Nixon's the One

Lyndon Johnson was backed by so many newspapers in 1964 that many Republicans wondered whether the nation's publishers were abandoning the party usually favored by a majority of them. But the G.O.P. is not worrying any more. With only three weeks left in the presidential campaign, the clear choice of the editorial pages is Richard Nixon. Not that the switch has been entirely wholehearted; the Cleveland Plain Dealer, for one, admitted that the decision was hardly "easy." But, said the paper, it had become disenchanted with Humphrey as a "man of the old order. He is campaigning on the past. Richard Nixon is the only candidate in a position to take a new course."

Keeping Cool. More significant was the support given Nixon by the 17 Scripps-Howard papers, including the Washington Daily News and the Pitts burgh Press. All supported L.B.J. four years ago. "In the hazardous world of these times," said an editorial that ran throughout the chain, "including the miserable war in Viet Nam, we need a President who can keep cool, who can make a decision and carry it out, who knows when to hold his tongue and when to use it. Richard Nixon's experience and conduct clearly show these abilities. Hubert Humphrey, especially in this campaign, has created strong doubt that he has comparable abilities."

Other prominent papers are rapidly falling in line behind Nixon. Last week the Los Angeles Times delivered its endorsement, explaining that the G.O.P. nominee has the best chance of "uniting the country and harnessing its energies" because he is most acceptable to the country's vast, silent middle class. The Chicago Tribune will undoubtedly back Nixon; its East Coast cousin, the New York Daily News, last weekend came out strongly for the Republicans.

Most of the Hearst papers, including the San Francisco Examiner, may return to the Republican fold. John Knight's seven newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press, the Miami Herald and the Charlotte Observer, have not yet endorsed a candidate, but it seems likely that they will support Nixon, even though they have been rather dovish on the war. Knight disclosed his personal feelings in a recent column: "Somehow we preferred the old Hubert -- dedicated, faithful and true--to the newly contrived candidate who now wears a coat of many colors."

Of Humphrey's endorsements, none was rendered with more enthusiasm than the New York Times's. "Looked at in the perspective of his 23 years in public life," declared the Times, "Hubert Humphrey is a humanitarian, an authentic and effective liberal who can be depended upon to lead the nation in ways of peace." And Humphrey is the choice of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which lauds his "courage to speak up for one America." The Atlanta Constitution, Arkansas Gazette, Denver Post and Nashville Tennessean have also urged Humphrey's election and the traditionally Democratic papers of Louisville--the Courier-Journal and the Times--probably will, too. The Washington Post does not intend to back anyone, but its cartoonist, Herblock, fills the editorial pages with sketches of the old "tricky Dick."

Ignoring Agnew. Some papers are obviously happier with the Democratic vice-presidential candidate than with the presidential. New York Daily News Columnist Ted Lewis suggested, not entirely in jest, that Humphrey switch places on the ticket with Senator Edmund Muskie. "His cool, compared with Hubert's heat, in dealing with yippie hecklers, reflects a strength of character capable of inspiring confidence and trust." Hardly any G.O.P. newspapers are making such claims on behalf of Spiro Agnew. Most are simply ignoring the Republican vice-presidential nominee on their editorial pages.

Despite his strength in the polls, the press is almost unanimously against George Wallace. His campaign, said the Denver Post, "does little beside stir up animal feelings." Agreed the Kansas City Star: "Wallace speaks to America from a little podium of fear, frustration and bitter resentment." Dixie's heart may indeed be with Wallace, but its press is not. There is not a single Southern paper of size or substance that has endorsed the Alabamian.

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