THE PRESIDENCY: Something for the Boys

"This is the Bible for the Democratic Party," said a White House intimate.

He was talking about President Truman's annual message to Congress on the State of the Union: His summary was correct. Standing in the congealed political atmosphere of the reassembled 80th Congress, Harry Truman had carefully spelled out in his dry, flat voice the Democratic campaign platform for 1948.

The speech was frankly addressed over the heads of his audience to the nation's voters. It was as frankly designed to cut the ground from under his presidential rivals. There was something...

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