President Eisenhower "nearly proved Abe ," Washington columnist Drew Pearson told an audience last night. He claimed Eisenhower that "you can fool all of the people--for at least years."

of the reasons the U.S. "no longer has the military to force the Russians to budge at the conference Pearson stated, is that the American people were not the facts about national defense. He placed the blame lack of information on the policies of the previous stration and the "trend towards monopoly in radio-TV ."

facts are not known, Pearson said, because companies large defense contracts and owning TV stations and have "deliberately suppressed criticism of the Department."

, General Electric, and General Tire Corp. out as being particularly guilty. In addition, said large press companies, such as Time-Life and , toned down attacks against defense policies publications and all but prohibited adverse comment radio-TV stations.

companies benefiting from defense contracts were also able to suppress criticism through advertising contracts. Pearson said a prominent magazine once refused to print an article of his attacking former Defense Secretary Wilson because the editor was worried about losing an important General Motors contract.

Turning to coming events on the "Home Frontier," the Washington columnist predicted that President Kennedy's school aid bill would be defeated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the current fight over aid to parochial schools. The conflict is "very serious," Pearson declared. He reported that Rep. John McCormack (D-Mass.) is privately grumbling that Kennedy is "anti-Catholic." Kennedy, according to Pearson, has described the House Democratic Majority Leader as "the Archbishop of Boston."

The Depressed Area bill is in for "rough sledding," but Pearson thinks "it will squeak through." He said the bill would probably be badly crippled by a rider demanding appropriations for projects be reviewed every year.

Kennedy is finding life even tougher on the "Foreign Frontier," Pearson said. "You can not solve foreign problems unless you have the tools to work with."

He observed that Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko did not "give an inch" during his lengthy conference with Secretary of State Rusk last week, and added that the Russians probably would not change their position.

The Soviets "know we are not prepared for a military show-down," he said, and therefore will not grant any concessions.

Other topics brought to light during the evening's ride on the merry-go-round dealt with a wide range of events and people.