Salt Lake Tribune Nov 28th 1953 DAVID LAWRENCE Democratic Laxity Viewed As Basic Election Issue WASHINGTON Both McCarthyism and Trumanism will be issues in the 1954 congressional campaigns but not always as between the Republican and Democratic parties. The issues will arise between Republican candidates contesting in their primaries and between Democratic candidates contesting in their primaries. On the outcome of the primaries will depend whether either issue gets into the final campaign. Any idea that all Democrats will line up to defend Trumanism and that all Republicans will defend McCarthyism may be dispelled now. Anyone familiar with congressional elections knows that such matters are usually local rather than national and that the importance of an issue is related to the kind of constituency involved. Saltonstall Sees Issue Thus, Sen. Saltonstall, Republican, who is up for reelection in Massachusetts next year, has just been quoted as saying subversion in goverment would be an issue in the elections in his state. In Massachusetts there has been a deep seated belief that Communists in government have been treated too gently. This might not be true in other states. There is room for difference of opinion as to how these issues will develop, but past experience shows that neither party as such will take a stand committing its respective candidates for Congress. Trumanism will, of course, be an issue made wherever the congressional candidate is faced with the cry that McCarthyism has been embraced by the Eisenhower Administration, as charged by former President Truman in his speech of Nov. 16. Trumans Definition It is interesting to note that President Eisenhower told his press conference the other day that he didnt know just that the term McCarthyism really means. Mr. Truman in his speech a week ago, however, defined it this way: It is now evident that the present administration has fully embraced, for political advantage, McCarthyism. I am not referring to the senator from Wisconsin he is only important in that his name has taken on a dictionary meaning in the world. It is the corruption of truth, the abandonment of our historical devotion to fair play. It is the abandonment of the due process of law. It is the use of the big lie and the unfounded accusation against any citizen in the name of Americanism or security. It is the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spread of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of our society. McCarthys Description Sen. McCarthy in his rejoinder gives this definition of Trumanism Trumanism can perhaps best be defined as the placing of your political party above the interest of the country, regardless of how much the country is damaged thereby. It is the theory that no matter how great the wrong, it is right if it helps your political party. Trumanism in effect says to the head of a household that if you catch a criminal looting your safe, kidnaping your children and attacking your wife, do not dare turn the spotlight on him, or get rough with him, or call the police, because if you do, the criminal will have you arrested for disturbing the peace. Will Avoid Issue Most candidates in both parties will avoid the Communist issue if they can because, after all, it is not the Wisconsin senator but the millions of voters who think the Democratic administration covered up and suppressed the facts about Communists in government for fear of political injury at the polls who will be alienated if anyone attempts to make a straight out ant McCarthy issue. Also, on the other hand, if any candidate impugns the loyalty of the former President, it will boomerang. The issue, where it does arise, will be fought rather on the laxity and looseness of the Democratic administration. It can be of no avail in districts where the Democratic members of Congress and there are many of them have fought the Communists vigorously in public hearings and speeches in Congress.