Monday, Feb. 08, 1960
Dinner & Desserts
The tables stretched from the 2.3-acre Pan-Pacific Auditorium in Los Angeles to two banquet halls in Washington's Sheraton-Park Hotel for the biggest coast-to-coast dinner in U.S. history. In 43 states, more than 100,000 Republicans turned out for 83 fund-raising "dinners with Ike," at $24 to $100 a plate, to muster up $5,000,000 for the G.O.P. campaign treasury. All got the same no-frills bill of fare ("the kind of dinner that might have been served in a Kansas home around the turn of the century," as the menu put it): "Eisenhower vegetable soup," sliced beef, corn pudding, "homemade" bread and apple pie. Most tied into the same closed-circuit TV network while Republican National Chairman Thruston Morton in Manhattan summoned up the G.O.P.'s biggest names (Vice President Richard Nixon in Chicago, New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller in Washington, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge in Pittsburgh, et al.) for fervent testimonials to Ike. Said Lodge: "Like George Washing ton, you are first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of your countrymen."
The guest of honor himself presided over 7,000 of the faithful seated in orderly rows in Los Angeles' Pan-Pacific, watched the cross-country tribute on any one of three enormous TV screens hung from the walls. When he was cued in, he flashed an electioneering grin, said: "It is indeed a proud moment for me."
Political Morticians. Ike's frankly political speech was couched in the form of a reply to Mrs. Shirley Jean Havens, 21, wife of Arvada (Colo.) Plumber William M. Havens, and mother of two. Last November she wrote the President asking for a statement of Republican principles. (Two months later she was tactfully scouted by Ike's old friend, Denver Banker Aksel Nielsen, who subsequently promised she would be answered by TV and swore her to secrecy.) "It is true," said Ike, "that government has to do many things which, individually, we cannot do for ourselves . . . But the principle still holds true; governments must refrain from unnecessary meddling in the daily, normal problems of living and working."
He broadened his point into specifics:
FREE ECONOMY: "Republicans flatly reject the argument that the nation can pump its way to permanent prosperity by an outpouring of federal dollars."
MUTUAL SECURITY: Joint action by the U.S. and its allies must "make it possible for the new or less industrialized nations to strengthen themselves . . . There is no more vital program."
DEFENSE: "The real test is to provide security in a way that effectively deters aggression and does not itself weaken the values and institutions we seek to defend. This demands the most careful calculation and balance, as well as steadiness of purpose, not to be disturbed by noisy trumpeting.
"Time and again we hear spurious assertions that America's defenses are weak, that her economic expansive force can be sustained only by federal spending, that her educational and health efforts are deficient. In this kind of preachment political morticians are exhibiting a breast-beating pessimism in the American system."*
But there was a surprise dessert for the coast-to-coast "Dinner with Ike": the two ranking headline speakers, Vice President Nixon and his erstwhile presidential rival, New York's Governor Rockefeller, took the occasion to lay out programs they could call their own. In Washington, Rockefeller hailed Ike for rescuing the G.O.P. "from 20 years of wandering in the wilderness" and ushering in a "golden era." But unlike most Dinner-for-Ike speakers, Rockefeller did not once mention Nixon. "The Republican Party needs more crusaders," said he. "I say these things because I am a Republican who is seriously concerned about the future vigor and purpose of my party."
Key Issues. In Chicago, Nixon was introduced amid wild applause as "the next President of the U.S." in the same amphitheater where he stands to be nominated next August. In his 3,500-word text he said not a word about the dangers of inflation or the need to reduce the public debt, but stressed as key 1960 issues:
P: Overhaul the "obsolete farm programs under which the prices farmers receive . . . continue to go down and the costs to the taxpayer continue to go up."
P: Seek out "more effective methods" to solve or head off labor-management disputes "so that the public interest may be more adequately protected."
P: Work on "constructive programs" in civil rights "toward our goal of equality of opportunity for all Americans."
P: Strive to eliminate "inadequate classrooms, underpaid teachers and flabby standards" within the context of "state and local responsibility" for U.S. schools.
P: Lay out measures to combat the problems of prosperity--the aged, sick, pockets of unemployment--to restore "healthy, productive units of our economy."
The Eisenhower record has been such, said Nixon, that "there will be an understandable temptation to stand pat . . . But we shall look upon our record not as our ultimate achievement but as the solid foundation upon which to build even greater accomplishments in the future."
* Afterward, Shirley Jean said: "The President was pretty convincing, but I still haven't decided just how I will register. I still have to investigate the other side."
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