(2 of 9)
"One Party" Press. Graham's Post is part of a larger Washington press phenomenon. Some Democratic politicians among them Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson, have often charged that the U.S. has a "one party," i.e., Republican, press. But if the owners and publishers of U.S. newspapers constitute a force for the G.O.P., there is another more effective ''one party" Democratic press: the Washington press corps. An estimated 85% of the correspondents in the capital, conditioned in the Depression and under the New Deal, have political reflexes that respond favorably to Democrats, unfavorably to Republicans. They strengthen their reflexes daily by reading the Post, where their reactions are shared by most of the Post's top brass, including Managing Editor Al Friendly, 44, an active charter member of Americans for Democratic Action, and Publisher Graham himself.
When a Republican Administration came to Washington in 1952, the correspondents put fresh vigor into their classic role as people's monitor over the Government. The publishers had overwhelmingly supported the Eisenhower candidacy, but they were not in Washington doing the prying and prodding that go with the day's work of the good reporter. It was the working press that kept asking what the President would do about Joe McCarthy (and what McCarthy would do about the President), whether "Engine Charlie" Wilson was going to sell his General Motors stock,* or if Republican appointees were trying to "give away" natural resources to special interests.
In their digging zeal, the newsmen have performed a worthwhile service. Government administrators have been put on guard; mistakes have not gone long unnoticed. The working press has helped prod the Administration into swift action in some cases, e.g., the resignation of former Secretary of the Air Force Harold Talbott. In that way the correspondents have proved a blessing in disguise to the Republican Administration, though as Sir Winston Churchill remarked, when he applied the phrase to the British Labor victory in 1945, "the disguise is perfect."
The Sharpest Cut. In this needling process the Post, an "independent" i.e., politically unaffiliated, newspaper has played its characteristic leading role. It editorially supported Eisenhower in 1952. Since then, it has grown increasingly critical of the Administration, which now finds it unfriendly in tone and attitude. The Post has applauded Eisenhower personally, as well as parts of his Administration's program (farming, foreign aid education, fiscal policy). At the same time, it has condemned Republicans whom it labels "extremist," e.g., Vice President Nixon, has criticized what it considers "disgraceful excesses" of the loyalty-security program, and has hit often and hard at what it calls the tidelands oil and timber "giveaways." It has also sharply needled (but sometimes praised) John Foster Dulles on foreign policy.