Evening star., 1954-11-14
Democratic Dissenters
Held Unco-operotive
Writer ScoIds Mitchell
And Morse; Also Stevenson

Writer ScoIds Mitchell
And Morse; Also Stevenson
By Fronk R. Kent
The desire Of the Senate and House
Democratic leadership to cooperate
in the national interests" with the
Republican Senate and House leader
ship and with the President Is one
of the really encouraging signs OF the
times-at least on the surface. Mr..
Eisenhower has already retracted his
use of the phrase "cold war" as too
strong to describe the situation where
the executive branch is controlled by
one party and the legislative branch
by the other. The response Of both
Senator Knowland. leader OF the
Republicans, and Senator johnson,
leader of the Democrats. has been
warm and cordial OF their, sincerity
and that of the President there Is not
the slightest doubt. Nor is there any
concerning the desire Of the people
generally for that sort Of cooperation.
Also. there is practically unanimous
accord that such cooperation under
existing circumstances would be dis
tinctly in the interests Of the country
as whole. All this however does not
prevent snarling dissent from certain
Democratic figures. chief among whom
are Chairman Stephen Mitchell Of the
Democratic National Committee, Sena-
tor Wayne Morse, the so-called inde-
pendent from Oregon and one or two
others. These gentlemen want to keep
on neutrality-suspicious. Mr.. Mitchell
who, though, Intellectual. is still the
most truculent chairman either party
has had in a good many years.
In the last campaign he came so
close to making personal attack upon
the honor of President Eisenhower that
he disguised lot of people and had
to modify his language later. Last week
he waited two days before issuing o
statement demanding an apology from
Vice President Nixon for what he al
legged was "vituperation" and insisting
that the President must join in re-
pudiating the Vice President before any
cooperation would be forthcoming. OF
course, this is nonsense but 1t is typi-
cal Mitchell nonsense. There will be
no apology, as Mr.. Mitchell well knows,
and no presidential reputation as he
even better knows. The best answer he
will get is from his opposite number,
Chairman Leonard Hall, who asks,
what is the matter with Mitchell
anyhow" Apparently. Mr.. Mitchell
isn't satisfied with the results. wants
to continue the name calling and abuse.
However, what Mr.. Mitchell now
says or does is neither significant nor
important He is pledged to retire
from the Craftsmanship of his commit
tee in less than month. The inter-
esting thing is that though Mr.. Eisen-
hower's cooperation gesture has been
indorsed all over the country, there
have been practically no Democratic
cheers for the bellicose chairman's
desire to keep on fighting, with the
single exception of Senator Morse, who,
following the Mitchell line, solemnly
warns the President that unless he
behaves better he may expect no CO.
operation from Mr.. Morse. Not being
one to waste time reasoning with
closed minded men, the President is
nor Mr.. Morse had spoken. This nat
urally makes them very angry, but it
is probably the only way to treat them.
At any rate cross as they are the
situation they create is not too bad.
Mr.. Mitchell will soon disappear from
the political scene, his departure caus-
ing as little grief among the Democrats
as among the Republicans. Senator
Morse, of course, is famous filibuster.
He will delay, by his long-winded
speeches, many administration meas
ures which a cooperative majority
wants to vote for and which the country
needs. But in the end he is not likely
to prevail. The most interesting thing
about all this cooperation and nom
cooperation talk is the utter absence
of any comment one way or another
from Adlai Stevenson.
4
He has said some rather meaningless
things about the Democrats always
being willing to cooperate on measures
in the interest of the country" but
he has acquiesced, by his silence, IN
the ferocious demands of Mr.. Mitchell
and the dread warnings of Senator
Morse. In view of the fact that Mr..
Mitchell is Mr.. Stevenson's close per-
sonal as well as political friend and
that Senator Morse supported him in
1852 and is now voting with the Demo-
Gratis to give them their Senate ma
jority, perhaps any such thing as BIZ
partisan harmony and cooperation
does not appeal to Mr.. Stevenson. That
he is now openly seeking the Demo-
cratic nomination for President in 1855
without any of the coyness he exhibited,
on the surface. in 1852, is recognized
by the politicians on both sides. Per-
haps this accounts not only for the
character of his campaign speeches
but also for his failure to live up to
that pattern of nobility which his ad-
mirers have tried so hard to make
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