Evening star., 1953-01-04
Discounts Forecasts Of
Eisenhower Troubles
Writer Says President Elect
Hos Learned a Lot
By Fronk R. Kent

By Fronk R. Kent
Although he will not become Presi-
dent for more than two weeks, much
trouble is already seen ahead for
Gen. Eisenhower. Some Of these fore
casts come from friendly sources. ap-
prehensive that he will get off to bad
start; some come from those who do
not wish him well and eagerly await
chance to criticize and attack.
Among these predictions are: u) that
before long there will be an open breech
between President Eisenhower and
Senator Taft: ca that big business
milllonaires in the cabinet and other
high posts will cause resentment of the
common people; 60 that leaders Of
the big labor organizations. already
hostile, will become more so and thus
handicap the Eisenhower program; a.
that his ignorance of politics, together
with unsatisfactory relations with the
Washington correspondents will make
things tough for him from the start;
(5) that the "egg heads" of the Steven
son campaign, still unreconciled to the
Eisenhower victory, will try to finance
a smear-Eisenhower campaign along the
lines Of the old Raskob- Nicholson
smear campaign against Hoover.
Now there are number of things
to be said against these calamitous
prophecies. Take No. /: No reasonable
person expects Gen. Ike and Senator
Taft to see eye to eye on all questions
at all times. Differences of opinion are
inevitable. On the other hand, the self
interest OF both Is against anything re.
sembling a break on real issue. Obvi.
ouSly, the general must depend largely
upon Senator Taft to get his program
through the Senate. Cooperation with
the Senator is essential to the success
Of the administration. Just as clearly it
is to the self-interest of Mr.. Taft to
have White House support and under
standing. For one thing, Senator Taft
could not now win a fight with Gen.
Eisenhower. For another, Senator Taft
has personal interest in having this,
the first Republican administration in
20 years, succeed. For still another,
though rivals for the nomination, the
general and the Senator have mutual
respect and regard.
Take No. 2: Both the Roosevelt and
Truman administrations were plenti-
fully Sprinkled with big business mil
lionaires, such as Averell Hartman,
Jesse Jones, Joseph P. Kennedy. Rob-
ert Lovett and enough others to make
this protest against those selected by
"Ike" seem silly. From the standpoint
of ability and character the Eisen-
hover group seems somewhat superior
to either the Truman or Roosevelt
groups. Also, the fear expressed that this
group will run away with the gen.
eral and mold his policies against "the
common man" is not well founded.
Gen. Ike is not that kind Of man and
his big business selections are not that
kind Of men.
Take No. 3: True, the big labor bosses
were violently against him during the
campaign, but they seem disposed TO be
friendly now. The appointment as Sec
retary of Labor Of Mr.. Durkin, head Of
one Of the big AFL unions and q Demo-
crat, shows no hostility upon the part Of
the President-elect. Certainly. he is
under no obligations to the labor bosses.
Certainly. the Republican Party owes
them nothing. Certainly, they will not
be in position to demand support from
the President nor bully party leaders.
The election showed they could not de-
liver their own rank and file and good
deal Of wind was taken out of them by
the Eisenhower victory. Yet. though
they got a good deal more than that
from his predecessors. most believe they
will get fair treatment from the new
President. .
AS to No. 4 concerning Ike's ignorance
Of f1aA of al
between him and the Washington CORE.
Spondents, it Is true the general is with
out the asset Of long political experience
and it is probably true that the bulk Of
the correspondents were for Gov.
Stevenson. Actually, Of course, there Is
no great mystery about politics. It does
not require extraordinary talent to learn
or to practice Some very poor Presi-
dents have been good politicians In the
six months since his nomination Gen.
Eisenhower has met and consorted
with great many politicians from all
parts of the country. It seems reason
able to assume that in this period he
has learned quite lot about politics.
AS to the correspondents and colum-
nists, chief complaint appears to be that
he may discontinue the weekly White
House press conferences. Informed
sources say the general has no such idea;
that he is fully aware of the value Of
these conferences; is not in the least
averse to them. AS to why the corre-
spondents were mostly against him in
the campaign, the most plausible reason
is that most of them were pro-New Deal
and pro-Fair Deal to start with. In any
event, there appears no reason why the
relations between the new President
and the correspondents should not be as
good-or even better-than existed with
his predecessors. One thing is sure-he
will neither patronize nor lie to them.
Undoubtedly there is plenty of trouble
ahead for Gen. Ike, but it is not likely
to be along the lines now forecast.