The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1938-06-30
Roosevelt Radio Technique

The Saturday Evening Post, Mr.. Alvn
Johnson stated what good many peo-
pie in Washington believed, that Mr.
Roosevelt's radio addresses were writ
ten mainly by Mr.. Thomas Corcoran
whom the President jovially calls
Tommy The Cork" One occasion
when Mr.. Corcoran more or less boast
ed of the fact was cited.
Whether this is so or not, certainly
there runs through the entire series
of twelve a common thread. They are
linked and stamped by a procedure
which the more advanced of the young
radicals close to the President, such
as Mr.. Corcoran, have used consist
emily from the start Invariably they
dwell upon the high intelligence of
the people to whom Mr.. Roosevelt es-
pecially appeals and then proceed to
deal with them as though they had no
intelligence at all.
$50
Pretending to appeal to the reason
of his great audiences, the Presidents
radio talks are aimed almost eXclu-
sively at their emotions. Depending
upon the charm of his voice and the
picture of himself in the popular mind
as the shining champion of the toilers,
apparently his utterances are made in
the belief that the great bulk of the
people are incapable of grasping the
| discrepancies and contradictions when
addressed through the ear, and that
those who do grasp them can be dis
posed of by denunciation. The success
with which he has operated along
these lines is not much of a tribute
TO the character Of his support but it
explains it. 1t is an interesting fact
that some of the more candid of the
inside New Dealers privately concede
the truth of this radio theory and,
privately, discuss it quite realistically.
Friday nights address was a par
ticularly good specimen of this New
Deal technique. For example, there
was the avowal by Mr.. Roosevelt of
his purpose to enter Democratic pri-
maries in various States in behalf of
liberal" candidates. In the same
breath, he insisted that, as President
of the United States, he would not
participate in the primaries or make
partisan appeal. "Let that" he said,
in his most dulcet tones, "be clearly
understood" Of course, that insults
the intelligence. If Mr.. Roosevelt takes
the part in the primaries he says he
will, he takes it as President, and he
will be potent in them only because he
is President. Mr.. Roosevelt and the
President are one and the same per
son. He cannot, while he is President,
enter into State politics as private
individual. If he were a private in
dividual it wouldn't make any diff
ference. 1t is the fact that he is Presi-
dent that makes his announcement i'm
portant.
But, the assumption is that the peo-
pie will not understand that; that they
will accept as gospel the Roosevelt
words and believe that he can, just
by saying so, divest himself of the
Presidential power and the White
House glamour and enter the primar-
les merely as Mr.. Roosevelt, the leader
of the Democratic party. Nor are the
people supposed to note the complete
omission of any mention of the evil
dence that the WPA relief organiza-
lions and relief funds are being used
in support of Roosevelt candidates in
different States; that the immense
weight of the Federal machine has
been, is and will be exerted for Adj
ministration candidates and against
those who have shown independence.
And they are not supposed to under
stand that Mr.. Roosevelt's personal
announcement of his political pur-
poses releases the Federal officials
handling the peoples money from all
restraint. If the President can divest
himself of his high office and enter
the primaries as an individual, why
can't they? In brief, he has let the
bars down for an unprecedented eff
fort by the Federal machine, equipped
with relief money, to dominate State
politics. But the people are supposed
not to realize that. Perhaps they don t.
There were in his latest address
other declarations, the Inconsistencies
of which almost any degree of intelli-
gence would detect. There was, for
example, the pride with which he
spoke Of carrying out the promises Of
his 1886 platform, coupled with con-
spicuous neglect to mention the COM
pleteness with which he had violated
those in the 1882 platform. There was,