Stassen Claims Ike Has Shown Strong Capacity for Leadership

President Eisenhower has shown a constructive leadership far superior to that evidenced by Adlai E. Stevenson during his governorship of Illinois, Harold E. Stassen, special assistant to the president, said last night.

Speaking under the auspices of the M.I.T. Lecture Series Committee and the Harvard Law School Forum, Stassen opened by saying that one of the best measurements of leadership is in its results.

He contrasted the world situation in 1952 with that of today, and noted a definite improvement, "sometimes brought about by the President personally, sometimes under his direction, and sometimes indirectly through the climate which he has created."

The Korean and Indo-Chinese wars have ended, he pointed out, our budget has gradually been balanced and, progress has been made in civil rights, with the capital and the armed services pointing the way. He also noted that the controls over our economy have gradually been lessened, the danger of inflation has been removed, Germany has been brought into the NATO alliance, and Japan has gained in economic stature.

Attacks Illinois Record

In contrast to this constructive leadership, Stassen said the Illinois records show many instances of maladministration under Governor Stevenson.

Specifically, he claimed that the Stevenson administration had dallied for a year while millions of dollars of state revenue were lost through the counterfeiting of tax stamps. He also claimed that members of the administration were involved in bribe-taking and "the widespread deceptive sale of horsemeat."

Answering the charge that the Republicans have discriminated in favor of big business, Stassen pointed to the facts that employment has risen from 61 to 66 million under Eisenhower and that the average factory wage of workers has increased.