Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-12-19

VICE PRESIDENT NIXON
His Words at Issue
A number OF reasons have beer
suggested for this failure.
On the other extreme. there are
some who claim that admins.
tration officials failed to act be-
cause they are Communist OF
pro- Communist. I do not accept
this charge as q fair one a:
applied at least the great ma.
iority Of those officials who coult
and should have acted on the
evidence which was laid before
them through the years.
The reason for their failure
to act was not that they were
disloyal. but this in my opinion
makes that failure even more
inexcusable. What was happen.
ing was that administration
leaders were treating the reports
of Communist espionage on 9
'politics-as-usual' basis. It Is
customary practice for any ad.
ministration. be it Republican
or Democrat, to resist the dis.
closure Of facts which might be
embarrassing to that admins
tration in an election. This is q
statement Of fact. though Of
course I do not mean to justify
that practice. regardless of the
nature of the political skeleton
in the political closet"
In every speech. Vice Presi-
dent Nixon made during the 1851
and 1854 campaigns. he wa:
careful to point out that the
question was not one of the rel
alive loyalty of the members
of either political party, but
it was the lack Of judgment and
negligence in dealing with the
Communist issue on the part
Of a few leaders In the previous
administration.
A few quotes from Mr.. Nixon's
speeches in 1852 are revealing
along this line. In an address at
Bangor. Maine. September 2
1852, Mr.. Nixon said:
II had hoped. frankly, that
Communist subversion in the
United States-and how to CON-
bat it-would not become a ma
jor issue in this campaign. : :
But Mr.. Stevenson has raised the
issue. He has made light Of the
menace. and thereby demonstra-
ted a shocking lack of under
standing Of this deadly serious
matter"
In Augusta, Maine. a few days
later, Mr.. Nixon said Of Mr.
Stevenson:
II tell you any man who fails
to recognize this communist
threat lacks one Of the essential
qualities a President of the
United States must have in this
critical era. In Stevenson's case
the problem is not one of loyalty
but of judgment. OF exceedingly
bad. perhaps dangerously bad
judgment"
Mr.. Nixon put out a press re.
lease in October. 1852 in which
he mentioned President Truman
It said in part:
1--WE have finally smoked Harry
Truman and his administration
cronies into the open on thu
great issue of the 1852 cam
Ipaign: Communism. He sait
yesterday that he has done EFF
ficient Job roofing out Com
munists at home and haltini
the Comm unist conspirac.
abroad.
81 charge that the buried rec
ord will show that Mr.. Truman
and his associates, either through
stupidity or political expedience
were primarily responsible TO
the unimpeded growth Of tn
Communist conspiracy within
the United States. ] furthe
charge that Mr.. Truman, Dear
Acheson and other administra
/ ton officials for political rea
sons covered UP this Communis
conspiracy and attempted to hal
Its exposure"
Here again, 1t was failure II
deal with the Communist men
ace, because Of stupidity" O
because Of politics." not dis
loyalty, with which Mr.. Nixol
charged the Democratic leaders
Mr.. Nixon tackled the issue IL
October. 1854 in an address Ii
Norwalk, Conn. when he said:
why. basically, can tn
American people better trust tn
job of dealing with the Com
lmunist conspiracy in the Unitet
States to an Eisenhower Re
publican Administration an,
Congress than to one controlle,
lby the Democrats? Here again
the reason has nothing to d.
with the relative loyalty of Dem
ocratS and Republicans. Tn
great majority Of all our people
regardless Of the party to which
they belong, are loyal Americans
And I have found that Demo
crats are just as interested a
Republicans in developing al
defective program for dealinI
with disloyal elements.
Too many Democrats ant
Others have mistakenly sough
Ito attribute to Mr.. Nixon tn
charge by Senator Mccarthy o
wisconsin that there had bee]