Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-07-18
Nomination Victory
Seen Won atCost
Of DuIIing Glamour
William Allen White
Reports Delegates Sow
Pressure in Silence
BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE.

OF the third day of the Democratic
convention is so meager and so
trivial that some account of the
feeling here is more important than
the running story Of the routine
happenings in the committee rooms.
The Presidents message through
Senator Barley of Kentucky Tues
day night did not in the least clarity
the situation. did not at all remove
the sense of depressed confusion
which one felt here among all the
delegates. Mr.. Roosevelt's ardent
supporters were on the defensive
even though they were In the ma
jority.
No one could question that the
President had q majority of the
delegates but no one would have
asserted that there was any VIC
torious glow in the faces of his
friends. The handicap of a third
term had begged down what other
wise would be a joyous convention.
Like an AL Smith Victory.
1t may well be recalled that this
same feeling. the same disturbing
consciousness Of lugubrious victory,
pervaded the triumphant AL Smith
forces In Houston in 1928. They
controlled the convention. They
wrote the platform. They named
the candidates for President and
Vice President, and the convention
adjourned, as this is about to close
IN SO or 4S hours. amid the en-
clrcllng gloom of serious reserya-
tons, dark portent and many cank.
ering worms in the bud.
A curious manifestation of these
inner conflicts of opinion and de-
sire is found in the action of the
Resolutions Committee. This be-
came obvious in the long struggle
since Saturday between the isoia-
tionists and those who wanted tn
supportsthe Presidents policy. Ger
ta1nly many of these opponents
did not realize that their Opposition
to certain Rooseveltian planks in
the platform came from their SUBJ
conscious desire to be as mean to
Mr.. Roosevelt as possible, to en-
barrass their candidate as far as
they can.
Contradictory Complex Exhibited.
Here is an example of this
curiously contradictory complex in
the delegates. Yesterday was the
third day Senator Wheeler of Nom
tana dominated the committee
He even blandly assumed to speak
for the President, though it is
common knowledge that he has
broken with the President and OBJ
posed him in many measures dur
ing the Presidents second term.
Secretary of Agriculture Wallace
mildly attempted to rebuke Senator
Wheeler for his claim that he was
q presidential spokesman and Sem
ator Wheeler waved Secretary Wal
lace aside laughingly with a fine
prosecuting attorneys gestures to
the defense witness.
At 5 pm. yesterday Senator.
Wheeler had secured a plank IN
the platform which pledged Presi-
dent Roosevelt not to use the armed
forces Of the United States outside
.of this hemisphere. This would cut
on defense Of Hawaii and the
Philippines and Iceland If not di-
rectly attacked. 1t would wreck
the Presidents Far Eastern policy
and altogether hamstring the Demo-
cratic party If, in the swiftly moving
stream of events, October should
disclose any need for an extended
policy Of American defense.
Confusion Blamed.
The Resolutions Committee. COM
prised largely of the Presidents sur
face friends, many of whom are old
line Democrats who have taken their
party medicine with wry faces, &C.
cepted this Wheeler program, al
though they must have realized its
implications. Nothing else explains
this but the dominant, unmistakable
feeling of doubt and questioning con-
fusion which gives color and tone
and temper to this whole convention.
No one can doubt that Tuesday
nights presidential letter to the con-
vention did not clarity the situation,
did not consolidate the Presidents
position nor rally his friends. It was
oblique and not in his bold and most
gallant style. He left himself open
to his enemies to charge Of petit
logging by piously denying that he
had solicited delegates when he had
by the iron ring of his diplomatic
silence deprived the delegates of the
right of the choice of other candi-
dates. The delegates saw this. Some
thing of glamour dropped from the
heroic figure of 1888.
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Southerners Are Cheered