Taft v. Borah

In 1912 William Edgar Borah was one of the few liberals of the Republican Party who did not abandon the sinking political ship of William Howard Taft and bolt the party. Last month Senator Borah frightened conservative Republicans of Taft's native State by announcing that he was going to run in Ohio primaries to prevent the naming of a favorite son. who would be used to deliver Ohio's convention vote to a boss-picked, Old-Guard candidate. Last week Ohio Republicans scurried about to find a rival candidate to prevent the Ohio delegation from going to the Idahoan by default. Few avowed candidates wanted to risk a possible defeat in Ohio at the Senator's hands.

To encourage them, the Republican State chairman took a poll of 10,000 Ohio Republicans on their preference in candidates. First place (56.3%) went to Governor Alf Landon of Kansas. That did not help much. Governor Landon thanked them kindly but declined to contest Ohio without stumping the State, which he could not do because it would not be "fair to the people of Kansas" to neglect his job as Governor. Second place (20.8%) in the poll went to Senator Borah. That helped even less. Third place (13.2%) went to Colonel Frank Knox. Publisher Knox declined to take the risk. Fourth place (4.1%) went to Herbert Hoover. Mr. Hoover was not even asked. Fifth place (2.9%) went to Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan. He asked to be excused. Sixth place (.6%) to Senator Lester Dickinson of Iowa, who said no thanks.

Balked at every turn, Ohio's leaders decided to pick the best man they could from their own State. They selected one of Ohio's most reputable Republicans, Robert Alphonso Taft, elder son of the 27th President of the U. S., grandson of Grant's Secretary of War and Attorney General. Lawyer Taft's chief qualifications were: 1) his name; 2) his "gold-clause" suit for $1.07 against the U. S. Government, a suit against which the New Deal's best legal talent last week filed a brief in the Court of Claims.

Ohio law requires every primary candidate for President to have a running mate on the ticket, not as an aspirant for the Vice Presidency but as a second choice for the Presidency to whom Ohio convention delegates may turn in case their first choice cannot be nominated. As second choice on the Taft ticket was named Charles R. Frederickson, onetime president of the Ohio Manufacturers Association. Favorite-Son Taft's job will be to sit tight, become a rallying point around which Ohioans can gather to save Ohio from Borah.

Meantime Senator Borah's Ohio managers were scurrying around to find a second-choice man for the Borah ticket. They dug up Frank E. Gannett, publisher of a chain of 19 newspapers in New York and neighboring states, for 25 years a friend of Franklin Roosevelt, for six months (until after NRA and AAA) a friend of the New Deal. Last week Publisher Gannett, sunning himself in Miami, was glad to run as second choice for Senator Borah in Ohio in order to save the Supreme Court from Franklin Roosevelt. Said he: "It would mean a great sacrifice for me to accept any public office, and I prefer to devote myself to my newspapers. . . . However, such a grave crisis confronts the nation that all who believe in our precious institutions . . . must be ready to make many sacrifices. ... If the Republicans will nominate Senator Borah, he will be elected and the America we love will be saved."

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