Letter from a Whig

...House Democrats argue that more legislation has been passed in these first few months of the Ninetythird Congress than in any other similar period, but needless to say, there is no correlation between quantity and quality...

...Although the Democratic Party has apparently not increased its overt strength, the New Majority the Nixonites spoke of in the 1972 election has now become but a memory...

...without congressional approval...

...Patterson writes: "Taft's message seemed clear...

...Now an attorney and a senator, Bauman was once a page in the U.S...

...The New York Times featured his speech on page one of its Sunday paper, and the services spread it across the country...

...In the Senate, as usual, there was no contest...

...During his first major address in New Orleans since the Watergate revelations, President Nixon gave high individual praise to the Leuisiana congressional delegation, but failed even to mention the Republican congressman by name...

...Although neither vote is indicative of overwhelming strength, the Administrations's message is clear--the Democrat-controlled Congress cannot afford to ignore the Executive...

...The theme is that the President will not allow Watergate to stalemate his authority...

...Critics jumped at the chance to denounce him," and Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley went so far as to declare that Taft "never experienced a crescendo of heart about the soup kitchens of 1932, but his heart bled anguishedly for the criminals at Nuremberg...

...129) it is also explicitly stated that: "No man can transfer his vote or permit another Member to vote for him . . . A Member must vote in person...

...As Patterson puts it: "Americans, it seemed, disagreed...

...In his first syndicated column, John Lofton, former editor of the Republican National Committee's publication, Monday, and editorial advisor to the New Guard, captured this sentiment well in discussing Nixon's visit to 14 The Alternative November 1973 New Orleans...

...And, looking in from the outside, I too believe it would be wise to allow our judicial process to take over Watergate so that the country's leadership can direct its attention to issues which may well determine the course of future history...

...Watergate Impact Tested A congressional by-election, to fill the vacant seat of Maryland Congressman William Mills (who committed suicide because of apparent financial irregularities in his 1972 campaign), was billed by the local press, including the Washington Post, as a case to test the impact of Watergate...

...These matters seem to be of concern to Patterson, as well as to Kirk and McClellan...

...The veto was overridden 77 to 16...

...proposal to legalize the ownership of gold--were all defeated by just one vote...

...And, yes, it will be Senator Mansfield who wins the day--~'let's get out...

...I'd like to know where all those investigative journalists we hear about are at...

...Throughout Patterson's work we find commentaries concerning Taft's political strategies and political philosophy...

...Vetoes Sustained With Congress back in session House and Senate Democrats had hoped to gain the strength necessary to override the President's veto of S. 504, the Emergency Medical Services Act of 1973...

...The memo asserted that Maryland Democrats had used anonymous smear sheets, solicited openly absentee ballots with a massive mailing that violated federal law, and gave erroneous information on qualifications for absentee voting...

...WASHINGTON) Well, the August recess is over and the United States Congress is back in session...

...And (c) the situation in "faraway East Asia" was essentially different because we found leaders who pleaded for our support against communist aggression...

...Only 37 of 255 Administration-related bills have become law...

...Why so...

...7935, was sustained by a more convincing vote, 259-164 (a margin of 23...

...b)The United States had demobilized after World War II, and we could not possibly hope at this juncture to defend Western Europe through the means of conventional warfare...

...But the problem here, so far as I can perceive it, comes to this: To what extent can the national government effectively operate to secure changes in our society...

...The Administration charges that Congress acts as though the President's popular election mandate has been voided by Watergate...

...he was willing to oppose communism in faraway East Asia, but reluctant to do so in Europe...

...One irate congressman, commenting on the widespread voting irregularities, said: "It only goes to show you that there's a double standard of morality in the U.S...

...The truth is that there is an answer, somewhat involved but well known to students of that era: (a)The European Community, if one can call it such, never has from the inception of NATO shown any enthusiasm for it...

...In the same vein Taft opposed the New Deal and Roosevelt II...

...Creeping Creepism" Meanwhile, many Republicans continue to feel dismay towards the Administration...

