National Affairs: No Sandow

Illinois’ Senator Paul Douglas was having no part of a presidential poll that made him a leading favorite of Democratic party leaders if Harry Truman decided not to run (TIME, March 19). The job, he said, requires “the brooding qualities of Lincoln, the philosophic depth of Jefferson, the sturdiness of Cleveland and the daring of Franklin Roosevelt. He needs the patience of Job and must have the physique of a Sandow.” Douglas figured that he worried too much, probably would not live a month under the nervous strain.

But he did have plenty of alternate suggestions. On the Democratic side, he could think of half a dozen who fit the bill: Truman, Eisenhower (political affiliation unknown), Chief Justice Vinson, Senators Fulbright or Kefauver, or Governor G. Mennen Williams of Michigan (“who is coming up fast”). On the Republican side: Senators Saltonstall, Lodge, Duff, Ives, Morse, Aiken, or Governor Thomas Dewey.