Evening star., 1953-03-08
Stevenson Is Chided
For Smeoring Of Nixon
Writer Also Criticizes Mitchell
j or Continued Defamation
By Fronk R. Kent

With no thought of disparaging Adlai
Stevenson, who gallantly but unSuccess-
fully ran for President last November,
the journalistic and political habit Of
dwelling heavily upon his talents and
virtues does seem little bit overdone.
Apparently the rule now is that every
mention of him must stress the nobility
Of his character, the rare quality Of
his humor, the bigness of his heart,
the broadness of his mind, his general
eloquence and grace.
Perhaps this adulation of Mr.. Steven
son is fully deserved and he really is
the impeccable and model citizen he
is portrayed, completely packed with
piety, without human weakness or flaw.
But to those who like to be realistic
in these matters this picture would be
more convincing if it did not have to
be contrasted with the conduct and
utterances of Chairman Stephen Mitch
ell of the Democratic National Com
mittee. Mr.. Mitchell was hand picked
for this position by Mr. Stevenson, who
is his close personal and political friend.
He is, in fact, so close to the ex-Gov-
ernor that it is quite unreasonable to
think that Mr.. Mitchell would take a
line not approved by Mr.. Stevenson or
without consulting him.
Therefore, it is hard to reconcile Mr..
Stevenson's insistence in his recent
speeches that the Eisenhower admins
tration should be given time fully to
develop it's policies before being at
tackled and that the Democratic attack
always should be constructive, always
offering something better than the pol
icy it criticiZes, with the outpourings Of
his more ardent and devoted followers.
For example, this does not appear to
be Chairman Mitchell's idea at all. In
a series of speeches and pronounce
ments he has assailed the Eisenhower
policies on Federal power and agricul-
ture, without knowing what they are.
And his utterances have been highly
favored with sneers and jeers at the
businessmen tycoons to him) who have
accepted positions of responsibility in
the administration but have not yet
had a chance to do anything worthy
of either praise or blame.
Quite openly, Mr.. Mitchell is pro-
noting Gov. Stevenson as the 1856
Democratic nominee and is so eagerly
searching for chance to besmirch the
Eisenhower administration that he in
evitably reminds of the famous Raskob-
Nicholson calculated diSparagement OF
Herbert Hoover for the four years fol-
lowing his election in 1928. Incident
ally, it was in that effort to discredit
that the word Smear" now firmly es-
tablished in the American language.
was first used to describe a certain
kind of politics. The outstanding
smear" of the 1852 campaign was the
one against Vice President Richard
Nixon. AS is now generally admitted,
no man who ever ran for Office was
more unjustly maligned and misrepre-
sented than Senator Nixon. In that
Misrepresentation Chairman Mitchell
was a leader. His voice was one Of
the first raised in the hue and cry
against Senator Nixon, and. even after
it developed that there was no differ
ence in principle between the fund
raised for Mr. Nixon and that handled
by Governor Stevenson and that there
was no improperly in either, Mr..
Mitchell continued to demand that Mr..
Nixon withdraw as a candidate.
In addition. the smears against Nixon
were continued not only up to the elec-
ton but afterward. Though he had
fully answered the charges, his oppo-
nents did not let up but kept spreading
rumors and reports to his discredit.
There was also an effort to have pub
lished two letters-since proven to have
been forged-in which it was alleged
that, as Senator, Mr.. Nixon had ac-
cepted 0,000 from rich oil men to look
after their interests. Aside from the
fact that at the time he was alleged
to have accepted this $4,000 Mr.. Nixon
was member of the House and not
Senator at all, the forgeries were so
clear that one of the most extreme anti
Nixon newspapers in the country re-
fused to take chance on their pub
lication
A few weeks ago Look Magazine, in
an article by Richard Wilson, one of
the best known of Washington cor
respondents, reviewed this whole Nixon
smear" printing the forgeries with
unequivocal denials from the men sup
posed to have written and those sup
posed to have received them; printing,
too, the complete income-tax returns
VI 4NAA' ANAAOIl 1O1 AoO4 1900, 1OE
which his opponents had loudly called;
printing also the documents made
public at the time of his famous broad
cast. Altogether, the articles consti-
tuted the most complete vindication
of Mr. Nixon that could be imagined.
No one has questioned the truthful
ness of the Look article. No fair
minded man could read it and entertain
any doubt of the complete financial
cleanness of Mr.. Nixon. In view of its
completeness it seemed reasonable to
assume that no one in the future would
question his integrity or doubt his
character Yet within the past 10 days
another smear" about another fund"
has appeared with even less foundation
or plausibility than the previous ones
which have been shown wholly false.
There has come from neither the noble
Mr.. Stevenson nor his personal friend.
Mr.. Mitchell so much as a word to
discourage this continued persecution
of decent man. There has come from
neither one a word of amends nor
retraction of the former and now dis
credited charges which Mr.. Stevenson,
by his silence, and Mr. Mitchell, by
his vociferousness, encouraged. Perhaps
this is politics. but certainly it is