...Much is made of the fact that certain of Taft's positions, principally those concerning federal aid to education and public housing, were inconsistent with his earlier opposition to the welfare policies of the New Deal...

...Many, particularly those bern after World War II, will ask: Why would anyone write such a massive book (749 pages in all including index and extensive bibliography) about a senator who died nearly two decades ago and never did achieve, as we see from these pages, the pinnacle of political power in the United States...

...First, Taft was a man of principle...

...As Patterson points out, for instance, Taft opposed the Nuremberg trials because such ex post facto proceedings violated every tenet of justice and civility known to the western world...

...Yes, indeed, it must be that Taft felt that limited measures on the part of the national government might be effectual in alleviating certain problems afflicting the nation...

...Their contributions have been minimal and even counterproductive...

...Thus the transatlantic alliance and the very nature of the international system is in question and, for the western alliance at least, there is need for serious misgivings...

...Though public opinion polls have yet to confirm this impression, it is apparent that Watergate is not going to take the toll on the Republican Party that many Democrats had hoped it would...

...Republican A Biography of Robert A. Taft by James T. Patterson Houghton Mifflin $12.50 To my knowledge, Professor Patterson's biography of Robert A. Taft is the most comprehensive published to date...

...Congress, but all the public hears about is Watergate...

...He is expected to be both an aggressive and gutsy legislator and he looks as if he will fit in well with the new breed of congressman that is reflected in the ninety-third freshman class...

...To be sure, Russell Kirk and James McClellan do a more thorough job of analyzing Taft's political thought in their Political Principles of Robert A. Taft...

...Chapter one is entitled, "The Striving Bey," and chapter thirtyeight, "The Sudden Ending...

...Call it ineptness, call it insensitivity (The Louisiana Republican State Chairman, Jimmy Boyce, was more direct, saying, I "told those silly bastards at the White House to tell the President that if he was going to mention the Democrats, mention Treen first...

...Patterson's work, however, is by any standard the most extensive we have of the life and times of Robert Taft...

...The answer was that he could not...

...Mr...

...These violations are of no small importance...

...this is one Republican administration that knows how to alienate its most loyal supporters...

...Under the new electronic voting system in the U.S...

...Is it because, for a very brief period, he was majority leader in the Senate...

...The Administration has come out fighting and the Republican Senate and House members have come back from their states and districts with the message that the American public is tired of the media extravaganza on Watergate...

...As a founding member of Young Americans for Freedom and the American Conservative Union, Bauman won the reputation of being an eloquent and outstanding spokesman for conservative issues...

...Freshman GOP Congressman David Treen of Louisiana, who is the first Republican elected to national office from that state in 100 years, was the victim of what I.~)fton calls the White House's "creeping CREEPism...

...During the recess the President held what most political commentators considered to be two successful press conferences...

...Members of Congress, however, may not vote by proxy (cf...

...One trained in political theory and familiar with the American political system must, perforce, go beyond the reasons offered in this volume for an appreciation of Robert Taft and what he meant for our Republic...

...Congress, and later a staff counsel on the House Judiciary Committee...

...For the Europeans, therefore, Nixon's attempt to put Watergate behind him is being applauded so that he can direct his attention to these many problems...

...Or could it be because he was respected and admired by his colleagues, stood against the welfare policies of Roosevelt II, adopted a militant anticommunist stance at a very early date in the Cold War, sought to redress the imbalance that existed between labor and business, or possibly, opposed Roosevelt II's interventionist policies prior to World War II...

...Bauman won an extremely close race (27,248 to 26,001) against Maryland's senior Democratic state senator, Fred Malkus...

...A GOP communications memo for the Republican congressional membership charged that the Maryland election would make an excellent case study for election reformers in Congress...

...Estimates vary as to the strength of the Soviet forces, but virtually all indicate that the Soviet army had the capability of conquering Western Europe save for the fact that we possessed the atomic bomb...

...The Abomb was our deterrent to Soviet aggression, not NATO, which to this day remains as nothing more than a paper barrier...

...Inactive Congress...

