Taylor: New Deal stronghold
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
Washington –
By a strange political development, traditionally Republican Pennsylvania has become one of the last remaining strongholds of the New Deal wing of the Democratic Party, while the Solid South, except for a smattering of votes, has slipped away.
The rock-bottom strength of the New Deal in Congress was ascertained last week by the roll calls in the House and Senate on President Roosevelt’s veto of the new tax bill – a showdown brought about by the President himself when he trampled on Congressional sensitivities in his veto message.
Pennsylvania has 13 Democratic Congressmen and 12 of them voted to sustain the veto, a total exceeded only by New York. The State’s Democratic Senator, Joseph F. Guffey, a New Dealer all the way, not only remained staunchly in the President’s corner, but also reiterated his prediction that Mr. Roosevelt will be reelected for a fourth term.
If the Congressional vote represents adequately the sentiment of the constituents – and this is a campaign year – it means that Mr. Roosevelt, as the Democratic nominee, will be supported in the South because he is on the Democratic ticket and because he is the only Democrat with a chance to win.
In Pennsylvania, however, Mr. Roosevelt will be the one big candidate, with other party candidates comprising only a sort of supporting cast and the whole campaign waged on a pro-Roosevelt or anti-Roosevelt basis. Pennsylvania Democrats, with a single exception, remain firm in the conclusion that their success depends on Mr. Roosevelt.
That policy was plainly enunciated at the meeting of the Democratic State Committee three weeks ago, when a harmony program was ratified to prevent a primary fight, and Republican leaders promptly accepted the issue with a similar harmony program, formed for the same reason.
In Pennsylvania, party managers know they’ve got to get Republican votes to win, and every statewide election since 1932 has proved that Democrats can carry Pennsylvania only when Mr. Roosevelt runs or on the high tide of a strong New Deal issue, as in 1934.
The rupture between the President and Congress, therefore, caused Pennsylvania members considerable concern, not because of fear that their constituents won’t approve their stand on the tax bill veto but because it marks a new low in the steadily worsening relations between the Executive and Congress.
The vote against the President may have political repercussions next November that can mean the difference between victory and defeat for some of the Pennsylvania Congressmen who have continued to support him throughout his fencing with Congress on such issues as the anti-strike bill, which was passed over his veto, and the food price subsidy issue.
How rapidly Mr. Roosevelt’s Congressional support deteriorated is shown in two House votes to override presidential vetoes. The first, on his veto of a bill that would eliminate food price subsidies, was 226–151 with a Republican-Democratic coalition failing to override. The second, less than a week later, on his veto of the tax bill, was 299–95.
While the issues differed, in each case the House was voting on whether to override a presidential veto. The food price subsidy issue was one that gathered widespread popular support for the President from labor, consumer and other groups. Even with the help of an unofficial consumer committee of Congressmen, headed by Rep. Thomas E. Scanlon (D-Pittsburgh), and strongly backed by labor, the administration forces managed to sustain the veto only by a narrow margin.