 It's time for the Lawn Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, 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 Lasser from the CBS News staff and Lewis Banks, associate editor of Time magazine. Our distinguished guest for this evening is Leonard W. Hall, chairman of the Republican National Committee. You know, heading a national political committee is something like being a general. You pick the right men for the jobs, you make the plans, and then you've taken supplies in the form of money. Well, then comes D-day or election day in this case, and your men are on their own. I know what you can do is sit back and wait. Well, Mr. Hall, you're battling tradition this time, too. The tradition that two years after a major presidential election, the opposition party always takes a few seats in Congress. What do you think of your prospects of winning that battle? Well, we're going to win it, Larry. We're going to win it because I think we have a similar situation to the one in 1934. We have a very popular president. We have a president who presented a very popular program to the Congress. A great percentage of that program has been enacted, and for that reason, I think we're going to have another 1934. 1954 is going to see an increase of Republican votes in both houses of Congress. Well, the Democratic National Chairman was on this program only last week, and he thought that enthusiasm about the election was pretty spotty around the country. Do you feel the same way about it? I would have said yes two or three weeks ago, but I think, Larry, by reading the papers and by talking with people, you'll find that the enthusiasm has grown in the last 10 days, and I think the reason for it is this. Mr. Eisenhower made a speech in a Hollywood Bowl, you remember? He made another one in Denver. He made another one last night in Washington. He's been on a trip today, and I think that sparked the whole campaign as far as we're concerned. Mr. Hall, on this trip of his, the president reminded the voters that the red herring was the way the last administration characterized communism in government. Now, does this mean that you're bearing down on the issue of internal communism in these last days of the campaign? It will be one of the issues. We have had surveys made, and those surveys indicate that communism is still a great issue in the United States. Yes. What are the other issues that your surveys show you were important at the last minute? Well, I think the overall, the overriding issue is the Eisenhower program, and that includes, of course, cutting costs of government, tax reductions, great security program, eliminating the diversions of government, and so on. Well, Mr. Hall, if I may say so, your opponents have claimed that the president's desire to campaign on his administration's record has been crossed up by Vice President Nixon, who has desired to campaign on the issue of communism in past governments. Now, do you agree about that? Well, I think if you read the papers just this morning, the president wrote to Mr. Nixon and congratulated him upon the hard work he's doing in this campaign. So I don't think there's any crossing up at all. I think Mr. Nixon's doing a yeoman's job in getting around the country and as vice president and as president of course, no one could ask more than the president has done in the last few weeks. Mr. Hall, during the long McCarthy army hearings, I think you decided publicly that Senator McCarthy wouldn't be much of an asset to you in this campaign. Now, Senator McCarthy has made a statement to the papers in which he urges all Republicans to unite in the elected Republican Congress with one notable exception, and that's in New Jersey. Now, in the light of his new statement, would you favor financing a campaign trip for him in these last days of the campaign? We have nothing like that on the books. Do you think he's hurt? His one exception was Mr. Case in New Jersey, whom he said he wouldn't endorse. Do you think he's hurt Case's battle for the Senate? I'm going to answer that by saying we're solidly behind Mr. Case and we are supporting all candidates who are behind the Eisenhower program. Mr. Case is the duly nominated candidate in Jersey. He has said he will support the Eisenhower program and we're doing everything we can to elect him. I'd like to ask you a hypothetical question, Mr. Hall. If you were to lose in New Jersey and Massachusetts and New York, would that mean that control of the Republican Party would go back to the Midwestern wing of the party, which has been anti-Eisenhower? Well, I think you're wrong in your premise that any part of the country has been anti-Eisenhower. Surveys indicate that he's popular in every state in the union and I can't go along with the other premises because I don't like that. If we lose them, we're not going to lose them. Well, suppose we put it this way, if certain senators were to win like Case in New Jersey and Burke in Ohio, although he's a Democrat and Douglas in Illinois, other liberal senators, would this mean that Eisenhower would be stronger in 1956? Well, I certainly can't go along with any premise which would make Mr. Eisenhower stronger if any Democrat were elected this time. The president himself has stated definitely he wants a Republican Congress and irrespective of the outcome, it's indicated that the president is still very very popular and nothing has happened to affect that popularity. Mr. Hall, there's some suspicion among Washington correspondents that certain right-wing elements of the Republican party would gladly even endure defeat of some candidates, particularly Mr. Case, in order to strengthen their own hold on the party. Do you feel an internal struggle in the party that's this desperate? Well, there's