Evening star., 1944-04-09
Dewey Miscast
as ISO1atiOnist
By John H. Cline.

Because the Republican voters of Wis
| conSin have turned thumbs down on
Wendell Wilkes determined bid for an
other COP presidential nomination, it is
being suggested that the Midwest,
whence came the first signs of swing
back to the Republican party is again
| surging with extreme isolationiSt senti-
ment. Unfortunately, there is no way of
| determining with any accuracy what
was in the minds of the Wisconsin
voters when they blasted Mr.. Willkie
out of the preconvention race But
there are certain facts which shed light
on the primary results, and it is not
| easy to reconcile them with the notion
that the Wisconsin Republicans are
| riding high on the bandwagon of iSola-
| ton.
Mr.. Willkie, a leader in the fight to
| broaden his party's international out
| look had become identified in the pub
lie mind as the foremost Republican ex-
| ponent of postwar collaboration with
| the other nations of the world. His po-
Sition, as to details, had not been made
clear. But by stumping the country
while his opponents, for one reason or
another, remained relatively silent Mr..
Willkie had come to be regarded as the
outstanding COP apostle of a broad in
ternationalism, and this lends at least
a superficial plausibility to the conten-
ton that his defeat in the primary
amounts to a reputation by the voters
of the international stand that he had
taken. Before accepting this conten-
ton as fact, however, it would seem
advisable to look at the records of the
other men who were represented on the
Wisconsin primary ballot.
General Macarthur has been fight
ing a war and he has not taken stand
on the international questions which
have arisen in recent years. Gov. Stas-
sen, the runnerup in the primary, is
also in military service, but prior to
entering the Navy he had made his
position on postwar questions entirely
clear. He stood not only for the most
vigorous prosecution of the war, but
also for the fullest international collab-
Grafton to keep the peace after victory.
And it can hardly be said that the
primary results amount to a repudia-
ton of either Gov. Stassen or his views
on international issues.
That leaves Gov. Dewey the winner
by wide margin despite his disinclina-
ton to enter the primary and his re-
quest that the delegates pledged to him
withdraw from the race.
In appraising Gov. Dewey's surpris-
ingly one-sided victory, it is worth re-
membering that he was an easy primary
winner in Wisconsin in 1910, when he
was running against Senator Vanden-
berg. And it is also worth remembering
that the New York Governor, if not as
lar out in front on the international
issue as Mr.. Willkie, can hardly be fitted
into the isolationist mold on the basis
OF the statements he has made in the
last three years.
Not having been a candidate for the
1914 Republican nomination, Gov.
Dewey, as compared to Mr.. Willkie, has
had little to say. But the things that he
has said make it evident that the Wis
consin voters were kidding themselves
If they fiocked to Mr. Dewey as a cham
pion of isolation.
In February, 1941, some 10 months
before Pearl Harbor.. Mr.. Dewey said
that the Republican party stands al
most unanimously for all-out aid to the
heroic people of Great Britain. We
favor such aid because we believe in
rendering all possible aid to free men
resisting tyrants who would enslave
them"
In May, 1912 Dewey called for unified
support OF President Roosevelt's war
policy "in spite of mistakes" And on
this occasion he added "We cannot
hide behind the boundaries of geog-
raphy" in the postwar world. eve must
be prepared as Nation when victory
comes to assume our rightful place
among the nations"
In June OF 1943 he told the Governors
Conference at Columbus, Ohio that
lSolatlonlsm was a thing of the past
1or the American people and for the
Repubhcan party. He also praised the
Fulbrlght resolution, which was then
before the House and which represented
the administration position on postwar
policy, as "a good start" This resolu-
tlon put the House on record as favor
ing the creation of appropriate inter-
national machinery with power ade-
quate to establish and maintain a inst
and lasting peace, and as favoring the
participation by the United States
therein, through its constitutional
processes"
1t was at the Republicans Mackinac
Island conference last September that
Gov. Dewey took his most explicit stand
on our postwar international relations,
subscribing to the postwar resolution
adopted at that meeting, a resolution
following the general lines of the Con-
nally resolution subsequently approved
by the Senate, he also went to the ex-
tent of advocating an outright military
alliance after the war between this
country and Great Britain, an alliance
IN which Russia and China would be
welcome to participate.
1t is sometimes forgotten, however,
that Gov. Dewey took an even more
definite stand at that meeting He did
this by calling attention to the foreign
policy sections of the 1912 platform of
the New York State Republican party,
sections which he said he had written.
These asserted, first, that out of this
war there must come a peace which
will give to all peoples of the world