Thursday, Nov. 14, 1963 University Daily Kansan
Page 9
Goldwater May Change Stands to Avoid Taft Fate
WASHINGTON —(UPI)— One of these days Sen. Barry Goldwater is going to have to make a basic decision. Should he start moving from the far right toward the center of American political opinion or should he stand fast and risk the fate that overtook the late Robert A. Taft?
Neither the far right nor the far left elects an American President. The decision is made by the millions of independent voters who dwell in the middle group. Taft, like Goldwater, was a conservative. He lost the 1952 Republican nomination to Dwight D. Eisenhower because the party professionals thought he was too conservative to win the election.
THIS IS A big club and Goldwater's opponents will hit him with it repeatedly as the campaign heats up. The other horn of the dilemma is that if Goldwater starts moving from the far right toward the center, he is bound to alienate the people who now are the hard core of his support.
Letter to Goldwater from San Francisco: "The tragic picture of Tom Dewey and then again Richard Nixon agreeing to everything the incumbent administration had done and merely saying they could do it cheaper remains very vividly before
us. There are millions of people who would like to be able to vote on the clear-cut issues of personal freedom, sharply restricted foreign aid and our whole ridiculous foreign policy.
"Your stand in the past has been very clear, but it is noticeable that you have compromised these stands to some extent in the more recent past. I hope you will maintain a firm position and not compromise any further."
IN RECENT years Goldwater has traveled a million miles and made 800 speeches. He has given countless press conferences and appeared on many television programs. Any man who talks that much inevitably is going to say something he would like to have forgotten. Occasionally Goldwater unconciously contradicts himself. Example:
In an interview the other day Newsweek magazine asked Goldwater why he had voted for the $6 billion agricultural appropriation bill when he had been demanding a "prompt and final termination" of the farm subsidy program. Goldwater denied he had voted for the bill. He was shown the vote which had him paired in favor of the bill. That meant he was not present when the vote was taken but had arranged
Political Scientist Views Recent Elections In South
It is difficult to demonstrate any relation between the Kentucky and Mississippi gubernatorial elections and the Presidential elections next year, said Earl A. Nehring, assistant professor of political science.
Nehring said trying to find implications was "like looking for the proverbial needle in the hawstack."
Professor Nehring spoke at the KU-Y Current Events Forum yesterday on the implication of the gubernatorial elections on the Presidential election next year.
In the Mississippi gubernatorial race, Democrat Paul Johnson, won the election. However, the Republicans probably tallied the largest number of votes since the reconstruction period. Nehring said.
He said the Republicans show of strength might be due to the continuing development of Republican strength in the South. It also might
be attributed to the anti-Kennedy feeling in the South.
Nehring said the Kentucky gubernatorial race indicated that the Republicans were also gathering strength in this state. He attributed the rise of Republican strength to anti-Kennedy feeling. Nehring also said the Democrats in Kentucky were dragging their feet on the racial issue in that state.
with a senator who opposed the bill to have their votes cancel each other out. Goldwater immediately phoned the Senate clerk and had his vote changed to no.
Edward Breathitt, Dem., won the election against Louis Nunn, Rep.
Nehring also commented on the North Dakota elections. Mark Anderson, Rep., won by a comfortable but not sizable, margin, Nehring said. He attributed the Democrat loss of power to the farmer's dissatisfaction with the Kennedy farm program. He said it also indicated a return of North Dakota to its previous Republican loyalty.
Goldwater desperately needs the approval of Eisenhower to win the nomination because the former president still is the hero of millions of voters in the middle ground. Some years ago Goldwater was asked what he thought about Eisenhower's brother, Milton, as a presidential possibility. He replied: "One Eisenhower in a generation is enough." To Goldwater his credit he does not try to wriggle off the hook today by claiming he was misquoted. But he does maintain that what he meant was that Dwight Eisenhower had rendered distinguished service to the nation and that the family should not be called upon to do anything further, especially since it was doubtful that Milton could match his brother's record.
President Kennedy's election in the face of some anti-Catholic sentiment seems to offer the promise that religious intolerance is on the wane in American politics. A recent Gallup poll confirms the trend. In 1958 about 28 per cent of the persons questioned said they would not vote for a Jew for President even if he were well qualified. This year the percentage has dropped to 17.
Convenience is a Garbage Disposal
SO FAR Eisenhower, as far as the public knows, is neutral in the race for the GOP nomination. He did say at one stage that he would like for Goldwater to be more explicit in what he stands for.
And at such a modest cost . . .
GOLDWATER'S staff allowed this reporter to inspect a file of "hate literature." To date there has not been received a single letter raising the religious issue. The file consists entirely of pamphlets put out by George Rockwell's American Nazi party, an organization called the National Dump Goldwater Committee and similar groups.
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their intolerance in public. But it would be naive to assume there is no anti-Jewish sentiment in the United States so long as Jews are denied admittance to some clubs and social organizations.
There is one other factor that so far—to the credit of the American people—has not played any part in Goldwater's candidacy. It is the problem of religious intolerance. Goldwater's father was a Jew and his mother a gentle. This is what politicians call an "iceberg issue," meaning eight-tenths of it is below the surface.
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Nobody is able to measure precisely the impact of religious intolerance on a Presidential election. Few people go around proclaiming
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Goldwater recently visited the former President at Gettysburg and assured Eisenhower he would state his views fully on all issues if he announces he is a candidate. Between now and the announcement of his candidacy will be a time of trial for Goldwater because he knows that if
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he comes up with a program unacceptable to Eisenhower, he will have two strikes on him before the Republican convention convenes.
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