Evening star., 1947-02-24
Trumon Boost for '48
Called Notice to Party
Hannegan Talk Seen as Attempt
to Warn Other Aspirants
By David Laurence

By David Laurence ..
When Chairman Hannegan Of the
Democratic National Committee told
dinner of postal employees the other day
that he expected President Truman to
run again in 1948, he was serving notice
not so much to the country as whole
as to the would-be candidates inside
the Democratic Party.
BY virtue of his position as Postmaster
General in the cabinet of President Tru-
man, it might be supposed that Mr..
Hannegan was speaking with the knowl-
edge and authority Of Mr.. Truman.
This need not necessarily be the case.
Whether Mr.. Truman will or will not
run again is something that neither he
nor the national convention need decide
until about 16 months from now. In
the meantime, it is imperative from the
Truman viewpoint that the Democratic
Party be held together without such
rivalries or presidential ambitions as
characterize the Republican Party
today.
From every political viewpoint, 1t is
logical that Mr.. Truman should be re-
nominated. He will have made the
record on which the party has to stand
before the country and if he cannot win
on it, doubtless no other Democratic
candidate can either. This has been an
axiom in presidential politics for long
time in American history.
Some circumstances n;Har
But the situation does have in it some
circumstances that differ from other
campaigns. Mr.. Truman has been a
weak President. He faltered in the
major crises of reconversion and labor
strife in 1945 and 1916. To his failures
more than any other single circum-
stance the triumph Of the Republicans
in both houses of Congress logically can
be attributed
So 1t Is natural that others In the
Democratic Party outside the White
House circle should be showing anxiety
lest the party suffer another defeat.
Their reasoning is that new man with
new political approach may satisfy
the desire of the people for a change
without changing the incumbent party.
Certainly the American habit of voting
in recent years has been to focus atten-
ton on the personality and capacity Of
the man at the top of the ticket and
to think less about party records as
such.
The question before the voters in
1948, If Mr.. Truman is the Democratic
nominee, will be whether they want
-four more years of Truman" or new
man like Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, former
Gov. Harold Stassen, Senator Taft or
Senator Vandenberg. For 1t does look as
if the Republicans will choose their
nominee from one Of those four persons.
From the viewpoint of strategy, Mr.
Hannegan was right in letting 1t be
known that he intends to keep Mr.. Tru-
mans that in the ring" That was
notice, too, to the of1iceholders and the
party chiefs who are in control of the
State and city machines that the chair
man of the Democratic National Com
mittee wants delegates chosen who will
be favorable to the Truman renomina-
ton. a1 "'7
Political Stock Seen Rising.
1t is the simplest thing in politics for
a Presidents henchmen to bring about
his denomination through the influence
of Federal officeholders For they, in
fact, control the choice of delegates, no
matter what the Hatch Act may imply
to the contrary
Mr.. Trumans political stock has been
rising lately from the low point it
reached last May and June. ThM ap-
pointment Of Gen. George G. Marshall
and the evident fidelity to a policy of
fairness in domestic affairs-foregoing
political partisanship or pettiness in his
relations with Congress-have strength
ened Mr.. Truman's position. But he
has long way to go before he can
restore to himself the position he had in
the early months of his presidential
career.
His chief errors have been due to
his failure to judge correctly the temper
of the country on the labor problem.
He has made the mistake of playing
bail with the "left wingers" and, espe-
cially, the CIO.
Much will depend on whether Mr..
Truman and his party in Congress
attempt to sabotage legislation assuring
the workers in America the full rights
which labor union oligarchies have been
taking away from them. If Mr.. Truman
vetoes the moderate labor bills that
come to him after lengthy consideration
by Congress-and contemporaneously by
a watchful public opinion-neither he
nor any radical Democrat on the ticket
can hope for success in 1948.
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