The Strain of Waiting

Harold Stassen's catlike footfall thundered in the ears of jumpy Republicans-for-Eisenhower like an elephant stampede. In Washington, Pennsylvania's Big Jim Duff, straw boss of the Eisenhower forces, grabbed the telephone to talk to Ike Strategist Henry Cabot Lodge in Beverly, Mass. A transatlantic telephone call crackled through to Ike's headquarters in Paris. Then Duff's office issued a one-sentence statement in Lodge's name: "I can assert authoritatively that nothing happened at the conference between Eisenhower and Stassen to justify any inference whatever that Eisenhower would not be a candidate."

Lodge's negative-studded statement bracketed the one positive fact of the G.O.P.'s Ike-for-President campaign: the big year was at hand, and Ike had still to speak out in unmistakable terms. Only Ike could give the definite word on his intentions, and there was little hope that he would before the important NATO conference in Lisbon on Feb. 2. To the Ike-man-in-the-street, this was plenty of time, but for the professionals, it meant more weeks of worry and hope.

Golden Silence. For the Eisenhower professionals and advance men, Ike's silence had long since become downright embarrassing. One good reason: the Republican National Committee will meet in San Francisco in mid-January. Without a sign from Paris, Ike-minded delegates run the risk that Bob Taft's forces will storm the meeting and capture the G.O.P. convention machinery.

Taftmen were frankly jubilant at the prospect. Ike's silence was golden for the Democrats, too, and both camps assiduously fanned the old question: "Is Ike really a Republican?" Illinois' Paul Douglas last week reported Ike "the overwhelming favorite of the great masses of the American people" and repeated his hope "that he will be the Democratic nominee." Some top Administration Democrats got a wild gleam in their eyes and talked of a "plan." The plan presupposes that Taft will build up an unbeatable lead and Ike's G.O.P. bandwagon will grind to a stop. Then selected Democrats will begin calling for Eisenhower to lead the nation against Taftism. Eventually, Harry Truman will break silence and exhort the Democrats to draft Ike as a great gesture of "nonpartisan Americanism."

Transatlantic Temptation. The plan is a variation of an old Democratic dream. For months, various Democrats have been whispering in Ike's ear that he could have the Democratic nomination for the asking, and save himself a battle with Taft in the convention. One of the influential voices belonged to General George Catlett Marshall, Ike's old boss. In 1948 Marshall discouraged Ike from running, but now--although he is not a strong party Democrat--Marshall wants Ike to head off any possibility of a Taft-administered foreign policy.

While Marshall was still Secretary of Defense, he sometimes brought up the subject during his transatlantic telephone calls to Eisenhower. Last July his trusted aide, Assistant Defense Secretary Anna Rosenberg, took off for Europe on a quick "inspection trip" and talked the matter over personally at SHAPE headquarters. On another occasion, Connecticut's Fair-Dealing Senator Brian McMahon, a White House favorite, carried Ike the same tempting message. Harry Truman himself may have told Ike in Washington last November that he could have house with the Democrats (TIME, Nov. 12). To all such urgings, even the most hopeful Democrats admit, Ike has thus far answered with a firm no. But could he refuse the call if the Democratic convention drafted him to run against Robert Taft?

How Long? Duff, Lodge & Co. were as certain as ever that things would never reach that pass. But the strain of waiting was beginning to tell. In Kansas, which claims Ike as a favorite son, one Eisenhower pillar said last week: "If Ike is not available, we will move over to Taft. The important thing to do is to win the election." Said another: "People come to me and ask, 'How long can we wait?' "

The fact was that they could wait a lot longer than they thought they could. There was still nothing wrong with the Ike campaign that couldn't be soothed with one little yes. But as 1952 unrolled toward convention time, all the logic in the world couldn't keep a politico from getting jumpy.

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