Show HOME TOWN A ily 8 W maltet waltera A shead sad REPORTER K t r U K 11 K aa ta 1 correspondent stan 1 iv i v in in washington S washington bureau 1616 eye eff st N W trunian truman gained stature durin during his first year 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 has been able during this past year to watch the president his policies and the operation of his administration from a more or less detached viewpoint luckily when I 1 attend the presidents press conferences it is not necessary for me to rush to a phone or to my typewriter and hurriedly dash off a story of my impressions for in covering for the weekly newspapers I 1 have sufficient time to deliberate over what has happened president truman entered the white house as an average american can without too impressive a record behind him at anything he had done his stint at farming at running a haberdashery store and at politics and in the latter he was more successful As chairman of the senate war investigating committee he made a real contribution to the successful culmination of 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 and he faced the heaviest responsibilities any man had ever been called upon to face he 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 it gives them as average citizens the chance to improve and advance socially economically and intellectually president has grown this reporter believes that in the year the president has been in the white house he has grown grown as any other average american 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 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 seen successful business men with fabulous reputations as leaders in their fields tycoons of industry come t to 0 washington to take part in government and make miserable failures 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 gr grei socialite his voice on the i ra a en v lacks the human appeal which was so apparent in that of his predecessor 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 operation cooperation co of his old colleagues in congress our observation has been however since the first few days of the honeymoon were over congress has been more concerned with showing the president who was boss than in giving him operation cooperation co 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 I 1 with roosevelt or grudgingly when C 7 P used the big stick to bludgeon them into giving the people his progressive program innate democracy much has been made of president Tr oft repeated pleas tor for help from the people from industry from labor from agriculture 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 columns opinion it is merely an expression of his innate democracy since democracy after all is only a huge operative cooperative co governed by a majority opinion president truman has made mistakes mistake mistakes of the heart rather than the head in naming some advisors and in leaning upon their advice he has confessed his mistakes he has faced defeats seen his administration program emasculated and beaten even ignored by congress today he is less naive less humble grayer more dignified more assertive than when he went to the white house in april a little more than a year ago his smile is still spontaneous and disarmingly human during the year he has witnessed intolerance and greed in high alz icv and he also has seen unselfish patriotism his is a crushing responsibility lity he is growing stronger more efficient more sure of himself facing a generation of radar jet planes nuclear power and the greatest era in scientific progress the world has ever known but with all he remains an average american who wants to make good at his job |