The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-10-20
GREAT AMERICANS, GREAT MEN


For all the dissiniIority of their careers, Alfred
E. Smith and Wendell WiIkie we're essentially alike
= greet and admirable men whose greatness was IN
i.rscoIIy and inescopoby American.
Both won the highest honor that their parties
could bestow in spite Of hondcops Of background
which would have been fotoI to the ambitions OF
lesser men, Both of them failed to win the pres
dency, and in each cose the failure was due in
oroe port to their refusal to trade honest and hon.
orobIe convictions for vote-wnning compromises.
Al Smith learned his politics in the roueh-ond-
tumble environment Of decidedly unsovory political
machine Wendell WiIIke wos innocent Of any Po-
Iitco experience when he was swept dramatically
from successful but unspectoculor private life to
the presidential nomination. 1t easy Tor oPpo-
nents to tount them with shouts Of "Tommony' and
wall Street." 1t was impossible to smirch their
characters or their motives.
A great liberal mo didn't prote about it, Al
Smith served as New York's governor in day when
the country's chief concern wos with domestic Of
fors It wo~ # compIocency, bieotry and n.y.
pocrisy a., Smith opposed oil Of them. He
fought for social and governmental improvements
when it would have been easier to maintain the
stotus quo Of general prosperity He was devoutly
and proudly Catholic. He thought the Eighteenth
Amendment unfair, unavoidable and un American,
and sold SO.
This was in 1923, when the Khan was still alive,
when office holders drank wet and voted dry when
the Ant-Soloon League was greet power in Amer
icon politics. Al Smiths beliefs cost him the pres-
dency, but not his integrity,
Wendell Wkie came upon the scene at time
Of world war and world thought His political ideal
ism crossed porty lines, and his burning convictions
would not be curbed to the professional politicians
bidding.
Mr. WIkie Judged man by his words and deeds,
not by his porty He invited similar judgment. He
sought to convince, not to compromise. And his be-
efs cost him not only the presidency but, oter, his
portys nomination. Perhaps this lost disappointment
fastened his death. But it was the disappointment
not of on ambitious man, but Of man who carried
his beliefs into bottle with those who opposed them
most strongly and fought for them With noble cour
oge.
Al Smith and Wendell Mikie rose to the heights
in the approved American manner, one from New
Yorks tenement district, the other from small town
Of rural Indiana Both men Of great personal
charm and compelling character. Both spoke unof
fectedIy the regional speech Of their beginnings
WniCn shocked me PuflstS bu1 tneH WORDS eHC'leo
the admiration Of millions even when they did not
win agreement For they we're the words Of wise and
compassionate minds, brilliantly informed, tiercey
sincere.
The eountys loss in the posing Of either Of
these would be heavy OF any time But the death
Of both particularly at this time, is erievously So
We need them in the days to come for their service
as sort Of public conscience, in or out Of office
For we knew thot when they spoke it was always
from the heart, never from expediency. And we
knew thot we would do we'll to listen and to weigh
their words.