The Leadership Issue (Contd.)

By the time the President got into the second week of his 5,824-mile campaign trip, he was answering the crowd's enthusiasm with something of the old magic of 1952 and 1956. In Los Angeles and San Francisco he aimed over the heads of California's feuding and fussing G.O.P. Gubernatorial Candidate Bill Knowland and G.O.P. Senatorial Candidate Goodwin Knight, hit the point that the G.O.P. national record and national leadership were the best reasons for Californians to vote Republican.

He sold a luncheon of 100 fat-cat Southern Californians--Movie Mogul Sam Goldwyn, Movie Monarch Clark Gable, et al.--on stepping up campaign contributions, thus won more TV time. From California to Chicago he warmly endorsed and posed with G.O.P. candidates, signed autographs, turned on pep talks to groups of G.O.P. precinct workers.

Everywhere, Ike threw into the campaign a new, spirited partisan defense of his recorcl--plus new (for him) partisan onslaughts against the Democrats that all but acknowledged his recognition of the fact that his leadership was a key issue. His keynotes:

Peace. "America is allergic to appeasement. There will be no appeasing Communist aggression while I am President. Today, from Lebanon to Quemoy, those in the world who would do us harm know that America will not be bullied, will not countenance territorial expansion by force. Our young men have not gone to war."

Defense. "The striking power of our Strategic Air Command is beyond imagination. The unmatched competence of our atomic submarines is known to all. Under a new law--incidentally one for which I fought for twelve long years--the Defense Department has been reorganized. In no single year was more than a million dollars actually spent for the development of long-range ballistic missiles until this Administration took office. Today the so-called missile gap is being rapidly filled."

Prosperity. "Last winter the Administration gave the private citizen and private enterprise a helping hand--not a federal wheelchair. Now the recession is rapidly running out. Personal income is at an alltime high. Last month unemployment dropped by 600,000. Gross farm income, per capita farm income, land values, farm ownership are up or at record highs. We should be able to keep the consumer price level stable over the next year--and isn't that great news for every family in America?"

Labor Bossism. "Where leadership has been faithless in the fiscal management of union affairs, these conditions must be fumigated. The people of the U.S. deserve representatives who will pass such legislation."

Democrats. "Over the years we Republicans have had our spats, but look at our opponents. They are hopelessly split --right down the middle. One wing attacks states' rights--the other defends them. At one extreme is the wing whose campaigns were largely settled in Southern primaries held weeks ago. At the other extreme is the stronger wing dominated by political radicals. These self-styled liberals are the ones who really challenge sane, sound, forward-looking government in the U.S. . . . You and I know the irresistible impulse of the political radical. It is to squander money--your money. Republicans practice efficiency and thrift . . . dependable government . . . trustworthy, progressive government."

Back in Washington, the President was greeted by a platoon of beaming staff assistants, Cabinet members, party leaders who reported "tremendous, favorable, enthusiastic reaction coming from all over the country." The President grinned: "It was worth it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.