How They Took It

Wrote Columnist Barry Gray in the pro-Stevenson New York Post: "[We] put our hands under our chins and press upward to bring our countenance back into a semblance of normalcy." The dominant feeling among Democrats was surprise. The abundant talk in the last few weeks before E-day about a switch to Stevenson had not prepared them for what was, in fact, an overwhelming switch to Eisenhower. A New York grocer named Vincent Goluch took it hardest, turning in five false fire alarms the morning after election (as he turned in the sixth, police arrested him). In San Antonio, a Democratic boarder, annoyed by the triumphant smirks of his Republican landlady, set fire to her house. "I just didn't like her attitude," he explained to firemen.

But most Democrats took their defeat well. "There is no point in arguing against a deluge," said Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a Stevenson speech writer. Said Eleanor Roosevelt: "The people have made their decision. We go on from there."

Pittsburgh's A. G. Trimble, a leading manufacturer of "I Like Ike" buttons, designed a new button saying: "I Told You So." He was not likely to find many customers; the victors were not much in the mood to gloat. The Republicans, said one Kentucky Democrat, were "like the mountain boy who courted the same woman for 20 years. When she finally gave in, he sat down and cried because he was afraid he might do something wrong." All over the country, people were paying off election bets. In Lowell, Mass., one loser let himself be bombarded by custard pies; in Alabama, a girl ate the front page of the pro-Ike Montgomery Advertiser (after burning it and dunking it in coffee).

In Washington, hundreds of Government officials got ready to look for new jobs. At the White House, Secretary of the Interior Oscar Chapman, Agriculture Secretary Charles Brannan, Postmaster General Jesse Donaldson and Attorney General James McGranery interviewed each other for the newsreels. Exchange:

Chapman--"Here comes the Attorney General now. What are your plans after Jan. 20?"

McGranery--"I don't have any plans after Jan. 20. I'll just wait and see what happens. I don't know. I may not be living Jan. 20."

The Republicans faced employment problems of their own. Wrote Columnist Bill Cunningham in the Boston Herald: "I don't know where I get off feeling sorry for Governor Stevenson and the Democrats . . . I'm practically out of work. For at least a dozen years I've been hammering the theme that 'we need a change' . . . O.K. We've got the change. But what do I do now?"

At Tacoma, Wash., the telephone at Lakewood 3487 started ringing soon after the polls closed. It is the phone of Attorney Edgar Eisenhower, the general's older brother, and the people who keep calling all want him to put in a good word for them with Ike--they are brimming with ideas on how to run the Government. In Korea, Major John Eisenhower, the general's son, eagerly waited for the election results, said: "Well, I'm damned. Every now & then something clicks --and evidently this one did." Then he sent a cable home: DEAR FOLKS, MY HEARTFELT CONGRATULATIONS. MY THOUGHTS WERE WITH YOU ALL THE TIME. JOHNNY.

Across the nation, the thoughts of Democrats and Republicans were with the President-elect and with the awesome task he faces. There was a vast amount of good will toward Ike, and relatively little bitterness remaining from the campaign. By & large, the country took the great political turnover in its stride--although not all the U.S. took it as calmly as Vermont. Reported a correspondent: "Vermonters weren't particularly surprised by the Eisenhower landslide. They figured the rest of the country was finally coming back into the union after a 20-year absence."

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