Compromise?

The long-awaited "great debate" on the Bricker amendment in the U.S. Senate did not materialize--the real struggle was in the cloakrooms, corridors and hotel suites where leaders of both parties worked for a compromise. The major Bricker amendment speech on the Senate floor was delivered by Tennessee's Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver, who hovered near his point for two days with the drone of an overfed bumblebee while a handful of his colleagues slouched drowsily in their chairs. One reason for the sad quality of debate was that many Senators .were too busy elsewhere--arguing the Bricker amendment in the desultory non sequiturs of radio and television panel shows.

Ohio's Republican Senator John W.

Bricker knew that hard-core support for his original amendment had dwindled to 20 Senators. There remained, however, a much larger group in favor of some change in the treaty-making setup. In a search for compromise, earnestly pursued both by Bricker and Eisenhower representatives, proposal after proposal was tried and discarded. But by week's end, the basis for negotiations had narrowed to a draft made by Georgia's veteran Democratic Senator Walter George.

As modified in later conferences, the George substitute had four parts, three of which were acceptable both to the Administration and Bricker.

P:Treaties would be made "in pursuance" of the Constitution instead of merely "under the authority of the U.S."

P: A provision of a treaty or other international agreement that conflicts with the Constitution would not be of any force or effect.

P:Roll-call votes in the Senate would be required on all treaties.

The fourth point, still in doubt, provides that an international agreement other than a treaty, e.g., an executive agreement, would become effective as internal law in the U.S. only by act of Congress. This was the sticker: Bricker okayed it, but the Department of Justice wanted more time to study its implications.

Even if the White House accepts this point, anything resembling the original amendment is dead.

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