Clearing the Underbrush

Dean Burch, a mild-mannered and button-down-neat attorney from Tucson, was plucked out of anonymity in July and appointed by Barry Goldwater to be national chairman of the Republican Party. During the campaign he scarcely gained any prominence.

But once Barry's devastating election loss struck home, Burch, 37, suddenly became the G.O.P.'s cause celebre for the year--the shoot-him-down target of Republican moderates and the rallying point for right wingers.

Both Goldwater and Burch realized that the moderates' demands for the chairman's resignation reflected, to a great extent, their desire for vengeance against Goldwater himself (because he carried so many moderates down to defeat). Burch refused to quit, and Barry remained loyal. Looking for influential support, Goldwater asked for a meeting with two other former G.O.P. presidential candidates, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.

To the Summit. Barry arrived at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria one afternoon last week. In tow was Burch, who waited across the hall from the summit suite "in case I'm needed." He was not. Ike and Nixon tried to convince Goldwater that he would only further damage the party if he insisted on trying to control the G.O.P. through Burch's stewardship as chairman. "Barry," said Ike, "you'll be a bigger man if you recognize the situation." As Nixon described the talks later: "We agreed that Mr. Burch, as a professional national chairman, had done an efficient and effective job. We also agreed that in an off-presidential election year and with no man in the White House to back him, the national chairman must have the broad support of the party. We feel, and Senator Goldwater agrees, the national chairman must have this broad support--not unanimity, but a majority of one is not enough." Ike's version: "We all agreed that there has to be some clearing away of the underbrush to make it possible through a democratic process to widen the core of the party and of the leadership."

Eisenhower and Nixon may have succeeded in making Goldwater see the light, but he still had his own views on the situation. He told reporters: "We feel unity can be reached by both sides giving in on this. We don't want to see blood dropped on the ground."

Demand for Change. But Burch's blood seemed ready for shedding. In an effort to save himself, he arranged a session with Michigan's Governor George Romney last week, pleaded for support in his cause. After the meeting, he said sadly: "I didn't get any encouragement." Later in the week, Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton declared flatly: "Whether he is a conservative or a liberal or a moderate or a right-handed fiddle player, the national chairman must step down, because that's the only way we can begin to say to Americans that we truly want to become a broad-based majority party."

Indeed, the demand for change was in the wind throughout the party. A meeting of House Republicans scheduled for this week could well result in the displacement of House Minority Leader Charles Halleck, 64, a symbol of conservatism and aging leadership.

In that potentially violent environment of change and challenge, Dean Burch's refusal to step down has now reached absurdly tempestuous proportions. Moderates have begun to realize that if the oust-Burch campaign gets out of hand, the result might alienate G.O.P. conservatives--perhaps even precipitate a third-party movement. Thus, the moderates were hoping that Burch might be eased out with a minimum of fuss and a minimum of bruised conservative feelings.

Time to Withdraw. That could be accomplished next month when the 132-member National Committee meets in Chicago. A key item on the agenda will be a vote of confidence for the chairman, and, as of last week, a weighty majority of members were ready to vote no. Indeed, right now seemed to be a fine time for the young lawyer from

Tucson to make a strategic withdrawal and allow his party to settle peaceably on a chairman who stands for more than one faction of the Party.

Once the mechanics of Burch's departure are accomplished, the G.O.P. can begin again to focus on the infinitely more meaningful task of finding a man who can reflect the realities of presidential success. One measure of that success, as the last three Presidents of the U.S.-Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson--have shown, is the ability to speak out more or less like a liberal and then, once elected, to act more or less like a conservative. With a leader like that, the Republican Party can once again become strong enough to enter a campaign with confidence.

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