The Half-Determined Men
Davenport, Russell W.
The Half-Determined Men By Russell W. Davenport THESE remarks are addressed to the independent Vetera ef this country. The independent is a person who votes primarily on principle. He is not...
...It is a fortunate thing for our republic that in most national elections the independents hold the balance of power...
...Yet we know that if it cannot be established and maintained on a mutual basis, our substance will be consumed In endless conflict...
...There was something they wanted more than they wanted mutual international peace...
...Thomas E. Dewey and the men mound him don't want to lead us into war...
...It i* supremely difficult And I...
...But neither did Warren Harding and his men want war...
...To concentrate on domestic problems without solving the war problem is like re-arranging the furniture in the living-room when the house is on fire...
...No one can say that...
...I meet my honestly that I am net satlsled with the *ro*o*nc*m«nt* or commitment* ef either ef th* candidate* In this election...
...A* in 1920, wc now have a chance to establish international peace...
...view of the magnitude ef tale task...
...That is the situation this year...
...R * • ' * D UT responsible international peace cannot just happen- It must be created year after year by fletermined men...
...They snot* sosse one thing thst he ssid te them, snd try to draw from thst quotation Wendell Willkie's fuel conclusion...
...Let us not hesitate to say, therefor*, that if there I* to be mutual peace maintained among the nation*, America mu*t take the lead in creating it...
...There Is something ws must have in the world which wee, net in the world whoa this war began...
...This something is peace...
...And I am impressed, moreover, with his leadership on this issue during the pr*»Cnt campaign...
...Between the first and second world wsrs we were not at war...
...As in 1920, the Republican candidate ha* declared himself in favor of mutual action for peace...
...And whether, and...
...For peace is net merely a state of not being at war...
...Be* in th* Republican candidate I do net And the** qualities of Jdkeoigbt and determination m th* causa of mutnsl action...
...Unless we can establish a responsible peace, no domestic program leads anywhere except to bloodshed and destruction...
...Willkie had net yet finished that task...
...W* shall be mortgaged to war...
...Willkie himself jest s few dsys before bis death, that he had net yet made up hie mind...
...This is not mere political mud-slinging...
...No one created it...
...Since Mr...
...There is a deadly parallel between thi* campaign of 1944 and that of .1920...
...Yet this task of leadership in the erection of mutual peace is the most difficult task that Americans havs ever fsced: more difficult than the settlement of our eastern shores by th* colonists...
...As he himself declared, be wss net sstlefed with the platform ef either party—net satisfied wRh the pronouncemente ef either candidate...
...Aad en this difference I hav* made my choice...
...They got a second World War...
...there is only on* issue in this campaign— the issue of pease...
...And it hi en this issue alone that I an going to cast my vet...
...And while I have disagreed with many aspects of Mr...
...The kind of peace we had from 1918 onward was hretpontiblt peace...
...This is s shameful thing te try te do...
...Yet h* has not waged isolated war...
...For to my mind the crux of the present political campaign is neither a man nor a party...
...It ws* he who first urged that we should proceed to organize for peace before the end of hoetilitie...
...We shall no longer be free men...
...For we, the people of the United State*, *re peculiarly possessed of the resources necessary to leadership—material resources combined with the great traditions of freedom...
...I am going to vote for a point on the compass ef destiny...
...He is not afraid to cross party lines when his principles demand that he do so...
...Th* very structure, of the, war that he haa waged I* a mutual—a collective—structur...
...Roeseueet's foreign 'policy...
...Foil these reasons 1 believe that the election of Thomas E. Dewey would constitute in effect a repudiation of the efforts of millions of independent-minded citizens who have worked and fought for years in the cause of international and collective peace...
...And no one in the world knows what his final position in this election would have been...
...He ha* failed to deal with th* crucial problem of the power of our representative to the United Nations...
...1 have had the privilege of being associated for some years with a man for whom principles were the breath of life...
...And by the ignorant misuse of minor issues for temporary political advantage, ho ha* disrupted, rather than advanced,the effort* of statesmen to reach mutual decisions...
...more difficult than the opening of our western land* by th* emigrant...
...y*t I ant impressed with the fin* and tangible stop* he haa taken In the direction of mehaal peace...
...For this means that candidates, even when nominated by machine politicians, must pass the test of principle before winning their way to office...
...They were not determined: they were only Aa//-de(ermined...
...For 4t> seems to m* that, since 19*0, when I opposed the Democratic candidate, he has bee* working with ¦kill and determination for mutaal aettea among the peace-loving peoples of the earth...
...In the present campaign th* nam* of Warren 0. Harding ha* often been introduced...
...And for this reason Wendell Willkie was close to the hearts of the independent voters...
...But no domestic problem can be solved if the problem of war is left unsolved...
...We cannot alone assume responsibility for world peace —that course would lead to hate and disaster...
...We are today confronted with many so-called domestic issues...
...And in this election year, millions were waiting for his final estimate of the two candidates, and would have listened eagerly to his opinion of them...
...No reorganization of the government, no reform of the bureaucracy, no abatement in taxes, no rise in income can prevent another war...
...The deadly inference is that the Dewey Republicans ar* the Aa//-determined men of today...
...A* in 1920, th* Republican candidate is surrounded by powerful men whose political career* arc vested in opposition to mutual action of any kind...
...And a* in 1920, the candidate has not repudiated the support of these men...
...He had therefore set himself the tssk ef pressing fee clearer commitments from both sides—commitments, especially, en thst most critical Isaac ef ear time, the Isaac ef American foreign policy...
...men who have behind them great resources - military, economic, moral, political, and especially that greatest of all resource*, th* will of the people...
...But we can—we must—take the leadership in encouraging other* to join us in s collective responsibility...
...Willkie's death, sosse former friends snd associates have tried te claim knowledge of which candidate be would have chosen...
...The entire political career of Wendell Willkie was dedicated to the advocacy of principles in which he believed...
...No one maintained it...
...Naturally, they are of great importance to us...
...I am going te veto, thie yeer for something thst cannot be fulfilled for many years to come...
...It is s known fact, spresd en the record by Mr...
...They wanted what they railed "normalcy...
...I believe that they are...
...In the past he did not support this cause: he espoused it only when it waa "safe," after other men had risked their political future to bring it about In the present campaign he ha* added nothing to our understanding of peace, or what it entails...
...Millions of them supported him in 1940...
...And I am therefore going to cast my vote for Franklin Del*** Roosevelt...
...And inasmuch as the Dewey Republicans in 1044 have failed to demonstrate their determination to sacrifice other and lesser interests in the cause of peace, the deadly parallel does exist...
...This was the reason, in his own opinion, for his political existence...
...This kind of peace has never existed among the nations, because the peoples of the earth have never taken, or have never been given, responsibility...
...But neither did we haws peace...
...And recently, at the' Foreign Policy Association, he made it unmistakably clear that our representative in the future ***** organization must be endowed, by constitutional mean*, with power to act for us...
...Neither ef them baa ¦pauai the eyes ef the eoepl* to th* hard read that sue* *h*a*But at the same time there 1* a difference be twee* these candidates—* eric 1*1 difference, an ¦II Important difference...
...where it would end were matter* beyond our control...
...Yet the Harding Republicans were only half-determined to prevent another war...
...What we must have henceforth is responsible peace— the kind of peace we maintain here in our own land, which exists because the people make themselves responsible for it...
...Speaking, then, for myself, I want to approach this problem on the issues only...
...It ie -ti ue that most of hi* action ha* of necessity been -thai hard and bloody, action of war...
Vol. 27 • October 1944 • No. 44
