Recruiting a Team

In the jungle heat of Washington last week President Eisenhower devoted most of his time to a torpid and sluggish Congress.

One night the President sat down to a steak dinner with 46 of the 48 freshmen Republicans from the lower house. After coffee, he gave an informal half-hour talk. Ike did not preach or threaten. He outlined the policies of his Administration and quietly explained the reasons for them. Afterwards, the Congressmen kept Ike on his feet for an hour answering a steady drumfire of questions that covered everything from Korea to extension of the excess profits tax.

The President intensively courted Congress. At one early morning conference he spent an hour and a half with G.O.P. legislative leaders, urging passage of the refugee bill, foreign aid and ratification of the three NATO treaties. The next morning House Appropriations Chairman John Taber and members of the House Foreign Aid Subcommittee sat at the White House mess for talks about the MSA money bill.

The President was not always successful in his courtship. His lieutenants were using more muscular forms of persuasion (e.g., telephoned hints that the White House will back only those who back the White House) to get reluctant Congressmen in line.

A White House spokesman explained why Ike is making progress in lining up congressional majorities for future votes. "The major legislation is coming up. We're just telling all our friends that we'd like to have them on the ball team. We're letting them know that we're watching the way they vote." With the 1954 elections on the way, most Congressmen already realized how nice it would be to be on Ike's ball team.

This week Speaker Joe Martin and Acting Senate Leader Bill Knowland hurried to the White House for a conference and a progress report. After an hour and a half with the President, they agreed on a 10-point program of "must" legislation to be passed this session. "We realize that we will have to step on the gas," said Martin. Added Knowland: "I'm prepared to call the Senate at 10 o'clock or possibly 9 o'clock in the morning for the next two weeks, and we will stay until midnight if necessary."

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