U.S. Presidency—II How Candidates Will Be Selected

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29224, 7 June 1960, Page 10

U.S. Presidency—II How Candidates Will Be Selected

[By

GEORGE JUERGENS]

When the Republican faithful i gather in Chicago this July to nominate a Presidential candidate, their main function will be to sing songs and ring bells, in traditional style. Their candidate is all but picked. He has, in fact, been busily running for the job for several years. Vice-President Richard Milhous Nixon, 47, lapped the field when President Eisenhower blessed his candidacy at a news conference in March. The surprise was not that Eisenhower endorsed Mr Nixon, but that he took so long to get around to it. Perhaps the most impressive thing about Nixon is the very fact that he is running for President after seven years as VicePresident—a job that for over a century has been a dumping ground for dignified nonentities. Mr Nixon changed all of that by taking advantage of two breaks. First, Mr Eisenhower soon showed deep revulsion for the rough and tumble of party politics. There was an opening for somebody to step in and lead the Republican Party, and Mr Nixon filled it. Second, Mr Eisenhower’s serious illnesses caused Mr Nixon to be taken seriously as a possible immediate replacement. If Mr Nelson Rockefeller had been elected Governor of New York four years earlier, the story might have been much different “I’m Controversial” Mr Nixon’s rise from discharged veteran to Presidential candidate in 15 years has not come cheaply. He is easily the most controversial figure in American public life, and causes more sparks than anyone since McCarthy. His stock campaign gambit, always good for a laugh, is to turn to his wife, sitting demurely and attentively, and to announce: “I’m controversial, but everybody loves Pat.” The case for and against him is well known. His detractors argue that Mr Nixon is “a pitchman of politics, who coldly tries to figure what will sell, packages his products neatly, and then goes out to peddle them.” His flexible record on public issues provides plenty of amrnu-, nition for such an attack. As a senator he endorsed the Bricker Amendment which would have limited Presidential authority in foreign affairs; as Vice-President he opposed it, after it incurred Eisenhower’s wrath. He supported a liberalised tariff programme of reciprocal trade, but also voted for crippling amendments. In public addresses he has stood both for and against American intervention in Korea and Indo-China. On the home front, a week after warning a Republican dinner in Chicago that “inadequate classrooms, underpaid teachers, and flabby standards are weaknesses we must constantly strive to eliminate,” he voted in the Senate against federal aid to education.

Others complain that Mr Nixon lacks the indefinable something which distinguishes a statement from a political hacki Certainly he seems stubbornly dedicated in his speeches to the mundane phrase. From Maine to Oregon, on his many travels to uplift his countrymen, he has left them to ponder such words as - “all we need is a win complex . . . the same old Socialist baloney any way you slice it . . . that’s the way the ball bounces.” Trick Publicity

But nothing has aroused more animosity than Mr Nixon’s version of the “rocking, socking” campaign. In 1946, when he ran for the House of Representatives against Jerry Voorhis, and in 1950, when he took on Mrs. Helen Gahagan Douglas (wife of the actor Melvyn Douglas) for California’s vacant Senate seat, he successfully used trick publicity to convince the State that his opponents were dupes of the Communists.

In recent years he has been more subtle, if no less aggressive. He applied all his old collegiate debating tricks to his role as Republican hatchetman from 1952 to 1956. A classic example occurred in the spring of 1954, when he laid aside his script on a national telecast defending the Administration’s foreign policy to remark: “And incidentally, in mentioning Secretary Dulles, isn’t it wonderful finally to have a Secretary of State who isn’t taken in by the Communists?” He didn’t say that Mr Dulles’s predecessors, George Marshall and Dean Acheson, were “taken in ” But the implication was clear ard set Democrats’ teeth gnashing. Mr Nixon’s supporters often concede that he was an impetuous youth, but argue that he has gained wisdom and maturity in office. It is true that since Eisenhower’s heart attack he has become more dignified, devotes more time to handing awards to boy scouts and All-American football players. Undoubtedly, Mr Nixon’s greatest asset is his by inheritance. The Republican slogan of “peace and prosperity” has survived for seven years, and there is every indication that it has many more years’ service to offer. The people still like Ike, and even if “I Like Nixon” doesn’t roll off the tongue so easily, the Vice-President manages to share in the reflected glow. Popularity Soared Mr Nixon has also benefited by his widely publicised travels. On two dramatic occasions—first when he narrowly escaped being dragged through the streets on his “goodwill” tour of South America, and later when he jibed Mr Khrushchev to a standstill in their famous “kitchen debate” in Moscow —his popularity has soared upwards. His supporters also point out that President Eisenhower has delegated increasing responsibility to him over the years (the Constitution is almost completely silent on what functions a VicePresident may or may not perform), and that as a result he is the best-prepared candidate for the White House. The Nixon success story started in Whittier, California, in 1913, where he was born just a stone's throw from Hollywood to a respectably struggling Quaker family. On both sides he traces his ancestry to Irishmen who migrated to America in the 18th Century. It is tempting to trace much of what Nixon is today to those roots. One could argue that his vaulting ambition is an outgrowth of

