The Wilmington morning star., 1944-06-30

Editors Note-The star and the News accent M
respon.ibily for the personal views Of Mr. Pesler,
his readers his articles the good purpose Of
making people think.
BY WESTBROOK PEGLER
CHICAGO. Up in Hartford, Conn.,, on
Thanksgiving day, 1901 a brash and uppity
fighter from Denver, known as Young Cor
bett, paused on his way to the ring for his
bout with terrible Terry McGovern, the feath-
erWelght champion whose awesome reputation
had inundated some of his earlier opponents.
and beat on the door of Terry's dressing
room. He was going first to the arena out
OF respect for protocol which permits the cham
pion to keep the challenger waiting and, if
possible, brooding.
Come on out Terry" Young Corbett yell
ed, land take your licking
Whether from fear or rage, McGovern lost
his polse and the upstart knocked him out
in two rounds
At the moment Tom Dewey is on his way
to the ring. Mr.. Roosevelt has had three
lights since he was first nominated for the
presidency in the spring of 1882 and has won
them all, but two of his victims were pop
overs and the third big, clumsy, headstrong
novice who licked himself by talking too much
knowing it all and ignoring the advice and
wisdom of his handlers.
AASADSAt 11ooVeT was QeIenQ1ng champion
who, in the ring, would have been called
hollow shell. He looked and felt beaten before
the bell and his defeat was so popular that
ne had to carry his own bucket back to his
room. And the new champion was so cocky
and prideful in victory that you might have
thought he had knocked Dempsey right
through the skylight. Actually, he won mostly
on the issue OF repeal which he HAD hacked
tne courage to demand when the issue was
dangerous. It was Al Smith who fought the
pronlDltionlsts and softened them up for his
friend
Hoover was afraid Of repeal and would only
humble niserably about an experiment noble
IN purpose, tor he hadn't the political instinc
to sense, as Roosevelt did, that popular senti-
ment had changed. So Hoover was knocked
out ny furry OF heavy promises to the face
and body Mr.. Roosevelt promised light wine
and beer, promised that the old saloon would
never return with its attendant evils, prom.
lsed an end to the wasteful Hoover regime
which had piled bureau on bureau and
promised balanced budget and ruthless cur
lam. .siinen. OF government spending through
sharp economies. But Hoover was an AL Nc.
Coy, or cheese champion, at best.
IN 1885, Alt Landon was sacrifice The
Republicans had nobody ready but had to
represent themselves to keep their identity
ana skeleton organization. Mr.. Landon was
expendable. He was comparable to a small
town ngnter who has been working stag-niphts
LOT the Elks and Moose and has become a
.r1-county champion The big fellow moved
ni a around at will, waved to the crowd and,
wnen ne was ready, knocked Landon into the
bass drum. 1t was what they call in the ring
tune-pp fight. The champion needed little
work to get the belly off him.
Inc lS40 thing was rougher contest than
tne champion had expected. WilIkie was
great sweaty, shaggy lump who violated all
the rules led with his right, threw horrible
swings which left him wide open but raised
WIND as they whistled past and showed
enormous strength like Firpo. The trouble
with the big clown was that, right there in
the ring, against the champion, in fight
for the title, he developed a sudden admira-
ton for the champions style and tried to
ADOPT 1t lmpromptu against slippery master
who had inventeds and practised those tricks
to perfection. Toward the end, therefore, when
Roosevelt had studied him out the champion
could anticipate him and the customers saw
an amazing illusion as of the champion fight
ing his own image in big mirror AS time
went on, the clientele had no great regret
for they reckoned that even had the challenger
won they would have had for a new cham
plon only an imitation Of the old one
Is this new young fellow any good? Can
he punch? Is he fast? Is he smart? Is he
game?
He is good an orator as Roosevelt ever
was and without the corny and patronizing
familiarity or the Groton accent. When he
speaks OF the working man he speaks with
the sand-lot knowledge of kid from Owosso
Mich, who never had nurse-governess and
bought his own furniture with his own earn
1ngs when he got married. He showed his
punch when he outfought Lehman for the gov
ernorship of New York and lost by phoney
decision delivered through the American Labor
Party which had been organized to contain
the communist and other European vote and
which is now frankly President Roosevelt's
new communist party.
Next time around, the kid hattened the dem
ocratic nominee for governor and, in these
contests, and as loyal party campaigner for
the migrate Willkie, he developed his style
and broadened his experience to national
range. Meanwhile, he has had two years
experience as governor, which was all that
Theodore Roosevelt had, and, to the charge|
of excessive youth, he can reply that he is
as old as TR was and older than FDR was
when, in 1920, he considered himself old
| enough to be president had he and Jimmy
Cox been elected and if Cox had died.
| Some champions have thought themselves
invincible and only Tunney. himself, could
4 H. IL A = LIZ