The Great Disillusionment

Many thought it would be Eisenhower who would freshen up American politics, but he has only added to its staleness. He has shown no knowledge of domestic affairs--his empty speeches only prove the deficiency--he has had no political experience, and his campaign has wandered haphazardly from Peace to The Mess to his opponent's sense of humor. On foreign affairs, where he is meant to be an expert, all he has offered is a restatement of Democratic policy on Europe, in terms just different enough to cause havoc abroad, and a restatement of the old Republican line on Asia. Contrast the General's speeches with Stevenson's, and you will find that while the Governor thinks, Eisenhower believes--and his beliefs have provided nothing to satisfy the electorate's desire for effective and original answers.

Some may say that a political novice is what the nation needs for a change. But what do these people say about the General's glowing support for the reelection of men like McCarthy, who has not only been financially unethical--witness the Lustron case and his tax troubles--but morally dishonest as well? What kind of president do they think Eisenhower will be if he permits the likes of Jenner to vilify those things and those people he considers sacrosanct? The General has strained the theory of political unity to the point of dissolution when he makes such rapprochements in its name. For want of a political adult, then, the Republican Crusade has been compromised, reduced to utter sterility.

Opera and Epilogue

And what do these people think of Senator Nixon, who discussed his slush fund in terms of the most blatant emotional demagognery, who conjured up his dog, his children, his wife, and all the other irrelevent trivia possible to blur his listeners' intellects with team? What do they think of the epilogue, when Nixon's campaign manager admitted that his boss misused (by Nixon's detinition) the Senatorial franking privilege for political purposes? That Eisenhower should select such a vice-president, that he should allow the possibility of Nixon's assuming the chief executive's office, and that he should permit a flood of prepared telegrams to decide for him the fate of this opportunist, is a shabby commentary on the General's much vaunted leadership.

A Tradition

The president's problems concern the future, and of the protagonists Truman, Fisenhower, and Stevenson--only the latter, so it seems, has campaigned with that in mind. For the last twenty years, with but few exceptions, this type of campaign has been traditional to the Democratic Party, and if the 1952 Democratic platform is any indication, it is a tough tradition. We support Stevenson and his Party, not so much because they would rather be right than in power, but because we are certain that they can be both.