Evening star., 1953-03-01
Morse Held Ineffective
As Orator in Senate
Writer Judges Oregon Rebel
GorruIous and Boring
By Eronk R. Kent

By Fronk R. Kent
Truth of the old political adage that
'it is better to be denounced than
ignored" is again atteSted by the posi-
ton Of Senator Wayne Morse of Ore
gon, who seems quite the unhappieSt
member of the Senate. The idea enter
tained some time ago was that because
Senator Morse is the one independent"
in the Senate and because of the mar
rowness of the administration majority
in that body he would hold the balance
of power between Republicans and
Democrats. Things have not turned out
that way and that is the basic cause
for Senator Morse's misery.
Mr.. Morse. it will be recalled, was
the Republican Senator who bolted the
Eisenhower Nixon ticket during the
last campaign and, repudiating the Re-
publican Party, came out strongly for
Stevenson and Sparkman. There was
no great surprise about this, as in the
eight years he had been in the Senate
Mr.. Morse had, though elected and
reelected as Republican, with con-
siderable consistency voted for the New
Deal and Fair Deal policies of the late
President Roosevelt and the now ex-
President Truman. In particular he had
supported the CIO and had become one
of the recognized Spokesmen for that
organization.
At the time of Senator MorSes bolt
the view held by the left-wing journal
lists and others with whom he had
trained was that he is a man of great
principle. The other view quite widely
held, however, was that Senator Morse
is an inSatiate and incurable publicity
seeker. This view was largely based on
the fact that he is by far the most gar
rulouS member of the Senate, the one
who made the longest and most fire.
quent speeches. There were, in fact. few
days when the Senate was in session
When ne was not on his feet, speaking
at length. 1t has been stated that his
speeches took up more space in the
Congressional Record than those of any
other Senator in years.
Naturally. during the campaign SEN
ator Morse's bolt got great deal of
publicity-especially as he followed it
up by series of bitter speeches de-
nouncing the Republican Party as re-
dictionary" and its candidates as CAP
tives of the predatory interests, or
words to that effect. But the over
whelming victory of Gen. Eisen-
hover, which included carrying Oregon
by the almost unprecedented majority
OF 152,887, greatly reduced Mr.. Morses
publicity value and exhibited him as
wholly Intellectual in his own State.
There remained the question of how
etfectual he would be in a Senate COM
posed OF 4S Republicans, At Democrats
and one independent.
X
The answer to that question is that
he is as Intellectual in the Senate now
that the election is over as he was in
Oregon or in the country during the
campaign. True, he got a certain
amount of publicity by carrying a metal
chair with him on the day the Senate
convened and placing it in the middle
aisle as evidence of his independence.
The Republicans, however, had no idea
OF taking his seat away from him (as
he must have known, but the metal
chair got widely mentioned in the press.
What the Republicans did take away
from him were his committee assign
mentS, which, considering the violence
and completeness of his reputation of
their party, was entirely proper and
right. 1t would have been absurd to
permit him to hold on to the commit
tee posts he had gained as Republic
can after he sensationally ceased to be
one.
So with no important committees
Senator Morse has no chance of be-
coming an important Senator. The only
possible way for him to affect legisla-
tion is by making speeches in the SEN
ate and issuing statements to the press.
He has played both of these cards a
number of times in the past five weeks
but they have taken no tricks. The
truth is he is attracting less attention
and will attract still less as time goes
on. The Democrats, on whose side he
is now playing, are anything but en-
thusiaStic about him. He has no ball
ance-of-power position because of the
number of conservative Democrats who
will support the administration policies
and with whom he never had anything
in common. It would help him If the
Republican leaders would denounce
him, but they won't. They just don't
think it worth while.
The thing that would help him most.
of course, would be for the President
to say or do something to show hate
and resentment. But that isn't the kind
of President Gen. Eisenhower is. He
does not burden himself with hates and
he is too busy to feel or to show resent
ment toward Senator Morse. His ignor-
ing Of the Senator is not planned.
There is nothing studied about it. It is
just the natural Eisenhower way. He
is said to regard Mr.. Morse as q WELL
meaning but misguided man, which
seems to size him up. He isn't going to
be distracted or diverted by Mr.. Morse
and certainly he is not going to hate
him. This is hard luck for Mr. Morse.
It leaves him with nothing to do save
orate-and he isn't first grade as an
orator. In the end he seems doomed to
become generally recognized as the No.
Senate bore. BY many he is already
viewed as having attained that emf
nence.
In 1894 he was named astronomical