Our dear President Truman, of whom we are all so fond, cannot possibly be reelected.
The broad brogue of paddy-faced Jeremiah T. Mahoney, onetime New York Supreme Court Justice and a New York delegate to the Democratic National Convention, rolled out the words slowly and sadly. Most of the nation's big & little Democrats agreed with him. It seemed to them that next week's convention at Philadelphia would only be a mournful wake before the funeral in bleak November.
Was there anything that could be done?
Foolish Question. At his first White House press conference in more than a month, Harry Truman waited gamely for the hot political questions he knew would come.
Did he expect to be nominated on the first ballot? Of course.
Then he would not withdraw as a candidate? Definitely not, and the question was Foolish Question No. 1.
Would Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt be acceptable to him as a running-mate (as suggested fortnight ago by Republican Clare Boothe Luce*)? Of course, of course. What else could he be expected to say?†
The President was outwardly determined and confident. He was not motivated merely by stubbornness. He had grown to like the job which he had once considered an overwhelming burden. He felt that a challenge had been thrown out and that he must meet it. In 1940 most political observers had counted him out as a candidate for re-election as Senator from Missouri, but he stuck out the race and won. He felt that he was in a comparable situation now.
His most experienced practical adviser brought him consoling news. National Chairman Howard McGrath, who looked as if he had not slept since just before the Republican Convention, totted up the "sure" Truman delegates. It showed that the President would have at least 200 more first-ballot votes than the 618 needed for nomination. Most of the "sure" delegates were bound to Harry Truman by primary election pledges; the others could be "counted on" for delivery, however unhappily, by the big state machines.
Coast to Coast. But how sure was "sure?" Was there, at this last frantic moment, a chance to dump Harry Truman? After all, of the six other U.S. Presidents who reached the White House through the death of their predecessors, four had been unceremoniously dropped by their own party as soon as their terms were up. Ten days before the convention would open, a hastily formed coalition to stop Harry Truman came into being.
Like the Democratic Party itself, it was composed of the most diverse elements: Southerners (who dislike Truman because of his stand on racial equality), New Dealers (who think Truman has forsaken them) and big city bosses (who fear that Truman will be so badly beaten that they will lose control of local offices).
They had only one thing in common. They hoped—without any guarantee from him whatsoever—that they could rally around General Dwight D. Eisenhower.