The Wilmington morning star., 1945-04-23

accept no responsibility for the personal
views of Mr.. Pegler, and often disagree
with them as much as many OF his read
ers. His articles serve the good purpose
of making people think.)
By WEsTBROOK PEGLER
Copyright, 1945, by King Features Syndicate.)
Harry Truman's nomination for the vice
presidency in Chicago last summer was vic
tory over the communists and fascists of the
democratic party who were operating through
the political action committee to put over
Henry Wallace. Never before in nominating
convention had there been such fierce fight
over the vice-presidental nomination. The rea-
son for this contention was never mentioned
on the floor and, as far as my recollection
goes, was avoided in print for reasons or tact
and taste. think this was prudery and know
this avoidance was default by the American
free press of its obligation to tell the truth
even at the risk of abuse. The reason was that
President Franklin D. Roosevelt plainly was
failing In health and strength The conven-
ton was prevailed by a premonition that if the
democratic ticket should win at the polls in
November. the man selected as his running
mate would become his successor as the war
| President
| The communists and fascists, processing to
be liberals and long accustomed to influence
and power in Washington and New York, re-
garded Wallace as man who would carry
out their European design of creeping en-
croachrnent on the rights and freedom of the
American people. In Truman they recognized
typical American machine politician but a
typical American, nevertheless, and so they
fought him to the end.
This means now, therefore, that Truman
becomes President under obligation to either
the PAC or The CLIO and equally independent
of those ideologians in the Washington bureau
cracy who played the game with Sidney Hill
man and used their offices as soap-boxes from
which to preach seduction to serfdom.
| More important to Truman, however, is the
hope, amounting almost to confidence, among
millions of Americans, that he WILL so to speak,
| grant them amnesty and readnit them to citi-
zenship and full enjoyment of their rights in
their native country. For Truman has never
subscribed to those sweeping writs of moral
and spiritual exile which were issued against
great elements Of decent law-abiding, self
respecting citizens in such terms as tory"
"copperhead'' and fascist" all of them mean
ing TRAITOR" by President Roosevelt and
Vice-President Wallace.
Truman has been a moderate, temperate
and serious man and of his best friends
is Roy Roberts, the editor Of the Kansas City
Star, a republican who produced ALI Landon
for the republican nomination in 1886 and who
was strongly influential in smashing the Pen
the Senate. Although Roberts initiative and
tenacity were largely responsible for the con-
Wction and Imprisonment of Truman's old
patron, the unspeakable Tom Pendergast, Tru-
man bore Roberts no grudge. 1t is deplorable
that Truman did take revenge on Maurice
Milligan, the federal district attorney who
|actually did the job after all, that is familiar
American politics. Truman only recently for
babe Milligan's reappointment, a sordid and
indecent reprisal against an honorable public
servant
It seems unlikely considering Truman's dis
position. that he will continue the long harass-
ment Of those many worthy Americans who
were given to understand throughout the new
deal that theirs was not government Of by
and for all the people, but government by
an exclusive group of bigots for the special
benefit OF a relatively small portion of the
whole people, called the 'minorities" Time
will tell, but it is difficult to imagine Truman
retaining as his advisers Roosevelt's selected
confidantes Sam Rosenman and Harry Hopkins
Felix Frankfurter and David X. Niles or plac-
ing enormous power in the hands of Aubrey
Williams or Leon Henderson, He customarily
runs with a different type of men and it is
unthinkable that he would select appointees
mainly for their capacity to insult his loyal
fellow citizens and turn against their national
government.
Humans relations with Congress should
provide immediate relief from the long fued
which Roosevelt deliberately began soon after
his accession in 1888 and continued until the
end. Congress has been compared by some
of its more intelligent members to a large
student body in which the good men, who are,
after ali, the great majority, quickly learn
the characteristics of their inferior fellows
The trimmer, the double-crosser and the loafer
soon are pegged and rated accordingly And
Truman, by these tests carried over from
boyhood by American men, was we'll regarded
by both houses. Thus, it would be unlike him
to bring into the White House Tommy the
Cork with permission to telephone the Capitol
debating peremptory instructions to the legis-
latures. Though Truman may find it necessary
to veto some measures, we may be sure that
he will never resort to such insulting language
as provoked even the docile and decorous Alben
Barley to his exasperated revolt little over
a year ago when Roosevelt vetoed the tax
bill
| The fact must be admitted that President
Roosevelt had no hope of achieving anything
like unity among the American people under
his presidency. He had gratuitously affronted
too many millions of good men and women and
had seemed to delight in their discomfort un
der the abuse OF noisy and offcious tyrants
in the bureaus who appeared to have been
chosen primarily for their bad manners They
despised him and it would be a historical
fraud to ignore this fact and the reasons for it.
Preponderantly, the discussion of Truman
has dealt with foreign policy and the peace
to the neglect of domestic issues and the
1 i