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Show f Vauut 1 in WASHINGTON ' " iw S-By Walter Shead Sf j WNU Correspond)! - -- WNU Washington Bureau, 1616 Eye St.. N. W. Truman Gained Stature During His First Year I TUST about all the newspapers and magazines in the country have had their say at appraising President Harry S. Truman after his first year in office. Your Home Town Reporter haa been able during this past year to watch the President, his policiea and the operation of his administration adminis-tration from a more or less detached de-tached viewpoint. Luckily when I attend the President's press conferences confer-ences it is not necessary for me to rush to a phone or to my typewriter and hurriedly dash off a story ot my impressions, for in covering for the weekly newspapers I have sufficient suf-ficient time to deliberate over what has happened. President Truman entered the White House as an average American Amer-ican without too impressive a record rec-ord behind him at anything. Ha had done his stint at farming, at running a haberdashery store and at politics, and in the latter he was more successful. As chairman ot the senate war investigating committee, com-mittee, he made a real contribution contribu-tion to the successful culmination oi the war. But when he was catapulted into the presidency by the death of his predecessor, he was untried as a statesman, unknown as to his abilities abili-ties and he faced the heaviest responsibilities re-sponsibilities any man had ever been called upon to face. He didn't want the job and confessed, his shortcomings, his average Americanism. The average American back in the home towns of the country like and are proud of our democracy because be-cause it gives them, as average citizens, citi-zens, the chance to improve and ad-vance ad-vance socially, economically and in-tellectually in-tellectually ... it gives them a chance to grow and better their standards of living. President Has Grown This reporter believes that in tha year the President has been In tha White House, he has grown . . . grown as any other average American Amer-ican man would have grown ... in his proficiency to cope with the most powerful office in the world . . . grown in his ability to judge men and their capabilities . . . grown under the pressure of enormous events better to make decisions . . . grown in his contacts with other world leaders. But in this growth of the President Presi-dent he has built up no halos . . . no traditions ... no myths ... no superman, he remains an average American who is growing up to his job. During our incumbency down here in Washington, we have sees successful business men with fabulous fabu-lous reputations as leaders in their fields, tycoons of Industry, come to Washington to take part in govern, ment . . . and make miserable failures. fail-ures. Your Home Town Reporter does not believe the President has made a miserable failure. He Is not a brilliant statesman . . . nor is he a great orator . . nor a great socialite. His voice on the radio lacks the human appeal which was so apparent in that of his predecessor, predeces-sor, but his speeches in cold type, matched speech for speech with the public utterances of the late President Roosevelt, do not suffer by comparison. He has failed in his efforts to woo the co-operation of his old colleagues col-leagues in congress. Our observation observa-tion has been, however, since the first few days of the "honeymoon" were over, congress has been more concerned with showing the President Presi-dent who was boss than in giving him co-operation, or considering the welfare of the American people. And that state of affairs has come about largely through reaction to the years when congress either went along willingly with President Roosevelt, or grudgingly when he used the big stick to bludgeon them into giving the people his progressive progres-sive program. 'Innate Democracy9 Much has been made of President Presi-dent Truman's oft-repeated pleas for help from the people, from industry, in-dustry, from labor, from agriculture. agricul-ture. He has said again and again that he cannot do his job alone. This has been interpreted by some as a weakness. But in this column's opinion it is merely an expression of his innate democracy, since democracy de-mocracy after all, is only a huge co-operative govcrnd by a majority major-ity opinion. President Truman has made mistakes mis-takes . . . mistakes of the heart, rather than the head ... in naming nam-ing some advisors and In leaning upon their advice ... he has confessed con-fessed his mistakes ... he has faced defeats . . . seen his administration program emasculated and beaten, ;ven ignored by congress. Today-he Today-he is less naive, less humble, grayer, gray-er, more dignified, more assertive . . than when he went to the White douse in April a little more than a year ago. His smile is still spontaneous spon-taneous and disarmingly human. |