Evening star., 1948-11-19
Man to Man
By Harold L. Ickes

Twice in our history presidents by Chance"
namely Vice Presidents who have succeeded
to the presidency upon the death of their
predecessors, have been able to win nomina-
tions and elections in their own right. One
Of these was Theodore Roosevelt, the other
Calvin Coolidge. -Four other presidents by
Chance"-John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, An
drew johnson and Chester A. Arthur-were
ambitious to be nominated for a succeeding
four-year term. But all Of them failed to
realize their ambition. Harry S. Truman, the
seventh OF our Presidents by Chance" was
able to win . nomination at the end Of his
broken term. And he failed of reelection.
In view Of this score Of two to five political
parties in the future will be wise If they never
fail to nominate as their candidate for Vice
President a man who is qualified to be Presi-
dent. Fortunately for the country. the two
vice presidential candidates this year were
able and outstanding men. The succession OF
either of them to the presidency would have
been nothing to worry about.
As the only "President by Chance who was
able to win . nomination at the end Of his
fragmentary term and then be defeated at
the succeeding election, Mr.. Truman has made
. new record. One cannot but admire the
game fight that he put up. We Americans
dent Truman has been BOTH One may regret
that he did not have about him, or at least
within counseling distance, advisers who were
able cooly to appraise the situation and
frankly tell him that he could not win.
Unfortunately, his candidacy, although it has
increased his standing as a man, has been
well-nigh disastrous for his party. No longer
is there solid South" of which the Demo-
Gratis can boast and upon which they can rely
for an irreducible minimum of votes in the
electoral college. This second exception will
be q greater test of the survival qualities OF
the Democratic Party than was the first ex-
ception in 1924 when Herbert Hoover carried
Southern States that had been Overwhelmingly
Democratic ever since the Civil War. Hoover
carried the States that he did on racial and
religious prejudice. He and his managers
capitalized upon the fact that AL Smith, his
Democratic opponent, was a Catholic. How
ever, the Dixiecrats had no such issue as to
Truman. He is a Baptist in the best Southern
tradition. Moreover, he was born and raised
in border State whose Democratic predilec-
tions have been long and deep. The result is
that no longer is the Democratic Party
homogeneous. The internal wound inflicted
upon itself with frankly suicidal intent will
be long in healing. In fact, it may never heal
There Is little satisfaction in speculation
upon what might have happened If campaign
conditions had been different, but it can be
interesting and perhaps even important for
the future. still believe that If Gen. Dwight
D. Eisenhower had been the candidate on
either ticket he would have swept the country.
Justice William O. Douglas might have won,
or Chief Justice Fred Vinson, although per-
sonally would have deprecated candidate
from the Supreme Court. The final vote
proved what the country had sensed, namely.
that while Dewey would win, it would not be
because of any enthusiasm for him. 1t was
a cold result by cold people who preferred a
cold candidate for q variety of reasons. Con-
sidering the sort Of campaign that Gov. Dewey
waged, it must be said that the result was
about as perfect . precision product as could
be expected from expert hands. To the coun-
try, the people felt much more warmly toward
President Truman, and throughout the cam
paign there was a steadily mounting admira-
ton for the uphill fight that he put up. It
was interesting that Mr.. Truman, who fought
practically alone, did not develop such issues
as are involved In tidelands oil and Federal