Truman Faces Tremendous Tasks
OAK, LISTON M.
Truman Faces Tremendous Tasks By Liston M. Oak THE death of President Roosevelt ta mourned by-devotees and critics alike. AH recognize that he had elements of greatness. This tragedy should have...
...LlNCOLN was followed by Andrew Johnson, Wilson by Harding, FDR by Truman, and all had to contend with Congresses incapable of dealing with the tasks they fsced...
...In withholding judgment, however, it I* imperative that liberal forces, particularly those representing minorities, must vigorously urge open the new President continuation of an enlightened position on all issues, domestic *• well ** International...
...Th* entire structure Of labor legists tion which Roeeevclt sponsored and helped enact...
...Their solution will require all the wisdom, all tha skill, all tha liberal statesmanship, that can be mobilised...
...He cannot rule by decree...
...There has been a lot of talk about planning, but little of it is concrete enough or sufficiently implemented...
...But something of their liberal reforms has permanent validity...
...Their defeats were not personal, but due to a complex of forces beyond their control and which they could not subdue to their purposes...
...This is particularly true in wartime, and in a period of depression and crisis...
...And he has to get himself and his candidates re-elected...
...We should not condemn any President to an early death by imposing upon him tasks and burden no man ran carry...
...both encountered isolation and reaction and imperialism at home and abroad...
...National Association for th* Advancement...
...Election to that office is tantamount to sacrifice of years of life, a sentence to an early death...
...Both made grievous errors, but both fought mightily to make liberal ideals realistic in a power-politics world, torn by conflicts, contradictions, greeds and hatreds...
...This fact points to the long-felt need for reorganising and streamlining the American democratic system, of making the chief executive's tasks lesa strenuous, of dividing responsibility and authority, of making Congreas more efficient...
...Th* postwar problems will be terrific— far more complex aid difficult than those of the 1020s ' —in both domestic and international fields...
...We should depend lees upon sny leader...
...WI< H th* passing at President Rooaevelt, wa |svc lost the greatest American of oar generation Hnsdreda of millions all ov«r the world to whsm Franklin Delano Roosevelt symbolized the ijlaalisa and tha genuine liberalism of ear country, are stricken with grief at tha news of our national tragedy...
...And when a President fights, as did Lincoln and Wilson and Roosevelt, for liberal principles against a reactionary trend, the strain becomea almost too great for any human to bear...
...The stakes are high in this dangerous political game...
...Win-the War had taken charge...
...However, since that he indicated that after military victory, his admin ¦stratum would devote itself to liberal reform*, to a new New Deal, to Include such legislation a* th* Murray - Wagner-Dingell bill extending social — eurity, th* Murray bill for fall employment and an economy of abundance, and TVA power projects on the Missouri and many other rivers...
...that fact was apparent from the newsreel and photographs taken at, and even before, the Yalta conference...
...In n totalitarian state, the dictator has more power, but less responsibility, fewer worries, fewer strength - sapping tasks...
...DAVID DUBINSKY, President, International Ladies Garment Workers' Union...
...These srtlelee an Franklin Delano amoeevolt, the New Deal, sad Harry 8. Truman, do net attempt On estimate of th* CSSStlmwUssi made by FDR in the field of international relation...
...The devastation and havoc of those other wars were worsened by the incompetence and lack of wisdom of the governments which followed...
...Will b* face hi* tremendous tasks inspired by the liberalism of his predecessor...
...New Deal" ie dead," and that Dr...
...President roohevelts tragic death following so closely upon that of another greet American who had the vision to see sad the courage to fight for on* world embracing men of all race* and creed*, Wendell Willkie, ia a great la**, particularly to minorities...
...The problems of World War I were as much more tremendous than those after the Civil War as those which will come after World War II are greater than those Harding failed to meet...
...This tragedy should have surprised no one...
...Such legislstion as the Murray bill remains on tha shelf...
...T* the laboring masses of America it means the loss of a great and staunch friend who waa kaeaiy interested in their welfare had strove in-eeasantly to help improve their condition* of life gad labor...
...In a real sense, even the dictators do not have such an enormous burden of responsible authority...
...This is pert of the mandate inherited by Harry Tramaa...
...May God give us who remain the atrength to fight for the ideals for which they fought and to keep th* imperialists, the bigota, and the petty-minded fram destroying thst for which they gave their Hyea...
...Roosevelt for the Atlantic Charter and Four Freedoms...
...Any objective analysis of the New Deal, as of the New Freedom, must give Wilson and Roosevelt credit for great contributions to our social Ufa," Evan If the New Deal is dead, its actual achievements and its aims and its principles live on...
...It means the re-creation of the same old conditiona and causes of crisis, fascism and war...
...Will he fulfill th* hop* that ia aiwswad by hi* pledge to carry out Kooeeveltian policies end give the American people a new New Deal...
...The miracle is that ha could have survived these past twelve grueling yeara at the most responsible, burdensome, difficult job in the world...
...The present composition of the Congress, and of the other l.ianches of our government, is not such as to give us any assurance that when the war emergency is over there will be a return to the prewar New Deal at its best...
...the rise in the stands.d of living for the toiling millions of oar land and the growth of human values and human dignity for the underprivileged which he championed and made a reality—will remain an imperishable monument to his memory among the common people of America...
...Til K years ahead are critical years—perhaps the most critical we have ever faced—and in these "years of decision" the policies formed and followed will be of crucial importance...
...w* and planned to publish, fa* this issue, an article by Harr v D. Gidsanas, president af Brooklyn College, en Rssasvelt'a foreign policy...
...The President of the richest, most powerful country on earth has not only to make crucial decisions affecting the fate of nations, but he has to make those decision effective...
...It must be hoped that the parallel ends there, but The New Leader fears it may be drawn further by history...
...His job is tougher than that of a tyrant whose will is law...
...The problems of reconversion to paacatime, of readjustments all along the line, of disposal of surplus government goods and war plants, of full production and employment, of peaceful international cooperation for a democratic and progressive world—all these enormous problems hold uncertainties snd risks, and thus far little has been done to solve them...
...The legislation they managed to get on our statute books is part of our democratic heritage...
...He has long been a very sick man...
...W* moat wait to aee what President Truman's attitude will be on the problema and responsibilities he undertakes It will be remembered that in a telegram te the NAACP last year he not only denied charge* he had been a member of the Kit Klux Klan, but ststed that he had vigorously opposed the Kl*a and the Klan had fought him...
...Failure to win means bankruptcy, recurrence of the old vicious cycle of slump, boom, degression...
...It is no accident that so many American Presidents die in office or soon afterward...
...We have no aurity that tha disastrous errors of the Harding-Coolidgc-Hoovcr era will not be repeated...
...Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced last year that "Dr...
...In the same telegram he pointed Out that he had supported the FEPC, voted for cloture of anti-lynckmg and anti-poll tax bills, for th* Murray-Kil-gor* Bill, Soldiers' Vote Bill, NYA and "every bill to give a fair deal ta minorities, racial and economic, on all subjects, whether economic or political...
...Both great liberal war Presidents fought for s League of Nations to preserve peace on the basis of justice...
...We have only the beginnings of good plans and splendid ideals set forth vaguely by Roosevelt and by labor and liberal leaders...
...It will appear In next week'a iasue...
...We hope that history will not repeat itself...
...Wilson struggled for realization of his Fourteen Points...
...He must fight opposition even within his own party, as well as in Congress and the entire country, to win support often for unpopular measures...
...democracy should be built upon a broader base...
...WALTER WHITS, Secretary...
Vol. 28 • April 1945 • No. 16
