Evening star., 1954-10-24
PoiticoIRevew
President Tries to Boost 6. O. P. Morale
As Campaign Enters Critical Stage

Enters Critical
ers announced, with straight faces,
that they had completed plans for
the 1955-Democratic- Congress.
Senate Minority Leader Lyndon
B. johnson even gave out the fu-
ture lineup of committee chairmen.
And in the House, Democrats laid
out q legislative program. It was
one which would not sound too bad
to President Eisenhower.
Ives Horrimon
The two contestants in the key
New York race are Republican Sen
ator Irving M. Ives and Democrat
Averell Hartman, both of whom
want to be Governor. Their CAM
paign has been marked by great
apathy, particularly where Republi-
can voting normally is heavy.
It was probably with the inten-
ton of dispelling the apathy that
Senator Ives dropped his bomb
shell" last week. He gave it quite
buildup, canceling several speeches
and announcing that on special
TV broadcast he would reveal "a
startling and shocking situation in
volving the Tammany- Democrat
candidate for Governor"
His revelation turned out to be
clippings from 1880 newspapers
which said Mr.. Hartman had been
questioned by grand jury about a
$250.000 bribe repeatedly paid a
Brooklyn Democratic judge by a
shipping company of which Mr..
Hartman had been chairman. Mr..
Hartman had testified he knew
nothing about the money.
Most prevalent public feeling last
week seemed be one of letdown. But
Republicans pointed out that even
though the case was an old one, it
was shady, it did involve Mr.. Harri-
man and Democrats. and it certainly
would lose the Republicans no votes.
Mr.. Hartman said 1t was all
smear and denied again that he
knew anything about a bribe. And
in Washington, G. o. p. Senator
William LANCER Of North Dakota
said he had investigated the case and
found Mr.. Hartman to be in the
clear.
Retiring Gov. Thomas E. Dewey
joined the attacks on MIR. Hartman
later in the week. He said the
Democratic candidate 20 years ago
had taken part in a securities trans
action involving Polish mines and
that investors, because of Mr.. Har-
riman. had lost SIS million. Mr..
Harriman's campaign manager said
no such money had been lost.
Cose
In New Jersey another cry of
smear" seemed entirely justified
last week. The Newark Star-Ledger
had quoted former Communist Bella
v. Dodd as saying G.. o. P. senate
rial candidate Clifford P. Cases sis
ter Adelaide had been active in Red
front organizations. Mr.. Case, how
ever, pointed out that the person in
question could not have been his
sister, but was another person with
the same name. And Miss Dodd re-
vealed last week that she had never
said the Adelaide Case she knew
was Mr.. Cases sister.
Both the Democratic and regular
Republican organizations in New
Jersey disassociated themselves from
the attack on Mr.. Case. And Presi-
dent Eisenhower last week publicly
pledged his support to the Repub-
lican candidate.
StrinefeIIow
What would undoubtedly go down
as the weirdest episode of the cam
paign was the story of Douglas r.
Stringfellow, Republican Represent
ative from Utah. MIR. Stringfellow
loved to tell story about his heroic
cloak-and-dagger exploits during
World War II in which, he said, he
kidnapped Nazi atomic scientist and
later was captured and tortured be-
fore daring escape.
1t was a swell vote-getting yarn.
But it was entirely untrue, he ad-
mitted tearfully week ago. He had
made up the story gradually over a
period of years when he found his
listeners liked to hear about heroism.
Last week the Utah Republican
State Central Committee put an end
to Representative Stringfellow's
political career. It accepted his
withdrawal as candidate for re-
election and named q new candi-
date. DR.. Henry Aldous Dixon. presi-
dent of the Utah State Agricultural
College. He, like MIR. Stringfellow,
is a Mormon.
Foreign Agent 783
One Of the years trickiest pieces
Of political semantics came out Of
Wyoming last week, where former
Senator Joseph C.. O'Mahoney is
making Senate-comeback attempt.
/, Mr.. O'Mahoney found himself
labeled with the sinister sounding
tag of Foreign Agent 783." The
facts were these:
Since his defeat in 1852, Mr..
O'Mahoney has been making his
way as a lobbyist and lawyer in
Washington. He Is listed (No. 1881
on the Justice Departments roll Of
authorized agents for foreign in
terests by virtue Of his work for the
United States-C Cuban Sugar Council.
He Is also counsel of record for Gwen
Lattimore. Far Eastern expert &c