National Affairs: Birthday Week

Dwight Eisenhower had a happy birthday (62) and a lively week. He 1) made his fourth foray into the South, evoking a resounding echo of enthusiasm, 2) hit back hard at Harry Truman's weird charges that Eisenhower is an isolationist and biased against minority groups.

Louisiana & Tidelands. In New Orleans 70,000 people cheered his arrival. It was a bigger crowd than Stevenson had drawn the week before. The Administration, said Eisenhower, thinks that "all that is necessary to keep [the South] in the bag is a paternalistic-pat on the head once every four years . . . [and] its low admonition that all the South's blessings flow from Washington. You know and I know that is plain bunk." Again & again he ridiculed the Administration's picture of the "fairy godfather in Washington," attacked "Washington powermongers" and "Administration arrogance toward the South."

Then he went into a clear definition of his stand on tidelands: "I favor the recognition of clear legal title to these lands [as well as other submerged lands and resources] in each of the 48 states. This has been my position since 1948, long before I was persuaded to go into politics." Twice Congress passed a bill giving tidelands control to the states and twice the President vetoed them. Said Ike: "I would approve such acts of Congress . . . [Stevenson] would have the Federal Government take over and dole out to the tin cups of the states whatever part of the revenue Washington decided might be good for them. This I would call the Shoddy Deal."

Texas & Korea. Heading west, Eisenhower traveled across his native Texas, saluted by cheers and chants of "Happy Birthday." At Waco he recalled a recent speech in which he had said that unless there is a change, the Government would be telling the housewife how to wash her dishes. Well, he had hit closer to home than he realized, because "look at what I found out: the Department of Agriculture . . . has already prepared a 32-page booklet on the subject of dishwashing. Now, someone whose salary is paid by the taxpayers' money made a remarkable discovery . . He says dishes should be washed in a dishpan; not just any dishpan, either, [but one] large enough to accommodate your dishes. [The booklet] can be bought from the Superintendent of Documents in Washington for 10¢. If you are having any trouble with your dishwashing, ladies, why not take advantage of the bargain?" It was one of Ike's rare tries at humor, and the crowd roared.

At San Antonio, Eisenhower had serious words on Korea: "It won't bring comfort to any American house to fix Korea and have as bad or worse trouble break out in another place . . . Korea is part of the whole global problem." He concluded with a solemn call to "every Godfearing, loyal American of every faith or party to offer tonight a prayer for peace in Korea. In my heart, as in yours, it cannot come too soon."