The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1944-04-27
News a
BEHIND
IHENE:|||l;(!$S||lE||I
ByhUL MALLON :.

The Dewey people suspected in
advance Mr.. Willkie might get as
many as 20 delegates in Wis
kpsin. 49,.
the Republican leaders in
Washington conceded their .bad
how" generally from 10 to IA. Even
the Bricker group with the best
line on the resulD, figured at least
two delegates, probably four.
When Willkie got none and ran
fourth behind Dewey, StaSsen and
Macarthur, who were not even
running, the surprise was a little
more than anyone could ade-
auately explain.
Comments of the leaders natur-
ally were mostly jibes at this most
ipnominious defeat of modern p0-
litical history, inasmuch as Wi1lkie
claimed he was q candidate OF the
people against the bosses, the COM
mon rejoinder now is that he ap-
parently has more bosses for him
than people.
The slogan, "Who Wants Will
kie?" generally went unanswered,
without plausible objection, also,
the whitening score of the Dewey
victory, followed by Wilkes with
drawal from the race, was ac-
copied everywhere on high as
meaning Dewey will be nominated,
without any dangerous intra-party
struggle, on the first or second
ballot.
But the complete sinking of a
popular national figure needs more
explanation than this. True, his
personal popularity had been i'm
paired by his utteranceS and tao
tics. His remark, only half ex-
planned, that one of his 1910 ut
terances was only Campaign ora
tory" obviously discouraged some
support.
More important perhaps, he re-
fused to support whomever is to
be nominated sby he own party
and his whole method suggested he
was at least equally strong against
his Republican opponents as
against Roosevelt, if not more so.
Even so, all these facts seem
to fall short of the complete sig
nificance of the defeat of a ma
tional figure who made % speech
es through a state in which no one
else was talking, and then ran
last. 1t seems irrefutable to me
that Willkie Just had nothing in
teresting to sell.
What People Think 8
The people these days are think
ing and talking primarily about
the conduct of the war, the con-
fusing steps taken by leading world
statesmen and what kind of peace
we can get out of this confused
situation. They are more con-
cerned with taxes for instance
than with future Social Security,
because taxes hit them now. Time
passed him by. -.
The country has changed since
the early days of the war when the
difficulties of applying even the
four freedoms to Russia, Poland,
ct. al, were not yet apparent to
the people. In short, this is a
failure not alone of Willkie, but
for the whole thin garment of false
liberalism that his vociferous left
wing followers in New York tried
to drape around him.
They tried, for instance, to di-
vide the country into two camps,
: saying they were the information.
Gllst liberals, and everyone else
was an isolationist, the people of
the country just have not divided
as directed. s
Certainly they have not ex-
pressed themselves for any de-
Tined policy in any noticeable way.
Domestically, with taxation at
the breaking point upon the great
middle class of people, Willkie
demanded the Roosevelt recon-
mendations for great increases be
ooubled-whereaS Roosevelt's own
party in congress overwhelmingly
restricted increases to a fraction
OF what the President asked.
Eefecfs Were Apparent
This agitation just did not make
su!!iclent common sense, or prove
sufficiently interesting to draw a
winning national following. These
oefects in his plan to elect him
sell were apparent long before the
republicans of Wisconsin spoke.
The best line from Nebraska sug-
gested he might suffer defeat there
again. at the hands of his former
TREND, Minnesota's Ex-Governor
otaSsen, at the time he issued his
Withdrawal announcement.
"A rise in the stock of Governor
hrlcker may ensue. He may
nope to get portion of the Re-
publican organization group, al
lnough the rank and file of the
party want Dewey.
Some organization people still
oppose the New Yorker on the
sround that he is immature or
not quite regular enough" The
movement to smoke him out how
ever is now more apt to fail.
only Willkie and Democratic
Shalrman Hannegan were calling
upon Dewey to speak out, al
eoush MIR. Roosevelt is not.
---As only Dewey's enemies ap-
parently wish to draw him into
discussion and promises, it seems
pam they want him to serve their
purposes rather than his own.
II ne can get the nomination
"ltnout having INDUCED in a fight
Continued on Page 81