Evening star., 1944-08-07

him, came forth on different days
with the statement that there was
not the slightest foundation for the
report that Mr.. Willkie, being just
as disappointed in the Democratic
platform as he was in the Repub-
lican, and still believing, as he said
at st. Louis, that the really vital
need Of the country is to get rid of
the New Deal administration, was
now prepared to support Gov.
Dewey.
On the contrary, 1t was said, Mr..
Willkie will require at least a couple
of months more of examination of
the candidates and their utterances
before making up his mind how to
vote.
If this correctly reflects Mr.. Will
kie's feeling, he seems about to
maneuver himself into an almost
unprecedented and somewhat ridi-
culous isolation. For, if he has
been unable to determine how he
will cast his ballot before October,
he probably will be the only quail
fled and literate voter in the United
States in that condition of uncer-
tainty.
Friends Out for Dewey.
Certainly, his fluid state of mind
Is not shared by any of that group
of sturdy friends who formed his
Wisconsin organization and did
everything men could do to promote
his fortunes Without exception
these have all come out strongly for
Dewey and are at work trying tc
elect him.
1t is interesting that those writers
who insist that Mr.. Willkie will not
reach decision before autumn
link this insistence with statements
about the terrible way he was
treated by the Republican conven-
ton. The chief, and in fact the
only, count in this charge is that
he was not asked to address the
convention, as Mr.. Hoover was
asked
True, Mr.. Hoover is the only living
ex-President and Mr.. Willkie is only
one of three others living who have
been Republican candidates for the
Presidency. Still, it is argued, he
WAS entitled to address the conven-
tion and it was discourteous not to
ask him That is the big grievance
and it is time the bunk about ii
should be made clear 1t isn't really
a grievance at all and Mr.. Willkie
hasn't the slightest foundation for
feeling 'slighted.'
Under the circumstances, the Re-
publican leaders would have been
Just feeble minded to have ex-
tended an invitation to Mr.. Willkie
to speak Ordinarily, of course, he
would have been asked. The Re-
publicans want to win and the pres
ence of Mr.. Willkie on the platform,
supporting the ticket in a strong
speech, would have been fine for
party prospects.
But there was not the slightest
reason to believe that Mr. Willkie
would support the ticket. On the
contrary, following his overwhelm-
ing defeat in the Wisconsin pri-
maries, he did everything possible
to convey the idea that he would
not support the ticket. He attrib-
uted his defeat solely to isolation
influences, which was absurd, and
he bellyached all over the lot about
his conscience" and his "princi-
pies"
Built Figure of Mystery.
AS a result, he was built up by
the press into a figure of mystery
threatening the Republican party
with a bolt unless it conformed tC
his ideas not only as to platform
and candidates but organization as
well.
In his private conversations with
newspapermen and others, Mr.. Will
kie contributed to this idea and that
was his pose when the convention
met. Obviously, to have asked a
man in such state of mind to
address the convention would have
been an absurdity. He easily might
have decided to denounce the can
didate, the platform and the party
He might have made general mess
of the convention and inflicted ir-
reparable damage.
Certainly, he had been talking
and behaving like a man capable of
doing those things. One might just
as well have expected the Demo-
cratic managers to ask the two
living eX-Democratic presidential
candidates John w Davis and