Evening star., 1944-07-31
WiIIkie Decision Seen
Big Factor in Election

OsS OStOJ III EISCtIO0
His Backing of Dewey Depends
on the Issues, Says Writer
By David Laurence
Ever since the Republican convention
was held. there have been rumors that
Wendell Willkie viii support Oov.
Dewey, but this does not haze the
slightest foundation. Almost every day
some Willkie supporter Joins the Dewey
ranks and this Is taken to have some
particular significance.
Actually. authentic information has
reached here that Mr.. wiulkie has not
made up his mind yet whether he will
support Gov. Dewey. Those business
men who are most influential In the
Republican party succeeded In eliui-
mating Mr.. Willkie from the race for
the nomination and relegated him to
the position Of private citizen. Mr.. WILL
kie now Is exercising all the privileges
OF private citizen-namely, to make
up his own mind in his own GOOD
time.
This is not bothering some of the
old-line Republicans because their con-
ception Of the Republican party is a
good deal like that of an exclusive club
they specify the qualification Of mem
bers and black-ball the rest. They have
tried to read Mr.. Willkie out of the
party and have assumed that it doesn't
make any difference what he thinks
about current issues.
They did not even permit him to ad-
dress the Republican National Conven.
ton, although. as a prominent per-
sonality in the party with progressive
views on public questions, he might have
been given the same opportunity to ex-
press his views, as was given to the
conservative Herbert Hoover.
Interested In Issues.
Those who have talked with Mr..
Willkie since the convention find him
not in the slightest degree piqued by the
fact that he was excluded from the
convention councils in Chicago, but
they do find him very much interested
in what the Republican party Is going
to do about important issues of the
day.
1t Is conceivable that Mr.. Willkie will
wind up supporting Gov. Dewey and it
Is possible that he will not express any
preference in this campaign at all but
Will adopt completely passive role,
making no speeches or public state
ments. This latter course, however, does
not seem to be in line with the Willkie
conception of leadership and It may,
therefore, be expected that before the
end OF the campaign he will announce
whether he intends to vote for Presi-
dent Roosevelt or Gov. Dewey.
The decision is not likely to come until
autumn, by which time Mr.. Willkie
will have had q chance to examine the
addresses and utterances of both candi-
dates and decide for himself which of
the two appears to him as likely to
exert the best efforts for international
collaboration and world peace.
The so-called isolationists or national.
lists who fought Mr.. Willkie bitterly In
the preconvention campaign are lust as
unreconciled to him today. In fact, they
do not want his support. They say he
should 60 back to the Democratic party.
Maybe q few million independents will
60 back with him.
Gov. Dewey has made no speeches as
yet indicating how far he is willing to
60 to secure the support of INDEPENDENT
voters like Mr.. Willkie. He NAV ind
himself in dilemma because il he goes
over toward the Willkie viewpoint, he
may lose support from the isolationist
section.
Principal Trouble In Party.
This, Of course, Is one of the principal
troubles in the Republican party. It
has two major wings going in opposite
directions and independent voters are
not sure which side of the fence Mr..
Dewey will be on, If he Is elected.
Curiously enough. this is exactly what
the situation was in 1920 when william
Howard Taft. Elihu Root and Charles
Evans Hughes and other prominent Re-
pubhcans told the American people that
although Warren Harding, the Repub-
ncan nominee, was not yerv clear
whether he would favor the entry of
the United States into the League of
Nations If elected, the Republican voters
could feel sure that "a vote for Harding
was vote for the League"
But after the election, Mr., Harding
repudiated the League Covenant and
failed to carry out his campaign pledge
70 advocate an international association
IN place of the League. independent
voters who recall how the Republican
party floundered on this question in
1920 are wondering whether Mr.. Dewey
Is going to follow the path of Harding.
Mr.. Willkie, as an individual pursuing
his own political fortunes, could not mo-
bilize enough support to win q nomina-
ton, but those who believe in his ideas
and think as he does are by no means
an inconsequential number and NAV
be sufficient to constitute the balance
OF power that turns the election.
Reproduction Rishts Reserved
The Cause of DELINQUENCY