 It's time for the Lawn Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, a presentation of the Lawn Jean Wettner Watch Company, maker of Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wettner, distinguished companion to the world-honored Lawn Jean. Good evening. This is Frank Knight. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Lawn Jean Chronoscope? Larry Lucer from the CBS television news staff and Alan Chalice, an editor of People Today magazine. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Mrs. Katie Lougham, Director of Women's Activities for the Democratic National Committee. Mrs. Lougham, you've been a delegate to the last two Democratic conventions, and you were president in Chicago last year. What do you think the Democratic Party is going right now? I think it's going right back into power. I think the recent elections in New York and New Jersey and Wisconsin were striking evidences of the trend in the country, and I think even more striking and perhaps less newsworthy were the various mayor mayoralities that we picked up and places that hadn't had Democratic mayors for 18 and 20 years, such as Davenport, Iowa. And I think the party is well on the road. Power. Well, how much of this return to power do you attribute to women's votes, Mrs. Lougham? Well, I think the question there is the $64 question, because you'd have to take statistical evidence at every polling place. But I think that there's no question that the women in the Democratic Party were active in these last elections. Do you agree that with the general concession that women helped elect Eisenhower or in fact elected him? I would say that Eisenhower was elected by plurality of six million votes and I think it would be very hard to nail it down to women. I think it was men and women and I think that there were many groups involved. And I think a great many of the people who voted for Eisenhower at that time have since returned to the Democratic Party. Mrs. Lougham, do you as a active member of the Democratic Party think that the Democratic Party should go out and win both houses of Congress next year? Or do you think it better that it counterpunch until the 1956 presidential elections? No, I most certainly think we should win every seat that we can. I have no patience with the so-called armchair strategists who say no, lay off and let the Republicans keep the Senate or don't push forward on that. I think my job as I see it is to elect every Democrat that we can. Well, may I ask you a very pertinent question now? At recent exchange between Attorney General Brownell and former President Harry Truman, how do you think that's affected the Democratic Party's chances? I think it's enhanced our chances. Well, how? By coalescing the dissident elements of the party? Well, I don't think it has anything to do with coalescing. I think it has simply shocked the country into a realization that this was not the way to behave. Well, which way do you think the pendulum is going now in favor of the administration? Republicans? You mean by the administration? Yes. No, I think the pendulum is definitely in our favor. I said, well, how do you think the women of America feel about the Eisenhower administration right now? I think they must in a great degree be disappointed. I think that a good many women were persuaded that this was a genuine crusade and that they went along on the basis that all or at least some of the promises would be carried out. And I think anybody who reads the papers can only find out that that hasn't been the case. But do you have any comment on the dismissal by Mrs. Hobbie of Mrs. Hoey, I believe it is, from the Department of Public Welfare? Yes, I think that was a dismissal that created quite a bit of public comment and I think that from what I've heard, a great many letters have come into the White House and to Mrs. Hobbie protesting her dismissal because she was in a position that was certainly not a sensitive or a policy-making position, in fact, but she herself attempted to establish unsuccessfully. Mrs. Larkin, do you think that the Eisenhower administration has sufficiently rewarded its women workers? I think they've made an attempt to. I can only say that in that path they followed along what the Democrats have done. We certainly took great interest and we showed that we appreciated the women of our party and there were certainly we held the first on a great many posts such as cabinet posts and ambassadorships which they have followed along on and which they more or less had to follow along on. But I think there's been some comment recently on the fact that women as such were not invited to White House dinners and the answer the President made was that the women couldn't decide on who should be invited and I think that rather indicated that there's perhaps some skirmishing behind the lines. Mrs. Blaukheim, may I ask you, who is the real leader of the Democratic Party? Is it Adlai Stevenson or is it Harry S. Truman? Adlai Stevenson is the titular leader of the Democratic Party. I would say I think that Harry Truman as the past President of course holds a special position. At the moment, I'm afraid he's the target for the Republicans. Do you feel, Mrs. Larkin, that Mr. Stevenson in his recent speeches and it appears that he's been more critical of the administration's letter in his later speeches. Do you think that's part of it? Is that part of any planned strategy? Or is this just Mr. Stevenson's? If it were, I wouldn't know of the strategy. I think this is just Mr. Stevenson speaking his mind. Well, how do the Democrats plan to meet these attacks of the Republican Party? Are they going to reply in kind? On questions of strategy, I would find it very difficult to answer because it would seem to me that that strategy does not come from the Democratic Committee but rather from our leaders in the Senate and in the House. Well, like a military