no internal struggle at all and the best way, as Al Smith used to say, is look at the record and when the chips were down in the Congress, I don't believe we have another period in history where a party stuck together, as our party did on the essential elements of the Eisenhower program. On the main issues, they voted right down the line and that's the test. Well, I wonder if you would agree that a Democratic Congress would stand up and support President Eisenhower if they took control in the congressional elections? Well, in the last Congress, Republicans supported the president about 80% of the time. Democrats supported him on the average about 40% of the time. I think that answers your question. In order to take another approach to this, supposes there would be a Republican line slide in Congress. Do you think that President Eisenhower would have an enormous strength in Congress, perhaps the most enormous hold or the strongest hold that any presidents had in the history of the Republic? Because they've all campaigned, he's helped them win. Well, I think his victory in 1952 indicated he's one of the strongest men we've ever had in public life and of course anything that would go along that same line would make that strength larger, but it's it's pretty difficult for me to see him any stronger than he is today because he's a very strong person, a very great man in the united states and very popular with the people. Mr. Hall, you said before that your figures seem to indicate that you've come up in the last 10 days. Why do you account for that? What's been your strongest issue, do you think? I think the one big thing that accounts for it is the fact that the president has been making these television broadcasts to the people and laying the issues flatly on the line as to what it would mean to him if a democrat congress were elected. I believe the people still have great faith in the president and because of his activity, we have seen a resurgence, a spark in the whole campaign. Republicans are alive all over the country and the independence and democrats who voted for Mr. Eisenhower in 1952 are again carrying on their campaign to elect republican candidates for both houses who will support Mr. Eisenhower. Mr. Hall, nevertheless Mr. Eisenhower is on on the ticket and there has been a trend, I think we'll have to admit for the democrats previous to this last week. Now, what do you think your weakest issue has been? I don't, it's hard to say what is your weakest issue. I think we can't answer it in that way. We had an apathy of voters. That apathy in part was caused by the fact that many people who voted for Mr. Eisenhower were well satisfied with what has happened down there and thought they could sit back and it would continue without them participating this fall. I wouldn't say we had a weak issue. I would hardly know what to point at. What do you think that foreign policy may have been a weaker issue? Actually, the administration has been accused by its opponents of conducting its foreign policy on a basis of sloganeering of massive retaliation of new looks at this and that. Now, do you think that's a fair accusation? Well, when you look at the situation as it was when we took over and look at the world today, it's quite a different picture. Iran settled, Suez settled, Guatemala settled, the situation in Europe settled, the war and career over will go to the people on the records as far as foreign policy is concerned and that has not been something that happened in the last few days. It has been a gradual situation created by the fact that at last we've got firm leadership so far as foreign policy is concerned in the White House. Do you worry a little about the farm vote, Mr. Hall? Reports no. For instance, I talk with people all over the country and I have no worry about that at all. Number one, I think the farmers know that if no one else knows that we are still working under this law that was passed by Democrat Congress and if there are low prices in certain areas, well, the law that if it has anything to do with the law was passed by Democrat Congress, the laws that Mr. Eisenhower asked for and were passed have not gone into operation yet. Mr. Hall is an old political tradition that people don't vote for somebody. They vote against someone. Now, if you agree with that, could you tell us what you think the people are going to vote against this time? Well, first, I think there's a great affirmative vote this year because of confidence in the president and his program. Secondly, however, I think there may be a vote against because I do not believe that our people want to go back to trumanism. 34 million people decided in 1952 they wanted no more of that and I believe they still have that on their minds and they will indicate it by their vote next Tuesday. Well, do you think that this that the elections are going to be a horse race or are they going to be a sweep for one side or the other? I have said that my feeling is that we would have the Senate by at least two seats and the House by at least 15 seats. I would call that a pretty close election. I see. Well, thank you very much for taking out this time Mr. Hall for coming up here and talking to us. Good to be with you. The opinions expressed on the Launcine Chronoscope were those of the speakers. The editorial board for this edition of the Launcine Chronoscope was Larry Lesser and Lewis Banks. Our distinguished guest was Leonard W. Hall, chairman of the Republican National Committee. The old words accuracy and reliability take on a new and a true meaning when applied to a Launcine watch. Because one knows where one stands with time all the time, a Launcine watch brings you priceless peace of mind. 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