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Show Flruekari'tt Washiitfiion Digest Three Times in Row President's 'Purge' Attempts Prove Futile Roosevelt Unable to Transmit Personal Popularity to His Followers; Political Prestige Suffers Irreparable Damage; Forced Realignment Seen Complete Flop. By WILLIAM BRUCKART WXU Service, National Press Bldg., Washington, D. C. WASHINGTON. There was quite a sermon, for me, in the telegram of congratulations that Virginia's great leader, Sen. Carter Glass, sent to Senator George upon the occa-. sion of Senator George's victory in the attempted New Deal "purge" in Georgia. I don't know why that telegram was not more widely printed, print-ed, but it was typically like Carter Glass, so cryptic, so full of meaning, mean-ing, that I am going to reprint it here: "Senator Walter F. George, Atlanta, At-lanta, Ga. "God bless you, Walter. Likewise, Like-wise, the sovereign State of Georgia. Geor-gia. "Signed. Carter Glass." To get its true meaning, one has to recall that Senator George was the third democratic senator, sena-tor, in a row, who was openly opposed by President Roosevelt; Roose-velt; the third marked to be "purged" from the Democratic party and the third in a row to be victorious over the President's Presi-dent's ill-advised attempt to dominate voters of a state, and, in due course, the congress of the United States, by personally person-ally picking the Democratic party nominees. Next, Mr. George had been subjected sub-jected to perhaps the strongest New Deal slap by the President, of any of the nine senators whom the President Pres-ident originally described as men behind the times. It will be recalled re-called how Mr. Roosevelt, with Senator Sen-ator George on the platform, spoke his blessing of United States Attorney Attor-ney Camp at Barnesville, Ga., and announced his conclusion that Mr. George represented the past, not the future. It was on that occasion, too, that Mr. Roosevelt uttered the now famous: "God bless you, Walter; I hope we will always be friends." The third feature to be remembered remem-bered is that Mr. George won, that former Governor Talmadge was second and that the New Deal candidate can-didate was third in the race, and that Mr. George's victory was so overwhelming that there was no need for a run-off primary the method in the solid Democratic states of choosing between the two highest candidates from the primary prima-ry vote. This means that a majority ma-jority of the voters more than 50 per cent voted for Mr. George. President's Prestige Has Suffered Heavy Damage Couple these facts with Senator Tydings' victory over Rep. David J. Lewis for the Democratic senatorial nomination in Maryland, and Sen. "Cotton Ed" Smith's substantial margin over Governor Johnston in South Carolina, and it appears to me that several conclusions are proper and justifiable. Mr. Roosevelt went into South Carolina in hhalf of Governor Gov-ernor Johnston and e went into Maryland to promise c instruction of several huge Chesapeake bay bridges and to point to the good o.ualities of Representative Lewis. Yet, the President's wishes were well ignored. The conclusions I have reached end I believe they will stand the most critical test are: 1. Mr. Roosevelt is unable to transmit to his followers the same personal popularity that he has enjoyed en-joyed since entering the White House. 2. His prestige as a political leader, lead-er, which undoubtedly was slipping to some extent before, has now suffered suf-fered irreparable damage. 3. The congress that will be elected elect-ed in November will be the most independent, indeed, probably the most obstreperous, that the President Presi-dent has faced, and that spells trouble trou-ble in a big way. 4. There can be no discounting the infiuence that victories for the conservatives, con-servatives, like those won by Tydings, Tyd-ings, Smith and George, will have on the rest of the country in the November elections. It is an hone-it statement, I believe, that there art numerous voters v.ho have been wavering between the New Deal and the conservative school of thought, and a large pcrcenla' "! of them will '.urn to conservative candidate when they have a chance. They will be Influenced strongly, and that fact vorries the New Deal thinkers at the moment. 'Purge' but Step In Plan Of Political Realignment But there is yet another thought in this connection. I refer to the l're.'.ident's procrarn for a realignment realign-ment of political croups in this country. coun-try. He has caller for it; of that there is no obvious doubt. The "t'unie" of the senators marked for pohiical o'e-.truetion was one of (lie i irly '.-'".. So, it is ;.ii;nificarit that T'r. If o- !!'? early maneuver in . - i .' a forced re-al;;;n- ' . . ' !'"! to the extent of ; . The thin:: that heaul.flll f.V.'.'in- ; - -'..! .: .... .