childhood poverty—ignoring for the moment that his most likely adversary. Senator John Kennedy, is just as ambitious though hei was born into great wealth —that his prim, inhibited personality developed from his sternly religious upbringing: and that his rock-and-roll tactics are a legacy from a race of fighting Irishmen. At school, college and university he stood high scholastically, was a successful class politician, and a more than competent debater. He was obviously intelligent and determined to get ahead. In World War Two, he served creditably as a desk officer in the South Pacific, came home in time to be offered his party’s nomination for a Congressional seat, and hasn’t looked back since. Inordinately Shy He is inordinately shy for a public official, particularly one of his reputation. A member of his staff recalls for instance, how “he blushed like a rose when he walked into an office ’shower’ for one of the girls and saw lingerie on display.” Nixon’s inability to project warmth may be one of his severest handicaps in a nation which likes politicians who kiss babies. One of America’s best-known political writers, Stewart Alsop, recognised the problem when he wrote that “there is something mechanical. something faintly inhuman about the man, as there is about Dewey, whom he resembles in a number of ways. There is something of the too-perfect quality of the very handsome girl, whose hair is always in place, whose slip never shows — and who is never led to the altar.” With the nomination all but sewn up, the main excitement in Chicago this July is likely to be over whom Nixon will select as his running mate. The Republicans convene one week after the Democrats, and Mr Nixon’s decision will probably hinge on who is picked to oppose him. Rockefeller’s Chances A Republican “dream ticket” —Messrs Nixon and Rockefeller —seems to be impossible. The New York Governor is a young vital man who nourishes Presidential ambitions of his own. His repeated announcements that he is not available for the VicePresidential nomination sound sincere. They suggest he would prefer to wait in the wings for Mr Nixon to stub his toe; to stand by for eight years, if necessary, so that he can have star billing some day himself. The two most likely prospects at the moment are the Secretary of Labour, Mr James P. Mitchell and the Attorney-General, Mr William P. Rogers. Mr Mitchell is a Catholic, and will be favoured if the Democrats alienate Catholic voters by rejecting Senator Kennedy’s candidacy.

Mr Rogers is ■,probably, closer to Mr Nixon. It was he who introduced the Vice-President to the influential Eastern kingmakers within the Republican Party, and he has sided with Mr Nixon on many Administration issues. If Senator Kennedy is nominated by the Democrats, the Catholic vote can be written off anyway, and Mr Rogers would seem the more likely prospect for promotion.

While it is foolhardy to attempt predictions before the candidates are even named, Nixon at the moment has a good chance to be the 35th President of the United States. Most of the animosity felt for him is concentrated in circles which would not vote Republican anyway, and he has the precious assets of Mr Eisenhower and “peace and prosperity” to rely on.

But the race will be extremely close if the Democrats produce an opponent who radiates political "sex appeal.” Whatever the historical judgment on Mr Eisenhower’s Presidency, he has been greatly loved by his countrymen. Not even Mr Nixon’s warmest supporters feel real affection for him.

Ironically, there is every possibility that he would make a better President than Eisenhower. Mr Nixon is much more likely co relish the exercise of power, and to enjoy making decisions. It is difficult to guess what policies he would pursue as President, but the likelihood is that he would be conservative in domestic affairs—though not as conservative as Mr Eisenhower—and an internationalist in foreign affairs. He is not likely to reverse the policy of containment; nor is he likely to put less emphasis on foreign aid. On the other hand Mr Nixon would probably be more willing to take a gamble occasionally to achieve his ends. He prides himself on being an expert poker player. But at cards and politics even the coolest, craftiest players sometimes lose.—Central Press. All Rights Reserved. (To be Continued).