Evening star., 1954-01-09

TIE VtuStt&uU SOpiS
Believe in Eisenhower
Voters Will Not Approve Of
A Congress Thot Bucks Him
By Gould Lincoln
President Eisenhower's state-of the
Union. message to Congress has been
widely acclaimed. The program, he
said, was designed Ito advance the Sc
curity. prosperity and well-being of the
American people" No one denies the
Presidents purpose, and the overall
program, while attacked on some de-
tails, II enacted. will carry out that
purpose. Extremists Of the right and
OF the left may challenge it, but the
great mass Of Americans viii go along
with 1t. just as they went along with
Eisenhower In the presidential election
OF 1852. Therein lies the strength of the
Presidents position and the probability
ne will be able to have many of his
proposals approved by Congress.
The American people, by and large.
believe in Eisenhower. in his earnest
ness, his sincerity. and more and more
IN MS ability as a leader. The millions
who heard and saw him deliver his
message to Congress via radio and tele.
vision were impressed. The President
spoke with confldence-because he be-
neves In his proposals, and for that
reason they will receive support in and
ONT OF Congress. That includes Demo-
cratic support.
No Dilatory Tactics.
The program is extensive. If it is to
be enacted. hard work and long hours
on Capitol Hill will be the order of the
1ay. Inc leaders must be ready with
ollis and resolutions to carry out the
PRESIDENTS recommendations. Three
DAY receSses of the House and Senate
and particularly of the latter-which
frequently have been the custom in the
flrst two months of a session of Con-
gress. II persisted in, can ruin the
prospect. There is no excuse for dila-
tory tactics today. for several of the
measures the President recommended
are already on the Senate calendar.
ana others can quickly be placed there.
A do-nothing session accompanied by
the higher salaries which CongresSmen
are expected to vote themselves will
not endear Congress or its individual
members to the run-of -the-mine citi-
zen. Nor will playing politics against
proposals for money saving or tax re.
ductions and improvement of the tax
ing system or the social security system
help those members who come up for
reelection.
Already prophecies are being made
That this part and that part of the
eisenhower program will run into bitter
controversy and Stalemate-on the
theory that certain Republicans will be
against the proposals, or that the Demo-
Gratis will be intent on sticking a knife
IN the back of the Republican ad-
minlStration. This is year of decision
at the polls, with ABS members of the
House and 35 members of the Senate
racing the electorate. How they vote
on the Eisenhower legislative proposals
Will be broadcast to their constituents.
either by themselves or by their op-
ponents. So, action may be a little
more prompt. The President, too. has
started a campaign of his own. a
campaign in which he will be taking
his recommendations to the people
ON6LA 4AAPO1 Oh CONF
munications Already he has promised
10 send seven special messages to Con-
gress. dealing with as many important
subjects. In addition. he has adopted
a plan OF talking to the people, through
radio and television, on frequent oc-
casions. The members of Congress
who decide to buck" the President will
get plenty of publicity.
Citizens Behind Him.
Having made his plans carefully.
President Eisenhower is expected to
drive ahead. He is used to fighting.
and he had plenty of it both before
ne became presidential candidate and
during the presidential campaign. He
has assumed the leadership for this
program and for his own administration
and he will not let the grass grow under
his feet. nor under the feet of the
congressman. In the matters Of foreign
policy and national defense he has a
distinct advantage. for a majority Of
the people trust his Judgment on these
subjects. When he tackled the Truman
defense budget and knocked SIS billion
OF it during the last session Of Con-
gress, prediction was made that Con-
gress would tuyp him down. The peo-
pie. however, believed that Gen. Eisen-
hover, the man who led the allied ar
mics in Europe to victory In the Second
World War. knew more about arma-
ments and defense than did his critics
on Capitol Hill and he won out. And
SO he will win again in his new defense
program.
With more Democrats in the Senate
than Republicans. and the House al
most evenly divided, it is obvious the
President must have some Democratic
support for his proposals To date,
Democratic leaders have adopted a rea-
sonable attitude-that if his proposals
are good. he may expect support They
have not forgotten that millions of
Democratic voters, or voters who had
previously voted Democratic, swung over
to Eisenhower in the presidential elec-
ton. In a very considerable measure.
Eisenhower and his program are aided
by the fact that congressional elections
are just around the corner.