The Home Front
BOHN, WILLIAM E.
THE HOME FRONT By William E. Bohn The Democratic Party's Opportunity I DOUBT WHETHER we ever had an election more accurately mirroring the mind of the country than this one of 1960. Most voters...
...For a long time they have had an alibi —Eisenhower has stood there with his fearsome veto...
...And, also, amendments to the Constitution should make it clear who is to decide when the President is incapacitated for office, and under just what circumstances, and in what way the Vice President should be called in...
...Ex-President Truman and ex-candidate Stevenson campaigned for him in a very moderate sort of way...
...The most important point for all of us to have in mind during this crucial time is that the new President and his Democratic Congressional majority must make good...
...But I doubt whether any other President has had such difficulty in keeping the members of his team in line...
...And I have not even mentioned the little matter of shortening the campaign time, an issue about which it seems everyone is in agreement...
...I suppose that Eisenhower's lack of success in appointments has been due to his great faith in rich men...
...And while we are all excited about these great matters we have an excellent opportunity to improve our way of choosing our chief executive...
...But this is not the way things turned out...
...He would have been a faithful and intelligent President...
...We need more experts than we have...
...We need, especially, a more flexible and alert staff in the State Department...
...Eisenhower has been especially unfortunate in this respect...
...And had he won, it would have been no calamity for the American people...
...Instead of leaving things as they are, he proposed to strike out toward new goals...
...People who suggest that because of the small majority we should have a watered-down program are talking nonsense...
...Kennedy also will have among his appointees some representatives of the financial aristocracy...
...If the Democratic party fails to make good, the voters will simply decide that it doesn't want to...
...It was plainly stated to the uncertain, questioning citizen that Richard Nixon would carry with him into the White House much of the popularity and authority developed during the eight years of the Eisenhower regime...
...It will take years to fill the vacancies—but in the meantime we would do much better if we stopped appointing only generous campaign contributors...
...He had no President behind him...
...He talked often about his "team...
...In this last election President Eisenhower and the men about him represented power and reliability...
...According to all of the laws of probability, he should have won...
...Eleanor Roosevelt, as far as I know, gave him no support...
...He called upon citizens to make sacrifices...
...Our indirect voting has too often gone awry...
...These in-and-out boys are not good enough...
...for years now, those in the know have been complaining about our foreign service diplomats, who often do not know the language, history or anything else connected with the countries to which they are assigned...
...Most voters have very inadequate ways of deciding which man is telling the truth or which has the better program...
...But I hope he will require from each of them an oath of loyal and continuous service...
...He very much wanted members of his cabinet, and of his various committees and commissions, to give good and continuous service and to get credit for their efforts...
...He made a great point of the fact that Vice President Nixon sat with him at the long cabinet table where national and world decisions were made...
...The President represented so much of faith and approval that he was twice elected by enormous majorities, despite the fact that he was running against one of the ablest men in the country...
...It should be possible for Kennedy to do better in the matter of appointments than any of our recent chief executives of either party...
...There is now all the more reason why Kennedy and his people should show us exactly what was meant by their statements in the campaign...
...In the universities, among social service workers, scientists, agricultural and labor organizations there are men who know their way around and would be glad to serve the nation in a continuous and effective way...
...Most are forced to rely on some symbol of quality...
...Beginning in January that alibi will be no more...
...From the beginning I felt sure that Nixon would win...
...Half a dozen new ways— all better than the old one—have been presented to Congress...
...John F. Kennedy is as much the President-elect as if he had been five million votes ahead...
...He would appoint a great industrialist or financier— and then in a year or two the famous man would just naturally slide back to his regular business of money-making...
...The people looked and listened and, by a majority of about 300,000 out of some 66 million, decided in favor of Kennedy...
...On the other side was John F. Kennedy with his charm, intelligence and energy...
...one should be adopted with suitable speed...
Vol. 43 • November 1960 • No. 45
