Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-07
REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Off to the Wars

President Eisenhower, who tried
so long to dwell above the arena
OF campaign politics, stepped down
last week.
With vigorous attacks on his
opposition, the President became
Enthusiastically the candidate. Like
Dodger hurler Sal Maglie, Repub-
lican hurler Eisenhower after slow
start, was getting tougher with
each inning.
In retrieving the campaign proxy
he had given Richard Nixon, Mr..
Eisenhower launched the kind of
bristling, fighting campaign his
party cohorts have desired, but
never dared demand, of him: If
it wasn't quite the "give- hell"
technique of Harry Truman, it was
at least "give EN- the dickens"
Here are some of the words with
which the President jumped
Squarely into the fight:
They 1.-THE Demoerots) wont too
much to have you believe in the story
Of gloom they spread :"
In this administration you eonnot
find these ugly morks Of the post: special
fovoritism. eronyism and Ioxity in odminis-
trotlon
This democratic labor oppeoD is
more thon political bunk. II is wilIfuI
nonsense. 1t is wicked nonsense. And they
know il"
Democrats, said the President,
were "a group of bureaucratS !.
group of politicians bewailing the
fix the country is in" He chal-
lenged their "anguished cry :.
that we have no peace" and said
the Democrats lost in 1852 be-
cause they tolerated "the thievery
of imitation" Democratic admin
istrations he characterized as being
"unsound, inflationary, ANTITRUST
ness, heavy-tax, heavy spend
ing.
In descending from Olympus, the
Republicans Zeus apparently had
resolved conflict between his COM
petitive spirit and belief that the
high office of President of the
United States and its occupant
ought to be above politics, even
in an election year.
This latter view of his job he
has expressed many times, and re-
Gently he said he thought the
President ought to be above whistle
stopping and transforming. But
it is not a secret that the President
also enjoys a fight, that he has the
strong competitive spirit of a good
soldier. This he has revealed in
war, on the golf course where the
loss of one hole is a minor disas-
ter, and, more recently, at the
World Series opener Wednesday in
Brooklyn.
Adlai Stevenson, master manipu-
lator of the campaign needle, had
been jabbing the President with an
noying relentleSsneSS. He struck
an extremely sensitive nerve when
he accused the administration of
giving, through the Presidents
brother Milton. succor to former
Argentine dictator Juan Peron.
Then the Democratic candidate
challenged the administration on
the issue of peace, an issue known
to be closest to the Presidents
heart.
The latest expansion of MIR.
Eisenhower's campaign plans makes
it clear he will do his utmos. to
help Republican Senate and House
candidates. He already has gone
into Iowa. Illinois. Ohio and Ken
lucky to offer coat-tail rides to
Republican candidates, and Tues
day he will try to lend a hand to
Senator James Duff in Pennsyl-
Vania.
Later bush-beating trips are
scheduled into Minnesota. WASH
ington, Oregon and New York, and
he will likely go into California.
Colorado and Missouri. There will
be more White House TV appear
anceS, too, including a Coast-to-
Coast "nonpolitical" celebration on
October Is. the day before his seth
birthday.