AMERICA'S CHANGING TEMPER
An American corresfrondent writes : The collapse of interest in the McCarthyites has contributed much to the possibility of a soberer view of the Far East. But it is obvious that another factor has been contributing to this sobering of American politics 'and that that factor may well be relatively permanent. Democrats in some numbers are won- dering if it won't indeed be permanent beyond 1956, and not to their liking. For that factor is the President's new under- standing of and attention to his job. It had been known all along that the President was a man of moderation and that he did not like many of the things that went on in his name and in his party. And it was also clear that, at least by last November's, elections, he was heartily sick of the distant and aloof role he had assigned to himself and in which he was assiduously coached by his advisers. But somewhere, perhaps back in November, he discovered not only that he, with his special popularity, and his office were a power, but also that he could use that power in the specific task of moulding and leading popular opinion, that he himself could do much to create the atmosphere in which he had to work. It is said that his enthusiasm for golf and Westerns is much damped and that he now regards it only as exercise. It is said that, instead of dreading his press conferences and put- ting them off with the least excuse, he now welcomes them, and, of course, he now permits them to be televised. It is said that he has relaxed his rule about no memoranda of more than one page. It is said that he no longer grins, now only smiles, and that he looks tired, particularly around the eyes. And witness, too, the careful and only seemingly offhand manner in which he described the incident in which an American plane was shot down off Formosa by the Communists : The pilot was 'wandering around' . . . but no one got hurt. The value of the President's contribution to the new climate of American politics is not underestimated (nor, perhaps, undervalued) by all those 'liberals' who called for it for so long. They knew he could, and now he has. But in their welcome there is this shadow of apprehension. The President has discovered his power and his conscience makes him use it. What will that conscience decree in 1956? If it says that four years is not enough, the 'liberals' know that a comfortable majority of Americans will agree. The role that Stevenson will play in the future of America may be decided only by Mamie's ability to overcome the conscience and get her man back on the farm.
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