The Molder

Franklin D. Roosevelt, master politician, liked to meddle in party primaries, particularly to purge Democrats who obstructed the presidential will, and sometimes (e.g., 1938) he got his fingers burned. Dwight Eisenhower has gone to the opposite extreme, bringing to the presidency a conception of aloofness toward his role as party leader. If his program was good, he thought, people would vote for it, and his party would win.

Last fall the President learned that politics is not that simple. In the close congressional election, the President's program was not repudiated, but his party lost control. Few strong Republicans lost, but many weak ones did. Ike saw more clearly that good government entails party responsibility, and that party leadership involves some influence on the choice of congressional nominees.

By the time most of the weak spots on Republican tickets came to Ike's attention last year, it was too late to do anything about them. Last week from the White House came evidence that the President is deepening his interest in his party's precampaign jockeying and is taking an early lead in molding the Republican line-up for 1956. To a recent White House stag breakfast, Ike summoned Arthur B. Langlie, three-term governor of Washington. More than a year ago, 54-year-old Governor Langlie announced that he would not run for a fourth term. After some speculation (e.g., that he wanted to be Ambassador to Sweden, land of his forebears), Washingtonians began to take at face value his professed desire for political retirement.

Over the breakfast Ike asked Art Langlie to run for the Senate next year against Democratic incumbent Warren Magnuson. "Maggy," who has been busy churning out favors for constituents, will be no pushover, especially for a Republican with little advance buildup. Ike, loath to lose able Ikeman Langlie from the political scene, promised that if Langlie takes on Magnuson: i) the White House will chan nel federal patronage and aid programs through the governor, and 2) Dwight Eisenhower will campaign for him.

The governor declined to give the Pres ident an immediate answer. By week's end he was saying: "I don't rule out the possibility."

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