Evening star., 1946-09-06

tationS, which Frank R. Kent.
began when he was inspiring un'
pleasant pieces against Treasur,
Secretary Snyder, representing him
self as prepared to quit cold" i
Mr.. Snyder was not sent back Il
Missouri-some day these represen.
tations, If he keeps them up, ar,
going to get him in trouble. H,
may have to make goods on them
and that he will not like at all.
OF course, MI. Hannegan does no
lay down party policy and his
views" carry very little weight
indeed. Their most recent expires.
sion was in a radio broadcast, which
his journalistic friends referred tt
as a "thunderous' speech of "great
significance" Very few heard the
thunder and almost everybody
missed its significance. Actually
the speech was written for Chair
man Hannegan by Sam ONeal, the
Democratic director of publicity
who is quite as able and aStute-it
not more So-as his widely adver-
tised and now retired predecessor
Mr.. Charlie Michaelson.
Course Predetermined.
The speech contained no new
idea. suggestion, fact or fancy. Fol-
some obscure reason, the journals
tic ref1ectors chose to regard as
sensational Mr.. Hannegan's second
hand declaration that President
Truman is the 'rightful heir o1
Franklin D. Roosevelt; that Mr.
Roosevelt was a sainted figure
worshiped by all right thinking
men, and that Mr.. Truman will
carry on where his predecessor left
off.
Progressive America" melodra
matically declared Mr.. Hannegan'!
ghost writer, has its back to the
wall. We, of the Democratic party
are going to hold the line agains
reaction. That will be our slogan il
this campaign"
Exactly what there is in thest
remarkably corny sentences to JUS
tify such pompous adjectives a!
''thunderous" and deeply signifi.
cant" is difficult to see. What in tht
name Of high Heaven do they ex.
pect a man in Mr.. Hannegans o.
Mr.. O'Neals or, for that matter
Mr.. Trumans position to say? What
else could they possibly say, any
how? Here is Mr.. Roosevelt, Presi-
dent for 13 years, succeeded
through an act of God, by his hand
picked Vice President, chosen large
ly because he had gone all the
way with the Roosevelt policies
and was in every respect a Roose-
welt man
Under these conditions, what else
could Mr.. Truman have done-and
what else can he do? Can he re-
pudiate the. Roosevelt policies? =?
Can he fail in eulogizing Mr.. Roose-
velt and all his acts and words?
Can he do anything other than re-
gard himself as the "rightful heir"
without complete personal stultifica-
ton and the precipitation of politi-
cal chaos within the Democratic
party? No reasonable man will say
yes to these questions. The mere
notion is ridiculous.
Other Inheritances.
Mr.. Truman not only inherited
the Roosevelt" policies, to which
he was previously committed, but
he also inherited the political alli-
ance with the CIO and the radicals
generally with which the Demo
cratic party had been successful in
three campaigns And he also in
herited Mr.. Hannegan. In brief, his
inheritance is heavy, embarrassing
and unacceptable. 1t is something he
could not avoid receiving and can
not get away from now. He has tt
carry on" where his predecessor
left of.
However, no one ought to think
it either easy, pleasant or politically
profitable for Mr.. Truman to be
thus bound by his inheritance. His
difficulties are clear. First, Mr.. Tru-
man, who is an intelligent man
knows that the so-called Roosevelt
policies" have become soggy ano
offer no solution for the very criti-
cal domestic situations with which
he must deal
Second, there is the obvious fact
that the most ardent of the RooSe-
welt worShipers do not worship
Mr.. Truman at all but regard him
as not liberal" at heart and in
capable Of carrying on the 'Roose-
velt policies" Third, the political
alliance which Mr.. Roosevelt had
contracted between his administra-
ton and the radical groups has
begged down pretty badly.
Fundamentally Is Conservative.
For adequate reasons, public SEN
tlment has turned strongly against
them. In addition, Mr.. Truman at
bottom is conservative He ac-
cepted the Roosevelt radicalism be-
cause he is party man who follows
his leader-but the true liberals
are right in suspecting that he is
not really one of them-that he
actually believes that 2 and 2 still
make 4-no matter how you slice it
Nevertheless, he and Mr.. Han.
negan and the Democratic party
are all caught In the inheritance
trap. They must carry on" with
the Roosevelt policies, though these
are now largely In disrepute anc
much of the glamor of their late