OCR Text |
Show General Jfid HUGH S. Jour: Washington, D. C. ESTIMATE OF WALLACE As was painfully evident at the convention, a lot of people actively dislike Henry Wallace and a lot more dislike the way he was rammed down the throat of the Democratic party by the President. On the first point not liking Mr. Wallace you've got to know a man to make that choice and Henry isn't easy to know. He is shy, not very articulate, and has as little political oomph as anybody in the Fourth New Deal. But if, as has been my privilege, you get really close to Mr. Wallace, you will discover a very fine specimen of what John L. Lewis oratorically calls the "genus homo." He is simple, honest, studious and kindly. There is no side or pretense in his make-up. He has a good mind, if tint a Kt.;il; -tt - une. ne is incapa ble of the clever little schemes that have so characterized and discredited discredit-ed many acts of the Fourth New Deal. I disagree with almost every angle an-gle of his philosophy and program and I doubt if he has the qualities of leadership appropriate to a great crisis, but I would trust his sincerity of purpose as far as that of any man I know in government. The spectacle of a President so openly forcing his own choice for vice president on his party, especially espe-cially in such dangerous times as these, is highly distasteful, but the effect if not the particular methods here used, seems to have become ' ' - Jfi; - 1 HENRY A. WALLACE . . . "No Superman but Honest." a custom. Mr. Garner was Mr. Roosevelt's choice in 1932 and 1936. It is true that the first time it was by reason of a trade, without which Mr. Roosevelt himself could not possibly pos-sibly have been nominated, but it 'is also true that Mr. Roosevelt's delegates, at his bidding, made good that bargain. It is no secret that Mr. Willkie was consulted about his choice for a running mate, that he selected Charlie Char-lie McNary, and that the eenator , didn't want the job and could not have been nominated without Mr Willkie's backing. Thus, however hateful the method used to put Mr Wallace across, it can hardly be used to attack this nomination, unless un-less pots are to be permitted to call kettles black. After all, there was an" element of courage and an avoidance of the usual skullduggery fa nominating Mr. Wallace. He is Doctor Newi Newee New of all the New Dealers. Not all Democrats are New Dealers Deal-ers by a long shot That rift was not never more apparent than at Chicago. Great rips and wounds in party solidarity were made. An obvious strategy for the healing heal-ing of these fissures would have been to nominate at least one Democrat Demo-crat on the Democratic ticket Mr Roosevelt certainly is not one. Mr' Wallace is even farther away His nomination puts the whole New Deal theory of spending ourselves rich right in the spotlight as the un-fuzzed un-fuzzed issue in this fight Adding it all up, while I can't applaud ap-plaud either the candidacy or the method that made it I can respect or at least understand both. ,hEV,T ? tte 'atefuUy ""expected should happen, and Mr. Wallace should one day become President of the United States, we can be assured as-sured of a Chief Executive who would be honest, straightforward and wholly unaddicted to political cleverness and devious two-way thought and action. That would be something new and refreshing Con-der,ng Con-der,ng everything, I am not sure that it ,s not the number one re! quirement in the choice of a Presi dent There simply are no super- I POWER Maybe it is possible to ride a ne to victory. Hitler says it js and seems to have proved it for the moment. e If political position, patronage and favor could pervert all the dele gates to a great convention, perhaps per-haps a could pervert a majority the voters of a great people If gluttons for power bludge.-n the democratic part of a democratic people into a Hitler plebiscite, what would they do with the so-Wiled war powers of the President |