
matically the great loss Senator
Taft is to his party and to the
Congress. Only he had the
prestige to hold the factions to-
gether which find themselves
now possessed of power but lack
ing a common purpose and
philosophy.
ARoughly speaking they include
the eastern internationalists, who
are chiefly responsible for the
nomination of Eisenhower, the
MidweSternerS, who tend toward
the new nationaliSm, and the
band of middle readers, who ac-
cept varying degrees of the lib
eral program of the New Deal.
These blocS are about equal in
number. AS people. the middle
readers have the best regulations
for sense and sensibiiity. The ma
tionalists are apt to be shrill
and insensitive. The easterners
seem to lack force. despite their
individual capabilities, which are
often great. they can't stamp
their philosophy on the record
Congress is making.
Senator Taft, with surprising
agility and f1exibility, kept the
three teams in acceptable order,
though nothing or no one can
always make them pull together
on major issues.
Rough Days Ahead.
His successor, virtually sure to
be Acting Majority Leader
Knowland, can probably main
tain some sort of order. But Sen
ator Knowland's creative powers
are an unknown quantity. The
next session will almost certainly
be a very rough passage indeed
for the Eisenhower administra-
ton.
AS for Senator Taft's own
Illustrations with respect to the
Presidency, many of his admirers
find it easy to accept the fact
that. the Almighty has His own
purposes. ...
Mr.. Taft was in all respects a
Senator. He valued his place and
the Senate. He understood it's
powers and it's limitations,
though he frequently fought
against the latter.
The Senate was suited to his
rugged individualism, his power
of concentrated thought upon
issues. It did not matter in the
Senate that, in his intellectual
absorption, he sometimes acted
as if the other Senators weren't
there.
Never did he display any OF
that executive talent which picks
able helpers and takes the aft
ernoon off at the Burning Tree
Golf Club. Senator Taft blotted
up responsibility and spoke for
his party to a degree that, had
he not enjoyed enormous pres
tige, would have caused open
rebellion in the ranks Of Sem
ators who also like to talk. They
never dared go further than
cloakroom mutterings. In a con-
test for public opinion they knew
they would lose.
Angry at Stassen.
Senator Taft seldom bothered
about what other people did,
but he was furious at Harold
Stassen for competing against
him in the 1948 Ohio primary
for Presidential delegates. He
knew he would beat the young
man but it was a nuisance being
kept from the Senate floor.
Nothing. he felt. could be ac-
complished in his absence.
Nothing was. and the Senator
campaigned those lovely spring
days in a fury of resentment.