Evening star., 1951-10-07
Resistance to Truman
Growing in South
Writer Sees Democrats of Dixie
Preferine 6. O. P. Candidate
By Fronk R. Kent

Next month the Governors of some
II Southern States. with total of 118
electoral votes. will meet at Hot Springs,
Ark, for conferences. The open pur-
pose of this meeting is not to devise
ways by which Mr. Truman can be pre-
vented from renominating himself in
July. or to get rid of him should he be
renominated.
Nevertheless those ideas will be close
to the hearts and constantly in the
minds of those who attend. They may
come up in the conference itself. Ger
tainlly they will be the chief topics OF
conversation among the Governors and,
without official action, 1t is expected
there will emerge from this conference
and these conversations plan to
achieve the objective which they al
most unanimously desire For the plain
fact is the South is in revolt against the
Democratic Party as at present consti-
tuted and managed.
The anti-Truman Southern sentiment
is minimized by such White House Fair
Deal mouthpieces as Jonathan Daniels
Of North Carolina by the more blatant
members Of the cabinet, and by various
left wing journalists who dwell upon the
futility of the Truman opposition in the
South and the alleged gains which he
is making there. However, when they
get through they have done nothing to
alter the basic fact, attested by prac-
tically every one informed about condi-
tions-which is, that there exists today
a very much stronger feeling against
Mr. Truman in the South than in 1948.
No one doubts that since then South
ern resentment and discomfort have
grown. The reasons there is no longer
Solid South upon which the Demo-
cratic Party can count are we'll known
and should not be obscured. They date
from the Roosevelt campaign Of 1895.
During that contest Mr.. Roosevelt not
only made complete his political alliance
with the leaders Of the CIO and AFL,
but made deal by which he took over
the big Negro vote in the pivotal North
ern States which for generations had
been basic Republican asset.
Both Of these alliances, of course
but particularly that withethe Negroes
were exceedingly obnoxious to the
South. However. while Mr.. Roosevelt
lived the South, though disgruntled
and apprehenSive. refrained from open
demonstration because Of its conviction
that Mr.. Roosevelt, while making the
required gestures. never really intended
to force upon the South the legislation
desired by the Negro leaders. In this
they were correct, but the situation is
different with Mr.. Truman. The pres
sure from the Negro politicians, the
labor bosses and the professional lib
erals. generally. is such that Mr.. Tru-
mans advocacy of this legislation is
very much more real and formidable
than Mr.. Roosevelt's.
In the last five years the South has
come to realize that if it lies in his
power Mr.. Truman will force through
a program that will put an end to all
the Soutt's segregation laws, wipe out
all restrictions upon Negro voting, open
the schools to Negro children, compel
the employment of Negroes against the
desire Of the employers and in every
possible way establish Negroes socially
industrially and politically in full
equality with the whites.
In the South an overwhelming ma
jority of the white people are implaca-
bly, and utterly opposed to the legis-
lation designed to bring about this con-
dltlcn. They will resist it with all their
might. To Southerners in the past this
has been Republican doctrine-and that
is what kept them "solidly Demo-
cratic" But now, through a sordid and
unprincipled deal, it has become Demo-
cratic doctrine. Mr.. Trumans complete
yielding to the Negro and labor ele-
ments with whom he is politically allied
and his aggressive advocacy of their
proposals has made him more detested
in the South than any Republican.
Despite the fact that Republican
President would also be pledged to
these proposals, there are many South
ern Democrats who would prefer any
Republican to Mr.. Truman.