FORMER RIVALS HAVE HAPPY ASSOCIATION

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26986, 11 March 1953, Page 8

FORMER RIVALS HAVE HAPPY ASSOCIATION

EISENHOWER AND TAFT

IB]/

JOSEPH and STEWART ALSOP

in the "New York Herald Tribune'*]

[Reprinted by Arrangement}

Washington.—The worst not happening is not news, according to an old j rule. There must be an exception, however, for the relationship between President Eisenhower and Senator Robert A. Taft. The worst was widely expected, by friends of both men. In this case the fact that the best is happening instead of the worst is news of a rather major kind. The difference between Taft, the opposition chieftain, and Taft, the Senate leader of the party in power, no doubt holds the key to the matter. The Ohio Senator, who used to be so strident in his attacks on the Democrats, has now become a rather lonely voice of calm good sense, in a Congress which regrettably alternates between rodomontade and plain drivel. Bleakly Honest When the witch-hunters were heating up their branding irons, it was Taft who quietly deprecated invasions of academic freedom. When the lawmaker-strategists were talking of bombing Peking tomorrow, it was Taft who pointed out the difficulties and dangers of a China blockade. And when everyone else was still pretending that they could happily combine lower taxes, a balanced budget, an effective national defence, and a creative foreign policy, the bleakly honest Taft was the first to warn that all existing taxes would quite probably have to be continued, at least until July, 1954. . A deep respect for facts and intense political partisanship ’are two of the strongest traits of Taft’s character. When he was in opposition, Taft went tc partisan extremes which profoundly alarmed the more moderate and world-minded Republicans. But Taft today is in contact with the facts, and he bears a large share of the responsibility for the success of the first Republican Administration in 20 years. Hence he seems, and in a sense he is, a quite different man. Yet this is really only the beginning of the story. The Ohio Senator has not shown much knack, in the past, for forgiving those who have opposed him. Barring Lincoln, few Presidents in the past have given their confidence to their former rivals. Yet a personal relationship is growing up between Taft and Eisenhower which is also immensely important. The President and the Senate majority leader were not—they could not be—on easy terms when their work together began. Even today, Taft is the only one of the Congressional leaders whom Eisenhower still calls by his title, but this avoidance of the first name, which at first looked

like strangeness, has come to seem mark of special respect. m 5 The two njer. are not only toseti,. for the long leaders’ meetin» Monday, which they jointly dominat 5 The President also calls Taft i™' special consultation at least once a»5 more often twice a week. The wS’ House, where at first almost expected trouble from the Ohio Sen? tor, now begins to regard him as S' grand Congressional By the same token. Senator T a « who no doubt began by regarding S. President as a mere facile amateur ;• politics, is beginning to warm ward Eisenhower. “He’s certainly man of goodwill,” was his somewU unexpected way of telling his telfi Congressional leaders that he had a? mired Eisenhower’s handling ' thorny issue. • What is more important still T a i| the greatest legislative organiser St country has seen in a generation ii plainly using all his immense power i» Congress to forward the Eisenhowe programme. The old bullheadednee the old impatience of any views S his own seem to have vanished B not only appears to be en-joyins C new situation to the limit; he is conscious that in the long run, Bspu* lican policy must now be formed >„ the White House. ® I According to authentic report, invariably intervenes when the Repub lican Policy Committee shows signs o 'f taking off on its own, saying simply “We’d better wait to find out what Eisenhower thinks.” At the White House itself, Taft has repeatedly bee n the first to support the President; and this has been true even when Tait was required to reverse himself in some measures. Carried Yalta Agreement Few Republicans have been as strldent as Taft about the Yalta pact, for instance, but when Eisenhower declared that “repealing Yalta” was not really desirable after all, Taft carried the argument on the President’s side. At this time, to be sure, some ca. veats must be entered. Senator Taft still has the same hot temper that led to his outburst against the ap. pointment of Secretary of Labour Martin Durkin. Like every Preside Eisenhower still labours under the same handicaps that usually end bv generating bad White House-Congres relationships. Much work must bj done on both sides, and many- vet touchy issues must be resolved, for the Eisenhower-Taft partnerslup to continue to grow. But if it grows am! strengthens, there are few limita io what it can accoiqplish. [Copyright, 1953, New York Herald Tribune, Inc.]