Evening star., 1953-07-19
Democratic Magazine
Called q Smear Effort
Writer Finds Propaganda
Against Eisenhower Dull
By Fronk R. Kent

By Fronk R. Kent
The word "propaganda" seems first
10th century when the Roman Catholic
church had q College Of Propaganda
in which young men were prepared
for MISSIONARY work-to propagate the
faith" It was not until the First World
War that nations began to recognize
propaganda as potent weapon in war
as in peace. After that it slid into our
politics until today propaganda literally
SwampS the country. The cost must run
into billions.
All political parties, every cause.
countless committees, organizations,
agencies. special interests" and indi-
viduals are equipped with paid propa-
gandists who spread their propaganda.
So immense is the output that 1t grows
increasingly difficult to distinguish
truth from propaganda, which after all
is the basic purpose Of the propagan-
dists. To this vast flood the Demo-
cratic National Committee recently
made small contribution in the form
OF a monthly magazine called Demo-
cratic Digest. This Is not an original
idea but there are one or two things
about 1t that are noteworthy, If not
particularly. new. .-.
For one thing, it is more extensively
gotten up and on better paper than
the usual piece Of political propaganda.
Another is the effort to sell it to the
general public from the newsStands on
"a hot @r h~ssI
interesting. Actually. 1t isn't any of
those things. It isn't even good anti
Eisenhower propaganda. The late
Charles Nicholson. the best political
propaganda Of his time, would have
been ashamed of its contents. The
venom is not well concealed, the dis
tort1onS are gross and the wit Is wet.
In brief, it is fashioned upon the WELL
known propaganda lines. Except that
its bias Is in the other direction and
its cost more, there is little to distin-
guiSh it from the regular output of
the Republican committee. Charlie
could have done better Job for either
party. Largely, this widely advertised
new venture" is made up Of quotations
from editorials and articles crticizing
the President plus reproductions of
numerous cartoons designed to damage
him. There are so many Of these that
they seem to make somewhat ridiculous
the bleat about the "one-party press"
1t is also interesting-and natural
that the newspapers and columnists
from whom the magazine quotes should
be the ones who hail it as very superior,
indeed.
The primary purpose of the publica-
ton, Of course, is to smear President
Eisenhower. but it is clearly revealed
that the secondary purpose is to pro-
mote the Stevenson candidacy in 1856.
II this line is continued in other issues,
the Republicans will not be the Only
ones to take dim view of the new
propaganda. For there are consider
able number Of influential Democrats
who are not in the least disposed to
agree that the Stevenson denomination
is inevitable-or even desirable Also,
these very strongly believe it is not the
business of the national committee to
promote any candidate for the presi-
dental nomination. That, they argue,
is the exclusive business of the national
convention. And titular leader though
he now may be, that does not entitle
Mr.. Stevenson to the nomination In
three years he easily may seem neither
the strongest nor the most logical can
didate. It has been pointed out before
that Mr.. Stevenson last year not only
did not carry his own State Of Illinois
but also lost number of strong Demo-
cratic States that seemed sure until
the votes were counted,
One of these was Missouri, which Mr..
Truman carried in 1948 by 262, 900 but
Stevenson lost by $4,000 In 1852, run
ming 277,000 behind Senator w. Stuart
Symington, who was on the same ticket.
This. it will be admitted, was enough
to center considerable attention upon
Mr.. Symington as a vote getter and
to cause his name to be mentioned
whenever 1856 is discussed. Also, it is
true that Senator Kefauver of Tennes-
see and Senator Kerr of Oklahoma
have not wholly discarded their presi-
dental aspirations. And there are
others. All of which. as Arthur Krock
points out, means that the editors Of
the Democratic Digest will have to
watch their step. They easily might get
an unfavorable party reaction If the
o-Stevenson flavor continues as
strong as in the first issue.
Their safe plan is to keep hammering
Ike, even though that may get tire
some and seem Improbable. Certainly
it was a little unfortunate that the
chief theme of this issue should be his
lack Of leadership" just before he gave
a graphic demonstration Of effective
leadership in rescuing the excess
profits-tax bill from the clutches Of the
powerful Mr.. Reed and passing it
through both branches. Judging by its
first number, the Democratic Digest
may be interesting to an anti-Eisen-
hover reader. but it does seem that
any one who is not in that classifica-
ton would be sucker to pay quarter
for II