No Change in the GOP

...Brownellism" did not, as was intended, replace "McCarthyism" in the American political dictionary...

...Protectionist interests are meanwhile putting tremendous pressure upon Congress and the White House for a whole series of special industry exemptions from any overall program...

...The Kaiser was left in doubt whether Britain would react to an invasion of Belgium...

...Nixon laid emphasis upon the decision that the United States in the future would intervene, and intervene with overwhelming force, in situations of its own choosing, not that of the enemy's...

...The representatives of over a hundred national organizations, men of every political viewpoint, called for politics to stop at the water's edge, in the common interest of all Americans...

...They have made Roy Cohn an expendable commodity, and have served notice that McCarthy, if he becomes too "controversial," can be made to walk the same plank...

...In this respect, the Nixon speech marked a fresh effort by the seasoned political pros who, in the struggle for power about the White House, continue to prevail over the more idealistic amateurs--among whom, one assumes, the President may be numbered...

...Moreover, they must not permit themselves to become controversial figures...

...Still looming over the scene is the threat of a continued economic decline...

...No Change in the GOP Republican strategy is still built around the same fact and the same myth: Eisenhower's popularity, "Reds in Government" By David C. Williams Washington, D. C. The multitudes of Bangalore could not forbear to cheer...

...Ezra Benson, one of the bolder and more determined members of the Cabinet "team," seems likely to continue his opposition to maintaining farm-price supports at their present height...

...and at a low level the warning that, even after fourteen months of his administration, the Communist rats are still gnawing at the foundations of the Republic...

...Although many of their Congressional leaders thought Stevenson's linking of the President with McCarthyism tactically unwise, they have revised their views as they have seen its effect in setting Republicans quarreling among themselves...

...The pros would merely like to see him stop roughing up his own side, and put his "Twenty Years of Treason" show on the road against Senators Douglas, Humphrey, Murray and other Fair Deal standard-bearers in November...

...As Stevenson put it with typical moderation, the manner in which the "new look" has so far been expounded leaves such important questions unanswered that further clarification is needed for the reassurance both of America and of its allies...

...And people who go out to shoot rats should be careful of their aim, lest they shoot other people who are also shooting rats...

...It remains to be seen whether "Nixonism" will have more success...

...In all of this, the President remained, as he always has been, above the smoke of battle...

...Their idea is to divest Senator McCarthy (a nobody) of his claimed monopoly of McCarthyism (viewed as too valuable a political weapon to be wielded by him alone...

...With these two illustrations, one homely, the other exotic, Vice President Nixon made it clear that the prescribed mixture for Republican success in November remains as before: at a high level, the unprecedented personal popularity of President Eisenhower, once more increasing...

...The Administration's prize exhibit --the proposal for a modest increase in Social Security benefits and expansion of the system's coverage--seems to have been blocked by Chairman Reed of the House Ways and Means Committee, who is holding it as a hostage to force White House acceptance of his own cherished tax gimmicks...

...It remains to be seen, however, whether the Administration's will to act will be enough--without the power over its own nominal supporters in Congress, which it lacks, and the economic know-how of which it has deprived itself by plowing under so many of the Government's ablest economists...

...Some companies have asked all their shareholders to write their Congressmen urging that imports competing with their products be discouraged...

...Although they recognize the political difficulties involved in criticizing it, the habits of responsibility developed in twenty years of power persist...

...The pros, however, do not attach the same meaning to this phrase as do the amateurs...

...Thus, Nixon led from strength when he defied the Democrats to set up Stevenson's military inexperience against the overwhelming competence of Eisenhower in his own field...

...Democrats will continue to press this question, because, needless to say, they are not only politicians but Americans with a real concern for their country's security...

...Is this not, say the Democrats, the mistake that the British Government made with such far-reaching consequences before the First World War...

...The pros, whose second thoughts seem always to win out (as in the President's backdown on book-burning), have a less emotional attitude...

...The White House staff seems to have turned its energies to movie-making, so that during the coming campaign the American people may hear more about the "bold new program" on television--but not, unless circumstances change, very much news about its achievement...

...Attorney General Brownell took the most thorough precautions to box McCarthy out of the Harry Dexter White play, only to see McCarthy crash right back into it, roughing up the "captain" and some other leading team members in the process...

...So far, the Wisconsin Senator has proved to be too wily and ruthless a political in-fighter to permit this robbery to be carried out in broad daylight...

...The idealists see McCarthy's place as clear outside the company of decent men, and even outside that of decent politicians...

...In clearing the way for the release of the Army report on McCarthy, Cohn and Schine, the White House pros have made it clear to McCarthy that, unless he cooperates, they will play just as rough as he does...

...He reminded his audience that the President himself had made the final decision on the "new look...

...Rat-shooters must not sally forth singly, but in well-organized battalions...

...As things stand, however, it will be used exclusively against the Democrats...

...This was a major plea of the conference summoned by the American Association for the United Nations when it met in Washington recently...

...In this area, the Democrats see the Administration as particularly vulnerable because of the slight progress it has made with the program it presented to Congress in January, moderate as that program was...

...After two months--more than a third of this session of Congress--not a single significant piece of legislation has been enacted...

...And, basing their judgment on such significant events as last November's New Jersey election, they believe that the effort to use Presidential prestige and McCarthyite scares in essentially local elections will fail...

...The Democrats, however, are not at all downhearted...

...hence, knowing the immense advantage of this path of attack, he was tempted to try it...

...The President, wiser in this regard than his lieutenants, did not echo their attack upon "prophets of doom and gloom," but pledged himself to use all the powers of the Government in case the decline continued through March...

...The amateurs, whose strong feelings were exemplified by the President's noble remarks against "book-burning" at the Dartmouth commencement, are distressed by Mc-Carthyism and all it stands for...

...Now, however, these same Congressmen are beginning to fear that declining farm income may throw their own constituents out of work, and are inclining toward something similar to the Brannan Plan...

...If the Administration, in Dulles's words, is to regard some local victories for Communism as "normal," will not Malenkov be tempted to try for just such "normal" victories...

...Such responsible Fair Dealers as Senators Humphrey and Douglas have declared that they would rather see a restoration of full employment than a depression-engineered Democratic victory...

...It must be regretted that, by his reference to a breach with the "Truman-Acheson" policies, Nixon indicated a definitive Administration rejection of this plea...

...Part of the plan, of course, is to put Senator McCarthy "in his place...

...Yet, in spite of this, the Democrats continue to be uneasy about the new policy...

...It is not excluded that, if all other means to discipline McCarthy fail, his immense prestige may yet be invoked...

...But Nixon also made it clear that, in the shooting of rats as in other areas of government, the motto of the new administration is "team play...

...For a while, he seemed likely to secure the support of many urban Congressmen, who feel that they have been helping the farmers for too many years with too little and too unreliable a return in the form of votes...

...Local candidates are usually too close to the voters to whom they appeal to be successfully smeared as "soft" toward Communism, and such contests are more likely to take the form of a debate over the issues than a plebiscite for or against Ike...

...The Administration, for instance, has yet to give Congress a bill implementing its pledge to increase foreign trade...

...The Administration might greatly reduce such criticism if, as it appeared a few months ago it might, it moved to restore real bipartisanship in foreign affairs, in the formulation of policy as well as its execution...