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Tuesday. None other than Secretary of State Dulles, at his press conference, got up to criticize Dick Nixon. Said Dulles, "I do not think it wise that current aspects of foreign policy should be injected in the campaign." Dulles added specifically that Nixon's Chicago statement "might fit without the limits which I hope both sides would observe." Later Dulles phoned Nixon to explain that he had not meant to be critical, next day put out a confusing statement that Nixon was only replying to Democratic criticisms and "in those circumstances I fully concurred in the need for that answer."
Wednesday. First off at his press conference, President Eisenhower was taxed with Nixon's Chicago statement, admitted right away that "I haven't even read it." Then Ike spoke sharp sentences in which he seemed to turn his back on his own party's campaign. "I do subscribe to this theory: foreign policy ought to be kept out of partisan debate . . . I realize that when someone makes a charge another individual is going to reply. I deplore that. They have made the charges about me. I will not answer, do not expect to. So I believe in the long term America's best interests will be best served if we do not indulge in this kind of thing." The President added another above-the-battle point. A recent G.O.P. leaders' statement issued after a White House meeting held that Democrats' policies tended toward socialism (TIME, Oct. 20). This, said Ike, was "not my statement—it was theirs. I think politicians do love to make things very positive [laughter].''
At this point Nixon, by then campaigning in San Francisco, took the hard, split-second decision to speak out against the President's position. Said Nixon to a press conference: "The President said that he did not believe that when an attack is made on the foreign policy of the U.S. it should be answered. For the President of the U.S. this, I think, is a proper position. But I will say this also—that for us who have the responsibility of carrying the weight of this campaign, to stand by and to allow our policies to be attacked with impunity by our opponents without reply would lead to inevitable defeat . . . One of the reasons the Republican Party is in trouble today is because, over the past two years particularly, we have allowed people to criticize our policies and we have not stood up and answered effectively. That is a mistake. I don't intend to make that mistake in this campaign."
Thursday. There was consternation at the White House that spread through official Washington. Said one Administration hand: "Dick is so tired he must be punch-drunk." Presidential Press Secretary James Hagerty got Nixon on the phone, agreed with Nixon that a statement of clarification ought to be put out. Republican National Chairman Meade Alcorn dropped by at the White House to see the President. Then the President sent Nixon a wire noting that 1) although basic foreign policies ought to be bipartisan, 2) it was perfectly O.K. to reply to the Democrats on foreign policy's "operation." Said Ike: QUESTIONS AND CRITICISMS HAVE INVOLVED LEBANON . . . QUEMOY AND MATSU, ETC. THESE ACTIONS, WHEN CRITICIZED, SHOULD BE SUPPORTED BY OUR SIDE. NO ONE CAN DO THIS MORE EFFECTIVELY THAN YOU. ALL THE BEST TO YOU. D.D.E.