THE PRESIDENCY: One-Third & One

No President in U.S. history has had an opposition-party Congress for so much of his tenure (three-fourths), and few have fought so doggedly and effectively against it as Dwight Eisenhower. Last week Ike was fighting — making it plain that he would fight until Congress adjourns in July against any overblown welfare-spending plans that would imperil a balanced budget. To the fight he brought an assortment of ploys and thrusts worthy of the tough and formidable politician that he has gradually become.

From the White House came a "warning," as Ike himself called it, that if "domestic requirements" press him — meaning if Congress passes big-spending bills — he may fly back to Washington before the May summit meeting in Paris comes to an end, leaving Vice President Richard Nixon to sit in for him. "If the Democrats want to make sure that Nixon doesn't go to the summit," said a White House staffer, "then they had better not mess around with spending bills while the President is gone."

Meeting with G.O.P. congressional leaders in the Cabinet Room of the White House, the President told them that he was strenuously opposed to many Democratic proposals pending in Congress, notably the billion-dollar housing bill (see below) and the bill to boost the pay of federal employees by 20%. He worked away at a tough-toned special message, to be sent to Capitol Hill this week, calling upon Congress to resist election-year spending temptations, reject budget-straining welfare bills, and enact his own less costly proposals instead.

At a breakfast meeting with 16 G.O.P. Senators, Ike vowed to "leave a heritage of an honest dollar." If necessary, he said, he would even cut short his June visit to Russia to return to Washington and fight for his budget. After posing for press pictures with his breakfast guests on the north portico of the White House, the President turned to Illinois' Minority Leader Everett M. Dirksen, wagged a finger, and publicly laid down a challenge to congressional Democrats. "Remember." said Ike, "one-third and one — that's the watchword." Translation: to defeat Democratic spending programs, the President did not need majorities in Congress; all he needed was one-third of the votes plus one vote, in either the Senate or the House, to uphold his vetoes.