...It would appear that when it comes to winning, Watergate has yet to make its mark on the American political process...

...House of Representatives it is very easy for a congressman to have his personal card placed in the computer terminal to register a vote in his absence...

...Three recent bills--the Erlenborn (R-Ill...

...But when GOP candidate Bob Bauman won the election in Maryland's First District, the press was noticeably quiet about the outcome...

...Republican," "Reaching for the White House," and "Responsibility...

...The following week the President's veto of the Fair Labor Standards Act Amendment (the minimum wage bill), H.R...

...Our betrayal of Chiang The Alternative November 1973 15...

...But on the House side, the Administration was able to hold enough troops in line to sustain the veto by a roll call of 273 to 144 a bare margin of five votes...

...Moreover, as the Patterson volume makes clear, Taft did not believe we should indulge ourselves in the absurd Wilsonian notion that we could make the world safe for democracy...

...A debate which is gaining increasing popularity, but which really begs the issue, is whether Congress has been dragging its feet in the wake of Watergate...

...amendment to hold down the minimum wage increase, Congressman Steve Symms' (R-Idaho) attempt to reduce the federal debt ceiling, and Phil Crane's (R-Ill...

...House Republicans are particularly pleased with Bauman's election and expect that his legislative knowledge will make a major contribution to the legislative process...

...Patterson's presentation might well lead us to believe that such is the case...

...On this point, Taft's critics, Patterson among them, are quick to allege inconsistency: Why did he oppose deployment of American troops in Europe, vote against the NATO treaty, but later adopt a hard line anticommunist position with respect to our China policy and the conduct of the Korean War...

...The President has once again taken the initiative away from Congress by presenting a new State of the Union to the legislative branch covering a broad spectrum of legislative proposals...

...This was an act of courage...

...658 Jefferson Manual And Rules Of The House Of Representatives...

...Another indication of declining support for the GOP was a recent public opinion poll which indicated that only 23 percent of the American public now considers itself Republican, down 5 percent from the election, and at an all-time low...

...Second, Taft was a practical but humane man...

...House Voting Violations It is also ironic, at a time when Watergate is supposed to have ushered in a new sense of morality into American politics, that House voting violations have reached a new height...

...For the uninitiated there are at least three reasons...

...Beyond this, and perhaps more impertant, he opposed the usurpation of presidential authority...

...He fought, as Patterson makes clear, Roosevelt's rather devious tactics to involve us in the European War (again, liberals should harken...

...This unilateral decision he felt to be a violation of the Constitution, another unpopular stance which was duly criticized, even though it was defended by no less than Edward Corwin in the pages of the New RepubZic...

...The theme of these conferences was that Watergate is behind us and let's get on with the more pressing questions facing the country, including inflation, the energy shortage, and trade reform...

...Taft himself had long ago joined the anti-Soviet chorus by accusing the Democrats of being 'soft' at Teheran and Yalta...

...He opposed the deployment of American troops to NATO during peacetime (liberals harken...

...How could he reconcile his denunciations of communist behavior with his opposition to NATO, an instrument intended to stop Soviet expausion...

...The French and the English constantly squabbled...

...A recent meeting at the White House between the President and a congressional delegation was designed to show growing congressional support for the Nixon Administration...

...Why, to put the question otherwise, is Taft so important...

...In Cannon's Precedents Of The House Of Representatives Of The United States (p...

...One young Republican congressman left the meeting disgruntled, saying he had never liked pep rallies and this one was no exception...

...Patterson has divided his work into seven major sections: ~I~e Search ]~or Self," "The Political Apprenticeship," "Rising in the Senate," '~Sources and Uses of Power," "Mr...

...But one who is familiar or knowledgeable about his philosophy of government knows that he would never suggest, as do our modern day liberals, that the national government (not to mention the state governments) has a carte blanche to supervise every aspect of our lives with the end in mind of making us "better...

...And this is the flaw of an otherwise fine book...

...He does not tell us why Robert Taft was unique...

...There are thirty-eight chapters under these major headings which in essence give us a chronology of Taft's ups and downs in the American political arena...