Milford chronicle., 1948-11-26
WHO ELECTED HARRY TRUMAN?

Ever since the election, some of the more
prominent labor leaders have been claiming
that the unions elected Mr.. Truman. Ac-
cOrding to them, the biggest single issue
was the Taft-Hartley Act.
That will take a good deal of proving
to anyone who has made even cursOry eX-
animation of the final returns. Governor
Dewey ran strongly in the industrial states,
where the labor vote is prOpOrtiOnately lar
gest, and carried most of them. The Presi-
dent, on the other hand, did extremely well
in the agricultural regions where organized
labor amounts to a small minority of the
population.
Arizona provides the most interesting
example. Mr.. Truman carried it easily. Yet,
at the same time, the voters approved a
measure outlaWing the closed shop. That
certainly doesn't look as if the people want
labor to hold the whip hand over the govern
ment or the people.
Mr. Truman does not owe his remarkable
success to any group or any class He wasn't
elected by labor or capital or agriculture or
any other segment of the nation. He was
elected by the American people, and he is the
President of all the people. He doesn't even
owe allegiance to the Democratic leaders
most of them deserted him when they
thought his cause was lost, and he won in
spite of these unadmirable defectiOnS
Harry S. Truman has a chance to go
down in history as one of the great Presi-
dents-as a man who, when the world was
torn between slavery and freedom, stood
staunchly for the liberties of mankind, and
was too big to admit allegiance to special
Interests l0f any kind. The whole, civilized
world hopes that he may measure up to the
enormous responsibilities that have fallen
upon him. He has a chance now to rise
above group prejudice or group selfshness.
i MILITARY ALLIANCE IN THE MAKING
Within the very near future this cOun-
try will start serious work on preparing the
draft of military alliance with a group of
foreign nations That would have happened
before, had this not been an election year.
AS it was, the State Department and the
other agencies involved thought it best to
postpone it until after the election, in order
to keep it above and beyond partisan pOliti-
cal considerations.
1t is remarkable thing that such pro-
pOsal should be seriously made in a country
which, until recently, had reEgiOusly fol-
lowed WaShingtOn's admOnitiOn against en-
tangling foreign alliances. 1t is a still more
remarkable thing that some kind of a mill
tary alliance has every chance of being ap-
prOved-that, indeed, the odds are over
Whelmingly in it's favor There is no better
ILLUSTRATION of the fact that the world has
y
military and foreign relations points of view
and that Americas Ocean-made geographic
cal remOtenesS from Europe is no longer
considered to be a guarantee of territorial
security.
If and when the alliance comes into be
ing, it will be the result Of the Soviet Unions
postwar attitude-and, more particularly
the obvious intent of that power to dominate
all of Europe and destroy every possible
of 1y,A1
Had Russia even gone through the motions
Of cooperating with the Western nations il
implementing the peace, and had she show
even a mOdicum of restraint in her dealing
with the little nations that border on he
boundaries, it is doubtful if the American
Congress and the American people wOul
have approved anything resembling an effeC
tive foreign alliance. However, that is wa
ter under the bridge, and the world bein
what it is we are taking more and more @
the spotlight on the international stage.
According to John M. HightOWer, an
P. foreign editor, estate department official
-. plan to consult leaders of Congress an
the major political parties to find what the
will support in the final drafting of a pre-
posed treaty to create a North Atlantic MI
tual defense system" The countries WhiC
will be initially involved, besides the U.
are Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, Luz
CIlDOuIB3 dIlO 4IlG 4NGLIlCIldIuSs IIGllLulldI
talks have already been held between IL
ambassadors of these nations and Underse
retary of State LOvett, who has been dOir
a great deal of quiet but important spad
work for the future while his chief, Gener
Marshall, has been occupied with critics
current problems.
Mr.. HightOwer reports that diplomat
authorities feel that a number of maj,
points will survive negotiations and be fo
mally enacted. Among them are: (1) Il
participating nations will form the nucle
Of the nOn-cOmmunist alliance; (2) 9th
non-communist powers should be include