Evening star., 1939-07-03


encouragement offered to those who
might construe the candidacy as an
anti-Roosevelt affair.
Next it will be observed that Mr..
johnson takes pains to point out
that only on few things has Sen
ator Wheeler differed from the Pres
ident and then only in method
rather than in objective.
Examined closely this can be
translated into some significant po-
Itical strategy. For the main
premise of the draft Roosevelt" CO.
horts is that a liberal must be
nominated and that the President
can. make the best run on his own
record. But, on the other hand,
hardly anybody who wants to be
fair about it can say Burt Wheeler
is not a liberal. His record speaks
for itself
From the earliest days of the ad-
ministration, Mr.. Wheeler has been
on the liberal" side of the fight.
If the withholding company bill
was a test of liberalism, the Montana
Senator, it will be recalled. led the
fight for the Wheeler-Rayburn law.
If the Wagner Labor Act was test,
he was found supporting that meas
ure Fundamentally Again and
again he has been in the forefront
of the administration fights. 1t
will be recalled that he ran for the
vice presidency on the Progressive
ticket in 1924 with the late Senator
La Toilette.
So much have certain New Deal
ers been impressed with the vote
getting capacity of the Montana
Senator that a few days ago pub
lished reports, perhaps inspired from
some of the younger New Dealers,
had it that Mr.. Wheeler would be
a welcome running mate for the vice
presidency along with the draft
Roosevelt ticket
Definite Stand.
Maybe the New Dealers got ad-
vance word of what was being
planned by Senator johnson of Colo
RADIO and sought to head him off by
Turing the Montana Senator to the
plan of an alliance with the Presi-
dent for 1910. Anyway, Senator
Wheeler announced unequiyocally
that he would not run on a third
term ticket with the President and
didn't believe Mr.. Roosevelt wanted
a third term.
The upshot of the weeks develop
mentS is that Mr. Wheeler has been
urged to go it alone by his colleagues
and it would not be surprising if he
became the leading liberal candidate
on the Democratic side, just as Vice
President Garner is coming to be
the leading conservative candidate,
both the Garner and Wheeler booms
being based on the assumption that
Mr. Roosevelt in due time will an
nounce his refusal to accept a re-
nomination.
What would the Presidents atti-
tude be toward the Wheeler candi-
dacy? The one almost unpardon-
able sin that Senator Wheeler COM
mitted was to lead the memorable
fight in the Senate against the en-
largement of the Supreme Court. 1t
was bitter fight and has left it's
scars. But it would appear that the
administration now considers it won
that fight, after all, because vacan-
cieS occurred in the court which en-
abled the President to accomplish
what he set forth in his original
message to Congress on the nature
of the decisions of the court. If the
New Deal has won anyway, then Mr..
Wheeler is more to be pitied than
scorned for his allegedly futile ef-
forts.
A Sincere Liberal.
Certainly, if elected. Burton
Wheeler could be expected to carry
on the New Deal policies, correct
ing them in practical aspects but
maintaining their liberal flavor and
purpose He is a sincere and not an
artificial liberal and what some of
the business elements who have
come up against him say is that he
will listen to argument and attempt
to work out solutions of complicated
problems on a practical basis He
has, of course, antagonized other
business elements, but the New
Dealers never worry about that.
What they do worry about is
whether a so-called liberal can be
absorbed hook, line and sinker by
selfish, conservative interests. They
need have little worry about Burt
Wheeler on that score.
Taking a look at Burt Wheeler
from another angle. he is found to
be of old New England stock, a good
campaigner, hard worker, and a
public servant with the courage of his
convictions He has made enemies
in public life but he has made
friends, too. The presence of the
Wheeler boom is bound to be of more
embarrassment to the draft Roose-
welt" generals than the Garner boom
for it cannot be brushed aside as
the creature of reactionary interests.
Mr.. Wheeler has won his spurs
In the cause of liberalism. Why
should he be denied a chance for
the nomination? The burden of
proof to the contrary will rest on
the officeholding group who may
find themselves forced into the po-
sition publicly of seeming to want to
violate tradition merely to perpetu-
ate themselves in power. And the
odd part of it is that, if elected,
Burt Wheeler is the type who prob
ably would not dismiss from the
policy making jobs any individual
of sound administrative capacity
just because he originally came into
the Government as a Roosevelt
liberal.