Arkansas State press., 1944-07-28
by Dan Gardner

ANhioN' o'iN oitY ANic VI uNii9
dashed here at the Chicago Sta
dunn last Friday when, true to
form, the party nominated Sena-
tor Harry S. Truman of Missouri
as Vice President, and eliminat-
ed the party's most outstanding
liberal, Henry A Wallace, Vice
President, because he spoke his
convictions on the race question.
The final vote of the delegates
on the second ballot mirrored al
most as accurately as a Gallup
Poll the real liberalism of the
Democrats who have preached
tolerance as campaign talk for the
last twelve years. The 60-year-
old nominee from a state where
lynchings are not uncommon and
where Jim Grow is as rigid and
uncompromising as in the deepest
bailwicks of Mississippi, got
LOO votes. Vice President Wal
lace got but Sc, while Supreme
Court Justice William 0. Doug
las got four. The total vote was
LILO with six absentees. The
Democrats who actually wanted
Wallace as President Roosevelt's
running mate, can thus be seen as
scant handful since in politics
actions are more of an indication
of trends than words-at least,
this is the Interpretation one
could place on this historic con-
vention.
South Still In The Saddle
The Deep South, all of the
South, had its inning when it
forced the nomination of one who
most nearly subscribed to its
wishes and its mandates. The
South has never been completely
out Of the saddle in Democratic
politics. The South il and always
mas been the real Democratic
party.
The galleries were packed with
Wallace supporters, many of
whom were Negroes. They join
ed in wild demonstrations, aug
mented by support of the CLIO,
spurred into action by the astute
Sidney Hillman Of the CLOS
Political Action Committee.
While the vocal support of the
cause of Wallace and liberalism
was tightly packed in the gal
leries, the voting strength needed
to elect him was in the hands and
in the hearts of the Democratic
delegates and alternates who sat
in their sections on the conven-
ton floor.
After all the bowling, shouts
and cheering had died away, the
delegates did what they intended
to do beforehand-defe any at
temp at actual liberalization of
the party's outlook and to put a
halt to any attempt to further the
Negroes status in the party by
nominating Truman, a southern
er.
Mississippi Speaks for Dixie
Herbert Holmes, chairman of
the Mississippi delegation, had
this to say after the southerners
had done the dirty work:
Though we southerners have
been tossed about with many
conflicts and many doubts, yet we
have been victorious in the selec-
tion Of Vice President. II Is to
be regretted that the national
party adopted some planks which
are obnoxious to the South. These
planks were interpreted by Vice
President Wallace to mean the
further curtailment OF states
rights and take from the states
the sovereign right to handle their
own internal (Negro) affairs. We
hope Truman will Interpret them
differently"
Holmes has little reason to
doubt that the Vice Presidential
nominee vii lattempt to interpret
how the southern states should
handle their Negro problem. He
was selected for that purpose.
Wallace had been a dead issue
long before the convention con-
vened. He had been booked for
the skids by the Democratic high
command for a long long time be-
cause he was too outspoken on
the minority question. That is
why he has been accused Of being
a visionary" and a dreamer"
II was Wallace who actually cut
his own throat--or gave the party
its O cuse for getting rid OF him
SO sincere, so honest in his own
convictions, Wallace on Thursday