Evening star., 1948-06-19
Dewey Must Be Stopped
IfOthers Want d Look-In
90. P. Race Is Seen Narrowing Down
To New Yorker and Senator Taft
The Political Min
By Gould LiHcoln

PHILADELPHIA, June 19.-As the Republic
can National Convention opens, we are right
where We came in-six months ago. Gov.
Thomas E. Dewey Of New York Is the man who
has to be stopped" If Senator Taft, Harold
Stassen Gov Warren or Speaker Martin is to
have look-in for the presidential nomination.
The comeback which the New York Governor
has made since the early spring days when he
was goose -egged in the Wisconsin primary and
ran second to Mr.. Stassen in Nebraska Is re-
markable. That Wisconsin defeat was hailed
in some quarters ~ the end Of Mr.. Dewey, SO
far - . presidential nomination this year Is
concerned When he trailed in Nebraska, to
many observers, his number was up.
It is = vastly different picture today, how
ever. as the delegates are pushing into, this
City Of Brotherly Love. Notwithstanding op-
posing claims. Gov. Dewey is expected to have
the largest vote on the first ballot taken for
the presidential nomination. His campaign
manager Herbert Brownell, goes 50 far a. to
say that q first-balot nomination for Gov.
Dewey is not an impossibility. This. causes
broad grins on Stassen and Taft mouths But
they are obviously not happy about these
Dewey claims.
Talk Of Coalition.
discernible-a fast drive to . speedy nomina-
ton. His political ueutenants are moving
heaven and earth to bring this about. Senator
Taft and Mr.. stassen, on the other hand are
outlining hold the line" technique. Indeed.
this is apparently the course they must take.
Always there Il talk of . coalition between
them in order to prevent . blitz of the con-
vention by the Dewey forces The runaors Of
such = coalition are just as frequently denied.
One such coalition was attempted-but it did
not work. That was to prevent the Dewey
forces in the Republican National COMMITTEES
from placing on the temporary roll Of the ma
tional convention the so-called Tucker dele
gates from Georgia-1s delegates supposed
to be ready to vote for Gov. Dewey. BY q vote
Of 4s to A, the committee gave its approval
to this delegation and turned down the Foster
delegation Of 16 delegates committed to .Sena-
tor Taft. True, some Of the Stassen sup
porters on the committee were unwilling to 80
along with the Taft camp. But the failure
Of the coalition demonstrated the dificulty of
bringing of successfully . coalition Of that
kind In the national convention itself.
Not only must Senator Taft and Mr.. Stassen
hold the line with their own delegates, but
they must persuade the delegations with IA
vorite sons to hold fast-among them some Of
the largest delegations in the convention, in
cluding illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts,,
New Jersey, Connecticut and Indiana. sud-
den break in two or more OF these delegations
to Gov. Dewey and the parade would be on.
It's ticblish business at best.
Race Narrows Down.
Should these holding tactics work and 1t be
found impossible to nominate Gov. Dewey
what then? Some Of the leaders-those in the
Taft camp-believe that the Ohio Senator will
win. Indeed there is a very considerable
opinion here that the race has really narrowed
down to Gov Dewey and Senator Taft, and
that if the New Yorker does not win, then
Senator Taft is in. Always there exists the
chance, however, that II Gov. Dewey is stopped.
the same thing may happen to Senator Taft.
No leader here has yet been identified as a
Mark Hanna or q Boise Penrose--strong erOugh
to take q deadlocked convention and dictate
what should be done and who nominated OF
them ALL however, Mr.. Brownell has the max
ings. He was Republican national chairman
during the 1914 presidential campaign, and re-
mained in that office for a year or more after
the campaign. He helped to build up the pres
ent organization throughout the country, and
he is an adroit and persuasive operator.
The hope of the anti-Dewey convention
leaders is that, If he fails to gain materially on
third or fourth ballot, Gov. Dewey will be
through. For some reason-which may hark
back to the convention Of 1940-they insist
that Dewey delegates will not stay firmly with
the New Yorker. But that 10 wishful thinking,