general, you don't give away your strategy in advance. That's right. But can you tell me, Mrs. Larkin, what are your own plans for activating the Democratic women of America? Well, I have a great many plans. Sometimes I think I have more plans than I have time. But I expect as soon as I can at the beginning of the year to travel throughout America and meet the Democratic women leaders whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting and to work with them on the grassroots neighbor-to-neighbor problems, it seems to me that it's very important in my position to sit down and talk to them and not to just move into an area and make a formal speech but to gather around a table. I've been able to do that in a few instances. So far, there have been some National Committee women in Washington. But I think most of them I'm going to have to go out and meet. What do you feel is their principal concern right now? What are the American women interested in politically? Well, when people ask me that question, I always think that their answer is an obvious one, that they're interested in all the issues, I think. Well, isn't there any one predominating issue at present? Well, yes, I... McCarthyism perhaps? No, I think the predominating issue in, oh, as far as women are concerned is the cost of living. In other words, the woman who is in charge of the family budget is very much concerned with what she has to pay. And she's very much concerned about all the measures that tie into that. Well, may I go back again to the case of Harry Dexter White. Do you as a democratic political worker feel that there was a political motive behind Mr. Attorney General Brown-L bringing up the case at this time? Yes, I think that's been pointed out very vigorously by our chairman, Steve Mitchell, on various occasions, in fact, as late as last night. And I think that possibly that the effect, if it was to have an effect on the California election, certainly seemed to me to be partially successful. Although it must be said that that particular congressional district was heavily Republican, but we had heard that our man had a fair chance of winning. Do you think this communism and government issue is going to blow over, or will it continue right into 1954 and the congressional elections? Well, you're asking me to make a long guess. I would say that the issues that we just mentioned, the consumer issues, the farm issues, and all the other issues are bound to become so important that the Republicans will not be able to spend as much time as they have been spending. And I think also in that connection, if communism were to continue to be featured by them, they would very soon find themselves handling a bipartisan issue, because after all, there isn't anyone in America who is not against communism. Well, that's quite true, Ms. Locke. It doesn't appear to you at present that the Republicans are certainly trying to pin the communist label on the Democrat Party. Certainly is that way to mean to everyone else, yes. Well, have you any plans or do you know of any plans to answer these attacks? Oh, I think there will be plans, as was pointed out before. I'm not sitting here giving away strategy. But then there is a plan of strategy at present. I presume that there are many plans of strategy. Ms. Locke, do you think that the Democratic Party should be in constructive opposition or merely negative opposition? Oh, heavens know. They must be constructive in opposition. I think that we will always have a program. That's what we are known for. We always have had a program. And I think where our people have shown in the last 10 months that they will support the President Administration when the President Administration is enacting those measures which we believe in, and we will also perform a very important duty, and that is give a responsible, not only constructive, but responsible opposition in which we will not impugn the loyalty. Well, then you feel that despite these Republican attacks, Democrats generally will continue to support much of the Eisenhower policy, the foreign policy. Foreign policy, certainly, yes, because that's our foreign policy. There's a final question, Ms. Locke. May I ask you again to tell us what you think will be the real political issues in 1954? I think the real political issues will be the cost of living, the question of taxes, the question of the farm program, the question of revision of Taft-Hartley, which has been tossed around for a long while, and certainly the issue of our foreign program. Well, how do you think women actually react to those issues? I think they react to them in a very much more alert fashion than certainly is given credit to them for. I think that they are very well informed and they are watching everything that this Administration is doing with a very sharp eye. Well, thank you very much, Mrs. Katie Locke-Heim, for being with us here tonight. The opinions that you've heard our speakers express tonight have been entirely their own. The editorial board for this edition of the Laun Jean Chronoscope was Larry LeSir and Alan Chalice. Our distinguished guest was Mrs. Katie Locke-Heim, Director of Women's Activities for the Democratic National Committee. If you're contemplating the purchase of a very fine watch as a Christmas gift, it will be profitable to compare the facts you have about Laun Jean watches with the facts you have about any other timepiece. And you'll find that the facts about Laun Jean are convincing proof that in a Laun Jean, you have one of the world's very finest watches. Thus, in competition with the world's best watches, Laun Jean watches have won for excellence and elegance, ten World's Fair Grand Prizes and twenty-eight gold medals for accuracy, highest honors from the leading government observatories, for dependability, a position of leadership in sports, aviation and in science. 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