Deadlock

The President and Congress charged at each other last week with heads lowered. The country was about to see another stubborn fight over the Atomic Energy Commission's Chairman David Lilienthal.

Lilienthal's term would expire Aug. 1. The President was determined to nominate him for a full five years.* Republicans were unwilling to see such an important appointment carry over through an administration which they expected to control. Lilienthal himself would accept a one-year term. But Harry Truman refused to listen to any compromise. The nominations went up to Capitol Hill.

The President was showing his mulishness. Congress was acting like other Congresses. In the final weeks of the Hoover administration, Democrats had sat on scores of Republican nominations. But playing politics with postmasters was one thing, playing politics with the nation's defense program was another. Both President and Congress were disturbing the peace and continuity of administration on which AEC and its contractors depend.

* And nominate the rest of the AEC team for staggered terms: Sumner Pike, four years; Lewis Strauss, three; William Waymack, two; Robert Bacher, one.

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