August 21, 1974

A Governor Best Choice For Veep

Let's play "pick the Veep."

President Gerald Ford has promised to name his vice-president this week, and the Washington pundits are working up a pretty good sweat trying to influence or forecast the selection.

The President has asked the advice of just about everyone else in the country BUT me.  So I now offer my unsolicited recommendation as a convenient excuse to review the current political situation.

I write this on Sunday, Aug. 18, and it is possible that Ford's choice of vice-president will be announced before this column reaches print at mid-week.  Nevertheless, it is part of the game that I should go on record with my prediction before the fact.

If I was the vice-president, here's how I would view the situation:

In times of political stress, Americans most often have sought refuge in the center.  The mood today clearly is in this direction.

Our nation needs a period of tranquility - a pause to reassess political philosophies shaken in the last decade by change and dissent.

The Republican party needs a healer without scar tissue - a man of strength, integrity, loyalty and humility.

The President is thought to embody these characteristics.  The new vice-president should possess the same qualities in order to emphasize that such political leaders (make that, Republican leaders) are the rule rather than the exception.

As a practical matter, a vice-president should reflect different appeals to the geography and experience of an administration.  This caters to regional pride and encourages confidence.

In the more important realm of ideology, the vice-president should assist in orienting the administration toward the center.  This assures the public that centrist policies will continue without radical change.

Thus, the most effective vice-president at this time would reflect a substantially different practical background than that of the President, but only a slight tilt to the political center.

For example, the vice-president should not duplicate the assets of Ford which are generally considered to be these:

1. a member of Congress,
2. from the midwest,
3. conservative,
4. associated with the previous administration and a.  
5. participant in the public Watergate discussion.

On this basis, the Washington D.C. types are eliminated.  Ford provides all the expertise in that regard.  Also, Congress was too heavily involved in Watergate debate - pro and con.

It is doubtful that any members of Nixon's cabinet would be acceptable, so that rules out Elliot Richardson and Melvin Laird.  Likewise for George Bush, Nixon's personal choice for chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Specifically, therefore, the vice-president should be

1. a governor,
2. from the south, northeast or southwest,
3. a moderate,
4. unscarred by Watergate discussion, and
5. a relatively young, new face capable of achieving national leadership recognition six years from now when Ford will be ineligible for reelection.

Governors have practical administrative ability.  Choice of a vice-president from this rank would emphasize a continuation of Nixon's significant "New Federalism" in which local government is given more autonomy.

In my opinion, the decentralization of federal government, and establishment of the revenue-sharing concept, will be Nixon's heritage to U.S. history rather than his foreign policy achievements.

Of the populous regions from which to choose a vice-president, the south would be logical from the Republican Party stand-point.

Nixon won his first presidential election with a "southern strategy" that capitalized on the natural affinity of southerners to traditional Republican principles of ' self reliance.  The Republican party - needs to continue this trend if it is to remain a viable force in the two-party system.

A moderate political philosophy would advance Ford's administration one step toward the center.

Put all of the foregoing together and we come up with a southern governor.  There are only two Republicans from which to choose - Winfield Dunn of Tennessee, and Linwood Holton of Virginia.

Of these two, .I think Dunn is the most likely.  He is relatively young, articulate, moderate and able to get elected in a usually Democratic state.

Nelson Rockefeller of New York, with his slight tilt to the liberal and his experience as, governor, would qualify.  However, his age is a handicap.  Governor Ronald Reagan of California would be eligible except his conservative philosophy overbalances the Ford administration in that direction.

Whomever is Ford's choice, it is hoped that the Senate will confirm him quickly and without partisan carping.  The job of fighting inflation has been too long on the back burner.  A compatible executive team with the support of Congress and the nation is essential at "this point in time."

Author: Lindsey Williams