Evening star., 1946-04-12
Trumun's First Yeur

EAe oAAc Gnu VI AilS AllSt year III IIle
White House, post to which he
succeeded upon the death of Presi-
dent who had risen to pre-eminence
both as a great national and inter-
national leader, the people of this
country know good deal more
about Harry S. Truman than they
did on that shocking day when the
news came that Franklin D. Roose-
velt was gone. Even after the pass
age of a full year, however, not
enough is known to warrant more
than a superficial appraisal of Mr..
Truman as President.
He is, at one time, both the bene-
flciary and the victim of his political
inheritance. 1t is in the handling
of international problems that Mr..
Truman has profited most from the
legacy left by his predecessor. Mr..
Roosevelt had planned far into the
future for the peace, and it was un-
der his guidance that the essential
foundations of the peace structure
were laid. Mr.. Truman has built
upon these foundations, but it has
been largely matter of following
the blueprints. The pioneering work
had been done. Obviously, there is
much in the structure that falls
short OF perfection, and Mr.. Truman
has had his bad days as the work of
building went on. Yet it is equally
obvious that a great deal of progress
has been made, and while there are
those who wonder whether Mr..
Roosevelt would have done better,
the fact remains that, in this re-
spect, Mr.. Truman has done very
we'll indeed.
He has been less successful in
dealing with domestic problems, al
though in this field, too, he inherited
a blueprint which he has tried faith
fully to follow. There has been
much criticism of Mr.. Truman on
this score, but what is frequently
overlooked is the fact that Mr..
Roosevelt left him not only blue
print, but also political organiza-
tion which was coming apart at the
seams.
During the war years there were
two things which tended to obscure
the split within the Democratic par
ty. One was the necessity of sub
ordinating domestic political fric-
tion to the requirements of national
unity. The other was the fact that
the President, occupied as he was
with military and postwar interna-
tional problems, had neither the time
nor the inclination to force show
down on controversial domestic
issues.
When Mr.. Roosevelt died, how
ever, none of these issues had been
resolved and, with the end of hos
tilities, the responsibility of facing
them fell upon Mr.. Truman. De-
spite his best efforts, he has accom-
plished very little, and it is exceed
ingly doubtful that Mr.. Roosevelt,
had he lived, would have been able
to do any better.
For all his qualities of leadership,
the late President was confronted
with a domestic political failure by
the end OF his second term, and it
was only the threat of war which
saved his administration from being
reduced to political impotence as
result OF the breaking up of the
party organization which he had
thrown together during his first two
terms. The organization has been
breaking up because of the struggle
for control of the Democratic party
between the right and left wings of
American politics. In Congress this
struggle has reached the point of
stalemate and the administrations
legislative program is stalled on
dead center.
From the standpoint of his own
political fortunes, it is this prob
lena problem not of his own
making-Which poses the supreme
test for Mr.. Truman. He will wrestle
with 1t with the courage and the
patience and the humility which
are his outstanding virtues. But
at the end of his first year in the
White House it is too early to pass
Judgment on Mr.. Truman's ability
to find a way out. About all that
can be said is that his own and his
party's political life expectancy will
be shortened to the extent that he
fails to find the anSMar