Evening star., 1948-08-08
InqIorious but Understandable

Inglorious but Understandable
TO the surprise of none but the polit-
ically guileless, the special session Of the
Eightieth Congress moved toward Its end
yesterday more or less in the manner of
a faulty f1recracker that just fizzles itself
away. Neither the Republicans nor the
Democrats have emerged from it in
blaze Of glory. On the contrary, as the
record shows, the lack Of distinction is
about equally shared, though a special
measure of it must go to President
Truman.
In only one respect can the record be
praised without qualification. In author
izing the United Nations building loan,
the session rose above petty partisanship
and gave much-needed assurance to the
world at large of Americas faith in the
u. NJ Otherwise, however, nothing OF
immediate consequence has been accom-
plished, except possibly that tempers have
been aggravated in way that will add to
the bitterness of the Forthcoming presi-
dental campaign. The housing and anti
imitation measures-the only other major
items acted upon-add up at best to only
ICidGltcly 4CS1oAdtlNC SoAAc.
All this was to have been expected, of
course 1t was to have been expected the
moment President Truman stood before
the Democratic Convention in Philadel-
phia and electrified that detected body
with his announcement that he was going
to call back the worst Congress" and try
to make it adopt his long list of proposals.
That set the tone of the session. Under
the Constitution the President Is en-
powered to convene the Senate and House
ION extraordinary occasions" but in this
instance MIR. Truman convened them in
an intensely political setting, and in
wholly undignified manner, during the
course of campaign speech lecturing the
Republicans as If they were wayward
little boys In the circumstances, 1t IS
not surprising that the congressional
mountain has labored in an atmosphere
of politics and brought forth little more
than a few mice.
Presumably, in calling the session, the
President and his political advisers figured
that it would put the Republicans on the
spot Thus, if they adopted his proposals
on civil rights, housing, imitation, dis
pldCtu pCISOIlS, CtC., 1lC WOulQ NC StUlC W
go before the country and claim credit
for having made them take action. On
the other hand, If they ignored his re-
quests, as they have largely done, he
could then campaign against them on the
issue of do-nothingism, which he probably
now will do. But though he may succeed
in making some capital out of this, there
is good reason to believe that it will not
amount to great deal In any event,
there are indications that the American
people, by and large, have suspected from
the start that in convening the session,
Mr.. Truman was motivated by politics
and that several of the measures he
requested-notably those on imitation
could not do much good anyhow.
Evidence of this grass-roots sentiment
can be found in the fact that the House
all of whose members are up for re-
election and therefore keep their ears
very close to public opinion in their dis
tricts-made short shrift of most of the
Truman proposals. This probably re-
lected the attitude of the people back
home, just as the Southern Democrats
reflected the views Of their constituents
in ilibustering against civil rights. More
over, as general thing, it seems more
than possible that great segments of the
American electorate feel that the funda-
mental differences between the Republi-
can majority in Congress and the Dem
ocratic Executive Branch must be resolved
in November and that no major legislative
action-short of some emergency-ought
to be pressed for until the new Senate
and House meet in January.
In the light of such factors as these,
the record of the special session is under
Standable, even if inglorious Most of
the Presidents proposals were foredoomed
because of the way in which he advanced
them, because of genuine doubts regarding
the wisdom of many OF them, because of
the seemingly greater interest of the
public in the exciting distraction of con-
gressional spy inquiries, and because OF
the overall political atmosphere of
presidential election year. Not until
November passes and new Congress
convenes can the Nation hope for
level-headed and constructive legislative
approach to the great problems before us.
IH:. A.s.i G.:a15