Washington Letter
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
By William E. Bohn WASHINGTON LETTER Washington After a wild winter week in our national capital, I have decided to sura up my experiences. The first half of this report will deal with the...
...It further provides that he may spend during the current year any part of $200 million in any way which seems wise to him...
...Dulles was introduced which made the assertion long after the election...
...The Formosa resolution was held up as a model of simplicity and precision...
...But in the end it will be passed...
...Or perhaps he would turn to one of his staff members and then, after a whispered conference, turn back to the questioner and give a vague and evasive reply...
...The Senators and House members with whom I have talked are, of course, my friends, the liberals...
...Day after day, I sat in the white-pillared Caucus Room where in 1955 I saw and heard the bitter drama of McCarthyism...
...The first half of this report will deal with the hearings on the President's proposals for the Middle East...
...Is there any need for this frightful hurry...
...That is the way the authors of the Constitution intended our system to work...
...The questions, of course, dealt with U.S...
...My experiences at the hearings before the Senate committees on military and foreign affairs have confirmed my faith in our form of government...
...But—tough or not—the Democrats in the 85th Congress are bound to try to make a record that will give them a chance in 1958...
...They knew their lines better and pronounced them more eloquently...
...An address by Mr...
...Lastly, there is the great body of plain Democrats—mostly from the great cities of the North...
...And one questioner after another poked at the massive Secretary: "What has happened to change all this...
...At one point, various Senators asked about the proposed journey to the Middle East of the new Ambassador-at-large, James A. Richards...
...Their examination of Secretary Dulles not only displays the whole matter to the public...
...President Truman went to bat in Korea on the basis of authority prescribed by the Constitution—without a special resolution...
...Except for the snow, the deep-diving temperatures and the harrowing winds, the most discussed feature of life in Washington has been Secretary Dulles's testimony...
...In the beautiful Northwest, they nearly made a clean sweep...
...In addition to disposing of some genuine power, they hold positions of great publicity value...
...During the political campaign, he, Mr...
...But it is practically impossible for them to approach the glamour of the White House...
...They are in an optimistic frame of mind...
...Most of them are pretty confident that this can be done...
...In fact, the Senators seemed much better prepared for their part in the drama than the Secretary was for his...
...But, as I listened, I had the feeling that the inquisitors of both parties were bent on making the Secretary of State as uncomfortable as possible...
...One series of questions which put the Secretary at a disadvantage dealt with the timing of the President's proposal...
...All that the Democrats have to utilize against this powerful array are the official leaders of the House and Senate...
...Here the executive department is introducing a bill which provides that the President is authorized to use military force if any nation in the Middle East is attacked and requests our help...
...On January 16, this program had 65 declared supporters—and the number was steadily growing...
...Now maybe we can have a combination of modern Republicans and liberal Democrats...
...On November 23, six Democratic Senators formed a nucleus and sent out a preliminary program...
...You would sxpect sharp Democrats like Wayne Morse, Hubert Humphrey or Stuart Symington to pitch into a Republican official...
...But Republicans like William Knowland or Margaret Smith were just as relentless...
...The inquisitors would ask: Why not wait until Mr...
...This is the way things looked to them: "The American people have recently given a vote of confidence to the Democratic party in Congress...
...Though there has been so much talk of "modern Republicanism,'' the liberals do not expect much help from the President...
...On January 8, a group of 28 House members issued a statement which closely follows the lines of the Democratic platform...
...A Senator would ask a question about how the money provided in the bill is to be spent or under what circumstances the troops are to be used...
...Presumably they did so because they liked his personality, but preferred our program...
...When I say that my week in Washington confirmed my faith in our form of government, I mean that I now have increased admiration for the way in which our departments supplement each other...
...You would think that Republican legislators would stand up for Republican officials...
...It is supposed to be applicable to some undefined situation which may arise in the future...
...In returning a popular President to office, they have refused, for the first time in over a hundred years, to return his unpopular party with him...
...If one of them puts through a bill or makes a speech, he is far from shining before the public as does the President when he flies over the stricken drought area or, even, comes home with an extra-low golf score...
...So far as Secretary Dulles is concerned, there has been little evidence of party support...
...While the inquisitors seemed notably well-prepared and effective, the Secretary of State seemed singularly amateurish...
