Evening star., 1954-12-05
Democratic Program
To Be to Tear Ike Down
Writer Says Eisenhower Fees
Will Be Purtisun-Minded

Writer Soys Eisenhower Fees
Will Be Portisun-Minded
BY Fronk R. Kent
One Of the most interesting ana
significant Of current political develop
ments is the striking contrast between
the public utterances. on the stump OF
elsewhere, Of leading Democratic ora
tors and the opinions and purposes re-
vealed by these same orators and other
politicians Of party influence and power
in private conversation here and else.
where. No one with opportunity to read
or listen to both can fail to be struck
by the difference.
nouncements they pledge themselves
in the coming session Of Congress,
which, as q result of the recent elec-
tion the Democrats will control. to
cooperate with President Eisenhower
in all measures 'for the good Of the
Nation" In other words. they profess
q bipartisanship which sounds very
noble, indeed. And there undoubtedly
are some Democrats, such as Senator
Byrd Of Virginia, and Senator Georse
of Georgia and others who are entirely
sincere in such protestations. But this
is not true Of the exceedingly practical
politicians. in and out Of Congress. who.
with the help Of Walter Reuther, head
of the CIO and the most politically am
bilious of all our labor bosses, are map
ping out Democratic Party policy at
the present time.
It is particularly not true Of the
political advocates Of Adlai Stevenson.
who, in the general opinion, is once
more in his coy way - assiduously
seeking the Democratic 1856 presiden-
tial nomination. He made last night
another of his felicitous, candidatorial
speeches in New Orleans, where the ma
tional committee is also supposed to
elect q chairman to succeed Stephen
Mitchell. The hope OF the Stevenson
group, Of course. is that the new chair
man will be favorable to the Stevenson
candidacy. In that event, he would be
well ahead of all other aspirants for
the nomination. Now, regardless Of
what the good Adlai says at any time,
his most potent political supporters are
not in the least in a bipartisan mood
and have no remote notion of helping
Gen. Ike at the session which opens
in January-quite the contrary.
From the practical, political angle.
they argue quite simply and logically.
What" they ask. 'is there for us in
helping Ike get any part of his pro-
gram through next year. good or not
so good?" Distinctly. they reason, 1t
is against their interests to let him
come out Of the next session o Sue
cessful President. He is popular. yes.
But it Is their job to diminish that
popularity and bespatter his record.
From the political angle. nothing else
makes sense for the Democrats. It 10
all right for the party speakers to
talk about cooperating in the public
welfare, but, politically, that Is the
bunk. The Republicans are sure to re-
nominate Ike in 1855. There Is no
other course open to them and no
alternative for Gen. Ike. No one
with any political brains disputes that.
The real Democratic strategy is to tear
Ike down. not build him UP.
Thus they argue and thus they will
operate, a. any one can see by the
character Of the present Democratic
publicity and the propaganda that
exudes from the ADA and labor
manipulators and their setups. AL
ready the ammunition is being
gathered by the practical boys for Q
general assault on the President and
his two-year record. Domestic as well
as foreign policy win be assailed and
nothing about the administration will
escape hostile comment. How else
can we win in 1852" asked one OF the
more astute men on the Democratic
side. "Adlai is good speaker but he
has not gained any support in the last
two years that he did not have In
1852. II he had to run against Ike
right now he would be beaten almost
as badly as he was last time. Our job
is to cut Ike down next year every
way we can. Nothing else makes sense;
maybe we can't do 1t. but we have
got to try"
No matter how sweetly or how saw
agely Adlai trumpets and no matter
how enthusiastically Democratic spokes-
men publicly advocate bipartisanship
"in the public interest,"" the real DEM
ocratic strategy is to tear Ike down and
block whatever he tries to do at the
coming session. One thing right now
that attests this course Is the heavy
Democratic concentration on the So
called Dixon-Yates contract. It Is in
tended to pump this issue up into one
of the main administration mistakes
and, so far as they possibly can, to
construe 1t as q reflection upon the
President personally. Mr.. Stevenson
already has Endorsed this attack.
The ridiculous aspect is that there
are now in existence two big contracts
between private utility companies and
the Atomic Energy Commission, both
made during the Truman administra-
ton. One of them was made with the
same Mr.. Dixon, who Is now under
Democratic fire. Both contracts were
for very much larger amounts Of power
and very much larger amounts OF
money. But the same gentlemen who
are so loud in their recriminations OF
the Dixon-Yates contract never lifted
a finger or uttered whisper when
the first two were negotiated. Con-
cededly, the new contract is very much
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