Bipartisanship

With smiles, brisk handshakes and polite apologies for calling them from their homes and their hunting, Dwight Eisenhower received congressional leaders of both parties at the White House last week. His purpose was to answer yes to the question: Can the U.S. Government work constructively when one party controls the Congress and the other party has the executive?

The start of the meeting was slightly jarred by the eager-beavering of FOAdministrator Harold Stassen, who bounced around calling Democratic elders "Mr. Chairman" to the annoyance of their Republican opposite numbers, who technically still hold their congressional committee chairmanships.

When the President made an emphatic bid for tariff revision, Senate Democratic Leader Lyndon Johnson tested Ike's determination to be bipartisan. Referring to Ike's backing down on his program last spring, even though the Democrats supported it, Johnson asked if they would "find the program pulled out from under us some fine morning.''

The gibe provoked the day's only moment of presidential ire. "Well, Lyndon," scowled the President, "you may very well remember that there were a lot of things before Congress at the time, and Congress wanted another year of study." Retorted Texan Johnson: "I know, but Mr. President, we did have that year of study and then another year of a study of the study." Unhelpfully, Wisconsin's Alexander Wiley reminded the President that the White House had "fixed up" the domestic watch industry, but had done nothing for Wisconsin cheese. Alarmed, Leverett Saltonstall spluttered that relief for his Massachusetts watchmakers had been long overdue. And Republican House Leader Charley Halleck added that, come what may, peril-point tariff protection is here to stay. After that exchange, fraught with trouble for a liberalized trade policy, Ike and the legislators got along better.

Open-Door Policy. To make the presentation on military manpower problems (see below), Assistant Defense Secretary Carter L. Burgess held the floor. A Democrat leaned over to the President to ask who Burgess was. Quipped Ike: "He's one of those 'damned Democrats for Eisenhower' from South Carolina." Despite this jolting news, the Democrats agreed to go along in principle with Ike's manpower proposals. In his turn, Harold Stassen dragged out a set of charts to disprove the idea in some Senators' minds that his program approached the order of magnitude of a "Marshall Plan for Asia." The Senators appeared to be much relieved.

Johnson said that it would be a "good idea" if the Administration consulted Democratic committee chairmen on new foreign and defense programs. This might avoid "crash-landings-only" bipartisanship. President Eisenhower quickly agreed to Johnson's suggestion, and, the next day, he made good his promise by drafting an order directing certain department heads to consult in advance with congressional committee chairmen.

Perhaps the President's most important pronouncement of the day occurred when he declared to the Democratic leaders of both Houses: "I want you to know, Mr. Rayburn and Lyndon, that I am available for consultation at any time, if you want to come and talk to me about the welfare of the country."

In the end, the Administration had a good reason to expect Democratic backing on the proposals discussed, and House Speaker-to-be Sam Rayburn emerged from the White House assuring newsmen that "no blood was spilled."

Bloodless Coo. The day before the bipartisanship meeting, the President had held an even longer session with congressional Republicans to give a yes answer to another question: Can the U.S. Government function when the President's party is split? In fashioning next year's domestic program for Congress, the possibilities for friction had seemed greater than at the foreign-policy meeting. But Senate Leader William Knowland intoned that the talks had been "constructive and harmonious." Colorado's Senator Eugene Millikin reported that the whole affair was "like the cooing of doves."

Much of the program was made up of propositions that Congress failed to deliver this year. The legislators took a generally optimistic view of the chances for passing four major measures:

P: Cancellation of cuts scheduled for next April in the corporate income tax and some excise taxes.

P: An ambitious, ten-year highway building program.

P: Continuation of public-housing at the rate of 35,000 units a year for two years.

P: Wage raises for civil-service and postal employees.

The President also stood ready to ask for five other measures on which he was given less hope for success:

P: Hawaiian statehood.

P: Voting rights for 18-year-olds.

P: Voting rights and home rule for the District of Columbia.

P: Health reinsurance.

P: Higher first, second-and third-class postal rates.

The issues weighed last week would be formally laid before the Congress in the President's State of the Union message on Jan. 6, a date that Sam Rayburn, when Ike suggested it at the bipartisan conference, heartily seconded: Jan. 6 will be Mr. Sam's 73rd birthday. "Swell," said the President; maybe there would be a present for Sam in the speech.

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