Voice of Authority

"Mr. President," said the Chicago Daily News's Reporter William McGaffin at Dwight Eisenhower's press conference last week, "is it correct that you yourself are the source of some stories which have appeared the last couple of days expressing your views on domestic and foreign affairs?"

"You mean," Ike cut in, "did I have some people at my house for dinner from the newspaper world? And I say yes."

Most Washington newsmen had suspected as much as soon as they picked up their morning newspapers to find Page One splashed with stories detailing the President's thinking on the day's top issues--but attributing the news only to a "high authority." Word soon spread that the President had given a small stag dinner for regular White House correspondents--the first for the press that he had ever held at his house. Present were Treasury Secretary Robert Anderson, Press Secretary James Hagerty, and 13 newsmen--those, as Ike told the news conference, "who have covered me wherever I've gone, day in, day out ... on good trips, bad trips or anything else ... I wanted to show them a courtesy."

The evening began, in the tradition of Ike's black-tie stag dinners, with cocktails in the second-floor oval study. The party moved to the state dining room (main course: roast beef), then on to brandy and coffee in the book-lined, ground-floor library. Net reportorial result: an informal, wide-ranging press conference, with the President speaking his mind freely, unworried by direct quotations. Items:

Geneva. There is no sign that the Russians intend to concede a thing at Geneva, and he has concluded that Moscow wants to dominate West Berlin and prevent unification of Germany at all costs. What the Soviets fear most is a strong, united Germany and the possibility of a very strong China. Ike has seen nothing to indicate that the Russians really do want a summit conference, but they are using the summit to split the Western powers. Still, he is willing to go to the summit, provided that the foreign ministers' meeting shows some progress; he would not go if he thought that his presence could be construed as abject surrender.

Berlin. In the event of a Red blockade of Berlin, the U.S. would face a poor tactical position. Destruction of bridges, railways and roads could block overland supplies, and radar jamming could make mass airlifts difficult. Berlin's biggest need would be the raw materials on which its new industrial prosperity is based. The city gets much of this from East Germany itself, and the President fears that the West might not be able to fill the demand if normal supplies were cut off.

War. The Russians do not want a major war at this time, but there is always the possibility that a series of steps (a Russian action, a U.S. counteraction, etc.) could lead even to all-out war. Although the West would not begin a conflict, it must still be prepared to make quick decisions on the use of nuclear weapons. But such decisions have to be made on a day-to-day basis, and concern about such momentous problems sometimes makes it hard for a President to sleep well at night. Even so, the crisis so far is no worse than the others: the possibility of war during the Formosa Strait tension of 1954-55 actually gave Ike more worry.

Politics. While the President would never try to dictate his successor, neither would he support a G.O.P. candidate whose views were not generally in accordance with Eisenhower Republicanism. Both Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller fit the bill, as do some eight (unnamed) others. The Republicans have a good chance to win the Presidency in 1960 with the right ticket. Voters today vote on two levels; in voting for the national ticket they are most interested in questions of peace and foreign policy and are looking for a man they can trust. But they still vote their local and personal economic interests at the congressional level.

Budget & Taxes. The President is determined to have a budget surplus for fiscal 1961, although revenue estimates for that period are too general to allow for a guess on the possible figure. Tax cuts are unthinkable without a surplus running from $2 billion to $5 billion, so there is great doubt that there could be any tax reductions during the remaining 18 months of the Eisenhower Administration, but the Treasury is studying a program of tax reform calculated to lower or remove many tax deductions. Tax increases, on the other hand, are out of the question; a new round might lead to civil resistance and disobedience such as that which took place during Prohibition.

Steel Strike. The Government should not try to force a settlement lest it be accused of favoring one side over the other and damage the process of free collective bargaining. The U.S. must learn to govern itself economically as well as politically, and it won't learn if the Federal Government is settling strikes. The advantages of applying the Taft-Hartley provisions (e.g., an 80-day cooling-off period) are dubious, although the act might be invoked if steel stocks reached a dangerous low (see BUSINESS). The President thinks it too bad that labor leaders, like politicians, have to maintain popularity by getting wage increases every time they bargain. He also thinks that the steel companies acted unwisely in the 1956 strike when they increased steel prices by more than $7 a ton, but that they are more conscious today of their responsibilities for keeping the prices at noninflationary levels. One big reason: steel prices are already at the danger point where U.S. steel could be priced out of both world and domestic markets.

Was the President perturbed that the private dinner had resulted in such a thorough public airing of his thoughts? Said he to his press conference: "The stories, I will say, were more detailed than I ever anticipated they would be. And I am not so certain that it is a good practice, but I'll probably try it again."

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