Republican Prestige Falling In U.S.

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28420, 29 October 1957, Page 13

Republican Prestige Falling In U.S.

I Specially written for the N.Z.P.A.

by FRANK OLIVERI (Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Oct. 27. Now that Mr Khrushchev, by his “rocket rattling” over Turkey, has startled the Western nations out of their domestic preoccupations and revivified (he N.A.T.O. alliance, and now that the Queen and her Prime Minister have pul Anglo-Ameri-can relations on a much happier fooling, political writers are assessing the effects of the last hectic three weeks on the Republicans.

Whenever a country takes a “sock in the eye” such as this country took over sputnik there is bound to be a series ol post mortems to see how it al] came about and who shall bear the blame. In Washington, at least the feeling is inescapable that many Republicans other than officials are tending to blame the Administration, especially since it has come to light that there has been a big cut-back in funds for military research.

This cut-back was made by Mr Charles Wilson, the recentlyresigned Secretary for Defence, in August, five months after (the press alleges) the Central Intelligence Agency and other Government agencies agreed that the Soviet Union was placing top priority on a satellite programme and was expected to launch a satellite in the second half of this year.

Service rivalry and other things have been blamed for the 1.C.8.M delay, but in the final analysis the blame comes home to roost with the Administration. Therefore political analysts are trying to assess what bearing this will have on next year’s elections The Democrats feel it has helped them considerably and there are Republicans who grudingly agree. Democrats’ Manifesto Hence, much interest has attached in recent days to the manifesto of the Democratic Advisory Council, which met in Washington, and also to general discussions and views expressed which have not found their way into any formal document. These include Democratic views and opinions on the Question of scientific research and development and it is obvious that many important Democrats favour, as has been reported, a resumption of the close inter-Allied co-operation which marked the development of the atomic bomb. As the Democrats will still be in control of Congress when it. reasembles in

January, the prospects for the Western Alliance on the matter look good On Domestic issues, the Democrats will go into election year blaming the Administration for inflation and severely critical of both the Administration and Governor Faubus on what is commonly called the Little Rock mess The Democrats do not so much object to what the Republicans say they are trying to do; they argue that they are not doing it very well and could themselves do a great deal better It has been made clear that the Liberal wing of the party is no longer going to try to straddle issues to keep the Southern Democrats in the party. This business of straddling has gone on for years, but Governor Faubus made further straddling practically impossible and the liberal wing of the party will have nothing to do with straddling any more on the civil rights issue. Southern Democrats Democrats not only criticise the President for failure to implement the Civil Rights Bill passed this summer, but want further civil rights legislation in the next session of Congress. As a result, some Southerners feel almost as

“sore” at their own party as they did recently with the Administration for “invading” Southern territory with Federal troops.

The issue has been joined and many think, the future of the Democratic Party is at stake. There can be no doubt that the Northern section of the party is sincere in its civil right stand. It is also good politics. Any other stand would be giving millions of votes to the Republicans. The manifesto puts the South right up against the issue—is it going io modify its uncompromising stand against civil rights for negroes or is it going its own way.

The South does not really want to be a third party, but neither does it want the Civil Rights Bill on the books, let alone more of the same. The choice will be a difficult one. ajid will be made in anger and bitterness.

Almost nobody is willing to guess at the results, but many believe the Democratic Party is a stronger party for what has been done in the discussions of the Democratic Advisory Council. Certainly the council itself is strengthened. When it was formed, two of the most powerful Democrats in the country refused to joint it. They are Mr Sam Rayburn Speaker of the House, and Senator Lyndon Johnson, majority leader of the Senate. But the council has stuck to its guns, refusing to agree that the party should be dominated by the two men from Texas. |

Time has demonstrated that a majority of the party is with the council and time has also reduced the stature of the senators. At the end of the last session, Senator Johnson stood out as perhaps the chief man to reckon with in the fight for the party’s Presidential nomination in 1960. But now, thanks to his silence over Little Rock, his failure to take a stand, has reduced that stature considerably It is widely agreed that his chances of nomination in 1960 have simply evaporated. What is also interesting is that the pronouncements of the council show the fine Spencerian hand of Adlai Stevenson. It is almost certain he will not run again, but it is certain that he remains a powerfully influential figure in his party, a rather remarkable thing for a man who has suffered two crushing defeats. Unity of Intentions

It promises to be an interesting election year. The two major parties face the country and the world with a unity of basic intentions. Isolation is gone from both party beliefs and programmes and. as the “New York Times’ says, “we have almost unanimously accepted an international leadership and responsibility.”

It is in the economic field that the two parties are farthest apart, the Democrats being pretty near the welfare State and the controlled economy. Continued infla tion and a possible recession may make economics a major issue, but at this stage the basic issue appears to be civil rights Not that the two parties are so far apart on this, but it will affect alignments and allegiances in both parties

The Republicans do not. at this point, exhibit any solid belief that they can take control of congress next year. The Democrats feel thev can not only hold on to the majorities they have, but increase them.