THOMAS E. DEWEY The Man With a Whip
SPIVACK, ROBERT G.
THOMAS E. DEWEY The Man With a Whip By Robert G. Spivack Albany Correspondent, IS. Y. !*•*• rrnHERE is a story, apoehryphal perhaps, that isn't often told about Thomas |_ B. Dewey. It...
...There is the story of how he insisted on passage of a minor New York City school bill primarily because the teachers' groups opposed it...
...At Albany ths Democrats were subdued in comparison to what some of the top GOP figures said privately...
...But Russia can no more permit the Japs to dominate the Asiatic continent than ws can permit Japan to dominate the Pacific , . . and domination of Asia would mean domination of the Pacific...
...Dewey not only told the legislstive lesders what to do, he held them in line through the threat of investigation...
...But aftar steadily watching him in action for nearly four Maths my own guess is thst it will take an awful lot ef work to sell Dewey as a lovable character...
...Yet the technique adopted te keep the Legislature in line does not bode well far Dewey's relations with Con-grew should he reach the White House...
...It should add up to Japan and Russia at war when the time comes...
...At present, Japan and Russia are not at war, and therefore both we and Russia have to tread differently in the Far East...
...Ths yardstick, as in Europe, is purely national self-interest...
...One morning, after an address he considered especially brilliant, Dewey accosted a reporter for one of the leading morning newspapers of the country...
...They heard stories of their wires being tapped, their conversations listened to, and their associates constantly being questioned about their activities...
...If it had not been for us, China probably would have been divided up decades ago, the way Africa and Southern Asia have been gobbled up, by European powers...
...His own followers were bristling that day and Speaker Oswald Heck in a last-minute plea asked the boys not to let the bitterness become permanent...
...These would likely conflict with our own foreign policy...
...Lest there lie any confusion at this point, for the right-wing Republicans, of course, principles are quite all right...
...Stiff, formal, some-hstes almost priggish, Dewey ruled the legislature with ss iron hand...
...Perhaps even more than tm brusque snd over suspicious manner Dewey's worgji habit in the eyes of the legislators was his inability or unwillingness to talk things out and come to a mutually agreeable solution •4day-to-day problems...
...It is most unlikely thst tins could have developed without consultation with Moscow...
...We do not know what similar safeguards he might demand in the Far East...
...Several years ago he was on a trip throughout New York State making ' speeches...
...Dewey to understand that he had nothing to say about the paper's make-up...
...Russia merely did not feel that this was worth going to war about—yet In Europe Stalin has demsnded certain stiff terri-torisl safeguards for Russis...
...jkaJoy, "Young Tom" Dewey's friends tell us he Is a lelsnned character...
...if sliarhtlv Democratic, morning journal...
...But examination of the equally suspect relations of some prominent GOP politicians with indicted official* of the Hod Carriers Union are being held in abeyance...
...Would you mind telling me," he asked, according to the story's popular version, "just why my talk didn't make the front page of your allegedly Republican paper...
...The reporter, a bit startled, said he didn't know the answer, but he wanted Mr...
...Nothing will probably happen before the electiions...
...elsewkere it runs in different directions...
...We have supported the jurisdiction of the Chinese Central Government over Manchuria...
...A broad expanse of ocean separates us from China, so there has been no territorial obstacle to our traditional policy of defending China's territorial sovereignty...
...A powerful China would help keep Japan's aggressiveness in check...
...1 can readily believe that...
...In fact one former Willkieite, ftjjjjesj Dewey is wooing, told friends thst the Governor jays this of himself...
...For example the O'Connell Democratic machine in Albany to under scrutiny...
...The news-jniffiiir- looked aghast and replied, "Mr...
...Spivack will diseuit Dewey's legislative record...
...ilew bills were even introduced without advance knowledge from hia office as to what his attitude was likely to be...
...This is snotber of the broad fundamentals in which basic American snd Russisn policy run parallel...
...Nearly every reporter who gas covered Dewey hss commented on his studied effort t» change his ways...
...He seemed unable to be affable St roll with ths occasional punches...
...But he is trying swfully hard...
...Any compromise with the Jspanese emperor, permitting this high Shinto priest to remain, would bo tantamount to a negotiated peace, and escourage Russia to take her owa measurss te assure her own security is Asia...
...This was particularly true about legislation...
...The alternative is a vigorous, democratic foreign policy of oar own—one thst would safeguard pence in the Pscifle, and give the wsr in the Pacific a definite set of meanings, not generalities thst csn be twisted and interpreted any way anyone wishes...
...Moscow has officially recognized China's sovereignty over all of Mongolia...
...He goes around telling people, aMerding to this source, thst he is awfully glad he lost gl 1940 because he was really quite brash and much too essay then...
...Both Russia and ourselves are seeking to give China that position...
...he just doesn't seem able to get rid himself of the spirit of the Dick Tracy...
...Throughout the session Dewey held this weapon to their heads...
...Certain friends of Russis, such ss Edgar Snow and Walter Duranty, hare frankly stated that Russia might very well make demands involving Manchuria—and possibly Korea, too...
