The great House debate on the tariff fizzled. For four days, Republicans fumed and spumed the ancient theory that tariff cuts mean U.S. unemployment and economic ruin. Democrats, huffing & puffing under the attack, argued that renewal of the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, with authority for further tariff cuts up to 50%, was vital to U.S. prosperity and U.S. world policy.
Finally, bald, persuasive Speaker Sam Rayburn went down to the floor, solemnly read a letter from President Truman: "I regard the pending measure . . . as of the first order of importance for the success of my administration." With...
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