Evening star., 1948-04-25
CIO Cool to President
Despite Labor Law Veto

Despite Labor Low VetoI
Union Leaders Join With Liberals in
Draft Eisenhower Drive r y
By Frank r. Kent -"
The current attitude toward national politics
OF the leaders OF labor in this country, a
revealed by themselves and elaborated by their
journalistic spokesnen, reflects credit upon
neither their character nor their intelligence.
The wonder is that the men constituting the
rank and file Of organized labor do not recog.
nize its stupidities and revolt against leader.
ship which makes boobs Of them. They deservs
better. -
In particular, this applies to the cIo, the
conspicuous bosses Of which are actively
afalated with the ADA effort to destroy Mr..
Truman. In the light Of the record this makes
no sense whatever. 1t is not necessary to bs
pro-Truman to agree about that Any de-
tached person, Democrat or Republican re-
viewing the situation, can hardly avoid the
conclusion that these bosses are rs dun as
they are unworthy, and any politician who
counts upon their support is foolish.
recital Of the indisputable facts ought to
promote clearer understanding among mern-
bers of the unions as well as nonmembers. In
the flrst place, in 1874 Mr.. Truman, picked BY
Mr.. Roosevelt for his running mate, was
cleared" through the CIO bosses and declared
Satisfactory" In the second place, at thiS
moment the CIO bosses are strongly for the
Truman policies, foreign and domestic. There
is not one from which they dissent. In the
recent resolution adopted by the American
Democratic Association, with which the more
important CIO figures are afnlated, the Tru.
man policies, foreign and domestic, were highly
T., IA R~,~ r.
was that poor appointments and faltering
support Of his aides have failed to rally the
people behind policies which we wholeheart-
edly support" Thus, they not only found Mr..
Truman satisfactory" in 1914, but in ls4S
they 60 on record as being for all his policies.
- sA.s,
OF course, the chief Truman policy calcu-'
lated to endear him to the CIO leaders is his
labor policy, as exemplified by his veto and
denunciation Of the Taft-Hartley bill last year.
This act is one indicted by the CIo publicly
as a "slave law" With almost hysterical VIC.
lence CIO spokesmen have dwelt upon itg
iniquities, pledged themselves to fight for It's =
repeal, declared their purpose to drive out Of
public life every man who voted or advocated
it. With these labor bosses this issue dwarfs
all others, foreign as well as domestic Their
publications regularly devote pages to vitupera-
tive announcement of the law. The unre-
strained savagery Of their attacks has not been :
equaled in organized labor history.
No one will dispute these statements. Tbs
evidence Of their truth Is concrete and over s
whelming. Nor will many contend that the
strenuous CIO efforts in opposition to those
who voted for or favored the Taft-Hartley bill .
are not utterly Illogical and hyprocritical unless
balanced by support OF those who stood BY
them in their desperate Ut Is not too strong
word) fight to prevent its enactment. OF all II
the men in public life the man who stood by
them most effectively and gave them greatest
support was Mr.. Truman. He went the ex-
treme limit in doing So
OF course, that was one Of his mistakes.
Under pressure from his own political advisers,
from the CIO leaders and from some Of the
very Roosevelt liberals" now trying TO ruin
him, obviously he vetoed the bill In order to
insure the CIO political support which his
predecessor had acquired through similar IA
voritism and support. It was not . sound veto.
It WAS . political one. It was not In accord
with the national interests or public sentiment.
But 1t, was in complete accord with the Roose-7
welt policies and ut the time was applandsd BY
the Roosevelt liberals" -
He should have known better. Neverthe-
less he tried hard to kill the bill and it will bs
conceded that at least he is entitled TO the
grateful thanks and hearty support Of the
labor bosses. But has he got their support
Certainly he has not. Though Of all presi.
Dental aspirants in both major parties Mr. .Tru-
man is the only one who does not favor the
Taft-Hartley bill and the only one who took
the CIO view that 1t was thoroughly bad, he Is
the only one singled out for CIO attack. In,
stead of supporting Mr.. Truman, who is the
sole hope these labor leaders have Of getting
a man in the White House who sided with
them on this issue, we find them joining with,
a group which, for its own peculiar reasons,
wants to ditch Mr.. Truman.
More than that, we find Mr.. Philip Murray
and his blatant aides shouting for the draft.
ing" Of Gen. Eisenhower, though no one
doubt that as President he would have signed
the Taft-Hartley bill instead Of vetoing 1t; that
he would not advocate its repeal; that never
would he coddle nor truckle to these CIo bosses
in the Roosevelt Truman way, and that, any.
how, he is not going to be nominated and Mr..
Truman is Considering these things, 1t Is
really remarkable that Mr.. Murray and his
aides can be taken seriously by their own fol-
lowing. The only reasonable explanation seems
to be that the following does not know or
does not understand the facts Certainly,
these make 1t dificult to credit Mr.. Murray,
and his aides with ordinary gratitude, ordinary
common sense or an ordinary sense OF shame.
hour will be lost in getting their warships under
way for Cuban waters"
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