...No one can detract from the fact thst Thomas Edmund Dewey, 42, is a smart young man...
...But some suspect Dewey supporters seem to have been assured thst their knuckling under will not go unappreciated...
...But today that is not nesrly so important as the fact that Russia needs Chiang Kai-Shek's help in holding bsck the Japanese just as much as we find useful the sid of the Communist guerrilla forces • in Chins, for the same purpose...
...MHS...
...It illustrates his modesty, sense of proportion, and disdain for publicity...
...In ths Communist srea of China, there recently was announced the creation of a Free Jspsn movement...
...Even so, one GOP legislator hid under his desk when the vote was called...
...And our relations with the Chinese Red Army have cer- j tainly not been as friendly as Rus- \ sia's...
...I site these things about his personality, riot because they are ss important as what he does or does not stand jar, but simply because Dewey's personality has been S far greater source of worry to the high GOP strste-gists than any of his principles...
...But any Chinese official who tried to go to Outer Mongolia without a Russian visa would be shot...
...A virtual war of nerves was conducted against the Legislators...
...It's ironical, but true, that those closest to Dewey are responsible for some of the bitterest criticisms to be heard about him...
...True, the bright shining armor of his racket-busting days has corroded a bit...
...And an insecure Russia would demand guarantees that would be much stiffer...
...ia that the reason ? -* **04m\\ That's the damnedest nonsense I ever heard...
...Nowadays Dewey will even openly acknowledge that he does not know the answer to some |nsstk>n...
...Of course, the primary motivating factor in both Russian and American foreign policy is that we are both fighting Germany—and while the United Stales Is also fighting Japan, that nation is helping Germany to fight Russia...
...It parallels our own policy along certain lines...
...We do not know as yet—events hsve not moved fast enough—the extent to which American and Russian policy parsllcl each other or run counter as regards the Japan that shall come out of this wsr...
...Dewey, you know there is a war on...
...Before the Japs invaded that area, Moscow dealt directly with local authorities in Manchuria...
...THAT corruption in Albany to rampant, to undisputed...
...The tread seems to be towards punishing Dewey's known enemies while going easy on his friends...
...One of the few genuinely public-spirited municipal lobbyists, a man who seldom if ever advocated measures that might benefit private interests, said that by the time Dewey's bright young assistants had finished going over a bill he would ' feel like asking if the sentence would be made lighter if he pleajed guilty...
...KENNETH SIMPSON, wife of the late Man-* hattan Republican leader, once said "You have to know Dewey to dislike him...
...DUSSIA is not at war with Japan...
...He is always interjecting into ordinary con-yersationi, "You know, I am still learning...
...isw Dewev answered...
...Next week Mr...
...Inside the GOP the country bosses who for one reason or soother have defied- Dewey are finding their appointees under investigation...
...At this point along came the reoorterfor another Drominent...
...If the Jspanese emperor, the symbol of Japan's divine mission to rule the world, is allowed to remain, Russia could be expected to feel insecure along her Asiatic frontiers...
...Dewey, it is said, turned to him and asked the same question...
...and China smack up against one another...
...It waa no secret in Albany that the Legislature, over a period of years, has become extremely vulnerable to charges of payroll-padding and other forms of corruption...
...and U.S.S.R...
...Dewey's great difficulty in their opinion is that he never got over being a prosecuting attorney...
...Later the Japs conquered the area, and pressed the Russian into selling the railroad—but Russia did not do so willingly...
...Of course, not having known him In the old days of 111 bounding youth, I have no basis of comparison...
...Another voted as Dewey asked, but ostentatiously holding his nose...
...Here msy be the clue to the tort of government Russia wants in Japan...
...His habit of disbelieving practically everything that anybody says to him, developed in the days of "Lucky" ' Luciano and Waxey Gordon, has persisted...
...Russia's relations with the Central Government of China hsve never been ss friendly as our own...
...But thousands of miles of land bring the U.S.S.lt...
...What kind of government do we want in Jspsn f Unfortunately, our State Department has either been rsgue—or supports the Jspsnese emperor by carefully differentiating between him and a so-called military clique, as if any such distinction existed in reslity...
...And when Chiang Kai-Shek protested, Moscow insisted that the territory was outside his control...
...WHEN the Chinese tried to seize the old Chinese " Eastern Railway—the North Manchuria Railway— Russian warplanes flew over and dropped bombs, and Russian troops came in, and Russia's property was handed back...
...It is to the advantage of botlu Russia and ourselves that China take Its rightful place as the big power of the Far East...
...U.S...
...Russia ignored the Chinese Central Government as regards Manchuria...
...in Asia By Edward Hunter Far Eastern Editor, tke New York Post ^MOSCOW kas its own foreign *"* policy in tke Far East...
...He has corns a long way from his boyhood dsys st Owosso, Michigan...
...To the discomfort of the highly individualistic Republican party legislators he made them dance a jig to tunes that he played...
...With llimmler like efficiency it is said, he has compiled dossiers on all the past and present sctiv-ities of practically everybody associated with him...
...It to still too early to anticipate absolutely ths results of Dewey's special inquiries...
Vol. 27 • May 1944 • No. 19
