Evening star., 1954-01-05
The Political Mill
Eisenhower Expected
To Seek Second Term
Rumor Thut He Won't Run
Not Started BY His Friends

Rumor Thut He Won't Run
Not Started BY His Friends
By Gould Lincoln
President Eisenhower Is completing
his first year in the White House and
his friends-that he will not run again
for the Presidency In 1856. The spread
ers Of the rrmor that Eisenhower wishes
to be zone termer" seek to bolster
their prediction by saying the President
has not been used to dealing with
politicians. that he does not like the
game Of politics or the job.
The President himself and Repub-
lican leaders on Capitol Hill have given
no one reason to believe that he would
seek to avoid nomination In 1856. His
address to the American people de-
hvered last night was that Of q con-
fident leader-confident that his adj
ministration was proving successful and
that his program would be supported
by the people. In his conferences with
before the program was finally drafted.
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zest for his task. and sanguine.
One important Republican said fatty
it was all balderdash to suggest that
the President would say two years from
now: "No, won't play, I'll take my
marbles and go home" This leader,
who Is convinced that the President
has made q great success Of his frst
year in the White House, pointed out
that the Eisenhower training has been
one of duty and public service, and that
the President would certainly not run
out on the people who had elected him
Chief Executive If they wanted him for
a second term.
Presidents Like White House.
Either the Eisenhower administra-
ton will be SO successful the @. o. p
and the independent voters will de-
mand he run again, or the President
will find himself with a program par
TALLY completed, and with an urge to
have another term to complete it. Fur
ther, Presidents of the United States
have grown to like their job and none.
has wished to leave the White House
no matter how heavy the burden. In
fact, one President, Franklin D.
Roosevelt ran and was elected four
times. And another, Theodore Roose-
welt, served seven years in the White
House, stepped aside, and then four
years later sought another term. Most
of the Presidents, however, have been
faithful to the two-term precedent es-
tablished by George Washington and
more recently written into the Consti-
tuition. Calvin Coolidge came closest to
being lone termer" by desire-al-
though there are those who insist
Coolidge really wanted to be renomi-
mated in 1928. When Mr.. Coolidge is
sued his Il do not choose to run"
statement in the Black Hills of South
Dakota, he left lot of people guess
ing. When he left the White House he
had served nearly six years, part of
which he inherited when President
Harding died August 2, 1923. Grover
Cleveland ran for President three
times, and twice he was elected Will
liam Mckinley ran successfully twice.
and so did Woodrow Wilson. william
Howard Taft and Herbert Hoover, who
each served single term. sought re-
election. The evidence clearly is all
against the preferential one-term idea.
Again and again it has been said
and written that President Eisenhower.
never having held political Office before
he entered the White House, has been
at terrific disadvantage-th he does
not know how to deal with politicians.
But where's the evidence? Facing a
Congress evenly divided between Re-
publicans and Democrats, he was able
to get through to enactment the major
requests he made of that body during
its first session. He stands an excellent
chance of duplicating that feat in the
coming session. His personal contacts
with Congress have been friendly and
pleasant.
Votes That Count.
It is further urged by some that the
President. because of his ignorance Of
politics and politicians, has not been
able to please Republican leaders, or
the Democratic leaders who helped in
his election. He hasn't been able to
give the former all the jobs they de-
manded and has taken away too many
from the latter. is the burden of the
song. None of the politicians. however.
have been able to forget-much as they
may wish to do so-that Eisenhower
was the choice of 33,937,252 voters.
more than 6 million in excess Of the
total vote cast for any other presiden-
tial candidate, including Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
A favorite criticism by the Demo-
cratic New Dealers has been that
Eisenhower has failed to provide lead
ership; that he has been too soft with
Congress. On the contrary, the Presi-
dent has shown frmness In dealing with
Congress, although he has refused
to be goaded into attacking the
Congress. He is one of FIVE Presi-
dents who came to the White House
without having held elective Office be-
fore becoming Chief Executive. The
others were Taylor and Grant. both
professional soldiers, and Taft and
Hoover. Taylor died after being in
Office little over year. The others had
their troubles with Congress and poll
ticians. But such troubles have been by
no means confined to them. Presidents
who had held high elective Office have