Evening star., 1944-06-26
Dewey Is Declared Far
From Popular Choice
Undercurrent of Antipathy to
New Yorker Is Seen
By David Laurence.

Undercurrent of Antipathy to
New Yorker Is Seen
BY Dnuid Laurence.
CHICAGO.-Gov Dewey will be NOM
mated by acclamation all right but he Is
far from the unanimous choice Of the
delegates. 1t may even be doubted
whether II the convention were held q
month later and the momentum behind
the boom for Gov. Bricker Of Ohio were
to continue, there wouldn't be a close
contest.
This Is but another way Of saying that
for one reason or another Gov. Dewey
Is not as strong with some elements Of
the Republican party a. might be be-
heved.
These elements are not easy 10 sesre.
gate. Some Of them like Gov. Bricker
because they think he is more forth
right and less OF an opportunist than
Gov. Dewey. Others. especially the
conservatives Of the party, have their
fingers crossed about Gov. Dewey-they
think he may turn out to be more Of
progressive or New Dealer than they
counted on. Certainly, they reason,
Gov. Bricker would be SAFE" which
means he would never 60 to the ex-
tremes Of prosressivism that Gov.
Dewey might attain.
There may be behind this under.
current Of antipathy something else.
In the Middle West "isolationism, or.
as 1t is now called. "nationalism," has
been strong for long time Gov. Dewey
earned the enmity Of the Chicago Trib-
une, for instance, by his announcement
that he favored an extension Of the
British-American military alliance 50
that it would continue after the war.
Cardinal Sin in Midwest.
To favor collaboration with Britain Is
cardinal sin In some quarters In the
Middle West. But Gov. Dewey seems
on the other hand to have won the
confidence OF the international-min
groups who have been waiting anxiously
to see whether the withdrawal Of Mr..
Willkie would leave the Dewey candi.
dacy too close to the so-called national-
list school Of thought.
The platform plank on international
policy which has been proposed Is wide
enough for any candidate to campaign
on. 1t is as broad as the Moscow Dec.
laration for the benefit Of the interna.
tionalists and as general as the Mack
inac Declaration which, when embodied
In the Connally resolution in the SEN
ate was sufficiently palatable to the
isolationists to win the support Of such
men as Senator Nye, Republican, Of
North Dakota.
The undercurrents Of the convention
are only incidentally related to foreign
questions, however. The same old polit-
ical yardsticks which have been applied
In convention corridors for generations
are being brought forth again. Thus
one leader said he didn't think Gov.
Dewey looked as good a. Gov. Bricker,
that Gov. Bricker looked more like q
President. Some one else had the fear
that Gov. Dewey wouldn't be Is satis-
factory to the rank and file Republicans,
but that same leader remarked almost
Immediately afterward that, after all,
Gov Dewey had carried New York
State twice-once in his own election
and again when 1t. Gov. Hanley was
elected-and this seemed to be too i'm.
portant to overlook.
The Bricker candidacy, to sum up,
Is much more the orthodox type than
that Of Gov. Dewey. The Ohio Cover.
nor flts the traditional Republican pat
tern which was 50 successful "in tho
good old days" when Republican VIC
tories were so easy to win. Today, how.
ever. the Republicans know they are
up against the master campaisner-
some OF them concede President Roose-
velt to be the best radio crooner politics
ever knew =, and that Is why Gov.
Deweys excellent radio voice Is men
toned 50 often.
Invisible Element.
Gov. Dewey will win out but the con-
vention atmosphere has In 1t an invisible
element-the war. Back In everybody's
mind Is the fighting overseas and the
effect 1t will have on the mood of the
voters when election day draws near.
I talked politics with various people
! .oueoAOC bAlC COI1FcllGlOIl lldOlCucS, L lOQn0
an amazing apathy. Maybe it Is ex-
planned by my experience on the subur-
ban train Sunday when heard the con-
ductor tell some of his commuter friends
that his boy of IS, navigator and first
lieutenant, was lost in action in Aus
tria on his 49th flying mission. He was
praying that the boy had bailed out.
He wasn't thinking of the convention.
Then there was the taxi driver who
said his boy of 20 had been rejected by
the Army because of bad eyes and the
mother was telling her friends. last
week how glad she was-and then the
next day the boy was knocked down by
bus and lies in a critical condition
in Chicago hospital These are DAYS
OF tragedy for the American people. The
fate of millions OF boys has produced
an unparalleled anxiety, and an uncer-
tainty as to how many people can
think about conventions or elections
this year-that's the real question that
remains yet to be answered
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