WHAT NEXT? AS THE PRESS SEES IT

NIXON SHOULD TAKE OVER

Scripps-Howard's WASHINGTON NEWS :

THERE are a dozen Americans better fitted by training, temperament and character than Vice President Nixon to succeed the President. But it is better to have a physically fit, vigorous Nixon, skilled in politics, assuming full responsibility, than an ailing Eisenhower who is forced to delegate authority.

NEW YORK POST :

WE pray that Nixon can rise to the occasion; that he has learned the perils--and emptiness--of fanatic partisanship. But no real choice remains. The deterioration of America's world position during these recent months of presidential absenteeism is a warning of worse storms ahead if the Presidency remains a sham office. It is our hope that President Eisenhower will see these truths. The issue is whether the U.S. is to have Richard Nixon as President or no President. We choose Nixon.

Britain's left-wing NEW STATESMAN:

THREE or four years ago. the arrival of Richard Nixon in the White House would have seemed a dreadful prospect. He seemed an unprincipled smart aleck. a witch-hunting demagogue, and so ambitious that no price seemed too high for a chance at the presidency.

If there is now a "new" Nixon, the secret of the change lies in that ambition. He has deliberately set out to make himself a responsible party leader. He has taken a strong position on civil rights for Negroes: he has been careful to treat Africans and Asians as if they were treasured voters. He has been pro-Israeli rather than pro-Arab, for more foreign aid rather than less. He has been careful to contrast his "understanding" of world affairs with the brinkmanship of Mr. Dulles, and has seized the chance to set his capacity for firm decision against the indecision of President Eisenhower. He is not a politician with deep conviction or strong affiliations to any factional interest. But while he may be nobody's friend, his lonely career suggests that he may be nobody's stooge.

FORT LAUDERDALE NEWS :

IF we are in such bad shape that neither the President nor his party feels he has any choice but to die with his boots on, it would be well for the American people to discover this sad fact now instead of later when it may be too late.

ROCK HILL (S.C.) HERALD:

IKE should resign. Not that we like Vice President Nixon more as a man or as an official. But Nixon is healthy.

COMPROMISE

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL :

TWO things are vital. One is that the emergency work the President had begun should, in all its phases, go forward. The other is that the President's prestige and moral authority should be transferred temporarily, by his own deliberate decision, to a designated deputy. The logical man for the job is Vice President Nixon.

WASHINGTON POST AND TIMES HERALD: THE President could safely and advantageously ask Mr. Nixon to serve as acting President during the period while he is incapacitated. It would permit the business of the Government to move forward expeditiously and avoid the confusion and stagnation that has occurred during some presidential illnesses of the past. Once it were demonstrated that authority could be shifted to the Vice President on an acting basis and returned to the President without a hitch, future vice presidential candidates would then likely be chosen for their compatibility with the presidential candidate and not merely to lend political balance to a party ticket.

Columnist WALTER LIPPMANN :

THERE are three choices. One is to let the powers of the President be exercised in fact, though not in name, by the White House staff, by some of the more powerful members of the Cabinet, the military chieftains and the Vice President. The second is to resign. This would be an unavoidable decision, were it not that there is a third and much less drastic and tragic course open to him. That is to pass to the Vice President--temporarily and only for the period of his convalescence--the powers and duties of his office, but not the office itself. Mr. Eisenhower would remain the President of the United States. I think it would be the best choice among choices of which none is anything but unpleasant.

LOUISVILLE COURIER-JOURNAL :

IT is plainly too soon to contemplate the President's resignation. It is not a moment too soon, however, for Mr. Eisenhower to delegate some of his powers, temporarily but specifically, to a Vice President who has given every evidence of holding his trust.

Columnist DAVID LAWRENCE:

EVERY illness of the President teaches that one-man government in the United States is dangerous and that Cabinet government cannot long be delayed. The simplest solution lies in the formation of a Presidential Council, which would be created by law and would give the Chief Executive, to sit at his side, at least five persons who have been nominated by him and been confirmed by the Senate. These five men would be freed from the responsibility of administering any of the departments of the Executive branch, as Cabinet secretaries do today.

IKE SHOULD STAY

Columbia (S.C.) THE STATE:

THE people elected Eisenhower President, not Nixon. It is therefore incumbent upon the President to function unless he is so incapacitated that he cannot do so.

Los ANGELES MIRROR-NEWS: THE affairs of Government will continue unabated and without any break in continuity. Our democratic system works that way.

SAN DIEGO UNION:

FORTUNATELY Mr. Eisenhower has a well-coordinated Administration. The team play, an extremely able Vice President and the resolution of 170 million Americans carry on for the President.

Denver's ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS:

THERE are no national problems which the people, in the exercise of their considered judgment and under forthright and competent leadership, cannot master in good time. In this respect the prestige and inspiration of a President who remains a symbol of hope to millions can serve as a fortifying influence.

Columnist STEWART ALSOP:

NO President in American history has ever resigned his office. For President Eisenhower to do so would instantly create political and constitutional problems so numerous that there is no space to list them here. It would also mean, of course, at least the partial loss of the President's domestic unifying influence and world prestige, which are still major national assets. It is probably better that the President, short of a permanent impairment, remain on the job to which the country elected him.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

THE President has shown his ability J. each time to take his troubles in a calm and cheerful spirit and to come back and deal with the unending and vexatious problems of his office. So, we trust, it will be in this latest trial.

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