Behind the Scenes

Senator Robert Taft, who is still Mr. Republican on Capitol Hill, already knows two things about the next session of Congress: i) he is bound to disagree with some of President Eisenhower's policies, and 2) the G.O.P. will best be served if he and Ike keep their disagreements to themselves. Last week Taft was discreetly campaigning for the job of Senate majority leader when Congress convenes on Jan. 3. His reason: the majority leader maintains hour-by-hour contact with the White House, is in the best position to thresh out policy arguments with the President before policies are announced.

Taft's logic did not automatically guarantee him the job. New Hampshire's Styles Bridges, who was G.O.P. floor leader at the end of the 82nd Congress, would prefer to take the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. But California's Bill Knowland let it be known that he would run for majority leader if Bridges steps out. When Taft heard of Knowland's candidacy, he telephoned Knowland in California and offered to support him for chairman of the important Republican Policy Committee (Taft's old job in the 82nd Congress) if Knowland would back Taft for majority leader.

Although Knowland did not commit himself, news of the Taft offer buzzed across the long-distance grapevine and irked even some of Taft's close friends. Knowland, 44, ranks 17th on the Republican seniority list. Why, asked the G.O.P. seniors, should Knowland be catapulted into the policy chairmanship over such venerable heads as Colorado's Eugene Millikin, ranked eighth, or Nebraska's Hugh Butler, fifth? There was no doubt that Bob Taft could corral enough votes to get the job if he wanted to fight for it. In the interests of party harmony, however, the odds grew that the next Senate majority leader would be neither Taft nor Knowland, but the reluctant neutral, Styles Bridges.

As Harry Truman's Minister to Luxembourg, Perle Mesta kept old friendships warm on both sides of the political fence. Her latchkey was always out for her good friends Ike & Mamie Eisenhower, who frequently dropped over to get away from the routine at SHAPE. Last week a Washington reporter asked Minister Mesta what she would be doing the day after inauguration. Replied Perle hopefully: "I now don't know what I'll be doing. I love Luxembourg, though. I just love Luxembourg. I've had lots of offers . . . but right now all I can think about are my duties in Luxembourg."

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