Where Does the Road Go?

Before some of the races in the century's closest election were decided, and while the professionals were still muttering amid their charts and graphs, the President of the U.S. stepped before bleary-eyed reporters in the nation's capital one day last week and delivered, off-the-cuff. a clear, one-sentence analysis: "I believe that the voters feel they want to avoid extremes."

Adjusting to Center. His point, while not the only or the most important lesson of the 1954 election, was easy to document. What happened in Colorado was a striking, one-state capsule: the voters there chose a Republican U.S. Senator to replace a Democrat, a Democratic governor to replace a Republican, a Democratic lieutenant governor, a Republican attorney general, and re-elected two Democrats and two Republicans to the House of Representatives.

Voters tended to elect Republicans who resemble Democrats, and Democrats who resemble Republicans. New Jersey's liberal Republican Clifford Case and Delaware's conservative Democrat Allen Frear are examples of this trend. Exceptional were the victories of Illinois' Paul Douglas and Oregon's Richard Neuberger in fights where there was a vast ideological difference between the candidates. Studying the returns, Political Analyst Samuel Lubell concluded that candidates are try ing harder than ever to find and adjust to the central sentiments of their constituencies. If they continue to succeed, as they did in 1954. there may be more and more close races in the future.

This middle-of-the-road temper has obvious political advantages for the nation. In the 1954 election the most conspicuous casualties were men with left-wing records (e.g., Idaho's Glen Taylor and California's Robert Condon) and the whole McCarthyite faction, which collapsed with the victory of Clifford Case (denounced by McCarthy) and the defeat of some of those few candidates who dared to run on a platform supporting Joe.

An Eisenhower Direction. But the flaw in middle-of-the roadism is its irrelevance to where the road is headed. On this score the 1954 election may have an even more important meaning.

The Eisenhower Administration has a direction. On a dozen points it reversed the trends of the New and Fair Deals. Did the 1954 results show voter approval or disapproval of this new direction?

Republicans can argue that Democratic gains were held down to a point well below the normal off-year loss of the party in power. Democrats can reply by calling attention to 1934, when a national administration's change of direction met with a ringing endorsement of gains in an off-year election.

The 1934-1954 comparison contains some obvious political lessons. F.D.R.'s every act was packaged in political salesmanship, sometimes at the level of political theory, more often in direct appeals to the self-interest of voter groups. Eisenhower's changes have, in general, been allowed to speak for themselves--which means, in practice, that Eisenhower's opponents have held the stage in interpreting his policies.

Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson was the only Cabinet member who, from the first, took his political responsibility in an active sense. He got out and fought for his program. Wiseacres were sure that Benson would be the first Cabinet member dropped, because he would become political poison. On the contrary, after the election Benson was able to say: "Not a single Republican loss in the congressional elections can be attributed to the farm vote."

The rest of the Eisenhower Administration let the Democrats set the political atmosphere last spring and summer. The unemployment issue is an example. G.O.P. candidates were so frightened by it they could not fight back by pointing out that it was four-fifths phony. When the returns were in, it turned out not to be so horrendous.

In 22 Republican-held congressional districts, unemployment was classed as critical by the U.S. Department of Labor. Of those 22, the G.O.P. lost only four.

The losses were often matched by victories in nearby districts which had similar economic conditions.

Indiana was a case in point. In the Eighth District, Republican Representative D. Bailey Merrill was unseated by Democrat Winfield K. Denton. Merrill's difficulty was plain to see. In 1952, he had carried Vanderburgh County (with the city of Evansville) by 10,046 votes. This year, with about 10% of the work force unemployed in the county, his margin there was cut to only 648 votes, not enough to offset normal losses in other parts of the district. But upstate in the Third Congressional District (South Bend), where unemployment was just as much an issue as it was in the Eighth, Republican Representative Shepard J. Crumpacker was reelected.

The Opportunity. The serious defects of the Eisenhower leadership disclosed by the election were caused in part by the split in his party. The election appears to have ended that. Few Old Guard candidates failed to grab the Eisenhower coattails with both hands. Gone is the notion that the Republicans will do better if they run on the record of William McKinley.

The next two years will be difficult for the President--but they also present him with tremendous opportunities to realize the full potential of his party. If he takes a really strong clear line in foreign affairs, especially on the development of a U.S. economic policy for the free world, the Democrats can hardly afford to sabotage him.

If there is a political figure in the U.S. who can turn the division between a Republican Administration and a Democratic Congress into a coalition, Dwight Eisenhower is that man. The key men the President will be dealing with are not far from his own political philosophy. Texas-born Dwight Eisenhower and Texans Lyndon Johnson (Democratic Senate Leader) and Sam Rayburn (Speaker of the House) should have little trouble understanding one another.

Middle-of-the-roadism need not mean stagnation. The U.S. voter in this election gave no sign that he is afraid of action. He gave many a sign that he will switch his vote readily in recognition of common sense and courage.

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