Success Of U.S. Cabinet In New Duties

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27794, 20 October 1955, Page 13

Success Of U.S. Cabinet In New Duties

[Specially written for the N.Z.P.A. by FRANK OLIVER) (Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, October 17. Washington is an interesting capital now that it is without the head of the Government. The chief effect is that Mr Eisenhower’s absence has forced the Cabinet to function much more in the manner of European Cabinets than it ever has before. The United States Cabinet is, of course, appointed, not elected, and its 10 members are in their functions advisers to an elected President, each member advising on his own special affairs. Anything like the British system of ?ollectivp Cabinet responsibility is unknown. It has constantly happened in American history, even recent history, that the President has listened to what his Cabinet members have had to say on specific subjects and then himself made the decisions. President Roosevelt frequently did this. Indeed, decisions by a majority vote in the American Cabinet seem to have been quite rare over a long number of years.

But when Mr Eisenhower was felled and his reco'. ery became dependent on his being insulated from the multifarious affairs of State, his Cabinet began to assume a totally new role. Thus the rising power of the Cabinet as a collective body has become a matter of keen interest to the capital, for as one experienced commentator has said, during the last three weeks the Cabinet has assumed a collective responsibility unknown since the days of Presidents Madison and Monroe. This has been made easier by the fact that Mr Eisenhower’s Cabinet has had much more power than for instance the Cabinets of President Truman and Roosevelt.

A feature of Mr Eisenhower’s Presidency has been his readiness, even insistence. on delegating powers and authorities and he followed President Roosevelt’s precedent of integrating the vice-president into the Cabinet and national security affairs.

As far as can be ascertained, nobody in the Cabinet has discussed the political future with the President since he was stricken and in all matters the Cabinet seems to be acting as a unit, avoiding all individual statement or action and avoiding any controversy. Controversial matters are being left over for some future date, for of course the Cabinet is acting on the assumption that the President will make a complete recovery, Farm Policy

One topic of rather acute controversy within the Cabinet, according to informed sources, is farm policy and price supports, which unquestionably will nave an important effect on next year’s elections. This has been left over until later as part of a general agreement not to rock the boat while the President is ill. In other words, the Cabinet is keeping things turning over during the period when the President cannot lead the Government but has to be led by it. The fact that he has signed a few papers and talked briefly to two or three Cabinet members does not mean that he has resumed running the Government, which inevitably means hours and hours of arduous labour. Fortunately, nothing of world-shaking importance has cropped up since the President’s illness. No major policy has be formulated and only established policies are being carried forward. This is working well and honour must be accorded this group, which is carrying on with, as one writer puts it. a sense of history. It is certainly going to be intensely interesting if the Cabinet ever has to political history by taking the eußnous step of moving from the administration of established policy into the difficult role of making new and controversial policy. Tt may well have to do so in this rapidly-moving world and in view of the fact that the President’s convalescence will probably last until the end of this year. A dozen things are only just round the corner, including the dilemma of dealing with the colonial issue, which Asia and

Africa have so firmly placed before the Western world, trade policies, defence policies, and the world’s trouble spots, such as North Africa, South-east Asia, and the perennial problem of German unification and relations with the Communist world generally. One oddity of the current situation is that having had little communication with the world of politics in the last three weeks, the President is unaware, or believed to be unaware, of the great political debate his illness has touched off here.

It is assumed by almost everyone that the President will not run again, but the full implications of that will not be apparent until he says he will not run. If he says so before the New Year, then it may profoundly alter the attitude of Congress towards the Budget, which the Cabinet is now drafting for presentation to the new Congress in January. In the meantime, the debate about who might carry the Republican banner goes on here remorselessly and more passionately than in other parts of the country. The Vice-President (Mr Richard Nixon), who has acted with studied correctness and considerable dignity in the situation created by the President’s illness, is generally assumed to have the inside track for nomination and there are many who predict that if Mr Eisenhower deliberately throws his mantle over Mr Nixon’s shoulders, the President’s great prestige will be enough to elect him against any Democrat. However, this is not the majority view, and there are many prominent Democrats who already are thinking of the Deriod beyond the election when they confidently expect the voice in the White House to be Mr Adlai Stevenson’s.