Plain Speaking by Merle Miller

Author:Merle Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2018-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

THE 1948 VICTORY

MR. PRESIDENT, you said the other day that you decided you were going to run for reelection the first day you were President, in April, 1945, but you didn't go into any detail about that. What were some of the reasons you decided so soon?

"I always knew that from April, 1945, until January, 1949, what I would really be doing was filling out the fourth term of Roosevelt, who was a great President, but I had some ideas of my own, and in order to carry them out I had to run for reelection and be reelected, and that is exactly what happened.

"Of course I didn't say I was going to run for quite some time. It didn't do any harm that I could see to keep people guessing for a while. I knew I'd be able to win, though. I knew that all along."

You knew?

"Of course I knew. I knew the Republicans would come up with somebody like Taft or Dewey, and I knew that the people of this country weren't ready to turn back the clock—not if they were told the truth, they weren't.

"The only thing we . . . I had to figure out was how to tell them the truth, in what way, and I decided that, the way I'd always campaigned before was by going around talking to people, shaking their hands when I could, and running for President was no different. The only difference was instead of driving to the various communities where people were, I went by train. But otherwise, it was exactly the same experience. I just got on a train and started across the country to tell people what was going on. I wanted to talk to them face to face. I knew that they knew that when you get on the television, you're wearing a lot of powder and paint that somebody else has put on your face, and you haven't even combed your own hair.

"But when you're standing right there in front of them and talking to them and shaking their hands if it's possible, the people can tell whether you're telling them the facts or not.

"I spoke I believe altogether to between fifteen and twenty million people. I met them face to face, and I convinced them, and they voted for me."

Did you think it would be a three-way race, that Henry Wallace would run against you?

"Never had the slightest doubt of it. All through 1947 Henry went around the country making speeches saying that I was trying to get this country into war with Russia, which, of course, was the opposite of what I was doing. I was doing everything in the world to prevent a war, and I succeeded.

"But Henry said I was trying to start a war, and he also kept saying that he was still a loyal Democrat, and the more he said it, the more I was sure he was going to run against me on a third-party ticket."

Why?

"Because Henry was like Lloyd Stark, the fella that ran against me for the Senate.

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