Republicans: Whom Ike Likes

As the Philadelphia Inquirer told it last week, Dwight D. Eisenhower had picked his favorites for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964. In conversation with "political intimates," wrote Reporter Joseph H. Miller, Ike had made it clear he would happily support any one of four men — Pennsylvania's Governor William Scranton, Michigan's Governor George Romney, Kentucky's Senator Thruston Morton or retired General Lucius Clay. What made the list notable was the conspicuous absence of the current front runners, Arizona's Senator Barry Goldwater and New York's Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

The Inquirers story, an Eisenhower aide reported, got Ike "vexed to beat hell." Nonetheless, he waited four days to make his reply. Then Ike dispatched messages to both Rockefeller and Goldwater, as well as to G.O.P. congressional leaders and the Republican National Committee. He has no favorites, Ike insisted. The party, he said, is fortunate in having a number of "highly popular and able" potential candidates. "I'm for each and against none."