Evening star., 1952-07-13
Mr. Trumun Will Pick
Own Man for Nominee
Patronage Control Gives Him
Final Word in Convention
By Fronk R. Kent

There Is one striking difference be.
tween the Republican Convention just
ended and the Democratic Convention
soon to begin. In the former the battle
for the nomination was between two
strong. outstanding men for each Of
whom there was real Nationwide sen.
timent. In the latter there will be not
one outstanding candidate. The aspir.
ants with one exception-Senato Rus.
sell of Georgia who has no chance be.
cause he is Southerner-are collec-
tion of New Deal mediocrities. whose
chief dependence is on the favor Of Mr..
Truman, also mediocrity. but President.
In addition, the successful candidate
will have to be cleared" first through
Philip Murray. head of the CIO. and
then through Walter White, the Nations
outstanding Negro leader. This is not q
pleasant picture to paint of the Demo-
cratic scene but 1t is an accurate one.
Certainly no one will question the fact
that the support of Mr.. Truman is in
dispensable to success In the nomination
struggle. Nor in face Of the evidence will
any informed person deny that Mr.. Tru-
man is so tightly linked with the CIO
and the Negro leaders that he would not
ceptable to them.
These are the two groups upon which
the Democratic Party as now consti-
tuted has come to rely. They. plus the
100000 Federal jobholders. form the
political combination with which it has
won three presidential elections and
without which its chances Of success
next November would not be worth dis
cussing. There are many Democrats who
resent this situation but there is little
they can do except vote Republican.
which an increasing number appear pre-
pairing to do. In this convention, the
labor plank and the civil rights plank
will be written under the direction Of
the CIO and Negro bosses just as they
have been since 1886.
The truth is that in the last year Mr..
Truman has gone to such lengths to
demonstrate his complete subservience
to the union bosses that he could not
support any candidate not similarly in
clined. The best demonstration Of this
subServience came few weeks ago when
Mr.. Murray revealed that last December
Mr.. Truman had promised him that in
the event OF the steel strike. which had
already been decided upon, he (the
President) would not invoke the Taft
Hartley law. And this promise, after the
Supreme Court denied him the right to
seize the steel plants. Mr.. Truman has
kept though the strike is now In its
sixth week at Stupendous cost in money
and materials. The rejection by the
President Of the urgent request by Con-
greSs to use the Taft-Hartley Act and
ic ar ~ - zA,,sI--
gardleSS OF merit, Is shocking thing
which some publicly suggest would be
sound ground for impeachment.
When to 1t Is added the revealed corr
ruption in the administration and the
overwhelming evidence Of waste and in-
competence, along with the intense OPP
position to him in the South, the reason
Mr.. Truman has so irrevocably with
drawn as candidate can be well un.
derStood. What is not clear to some.
however. Is why, having eliminated
himself. he should still retain the power
OF picking the Democratic presidential
nominee. The answer. of course, is the
weight OF the Federal machine, many
members of which will sit in the Chi
cago delegations and others, including
cabinet members and jobholders at the
higher levels, will be close at hand to
transmit the presidential wishes to the
State politicians who have had their
feet in the public trough since the New
Deal began. Considering the further fact
that Mr.. Truman will be President six
more months, during which time con-
siderable patronage and Federal favors
will be his to distribute. one should
need nothing more to explain his con-
vention power.