Evening star., 1953-01-23
Eisenhower Silent
On Donohue's Offer
To Quit D. {. Post

President Eisenhower's reac-
tion to the resignation offer of
District Commissioned F. Joseph
Donohue today remained uncer-
tain. at least so far as the public
is concerned.
The closest the White House
would come to announcing a COM
mitment was: 1.-The President
will make an announcement in
due course" This came from
Murray Snyder. the assistant
press secretary tor the President.
It was understood, meanwhile,
that the District Republican
State Committee has not yet
met to screen the dozen -or-so
names of likely successors sub
mitted so far. This session prob
ably will not be held until after
odds and ends of the Inaugural
ton have been taken care of -
not before the end of the month.
Four are Mentioned.
Among the names of deserving
District Republicans submitted to
the committee in recent months
are those of Joseph c. McGar-
raghy, chairman of the State
and inaugural committees: Mrs.
Howard Coffin, L. Corrin Strong
and Clyde Garrett.
The final list of recommends
tions to be handed to the PreSi-
dent by the local party faithful
Is expected to be reduced to three
or four candidates.
Some party leaders here are
insisting that when the State
committee meets it should con-
slider not only commissioner re-
placements but all top appoin-
tive jobs filled by the Commis-
sioners. These largely would in
clude department heads.
One Republican spokesman to-
day greeted Democratic Com
missioner Donohues proffered
resignation with the remark that
tIe has done what the people
expected"
1T is now up to the President
to accept, in keeping with the
traditions of the two-party sys-
tenn" the spokesman said.
Says Camalier Should Follow.
This same leader also declared
shat the other Democratic civil
ian Commissioner. Renah F. Ca
mailer, should follow Mr. Dono-
hue's steps, IF he's true to the
tradition of our system
Mr.. Camalier. who has been in
Office only six months of his 1
three-year term. yesterday re-
fused to bulge from his earlier
expressed intention to remain in
the job as long as he can under
the law. He said he has no plan |
to follow Mr.. Donohue'S trail to
the White House. He seemed ad-
verse to discussing the subject
at all.
In rendering his resignation,
Commissioner Donohue was keep
ing a vow he made even beforeJ
the presidential election. Before
luncheon meeing of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce yester-
day. he repeated his theory that
presidential appointment is a
personal matter, and courtesy
takes precedence over the stat
ute," Which specifics a three
year term for Commissioner
Mr.. Donohue's term still has IA
months to run.
Discuss d. c.. Affairs.
The Commissioner made his
offer to quit both orally and in
writing. He said President Eisen-
hover was gracious" but gave
no sign when or whether he
would accept the offer. Mr. Dono-
hue's personal visit to the White
House stretched out more. than
half-an-hour. Much of the dis
cussion had to do with District
affairs. =
Mr. Donohue said he spoke to
the President about racial segre-
CATION and !. the 1853 million
public works improvement pro-
gram, now being readied for
Congress. He said he also made |
a Pitch to the Chief Executive
for increasing the Federal Gov
ernment'S share in District
operational expenses above the
present 8-plus per cent fof the
total budget. i
He said President Eisenhower
showed a substantial &under-
standing of District problems.