Steady

At precisely 12:31 one day last week, William Moseley ("Fishbait") Miller, Doorkeeper of the U.S. House of Representatives, rose and raised a stentor's voice: "Mistuh Speakuh: the President of the United States." To the standing applause of a joint session of the U.S. Congress, a smiling Dwight Eisenhower (carefully shirted in television blue) strode to the rostrum. He was beginning two difficult years of business with a Congress organized by an opposition party that had one main aim: to get his job.

As his first public act in dealing with that Congress, the President made a personal gesture of bipartisanship. Said he: "The district where I was born has been represented in this Congress for more years than he cares to remember, I suppose, by our distinguished Speaker. Today is his birthday, and I want to join with the rest of you in felicitating him and wishing him many happy returns of the day." Then the President turned and grasped the hand of old (73) Sam Rayburn of Bonham, Texas (25 miles from Eisenhower's birthplace at Denison). Speaker Rayburn beamed while cheers echoed through the House.

Before he had gone far in his State of the Union Message, the President returned to his bipartisan reference: "At this time the executive and legislative branches are under the management of different political parties. This fact places both parties on trial before the American people. In less perilous days of the past, division of governmental responsibility among our great parties has produced a paralyzing indecision. We must not let this happen in our time . . . In all areas basic to the strength of America there will be--to the extent I can insure them--cooperative, constructive relations between the executive and legislative branches of this Government. Let the general good be our yardstick on every great issue of our time."

Defining 1954's issues, great and small, the President made a score of specific recommendations and promised at least a dozen special messages later.

Foreign Policy. The President again showed that he has a clear view of the world's great struggle. "It is not a struggle merely of economic theories," he said, "or of forms of government, or of military power. The issue is the true nature of man.

"Either man is the creature whom the Psalmist described as 'a little lower than the angels,' crowned with glory and honor, holding 'dominion over the works' of his Creator--or man is a soulless, animated machine to be enslaved, used and consumed by the state for its own glorification. It is, therefore, a struggle which goes to the roots of the human spirit, and its shadow falls across the long sweep of man's destiny." With considerable pride the President ran through the gains in the struggle during 1954, e.g., the Western European Union agreements, the Manila pact, the settlement on Trieste, the solution of the Iranian oil and Suez disputes, the inter-American declaration against Communism.

But he said again that the free nations must 1) maintain and strengthen their alliances against the Communist threat if the "insecure peace" is to be preserved, 2) negotiate wherever negotiation will advance the cause of a sound peace, and 3) "maintain countervailing military power to persuade the Communists of the futility of seeking their ends through aggression." Military Policy. Carefully pointing out that the U.S. is not placing "undue reliance on one weapon or preparation for only one kind of warfare," the President nevertheless made clear that the U.S. must adjust its military strength to fit the most powerful weapons available (TIME, Jan. 10). Said he: "The forthcoming military budget therefore emphasizes modern air power in the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps and increases the emphasis on new weapons, especially those of rapid and destructive striking power." Obviously aware that his military program will be bombed and strafed, General of the Army Eisenhower laid his personal prestige on the line: "These emphases in our defense planning have been made at my personal direction after long and thoughtful, even prayerful, study. In my judgment, they will give our nation a defense accurately adjusted to the national need."

World Economic Policy. Once again, the President called for lower tariffs, and for a greater flow of U.S. capital and technical assistance, largely through private channels, to less-developed countries.

The Economy. During the presidential campaign of 1952, Democrats direly inveighed against the possibility of an economic depression if the people elected a Republican President. After two years in the White House, Republican Eisenhower was able to report that Government controls have been removed, taxes cut, federal expenditures reduced, and "Nineteen fifty-four was one of the most prosperous years in our history. Business activity surges with new strength. Production is rising. Employment is high. Toward the end of last year average weekly wages in manufacturing were higher than ever before. Personal income after taxes is at a record level . . . The economic outlook is good."

Public Works. Despite political cries of "giveaway" against his Administration, the President restated his firm belief that the U.S. should develop its natural resources "primarily by private citizens under fair provisions of law," and should treat such development as "a partnership in which the participation of private citizens and state and local governments is as necessary as federal participation." He promised special messages later, e.g., on water resources and highway policies, recommended that a new Office of Coordinator of Public Works be created.

Agriculture. The President stood firm behind Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson's farm program. Said he: "Farm production is gradually adjusting to markets, markets are being expanded and stocks are moving into use. We can now look forward to an easing of the influences depressing farm prices, to reduced government expenditures for purchase of surplus products, and to less federal intrusion into the lives and plans of our farm people . . . I urgently recommend to the Congress that we continue resolutely on this road."

Health & Welfare. President Eisenhower reiterated one of his basic principles: "This Administration follows two simple rules: first, the Federal Government should perform an essential task only when it cannot otherwise be adequately performed; and second, in performing that task, our Government must not impair the self-respect, the freedom and incentive of the individual . . . Government can fully meet its obligation without creating a dependent population or a domineering bureaucracy." Turning to those "essential tasks," he again proposed that the Federal Government move to 1) provide additional public-housing units in each of the next two years, 2) strengthen health services, and 3) alleviate the shortage of schoolrooms.

Labor. After reporting that fewer working days were lost through strikes in 1954 than in any other year of the past ten, the President renewed his recommendation that the Taft-Hartley law be amended to improve further the relations between management and labor. Another recommendation : that the minimum wage be increased from 75-c- to 90-c-.

Post Office. President Eisenhower again urged a higher pay scale for postal employees ; to pay the bill, and to erase other red figures on the Post Office ledger, he renewed his recommendation for an increase in postal rates.

Immigration. Renewing a recommendation made in 1953, the President asked that the McCarran Act be amended to eliminate injustices and discrimination.

Statehood. The President promised that Alaska should expect to achieve statehood when its "complex problems" are solved, but reiterated his belief that "there is no justification for deferring the admission to statehood of Hawaii."

The Congress. The joint session interrupted Dwight Eisenhower 17 times with applause, but grew restless toward the end of his long address, reserved its loudest reaction (which awakened one U.S. Representative in the back row) for his recommendation that Congress "approve a long-overdue increase in the salaries of the members of Congress."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.