Evening star., 1950-05-04
The Political Mil
The Political Mil
Pepper Defect Seen JOLT
To Fair Deal Program
Smothers Slotted Opposition
To ) Mojor Trumon Items
By Gould Lincoln

President. Trumsn'S Fair Deal" pro-
gram received q rude Jolt in Fori-
3a'S senatorial primary. Representative
George A. Smathers. who defeated the
one hundred per cent Fair Dealer. Senator
Pepper. in mis- campaign for the Demo-
cratic senatorial nomination. declared his
opposition to three principal items OF the
Truman program. These were compuf-
sorry national health insurance, repeal OF
the Taft Hartley labor law. and the FEPC
and other civil rights" measures In
addition. Mr.. Smathers went on record
as favoring economy in Government ex.
penditureS and against deficit spending.
Further, Senator Pepper in his cam
palgnlng went all out for national health
insurance. for the repeal of the Taft
Hartley Act. for more and bigger spending,
and indeed. for every promise Of some
thing the Fair Deal makes to somebody.
His elimination from the Senate. which
takes place at the end of this year. Is
In every respect. almost, equivalent to
the loss Of q Truman seat in the upper
house for every purpose except organi-
cation OF the Senate. This does not
mean that Florida's youthful new SEN
ator is Republican-he is Just not the
Truman Pepper type Of Democrat.
Raised Question on Trend.
Mr. SmatherS' victory necessarily raises
a doubt about other Fair Deal candidates
for the Senate and the House. Has
trend in opposition to the give-away
programs Of Mr.. Truman finally set in?
What chance. for example will Benton
and Mcmahon have in Connecticut. Mrs.
Helen Gahagan Douglas in California,
Myers in PENNSYLVANIA and Lucas in Ili-
nois-all Democrats seeking election as
SenatorS--or James Roosevelt in his con-
test for Governor of California? One
primary election does not necessarily
constitute political trend. Neverthe-
less, the same forces were operating for
Mr. Pepper in Florida that will be operat-
ing for these other Fair Deal candidates
when election day rolls around-and all
OF these candidates would be breathing
bit easier had Senator Pepper won.
Various factors entered into Senator
Peppers defeat and it is difficult to eSti-
mate accurately the extent each played
its part. Among the Senators from the
South he had been something of a maver-
ick for several years New Dealers and
Fair Dealers have been extremely rare
in that group. Also. Senator Pepper was
practically the only Senator from the
OOuUIl On WIlOIu lL6 rest ulu I1OJ COuIlJ
when it came to making a last-ditch
fight against FEPC or other Truman
civil rights measures. The people back in
Florida. many of them. felt about Mr..
Pepper the way these Southern Senators
felt. He had been losing strength at home.
as his 1914 primary election showed,
5 when he had a majority over his oppo-
nents of only about 8 1000 Votes-aS COM
fn Siv
Slogan Cut Deeply.
Mr. Smathers' slashing attack on Mr..
Pepper as a Enthusiastically O former
friend-of the Communists dug in, too.
Senator Peppers record Of opposition to
the administrators foreign policy, his
speeches IN and out of Congress, were
there to see. Probably the defeat Of
Senator Pepper win encourage Repub-
lcans in the coming campaign, to make
the most Of the antiRed feeling that Is
running in the country. That this kind
of attack had its effect in the Smathers-
Pepper campaign can scarcely be denied.
Mr. Smathers' slogan, "Vote American"
cut deeply.
The defeat Of Mr.. Pepper raises. too.
the question-how potent is organized
labor. with all It's political agencies, like
the CIO-PAC, really going to prove in
the congressional elections? All of these
agencies went to town for Senator
Pepper. The PAC stubbed its toe when
it went into Florida and began register
ing Negroes to vote for Senator Pepper.
When that became known the reaction
was severe on two counts, first. because
the people resented the attempt to use
this outside influence. and second. be-
cause of the race issue. The labor leaders
are given no announcement for their
program to defeat Senator Taft in Ohio.
There was an exceptionally large vote
cast in the Florida primary. partly due
to the efforts of the PAC. 1t did not,
however, work to the benefit Of its can
didate for the Senate.