Evening star., 1948-04-22
w. and l.. Names Nondenberg,
|SoItonstoV in Mock Convention

Houston, Tex, stood up and an
nounced that his 33-man Texas del
egation was switching en- bloc from
Gov. Dewey to Senator Vanden-
berg. He urged all other delegations
to unite In supporting the Michi-
ganite. His plea was effective, for
one by one the delegations switched
their vote to Senator Vandenberg.
When the results were announced,
the students went into wild dem
onstration which, however, was
short-lived in comparison to some
which had gone before. At the re-
quest of the newsreel men, however,
they went through the motions
twice again.
On the final ballot, Senator VAN
denberg received 977 votes-well
over the 548 needed to win. His
closest competitor was Gov. Dewey,
with 100 votes.
Dewey Had Been Ahead.
Gov. Dewey had been the 'front.'
runner up to that point. He was
well ahead on each Of the previous
ballots, but was always about 125
votes short Of nomination each time.
Senator Taft and Mr.. Stassen ran
neck and neck behind Gov. Dewey
until the fifth ballot, when Senator
Taft dropped of sharply and Mr..
Stassen began to pick up a few
votes. 1t became apparent, however,
that the Stassen groundswell would
never gain enough momentum to
overcome Gov. Dewey despite the en-
thusiastic demonstrations Of his sup
porters. And it also became appar-
ent that Gov. Dewey would not be
able to muster the necessary ma
jority. That was when quick corner
caucuses, intermission conferences
and even on-the-floor trading Of
delegates-all on the basis of tele-
phoned instructions from actual
COP chieftains-led to the Vanden-
berg compromise.
There were some students today
who muttered, however, that the
swing to Senator Vandenberg was
the result of campus machine poll
tics rather than an authentic re-
fiection of COP sentiment. These
students insisted that powerful
campus politicians who favor Sen
ator Vandenberg influenced the
delegations to switch their votes.
Senator Vandenberg was the only
one who was said not to have ad.
vanced any funds for the student
campaign in his behalf Other
candidates repeatedly contributed
toward expenses. The leader oi
the Stassen forces-Bin Todd OF
Kingport, Tenn.-admitted quite
readily that Stassen headquarters
had given him a drawing account
"Outsider" Is Resented.
The Stassen forces conducted a
vigorous campaign. An outsider,
Roger johnson OF the University
of Minnesota, Mr.. Stassen's student
director. even came here to serve
as the advisor, and aroused some
antagonism among students for
what was called "high-pressure tao
tics" The leader of one State
delegation even threated to run
him out of town"
Gen. Macarthur was unpopular
with the delegates. Mention of
his name never failed to draw a
heavy chorus Of boos and his voting
strength was virtually nil.
Selection Of Senator Saltonstall as
Vice President was COMPLETED on the
first ballot, when a California dele
gate proposed that he be named by
acclamation.
The convention, obviously weary
by that time, overwhelmingly
adopted the proposal. Others who
had been considered up to that time
were Gov. Dwight Green Of Illinois,
Senator Baldwin Of Connecticut,
Senator Wherry Of Nebraska, Gov.
Alfred Driscoll Of New Jersey and
Senator Martin Of Pennsylvania.