THE PRESIDENCY: What Is Natural for Me

Whenever he stepped into the White House Cabinet Room last week, the President of the U.S. ran spang up against a sight that made him wince. Around the room were stretched easeled posters on which the progress or lack of progress of his 1957 legislative program had been dutifully drawn in grease pencil. The pencil marks were hardly encouraging; Dwight Eisenhower’s associates got the impression of a man hurt and angry.

“Of course I am disappointed,” the President told reporters at his news conference, “because these things that I talk about are not pet projects of my own. I have no particular personal reason other than that of a concern for all of the United States of America for wanting them passed, but that reason is governing and controlling for me.”

Factions and Fractions. There was good reason for disappointment. With Congress on the verge of adjourning, the President at last count had seen only 15.8% of this session’s proposals passed, large and small. In 1956 Ike’s record stood at 45.7%; in the halcyon days of 1953 it was a whopping 72.7%. There was precedent for this downward trend of the percentages. Harry Truman, battling violently against his final Democratic Congress, managed to push, pull and maneuver through only a fraction of his requests. And Franklin Roosevelt, in his later terms, had to deal with a Democratic Congress that was in open revolt, a Senate Majority Leader (Alben Barkley) who resigned rather than back him, and a Senate that was in a mood to make a rare gesture by voting down the nomination of Henry Wallace for Secretary of Commerce.

Dwight Eisenhower’s problems were different from those of Harry Truman or Franklin Roosevelt. In the 85th Congress, controlling Democrats who were cautious about speaking out against Ike in previous years have spent the session turning him down on such major issues as civil rights, the budget, mutual security, school construction. Their confident unity was simply analyzed: Democrats, since Congress convened last January, have been preparing a record for 1958’s congressional elections, beyond that for 1960’s presidential campaign. And they early decided that they had little to worry about from a President who in spite of his soaring personal popularity can not run again and is not truly popular with the Old Guard elements of his own party.

Clear and Unqualified. In addition to Democratic campaigning, there were other, basic problems. One was the President’s own personal philosophy of the Presidency, i.e., that he should propose and the Congress should dispose, without any pressures or threats or maneuvers from the White House. Another was the fact that he has had no Senate leader to match the wiles of the Democrats’ skillful Lyndon Johnson of Texas.

Last week both politicians and reporters wondered whether Dwight Eisenhower’s experiences with the 85th Congress would prompt him to alter his philosophy. Did he plan to wage a Truman-type “Give ’em hell” campaign next year against the men who had opposed his programs? His no was clear and unqualified. Said he at the press conference: “I will just have to pursue what is natural for me.”