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UNTI^TCLU CASHIERS, N.C. September 29, 1956 Dear Mr* Eccles: It is about this time, I believe, that you are to be back in Washington, and since it is possible that you will be seeing the President soon I am passing along, for what they may be worth, two observations that have impressed themselves on me during a trip that has taken me through ten States, from New England to the South* First, the reaction of the common run of people to the Landon campaign is that "the same old money crowd is trying to get control again." This reaction seems to be instinctive, and to be pretty general* I should say that it is the strongest negative argument for the reelection of the President that I have encountered, and that the persons who make it do so with the full force of positive conviction • It comes from both the head and heart of the rank and file. Second, the upper middle-class of business and professional men and their first-line employes are not members of the We-Hate-Roosevelt Club and they are only half-hearted members of the Landon-for-President Glub. Their defection from the President is more in sorrow than in anger} ttiey are weakening in their support of Landon now that the cellophane build-up is off and the "Little Man, What Now?" side of Landon is apparent* But they are very definitely and genuinely suspicious of "what these men around the President are trying to lead him into.11 There is no doubt that the fellows who do their thinking at the nineteenth hole feel thatltthe President may be in some danger of being outsmarted by insiderstf who have a business-be-damned attitude • I look forward to seeing you next week* Yours sincerely,
