Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-08-09

their fight. 1t has been from the
start; it will be to the end. And
success will put the forces lined up
behind Mr.. Hillman in a position
to dominance and power such as nc
one dreamed they could achieve.
For the first time the radical and
subversive elements are not only
lined up solidly behind a Presi-
Dental candidate but, taking prac-
teal possession of his party, are
making the fight for him. That is
not eXaggeration: it is a simple
statement of the facts.
And when you link them with a
Federal machine of 100000 job
holders, plus the weight of the
Kelly-Hague type Of city bosses, the
formidable nature of the fourth
term combination can be realized
That this situation is distasteful
and offensive to the great bulk of
the American people there can be
little doubt. Nor, once clearly COM
pretended, can there be much ques-
ton that the reaction would be
strong and unfavorable.
Test of Dewey's Ability.
The difficulty is to get the facts
home to them This will be the big
test of Gov. Dewey's ability as a
candidate. For. it is accepted that
he is going to meet the CIO-Com-
munist combination head-on. Not
to do so would be stupid as we'll as
craven and Gov. Dewey is neither.
AS every vote the CLIO can in
f1uence and every Communist in the
country is Roosevelt anyhow, 1t
is clear he can lose no votes by a
bold challenge. On the contrary,
If his challenge is strong enough
and his attack skillful enough, there
is no other way in which he can
gain as many votes
Particularly will this be true. II.
as now seems gratifyingly certain.
the German collapse comes within a
short time. That. to considerable
degree, would eliminate the surface
excuse for the fourth term attempt.
Certainly, it would diminish the ef-
fectiveness of the "Commander-in in
Chief" pose and make it easier to
gain popular consideration for vital
domestic issues.
Thus Gov. DeWey's chances to
promote his own political prospects
and at the same time serve the
Nation would be enhanced. But. it
is no easy job ahead of him. The
publicity and propaganda facilities
of this Administration and its sup
porting agencies are the greatest
that have ever been behind presi-
dental candidate.
The CLIO, itself, has one Of the
largest. best equipped and financed
publicity divisions ever created. In
addition, the number of commenta-
tors and broadcasters deeply COM
mitted to the fourth term has mark
edly increased within the year.
The strategy of these is to mini
mize the political Importance of the
CIO; to deplore the charges that
it is the chief Roosevelt sponsor and
hacker; to deny that it is saturated
with Communism; and to depict
those who see in its success this
time a grave menace to the national
interests as Republicans, or reac-
tionaries or Roosevelt haters" or as
inspired by some selfish or sinister
motive or AS seeing ghosts or having
nightmares.
That is the party line. That is
the way the Administration has met
every criticism in the past and that
is the way it will meet this attack.
In addition Mr.. Hillman is being
painted as gentle, lovable and
unsophlsticated character whose sole
desire is for the general welfare. in
stead Of as the shreWd. ruthless.
hard-bolled. self-seeking labor poll
tician he really is.
Answerable Case.
To offset this, Gov Dewey has
many facts with which to build
up an unanswerable case. For ex-
ample. he can show beyond dispute
that the CLIO and the Communists
started the fourth-term ball rolling;
that Mr.. Hillman and his PAC have
showed Chairman Hannegan and
the Dmocratic National Committee
aside and are really running the
campaign. He can show the close
ness of the CIO-Roosevelt link.
He can show that Mr.. Hillman
calls the White House often bv
phone and frequently confers with
the commander in chief. He can
show, too, that Mr.. Hillman was
strong enough at the Democratic
convention to turn down Justice
James F. Byrnes, whom Mr.. Roose-
welt had Endorsed for the vice presi-
dental nomination, and that the
reason Mr.. Roosevelt turned to
Truman after he had ditched Mr.
Wallace was because no one not
acceptable to Hillman could be
named
He can show also by the recent