Arizona sun., 1948-11-05

p.,,hh. soon were able to
write the lesson
Un the blackboard without exposing
the wedding-ring finger.
There is however one class OF
permanent Washingtonians which
goes on like the brook. But even
individuals in this class may find
the nature of their daily tasks diff
fering slightly as administrations
change. I refer, Of course, to the
Fourth Estate which now includes
commentators (since radio news
men as well as newspapermen are
eligible to the National Press club.
thus establishing at least a mini
mum standard Of merit.
Naturally we who cover the
White House always wonder
what manner of man, we are
going to have to handle. While
o new incumbent Is learning
the art Of getting his name
favOrably inserted into Wash
ingtOn dispatch or broadcast we
have a chance to learn the care
and feeding Of the source Of
news which feeds the news to
us.
Once Dewey had a bad reputa-
ton in this regard. But then, most
candidates are suspect before they
start, since it is taken for granted
that they all are subject to the dis
ease of presidentitis which affects
victims differently.
Coolidge, for instance, was per-
haps least afflicted with this malady
that attacks the strongest individ-
ual when he walks under the white
pillared portico of 1000 Pennsyl-
vania avenue to stay for at least
four years. And Coolidge was about
as rich in front page material Of
his own making as the clam he
sought to emulate.
remember a remark William.
Hard, now an editor of Readers
Digest, once made to me:
"Cal never seemed to suffer from
presidentitis" Hard invented the
word, I believe)-''he is the only
occupant of the White House know
of who, when he lay down to take
his daily siesta, didn't think when
he awoke that the world had gone
to pieces"
No newsman, except toward
the last, could complain about
Franklin ROOsevelt's news con-
ferenceS. Regardless Of what
one might think of his views,
his news was always printable.
1t will be hard to produce an
other such.
The heavy majority of those who
travelled with Dewey on his cam
paign trips had nothing but praise.
But few of those who had ex-
perienced his press conferences,
and had enjoyed-or otherwise-his
press relations in earlier days were
cynical.
wait" they said, until the
honeymoon is over"
found it hard to get concrete
predictions. myself had seen a
vast Improvement in Dewey's press
relations over the years since his
first campaign. And I see no rea-
son why person can't and doesn't
learn.
On the train, whenever he could
(and that is the way most of the
correspondents described tt
could" not ''would'O, Dewey
went into the press car attached
to his train, chatted individually
with the fellows, learned to connect
names with new faces, answered
questions, and at least appeared to
be frank and free with his "off the
record" remarks concerning Re-
publican doubts and fears, real, i'm
agined, or assumed! He sometimes
took time for a game of chess,
with the boys
There was, however, much
less infOrmaIity in the atmos-
phere of his encourage than
there was in Truman's. The
Dewey affair moved SO smooth
Iy that a creak or two would
have been welcome. Like the
farmer in the poem $50 even
ran his course of life the neigh
bOrs thought it odd"
There was one man who made
press relations on the Dewey cam
paign train a joy-well, two men.
One was Jim Hagerty, trained re-
porter himself, who is expected to