-, l,. Iy hir.I.T, 1 ' : ', . ' ..'i;:r;ll of the fll'-.it thinkers who surround the President Presi-dent and give him such poor political politi-cal advice. There will be a condition in the next congress that will be worthy of watching. Surely, no one will expect ex-pect Tydings and Smith and George and Clark of Missouri and six or eight other senators to go out of their way to support a Roosevelt program in which they may not believe. There is the nucleus. There were already 20 or more senators of that mind. With those re-elected after overcoming the "purge," it seems reasonable to suppose that as little political credit as possible will be given to the President. House members nearly always keep in close touch with the senators sena-tors of their respective states, particularly par-ticularly if they are of the same political po-litical faith. They will take encouragement encour-agement from the forthrightness of their seniors and, quite naturally, will be bolder and more outspoken. It will be much more difficult for Democratic Leader Rayburn to hold his majority together in the house of representatives because- of this new-found courage and, in some cases, resentment. All of which leads into a third phase. Few Presidents have been able to withstand bushwhacking from Capitol Hill. It confronts Mr. Roosevelt to an unparalleled degree because of the "purge." Thus, a further fur-ther analysis seems to offer evidence, evi-dence, at least a hint, that Mr. Roosevelt's control of the Democratic Demo-cratic party may be broken. If it is not now an accomplished fact, I see no reason to expect that the President can control the Democratic Democrat-ic national convention of 1940. That, after all, is one of the things at stake in the President's ill-starred "purge" attempts. Some Heads May Fall; New Spokesmen Appear In consequence of these things, I have an idea that there will be many, many moves made during the next session and in the session just before the 1940 convention designed de-signed to take the Democratic party out of the hands of the Roosevelt advisers. I think you will see delegates dele-gates being groomed here and there, 18 months before they are to be formally chosen. I believe also that state political bosses will become be-come quite active next summer as they watch which way the wind blows. Some will guess wrong, some right. Some political heads will fall and new spokesmen will appear on the scene. All of these things, I predict, will happen, barring one thing. That one thing is war. If there is a general gen-eral European war on the horizon, then we may expect a different course of political events in the United States. What I am about to say, now, is not said in discredit of the President. Presi-dent. It is merely voicing a fact in politics. If there be a general war abroad, and, more particularly, if American relations become involved in it, then Mr. Roosevelt unquestionably unquestion-ably will appeal for solidarity of public opinion, for unanimous support sup-port for the government of the nation. na-tion. His spokesmen and henchmen will be busy as bees showing him to be the only man fur the job, the only man capable of saving the nation. na-tion. That happened in Woodrow Wilson's time and it has happened in every other war, and it will happen hap-pen again. Political Destruction Of Roosevelt Threatened I know that Mr. Roosevelt is no more anxious to have the United States become involved in war thaD you or I. He realizes its cost in blood, as well as the disarrangement disarrange-ment of world economics that follows. fol-lows. And if war comes, he naturally natural-ly will want a united nation back of him. But, coldly and abstractly, I repeat that war conditions are th only set of circumstances that I set now which may prevent a thoroughgoing thorough-going movement on Capitol Hill foi the political destruction of Mr. Roosevelt. When I say, political destruction, de-struction, I do not mean to imply, or to hint that opponents of the President Pres-ident within his own party want tc .send him to oblivion. They will seek they are seeking, now to de throne him in every way except as titular head of the . party. The want the guidance to corne from old Democratic leaders and they wanl adherence to old Democratic princi pies. That i3 to say, the long-lime oracles of the Democratic partj have witnessed stupidity, sheet dumbness, on the part of the younj squirts v.'ho have crowded close tc the President, and they want tc send those quacks back to the ohlivi on from vhich they came. Further, the old line Democrats want to avoic a wide-open split in their party. Un less that can be done In ItilO, there will be a liepMhhr.an victory fol lnwe.J by exaclly the same fundi lion:; that wrecked :.p,,hlicani after the "pur;:.-" tint the voter' joive tin- C. . p. in Pi;:;; and l:i:;fl V W'". 1 ' rii j, . IOimiii, |
