In Presidential Race as Usual, He Pushes Moderate Views : Veteran GOP Loser Stassen Just Can’t Give Up Trying

To Harold M. Stassen, running for President is a little like eating potato chips. Every time he vows to quit, he has to reach for just one more.

Now 80, the Grand Old Party’s grand old loser began nibbling again here recently as he launched his 1988 bid for the Republican nomination--probably his eighth, he says, but he has lost count.

There were no officious advance men, no banners, no flyers, no television cameras or hoopla of any kind as Stassen slipped into town to test the waters for the Feb. 8 Iowa presidential caucuses.

Stassen drove from his home in St. Paul, Minn., made a courtesy visit to Gov. Terry E. Branstad and then headed to state GOP headquarters to consult with Republican leaders. The party chairman was out of town and the executive director had called in sick.

Rumpled Suit

Temporary headquarters was at the Best Western Starlite Inn in Room 721, the one with the big black smudge in the blue carpet by the bed. On the sink was a half-eaten bag of Apple Newtons and a carton of milk. The would-be President wore an awkward, Kennedyesque toupee, and his bulky 6-foot-3 frame was covered by a rumpled blue pinstripe suit. A tangle of thread trailed from the right coat pocket and the frayed flap looked as if it had been chewed by a puppy.

This, he explained, was to be a campaign of substance, not style. “They (his Republican opponents) are not in my view coming to grips before the people with the programs that are needed for America in the decade ahead,” Stassen said. “I recognize it’s partly a matter of this tendency to take a poll and try to follow the poll, and that of course is the very opposite of leadership. I feel that you need to lead the people. That’s really what I’ve more or less done all my life and that’s what I’m setting out to do right now.”

Repeatedly Beaten

For the last four decades or so, the people have not responded to Stassen’s call. He has been beaten by Thomas E. Dewey in 1948, Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard M. Nixon in 1968 and 1972. Gerald R. Ford defeated him four years later, as did Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

He tried and failed twice to become governor of Pennsylvania and ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Philadelphia, where he lived and practiced law for a while.

There was a time, though, when Stassen knew triumph. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was known as the “boy wonder” of American politics, on the fast track to fame and power.

By the time he was 23, Stassen had graduated from law school at the University of Minnesota and had been elected chief prosecutor for his native Dakota County. At 31, he won the first of three two-year terms as governor of Minnesota, the youngest person ever to run a state then or since.

Witnessed Japan Surrender

He resigned in 1943 to take up his commission as an officer in the Naval Reserve, serving in the Pacific as assistant chief of staff to Adm. William Halsey. He was a witness to the Japanese surrender aboard the battleship Missouri in August, 1945. A few months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had borrowed him from the Navy to serve on the U.S. delegation that had helped to draft the U.N. charter in San Francisco.

In 1948, he was a serious contender for the Republican nomination, whereas in 1952 his candidacy served more as a stand-in for Eisenhower, who had been commanding Allied troops in Europe and therefore was forbidden to do any pre-convention electioneering. Eisenhower rewarded him with key Administration posts as a foreign affairs adviser and arms control negotiator.

Then Stassen crossed Republican leaders when he tried to organize a move to dump Vice President Nixon from the 1956 party ticket. A year later, he committed a serious gaffe at a disarmament conference with the Soviet Union when he showed a working draft of a proposal to the Soviets before all the American allies had a chance to review it. Stassen was reprimanded by Eisenhower for embarrassing the Administration with its allies. Not long after, he resigned from government and his career as a public official ebbed.

‘Battle It Out’

But, ever optimistic, he has refused to admit defeat. “I decided back in college days that, if you’re going to have an impact, you’ve got to get into the political arena and battle it out,” he explained. “And the whole process that we go through requires losers as well as winners. It would be hard for anybody to top me on variety and length of experience, that’s a cinch.”

Unlike most fringe candidates, Stassen’s message is one of moderation rather than radicalism and he has dedicated the 1988 effort to combatting the conservative drift of the GOP. That might seem hopeless to some, but Stassen remains undaunted, championing a platform that calls for new child-care programs, new taxes on imports to pay for military programs, increased moves toward disarmament and, probably dearest to his heart, a renewed emphasis on working with and improving the United Nations. “I’m going to try to move the party forward in the center,” Stassen declared proudly.

Won’t Rule Out Chance

Courtly and polite to a fault, he balks at criticizing anyone by name just as he refuses to rule out the possibility--however slim--that this time around his candidacy might, just maybe, catch fire.

Still, he is not oblivious to the skepticism of others. Asked recently if he knew of anyone who was really happy about his getting into the race, Stassen cracked: “Yes, I understand Johnny Carson is.”

Back in Minnesota at least, Stassen is the object of respect rather than ridicule. Delegates to the recent state Republican convention gave him a pair of standing ovations when he addressed the gathering. Last year, Republican leaders asked Stassen to run for Congress in St. Paul’s heavily Democratic 4th District against incumbent Democratic Rep. Bruce F. Vento.

“It is impossible to elect a Republican in the 4th District and Harold was, despite the jokes about his always running, a credible political candidate,” explained David Hoium, spokesman for the state central committee. “Our alternatives were to run nobody or some bozo who was an embarrassment.”

Collects Another Defeat

Like a trooper, Stassen ran. Like Stassen, Stassen lost, netting only 27% of the general election vote.

“He is a very brilliant man,” said Evie Axdahl, 4th District Republican chairwoman. “He has a lot of progressive ideas and young ideas that could add a lot to our time.”

Stassen’s son Glen, a professor at a Baptist seminary in Louisville, said family members long ago gave up trying to talk Stassen out of running for office and, instead, now lend him their wholehearted support.

“He is a person of phenomenal energy and he’s still working full time as a lawyer,” Glen Stassen said. “ . . . It’s very clear that he’s realistic about his chances. He’s not claiming that he’s the likely nominee. He’s not out of touch with the power realities. What he’s doing is raising issues and he’s making more and more sense as the years go by.”

Indeed, the elder Stassen acknowledges that a key reason for running is simply to call attention to his platform. “I was first considering trying to organize a committee to advocate these things but then I realized it wouldn’t get any attention,” he said. “ . . . You have to be a candidate. Regardless of ridicule, you have to step into the arena in order to present your views.”

And if nobody listens in 1988, there is always 1992 or 1996 or maybe 2000.