Show Aspirants Hint for h GOP Bid in 48 j r 1 r rr i Ike Rel Reluctant Taft Works Hal Hard d for fOl Pal Party ty Nomination I r I J 1 By BAUKHAGE J I News Analyst ami nd Commentator i- i WASHINGTON Back Back before World War II started I 1 attended a party given by Mark Woods my present boss t f One of the guests with whom I had been associated on the Farm and Home Hour came to me and said I want you to tot t neel neet my brother Hes He's a lieutenant colonel in the army and f C think hes he's going places I So we went back and I shook hands with a pink-cheeked pink personable soldier exchanged a few words and drifted on Shortly afterward 1039 I went to Europe the war broke and the party was long forgotten Somewhat later and often since I have had occasion to remember the lieutenant colonel vividly 1 I have just been looking at a graph drawn In 1845 by that same sam lieutenant colonel after he wa was needled Into It by bya a biographer I It shows his promotions promotions promo promo- lions from rom th the thet S. S t time i m e he was wa graduated from tram West Pol Point n t in 1915 In World War WarI I I. I he reached a lieutenant colonelcy colo cola nelcy but after the armistice rev reverted reverted re re- re- re i v e r t e d to his anent Baukhage perm permanent rank of captain i He soon was promoted to a major boosts were slow in those days and remained a major until 1936 From then until the time I met him himat himat himat at that party he was a lieutenant colonel Two years passed and then things began to happen Colonel In 41 Ml upped to brigadier general the same year major general in 1942 commanding commanding commanding com com- manding general of the European theater of operation then in 1945 lieutenant general and commanding general Allied forces in the European European European Euro Euro- theater theater now now president of Columbia Columbia Co Co- lumbia university or maybe something something some thing bigger to be Milton Eisenhower was right when he said his brother was going places It Is In the voluminous voluminous voluminous vo vo- Three luminous volume M Sly 1 Years With Eisenhower by Harry arry Butcher his naval na aide that the hart chart appears he graph shows at its peak the rank of four star general Butcher jokingly plotted the curve down vu after that point I to zero Eisenhower immediately immedi immedi- r drew a fishing pole at the nadir thus expressing his hopes Both were wrong The government government govern govern- ment meat pinned a fifth filth star on him and the fishing pole has been transmuted into a cap and gown as symbol of ot othis his new rank when he switches bosses from rom Mars to Minerva But if certain boosters have their wa way the line on the chart may move upward again I haven't heard what the generals general's down deep-down plans are but from rom what I hear the fishing pole is still the final objective and he doesn't necessarily necessarily necessarily mean fishing from a presidential presidential presidential yacht Meanwhile brother Milton Eisenhower Eisenhower Eisen Eisen- hower has gone places too Hes He's also a president president of Kansas State college and very happy there It was rumored that if he should choose to take a post which had been suggested for him him him- back in the department of agriculture agriculture ture hire as secretary U this s time when and if it Clinton Anderson moved elsewhere elsewhere else else- where and thus became a member of 01 the Truman cabinet it would mean that his brother was not considering con a new job Senator Taft Personifies GOP Ot of course it is more fun tun general izing about generals than it is to particularize about the prime contenders contenders contenders con con- tenders tn in the candidates' candidates elephant race to come But no matter how much political dust some dark or even chestnut roan stirs up later there are just two people the politicians politicians clans have bave to consider now They are Senator Taft of ot Ohio and Governor Governor Governor Gov Gov- Dewey of New York I was standing with a group out- out aide eide the executive offices of the White House waiting for the presidential presidential presidential press and radio conference when a genial human cloud much than a mans man's hand in fact almost twice as big as most mens men's bodies appeared on the horizon It was the politically astute and ardent Rep Clarence Brown Brown- of Ohio The boys ragged Brown a little about the Taft trip but bot he a bit down downhearted Said he We didn't expect to bring back a bunch of f delegates Taft made votes for the Republican party and that means votes for Taft Despite Browns Brown's optimism optimism some observers have felt that although Taft did make new friends they weren't new votes for lor they were already solid Republicans Frankly 1 dont don't understand Taft very well There is no question about his intellect or his intellectual judgments Nobody could ask for a greater demonstration of political skill on the legislative side than his record in the last congress reveals But nut that isn't all One of Tafts Taft's critics fully cognizant cognizant zant of the Republican policy leaders leaders leader's lead ers er's achievements said that his intellectual intellectual in in- Judgments ran ahead of his practical application of them I suppose the critic meant that for all Tafts Taft's powers of reasoning scholarship and tremendous ability to acquire knowledge and weigh facts he sometimes appears to al allow allow al al- low his hereditary viewpoint rather than his acquired conclusions to guide his course Taft is naturally conservative conservative and and sometimes I am sure he has been intellectually persuaded persuaded per per- Jer- Jer as to the validity of certain measures but has been unable to support those measures fully tully because because be be- cause of this inborn conservatism To those who know Taft even more than casually he is cool rarely rarely rarely rare rare- ly unbending legalistic He can prove himself however as even the I least sympathetic newsmen on his recent trip admit affable and ap ap- ap- ap Also he has that on many occasions so useful acquisition acquisition tion especially when chaperoning a tailed bob-tailed flush the poker fase fage Even his smile which U if overworked overworked over over- worked becomes a 8 bit rubbery robbery doesn't always dispel this sion Although he inherited from rom his father William Howard Taft a tremendous tremendous tremendous tre tre- tre- tre capacity for hard work and a conservative point of view he heacks lacks acks the robust geniality conveyed by the Elder Tafts Taft's smile and laugh Unfortunately Robert Taft hasn't that risible faculty to relieve relieve relieve re re- re- re lieve a certain aloof remoteness of manner and expression He lie Isby is isby isby by no means a glamour-boy glamour and he knows it One time when Republicans Republicans Republicans Re Re- publicans and Democrats were gathered at some clambake in New England and the raillery became a little personal Taft challenged the Democrats to a beauty contest Senator Pepper who knows he has no claim to pulchritude himself immediately immediate Immediate- ly jumped up to say Im Impaired Impaired Impaired paired with the senator from Ohio Taft has some sense of humor even ven if he isn't famous for it Perhaps Perhaps Per Per- haps he absorbed it from his witty wife wile He stands six feet tall and he isn't stout although somehow or orther other ther you seem to think of him that way He is still young young only only 58 Im I'm sure ure that's young because its it's exactly ex ex- my age As Representative Brown intimated intimated inti inti- mated Tafts Taft's speeches on his western west- west era ern rn tour almost entirely devoted to the glor glorification cation of the Republican party's arty's record in the first session of the IB congress helped strengthen the party In fact Taft generally is SENATOR TAFT accepted as the personification of the he Republican party party and and well he might be considering be-consIdering the manner in which he dominated the last session ses- ses sion sian lon maintaining the respect of the ilie Democratic leaders which he always always always al al- al- al ways has had had It if not their love and admiration which he never has had ad |