The Pittsburgh Press (April 16, 1946)
Edson: Truman-Wallace ticket foreseen in 1948 election
By Peter Edson
WASHINGTON – Long-range political prospects put President Truman as Democratic candidate for re-election in 1948, with Henry Wallace as his running mate.
The two are closer than Mr. Wallace and President Roosevelt ever were, and what’s more, Mr. Truman listens to what Mr. Wallace tells him.
The big catch in this 1948 ticket prediction is that Mr. Truman then will be 64, Mr. Wallace 60. Mr. Wallace would thus be 64 in 1952. And 64 is considered too old for a presidential candidate.
But Mr. Wallace is not expected to be a candidate in 1948 unless Truman bows out.
Mr. Wallace is regarded by his associates as “the healthiest man for his age in the country.” He walks three miles to work every morning, and does it in 40 minutes. He gardens and plays tennis.
He never waits for an elevator, but climbs three and four flights of stairs, two steps at a time. And he runs his staff ragged, trying to keep up with him.
On American Mercury Magazine’s “Meet the Press” radio program, former Gov. Harold Stassen of Minnesota was asked, “If you were president today, what would you do that isn’t being done now?”
Replied Mr. Stassen, “That’s the $64 question.”
He refused to elaborate, but under pressure he did admit that the first thing he would do would be to “get some good men around me.”
Father releases
The Army estimates it will be down to its last 100,000 draftee fathers by July 1. It can’t discharge fathers faster, unless it upsets the entire point system for priority discharges.
That puts the problem squarely up to Congress. If Congress wants fathers discharged faster, it will have to pass special legislation, exempting fathers from the point system. If Congress does that, current draft quotas will have to be stepped up to keep the Army at required strength for occupation and supply duties.
Incidentally, the Army says it cannot lower physical standards for peacetime draftees. To do so merely would mean drafting men to occupy hospital beds, and then drafting more men to take care of the invalids.
The Aluminum Company of America, now that it has been reduced from its “monopoly” to control over a mere 48 percent of the industry, as a result of the sale of government-owned plants to Reynolds Metals and Kaiser, will ask for dismissal of the government’s anti-trust suit that has been hanging over Alcoa’s head for years.
Time and the mere process of elimination have removed the names of most men on the list for consideration as appointees to the new president’s Employment Council, which will prepare data for submission to Congress under the “full” employment act.
Harold Smith, director of the Bureau of the Budget, is considered a logical choice, but he’s doing such a good and important job where he is that he may not be moved.
Cotton prices
For every cent per pound that raw cotton goes up, 45 million dollars has to be added to the nation’s cotton goods and clothing bills.
That is figured on the estimated 1946 consumption of nine million bales, or 450 million pounds.
The rise of four cents in the price of cotton since the end of the war, therefore; means a 180-million-dollar increase in the cost of cotton cloth.
This is the factor which has been bothering Economic Stabilizer Chester Bowles in his drive to down the cost of cotton.
Crank mail into Operation Crossroads headquarters is running high.
All the lovers of guinea pigs, rats and goats are raining down letters of protest against subjecting these dumb animals to the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll this summer. In all, 200 pigs, 200 goats and 3000 white rats will be used in tests to determine how best to protect human beings from atomic bomb damage.
This humane aspect generally is overlooked by the sob sisters and brothers whose hearts bleed for the preservation of animals that nobody could possibly want, either as pets or as food.
When Donald Nelson was War Production Board head, Walter Reuther was brought in for a meeting. After it was over, Mr. Nelson was asked what he thought of the young auto worker.
“I can see why a lot of people don’t like Reuther,” said Mr. Nelson. “He’s smarter than they are.”