Evening star., 1948-05-09
Introducing 7 ON Dewey, 'AMon Who.. -
New Workers Record
of Conebocks Is
Impressive
by Gould Lincoln

By Gould Lincoln
Washington's major needs today
are an administrator who can bring
order - and economy in Federal
Government and teamwork between
Chief Executive and Congress. It's
big order. It's an order, however,
which Republicans and Democrats
alike should heed when 1t comes to
selecting presidential nominees and
electing President.
Six years of good government in
New York, which has one-tenth Of
the entire population of the coun-
try and problems second only to
those of the whole Nation, should
tap Gov. Thomas E. Dewey for the
COP nomination. He has the
know-how. He has reformed the
government and brought it to a
state of great efficiency. He has
shown leadership in vital issues, and
he has worked with the State Legis-
lature as closely as the paper fits
the wall. He has given his proofs.
Unwilling Four Years Ago
The New York Governors chief
hurdle in his quest for the presi-
dental nomination lies in the tradi-
ton that Republicans never renomi-
nate a defeated candidate for that
high Office. It's stupid tradition
at best. It's particularly stupid
when it is considered alongside of
the fighting comebacks which Mr..
Dewey has made after each major
defeat he sustained in politics. Fur
ther, if Mr.. Dewey had the neceS-
sary qualifications and abilities to
make a good President four years
ago-when the Republicans went
wild over him-he certainly has
them today.
The Republicans in 1914 were
trying to break the Roosevelt sue
cession, which was stretching out
interminably. They picked Dewey.
picked him because they believed
he was the strongest candidate they
could put forward The nomination
of Dewey came as near being an
honest -to-goodness draft as anything
ever staged in American presidential
politics. He did not want the NOM
ination. It was a foregone conclu-
sion that it would be impossible to
defeat a greatly popular President
of the United States at moment
when he was winning war. After
repeated assertions he was not and
did not wish to become a candidate,
Dewey was forced into a position
where he had to take the nomina-
ton. He made the gamble forced
upon him and lost.
This failure has been held up
against Dewey. Yet the Republicans
who now support stassen or Taft or
Macarthur or Eisenhower or VAN
denberg did not turn to them IN
1914.
Take a look at the Dewey record
of comebacks after defeat. In 1888
when Mr.. Dewey was district at
torney of New York County, the
nemesis of racketeers and shady
politicians, he was picked by the
Republicans to run against Gov.
Herbert Lehman, the particular
friend of the then all-powerful
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Bounced Back From Defeat
The youthful Dewey-he was only
36-lost by a scant $4,000. The
Communists in that election de-
clined to place a gubernatorial can
didate in the field-in an effort to
help the Roosevelt-supported Leh-
man. Had they entered a candi-
date-Mr. Dewey would in all prob
ability have won, for the Com
munists usually cast approximately
the number of votes by which Leh-
man was victor.
That defeat might have taken an
other man completely out of the po--
litical picture. 1t didn't, however.
BY 1910 New York Republicans were
clamoring for Dewey to run for
President. Once having decided to
make the race, Mr. Dewey went at
It hammer and tongs. He still had
the Imagination of the American
people. He won the presidential
preferential primaries in many
States, including Wisconsin and
Nebraska. Then came the Willkie
blitz-probably the best-financed
and best-organized draft" the
country ever saw. Again Dewey was
a loser, although he entered the con-
vention with a larger first-ballot