Evening star., 1949-01-26
Bloc
|nG.0.P.B Backs
Minnesota Man
Choirmon's Opponents
Soy They Have 55Votes
To Elect Ralph Dunn
By Gould Lincoln
Stoy S}off coYresnondart

OMAHA, Jan. 26.-The anti
Scott bloc in the Republican
National Committee today put
forward Roy E. Dunn of Min-
neSota as their candidate for
Republican national chairman.
The decision to try to oust National
Chairman Hugh Scott, who was
elected national chairman at the
request of Gov. Dewey following
the latter's nomination for Presi-
dent last June, was reached at i
night meeting which lasted until
early today.
The opponents of Mr.. Scott in
sisted they had IS votes for Mr..
Dunn, a majority of the los com.
mittee members.
Veteran Committee Member.
This claim is pooh-poohed by the
supporters of Mr.. Scott, who say they
have at least 81 votes.
Mr.. Dunn, 81 years old, has been
a member of the National Commits
tee since 1896. He is dairy farmer
and also runs summer hotel at
Pelican Falls, MINI.
Efforts were being made today to
get Mr.. Scott to resign and avoid
a bitter party fight. Representatives
of the faction supporting Mr.. Dunn
approached the chairman with sug-
gestions that the graceful thing
would be for him to step aside and
by so doing prevent great embar-
rassment to the Republicans.
Mr.. Scott's only comment when
he was asked about the situation
was that pennsylvania seems to be
embattled." Not only has be given
no indication that he intends to
quit, but his earlier actions limited
that he will go down fighting-or
win if he can.
Anti-Scott Faction Busy.
AS additional members of the
committee rolled into Omaha to.
day they were Immediately ap.
preached by the anti-Scott faction.
apparently the forces of Senator
Taft of Ohio and Harold E. Stassen
have agreed to support Mr.. Dunn,
hoping to take over the control of
the national organization from the
Dewey forces at any cost.
Mr.. Dunn, questioned about his
candidacy for chairman, said he had
agreed to make the race. He had
come to Omaha, he added, ready to
supports former Gov. Ralph Gates Of
Indiana, but there was opposition
to Mr.. Gates on the part of Indiana
senators.
Says He Is Progressive.
Mr.. Dunn described himself as q
'progressive"-not a liberal. He has
been majority leader of the Mimi
esota legislature for a number Of
years. He is against the state
socialism toward which, he said, the
Truman Democrats are leading the
country.
The Republican committee Is
meeting here today in an atmos-
phere surcharged with venom. The
anti-Scott bloc met last night in the
rooms of Carroll Reece of Tennessee,
former national committee chair.
man. Others attending were Harri-
son E. Spangler of Iowa, also q
former chairman, Ralph Cake Of
Oregon, Clarence Brown and Kath.
crime Kennedy Brown of Ohio, Mrs.
Thad Brown of the District Of
Columbia, Mrs. F. Peavey Heffel-
finger of Minnesota, Mr.. Dunn and O
score of others.
Strategy Is Discussed.
In addition to picking Mr.. Dunn
as their candidate for chairman.
the anti-Scott bloc discussed STRAIT
egy and tactics.
Three different steps were under
consideration.
l. To put through a resolution
declaring that the chairman of the
National committee must be picked
from the membership of the COM
mittee-Mr. Scott is not Pennsyl-
vanias national committeeman.
2. To put through resolution
that the chairmanship must be
full-time job. and consequently may
not be filled by a member of Con-
gress.
3. To put through a resolution
declaring the craftsmanship vacant
and virtually throwing out the entire
headquarters set up of the National
Committee in Washington.
If possible, the anti-Scott bloc will
maneuver Mr.. Scott out of the chair
manship first and then ask the COM
mittee to pick his successor.
Anonymous Notes Appear.
Anti-Scott anonymous notes put
in an appearance yesterday. They
were slipped under the doors Of
various committee members.
One of these notes said Mr.. Scott
had in his possession transcriptionS
of statements made by members Of
the National Committee approyina