The Search for Clues

Dwight Eisenhower's discussion of his thoughts on running for a second term has been so candid that the U.S. believes him when he says that he has not made up his mind. But, as the mid-February date approaches when the doctors are to make their report on the state of his health, an impromptu debate is raging through press, radio, the barbershops, banquet halls, and even the inner sanctums of Washington over what Ike's decision will be. Millions of self-appointed analysts are probing his character, his past, and oracular statements already on the record.

Most of the discussion revolves in four areas: the personal influences that are working on Ike to quit or run, the lifetime devotion of Old Soldier Eisenhower to a duty higher than personal influences, the correct direction of duty when a President knows his physical condition can be a hazard to the orderly processes of Government, the possibility that Ike might well be able to carry the load of the presidency if it were trimmed of nonessentials. In all of these areas the President himself has provided the hottest clues for both sides:

Personal Influences. Months before the heart attack columnists buzzed that Mamie Eisenhower adamantly opposed a second term; since the attack, the stories added that Major John Eisenhower was opposed as well. Asked a reporter at a recent presidential press conference: "Do any members of your family object to your running again?'' Replied Ike: "No." But did that solve anything? One band of soothsayers was more certain than ever that Ike would run because he was unrestrained by family pressure. But another band believed the "No" was a gentlemanly way of shielding his family.

Then the columns whispered that Ike was so frustrated around the house at Gettysburg in November that he decided the presidency could not be half so taxing. Asked a reporter: "Did you miss the bustle of the presidency while you were there?" Said Ike: "Anybody who has been busy, when he doesn't have immediately something at hand, has a little bit of a strange feeling. Now, but to say I was bored to death at Gettysburg--there are so many things that I have to do--I have piled up stacks of books ... I, as you know, daub with paints; I like the actual roaming around the farm. I love animals, and like to go out and see them ..." Certainly this could be a restrained verification of Gettysburg frustration meaning "I'll run, all right." But the New York Times's James Reston began his report: "This was a bad day for the Republicans. President Eisenhower . . . sounded wistful about those Black Angus cattle in Gettysburg."

Devotion to Duty? IKE: "I certainly sincerely trust that all of my actions in respect to public duty over the past 40 years have been inspired and directed by my own sense of duty . . . But where does this sense of duty point, and who determines what the duty is? That is a very tricky question when you go into the problem." It wasn't tricky at all to New York's Senator Irving Ives. "We all know," said he, "that the President doesn't want the job . . . But he is a man consecrated to duty and loyalty to his country." Ives's conclusion: the President will run again. Countered the Wall Street Journal: "All the signs say the President leans toward quitting. He differs with the view that his duty lies in running."

Hazard to the Nation? IKE: "It is a very critical thing to change governments in this country at a time that it is unexpected. We accustom ourselves, and so do foreign governments, to changing our government every four years, but always something happens that is untoward when a government is changed at other times--it is a rather startling thing. They tell me that [there was] even some disturbance in the stock market at the time I got sick." To the Wall Street Journal this was still another reason for an Ike "No," because he "regards as serious business any unexpected change of Administration." The Times's Reston expertly weighed both sides: "The possibility of his death would make other countries hesitate to enter into long-term contracts which depended on his leadership. [On the other hand] he has won the confidence of the allied leaders. He has also won respect of the Russians to a greater degree than any other leader in the Western world. [And] to retire after his first term would mean the 'breakup of the team,' a time of division at home and uncertainty abroad, and probably the transfer of power to the Democrats."

Carrying the Load? IKE: "There have been times in war when I thought nothing could be quite as wearing and taxing as that [duty] with lives directly involved. But I would say on the whole, this [the presidency] is the most wearing, although not necessarily the most tiring ... it also has, as I have said before, its inspirations, which tend to counteract each other . . . The problem is what will be the effect on the presidency, not on me . . . The intensity with which you can attack your problems, the zip and zest that you take into conferences when you have to get something done for the good of the United States."

South Dakota's Senator Karl Mundt came away from the White House last week certain that Ike would run again, remarking pointedly: "I was tremendously impressed by his buoyancy and bounce." Countered Under Secretary of Commerce Walter Williams, 1952 chairman of the Citizens for Eisenhower-Nixon: "I don't believe he will [run] . . . Anybody in the Washington setup knows only too well that pressure on the President is too great . . ."

Horse's Mouth. The most unlikely soothsayer of all, the President's personal physician, Major General Howard Snyder, 75, was caught in the biggest headlines of the week. He believed, he told Scripps-Howard's Andy Tully, that Ike would "prefer to die with his boots on.'' Pressed hard to explain this horse's-mouth clue, Dr. Snyder withdrew in confusion to straddle both sides of the argument. "If a man is discontented, he will never develop good health." said he. Then he disappointed both yeas and nays by suggesting that maybe Ike should not decide yet. "No man who is just four and a half months past a heart attack is in a position yet to determine his own physical fitness. It takes longer. He should have more time--all the time he needs. He is not at a point yet to know whether to go ahead and hit the ball. All we can do [in the mid-February examination] is to give him a good exposition of his present condition. In the final analysis he must make his own decision."

Which was exactly right, except that the whole nation--including Dr. Snyder --could not resist trying to make it for him.

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