Milford chronicle., 1948-10-29
WHAT OTHER PAPERS Are SAYING.
TRUMAN TRAGEDY: TOO SMALL FOR JOB
editorial in Philadelphia Inquirer)


Editorial in Philadelphia Inqurer)
If the Presidential campaign now rolling toward
its climax at the polls has done nothing else, it has
brought home to the voters all over this land the
tragedy of little man struggling desperately to hold
to the great office for which he is obviously unfit
the tragedy of Harry S. Truman.
In that tragedy the people of the United States
inevitably share. At a time when leadership and
craftsmanship of the highest character are urgently
needed in the White House we are given instead a
spectacle of fumblng confusion and ineptness with
out parallel in our history.
1t is pathetic to see Harry Truman weaving un-
certainly through the problems that beset him 1t
is sad to view his mistakes and Misunderstanding
But with all charity toward his shortcomings and
his littleness of mind, the Nation simply cannot
afford to risk its future by entrusting it for any
further period to a man who does not know how to
be President.
Harry Truman spent the better part of his pOlit-
ical life a small-time lieutenant of the Kansas
City boss, Tom Penderbast. He is still acting like
a small-time politician
He became Vice-President only because more
logical candidates were overcome by the hostility of
their enemies in acknowledgements maneuverings...
His accession to the Presidency was another po-
litical accident: Roosevelt failed to live out his
fourth term
Catapulted thus suddenly into the most powerful
office in the Western World, Mr.. Truman found it
impossible to pull himself up by his bOOt-straps to
the stature required by the job
His very ineptness. his awe at the size of the re-
spOnsbilities facing him, caused most persons to
give him every benefit of the doubt. He deserved
chance and he was given it.
How he manged his opportunities is public rec
ord. He failed to get along with Congress when his
own party controlled it. He failed to get along with
VryE,o 4bO
failed to get alOng-period
He stumbled into contradictions and inconsistent
cies His policies on every important domestic prob
lem, from labor and imitation to housing veered be-
wilderingly from one point the compass to the
opposite one
In the field of foreign relations his blunders as
sUmed monumental proportions from his shameful
vacillation on Palestine and his approval and then
reputation of the Henry Wallace speech, to the re-
cent abOrtive VinsOn mission to Moscow
1t may be said that Mr. Truman simply does not
shape up to his job that it is much too big for him.
but that he is. after ALL doing his best in pathetic
sort of way and should, if anything pity him.
With the world balanced precariously on the brink
of another war, and with the democracies every
where looking to the United States for help and lead
ership, this is no time for pathetic performance in
the Presidency
Mr. Truman has proved failure, and a sad one
and he must make now for man pre-eminent-
ly qualified for the job
In contrast with Truman's fumbling Intellectual
ness, Thomas E. Dewey has proved himself an able
and alert administrator. Where Truman has been
weak and vacillating, Dewey has been firm and COLI
sstent
The New York Governor has made it policy to
surround himself not with hand-me-down politicians
but with expert advisers and co-workers. He is
believer in teamwork and IOng-range planning He
has solid and sound grasp on domestic problems.
He has made it clear where he stands in the field of
foreign relations: there will, with him. be no ap-
peasement of Communist Russia, no devious deals,
no diplomatic back-tracking, Truman blunders.
1t is tragedy that Harry Truman should have had
thrust upon him an office for which he was not-s
nOt-qualifed It is greater tragedy that he should
seek to imper his cOuntry's welfare by cnging to
that office for four years.
We are confident that he will not succeed and
that the voters on November will retire him, the
relict of the prOfigate Roosevelt New Deal to the
DINNER recesses of history.
With their ballots on that day the people will be
able at last to place in the Presidency man who is
in every respect fit for that high office who will con-
duct it manfully for the good of ALL who will provide
us with the leadership we so urgently need in the
critical days ahead.
That man is Thomas E. Dewey