Evening star., 1960-05-08

4HC cApeTleuC6 VI IlNlIlS CLOSE
to the presidency, in a sense, has
affected Mr.. Stevenson no less
than others who have sought the
office. In his case, however, the
prospect has not only stirred his
ambition; it has prompted him to
examine ever more deeply into
what he has called "the crisis of
our times" and the role of pres
idential leadership in that crisis.
Mr.. Stevenson has had the op-
portunity, rarely given a national
political leader, to spend some of
his mature years not in coping
with day-to-day problems of leg
islation or administration but in
relatively leiSurely observation,
reflection and comment.
As a Wise Observer
Reflective by nature, with as
inquisitive a mind and as skilled
a pen as any man in public life,
Mr.. Stevenson has made the most
of this opportunity. Indeed, it is
clear that his disappointment at
losing the elections has been
somewhat assuaged by the pleas
ure he finds in being the public
spirited citizen and the wise OBJ
server of world affairs.
Mr.. Stevenson can and does
indulge the pleasure Cor vice. of
the vanquished, reminding those
who defeated him: Il warned you,
but you wouldn't listen" The list
of his vindicated judgments is
long one.
He has noted, with some justice,
that he advocated the use of a
U.N. police force in Palestine be-
fore the f1asco of the Anglo
French-Israeli invasion of Egypt;
that he called for more flexible
means of dealing with national
emergency strikes before the Grip
pling steel shutdown; and that on
matters as basic as nuclear test
suspension and the threat of Soviet
economic competition the admins
tration has adopted the very at
titudes it criticized him for ex-
pressing.
The chief change in Mr.. Steven
son in these eight years in the
political wilderness has not been
in the specific policies he has
recommended to deal with specific
problems. 1t is true that he would
not today, as he did in 1852,
promise to continue farm price
supports at not less than 80 per
cent of parity in order Ito encour-
age farmers to grow more food"
But he hedged on that promise
even in 1852, by mot presuming
-. that support at 80 per cent Of
parity is necessarily the permanent
or only answer"
In most specific questions of
policy. the former Governor has
not altered his position at all. If
he has changed in the last eight
years, it is because his experiences
and reflections have driven him to
examine more profoundly than
politicians usually do into the
nature Of the challenge confront
ing the Western world and the
man who leads it, the President
of the United States.
A Critic Of Society
From these meditations, Mr..
Stevenson has emerged as a critic
not just of the Eisenhower Ad-
ministration but of the society and
values it represents; as an ad-
vocate not just of a change in
governments but of redirection
of national purpose.
For all the scofing he did at
Mr.. Eisenhower's crusade" in
1852, Mr.. Stevenson is now en-
barked on a crusade of his own.
His message, quite simply, is this:
To save itself, America must save
its soul.
Il doubt if any society in his
tory has faced so great a moral
challenge as ours" Mr.. Stevenson
has said. "Ours is the first human
community in which resources are
so abundant that almost no poll
cies lie beyond our capacity for
purely physical reasons. Thus,
perhaps for the first time in the
world, choices, not means. ends,
not instruments, are decisive"
In the course of examining
"our collective conscience" Mr..
Stevenson has uttered some harsh
judgments on the quality of
American life:
The Pulse of Freedom
I'VE have" according to Mr..
Stevenson. "enfeebled the great
central pulse of our freedom, the
great truth of liberty. We
have confused the free with the
free and easy. The dreary
failure in history of all classes
committed to pleasure and profit
alone does not lose its point
because the pleasures of today are
mass pleasures. A nation
glued to recreation, to the tele-
vision screen is not even
having good time. Between
a chaotic, selfish, Indifferent,
commercial society and the iron
discipline of the Communist world,
I would not like to predict the
outcome"
Thus, Mr.. Stevenson on Ameri-
ca today. Thus, too, his view that
President Roosevelt was right in
declaring the presidency is pre-
eminently position of moral
leadership" his Judgment that the
next President must be "a philos-
opher-Statesman, a teacher" who
will lead the American people
in a re-examination of the ma
tional purpose.
Even if one agrees with Mr..
Stevenson about the state of the
Nation and the kind of man we
need as President it is possible
to question whether he is that
man. What does Mr.. Stevenson
have to offer in the way of politi-
cal leaderShino