Transfer Of Power In U.S. Smoother

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29380, 6 December 1960, Page 21

Transfer Of Power In U.S. Smoother

(Specially written for the N.Z.P.A. Ov FRANK OLAVUt)

WASHINGTON, December 5. The most glaring weakness in the American political system has always been the stagnation between election day and inaguration. Thanks to President Eisenhower’s quick invitation to Mr John Kennedy to appoint a liaison officer between them, the transfer of power seems to be going very smoothly. Mr Kennedy’s visit to Vice-President Nixon after the election also helped a great deal Usually there is a great deal of feeling in these change-overa that makes for poor communication or none at all. This time, however, there is communication, there is an absence of confusion and there is an absence of indecisiveness. There was real decision when the President sent warships to protect Guatemala and Nicaragua from possible invasion from Cuba. It was a clear warning to Dr. Castro not to export his revolution and it served to contain the Cuban leader until the new President takes over. Troubles in Past

Things weren’t always this way. There was almost no communication between Roosevelt and Hoover and the appalling economic situation of that day went from bad to worse between election and inauguration. There wasn't a great deal of communication between Eisenhower and Truman and little co-operation. This time there are many political dangers, but there has been communication and co-oper-ation and both sides are doing a great deal to facilitate the*transfer from President to President, and from one party to another. Mr Eisenhower doesn’t seem to have any more love for his successor than he had for his predecessor, but that isn’t standing in the way. Usually the incoming party is nervous and suspicious, fearing that it may become, by co-opera-tion, involved in policies and problems while it still lacks authority to handle them. It is apt to fear it will be saddled with policies before it has the responsibility for them. There is none of that this time. It is the co-operative attitude of Mr Kennedy that has strengthened the outgoing President’s hand in dealing with urgent problems, such as the run on gold and Dr Castro’s activities in the Caribbean- In both instances he acted with an assurance unusual in the so-called "lame-duck” period. Budget Dispute

However, in one thing there is forecast a bitter clash between the two parties—the Budget. It is one of the absurdities of the system that the outgoing President, a fortnight before he leaves the White House for good, presents to the Congress the proposed Budget, that does not take effect until nearly six months after the retiring administration leaves office.

True, that Budget can be and will be changed, both in the Congress and at the suggestion of the incoming President, but none the less it puts the new President on the defensive.

On this occasion, the outgoing President is, apparently, determined to show a surplus in the Budget that will operate from July, 1961, to June, 1962, by which time he will have been out of office a year and a half. It is a subject on which he is very sensitive. He-went in eight years ago proclaiming that he would balance the Budget. He will leave office approximately 14,000 million in the red. He hopes the Budget year ending next June will show a surplus Apparently the President (outgoing) would like to forecast a surplus in 1962 as much for the party he represents as tor the incoming administration.

Mr Kennedy’s fiscal advisers are already saying that the Eisenhower budget to be presented in January will be too high on revenue and too low on spending and the press is predicting a bitter partisan clash. Finn orders, says one Republican newspaper, have been given by the Eisenhower administration to important spending agencies to “hold total spending plans rigidly below the total revenues the Treasury Department decides can be expected” in the fiscal year ending in June. The Democratic criticism is that the outgoing President may not acknowledge clearly (in the Budget figures) that there has been a slow-down in the economy, a slow-down which is variously described as “a recession” and as a “rolling readjustment.” One Kennedy aide is quoted as saying: “He’ll never admit that he’s handing us a recession,” adding: “If he did he might have to post a deficit.” Others say the idea of the coming Budget is “to make us (the Democrats) look bad when the Budget goes sour, as it likely will.”

Less partisan commentators wonder whether defence spending in the new Budget will be less than some experts in the present administration believe will be necessary. Those who feel this way have been backed up to a degree by the report of President Eisenhower’s Commission on National Goals, a commission headed by a former member of his Cabinet The report urges billions of dollars of additional Government spending for education, foreign aid, basic research and city re-develop-ment. It also urges whatever spending is necessary for a firstclass defence. As one commentator has said, the report reads like a Kennedy campaign document.

However, the law says that the outgoing President alone is responsible for submitting the fiscal 1962 Budget. It is suggested that the new (and last) Eisenhower Budget will show an increase of 1500 million dollars over the previous Budget. Experts say Mr Kennedy’s proposals as outlined during his campaign would add some 4000 million dollars to the expenditures of the previous Budget (the one now running). What interests a lot of people is how the incoming President will suggest these extra sums should be raised or whether he intends to start with deficit spending to take care of programmes >he feels are urgent for 'the good of the country.