...In one respect, the relations between executive and legislative bodies are not what the citizen would expect...
...In regard to this point and some others, the measure is sure to be amended...
...More than once in our history, Presidents have taken military action without asking Congress...
...They started to put their thoughts together and get their organization under way a few days after the last election...
...If the Secretary referred to the Suez Canal mess or the troubles of Israel, he would be tartly told that this bill has no application to these situations...
...It is agreed that the Constitution grants them this authority...
...They never got an answer...
...My friends take for granted that the way to prepare for a winning campaign in 1958 is to pass a liberal program under Democratic impetus in these coming months...
...It has already made it certain that some of the holes will be plugged up before the measure is finally passed...
...The Speaker of the House, the Majority Leader of the Senate and the chairmen of the various committees can maneuver their various activities in such a way as to get a good deal of public notice...
...Now this bill specifically grants the President the power which he has always had...
...Dulles and other Republicans proclaimed that all was well abroad...
...This week, I sat in the same spot and viewed the massive head of our Secretary of State while members of the Senate made him unhappy...
...References to the Korean War or to the Formosa resolution of 1955 also seemed to put the new measure at a disadvantage...
...The great man would gaze up toward the ceiling, wait a while (with the whole great room in breathless silence)—and then, perhaps, reply that he did not have the answer just then, that he would have to think it over...
...A Democratic Con-gresswoman said to me: "We have had coalitions of old-guard Republicans and Dixiecrats...
...The plain Democrats from the great population centers are said to be more inclined to support liberal measures than I had supposed...
...The conservative Southerners, I am told, can be expected to help with liberal foreign-policy measures...
...Both Democrats and Republicans seemed troubled by the Constitutional implications of the proposal...
...policy in the Middle East and, especially, the President's proposed program for that area...
...There are the two from New York, one from New Jersey and the two new men from Kentucky—all sharp, intelligent, energetic...
...Richards gets back and gives us an exact report on the needs of these countries...
...But there is something new in the picture: A Republican friend drew up a list for me of liberal Republicans in the Senate...
...In the end, most of the Senators will probably vote for this measure after it has been amended...
...They were, in fact, so much more impressive that a listener got the feeling that some of them would be able to look after our foreign affairs much better than the man now in charge of them...
...On the whole, they are in a less favorable position than the Republicans...
...And Lyndon Johnson himself will not oppose anti-poll-tax legislation...
...My secondary investigation in Washington had to do with the thinking and prospects of the Democrats...
...Two years ago, I sat at the press table and looked at the back of Secretary of the Army Stevens while McCarthy and his underlings were making him squirm...
...From the start, it has seemed to me to be a good idea, but some of the Senators think it vague and dangerous...
...Their program includes 12 points: foreign policy, civil rights, education, agriculture, conservation of natural resources, etc...
...The main point in favor of it—which no Senator was inclined to attack—is that it will give clear notice to the Soviet powers that we are alert and ready to act at a moment's notice...
...They were Paul Douglas, Humphrey, Morse, James Murray, Pat McNamara and Richard Neuber-ger...
...It is true that they have organized Congress...
...The thought naturally presents itself that we are robbing the executive of authority rather than giving it to him...
...In the main, the Senators kept hammering away at two points: How will you use this money...
...Then there are the liberals, mostly from the West but with an increasing sprinkling from the mid-country and the East Coast...
...When you talk with these men and women about their prospects in the coming two years, they are likely to begin by making a diagram of their party...
...The innocent outsider would have found it impossible to distinguish between Democrats and Republicans among his questioners...
...Senator Humphrey, for example, asked why the President demands this authorization of power just now...
...The Republicans, however, have more power and, especially, better approaches to the public through a more manageable and more effective propaganda machine...
...When and to what purpose will you use these troops...
...My informants seemed moderately sure of getting a school bill, a moderate civil-rights bill, an extension of the minimum wage and a public-power program...
...There are, first, the Southerners, the men from the one-party states —the politicians who serve for life, who need not worry about their tenure and who permanently and securely wield the power of the committee chairmanships...
...They seemed to be thinking: Either this whole project is a shot in the dark or this man knows something he is not telling us...
...There are more of them now, and they have won by greater majorities...
Vol. 40 • January 1957 • No. 4
