That Date in November

With election day less than four weeks away, the pollsters came in last week with their first reports. Three Gallup polls made considerable news. The first reported that 53% of U.S. citizens think that price controls should be taken off meat (see The Administration). That was enough to tell any politician that the Republicans were on the beam with the public.

The second poll confirmed the G.O.P. tide in New York: 52% for Tom Dewey, 34% for Jim Mead, 14% undecided. The third indicated a landslide for John Bricker in Ohio (56% to 28%). Politicians talked knowingly about a private poll which showed Harry Truman's popularity down to 40%.

In the White House, Harry Truman probably did not need any polls to show him that times were tough. He politicked like mad. Boss Frank Hague of New Jersey dropped by, and so did ex-Price Boss Chester Bowles, who offered all his help. National Chairman Bob Hannegan talked strategy, then hopped off for Los Angeles to twang a campaign theme. One Hannegan chord: the G.O.P. is "holding the picket line in a strike of big business against the consumer."

Then New York City's flag-waving little Representative Sol Bloom sauntered in and talked & talked about the Palestine issue and the Jewish vote. Harry Truman listened intently.

Opportunity Knocks. Two days before, in a $2,700 advertisement in the New York Times, the New York Zionist Actions Committee had flailed the Democrats for failing to keep their pledge of full support "for the aspirations of the Jewish people." The Zionists demanded, "fulfill those old promises now."

Harry Truman knew as well as any Republican that the Democrats did not have a prayer to win New York state unless they could pile up a huge majority in heavily Jewish New York City. Through the political grapevine, the President also knew that Tom Dewey was going to take a whack at Democratic handling of the Palestine question.

To short, quiet David K. Niles, one of the few shrewd politicos left in Washington from Roosevelt days, this situation called for fast action. He had also handled the H.oly Land problem for F.D.R. Niles now urged Politician Truman to do something at once for the Jews. Bob Hannegan thought it was a fine idea. The President decided to act--even at the risk of international repercussions.

Thus, on the eve of Yom Kippur, he released his Niles-authored statement bluntly demanding that Britain let 100,000 Jews into Palestine immediately. The outraged cries were loud from the Arabs and from Britain, but organized U.S. Jewry applauded. And the President was not alone in playing politics. In his Manhattan speech, Governor Dewey blandly called for an immigration of several hundred thousand Jews into Palestine.

At week's end Harry Truman heard some other political bad news. Labor was making good its threat to treat Democrats coldly. The A.F.L. in New York and Pennsylvania had already refused a blanket endorsement to either party. So had John Lewis' United Mine Workers in West Virginia. Last week Dan Tobin, boss of the powerful A.F.L. Teamsters and for many years the Democratic National Committee's labor stalwart, took the same straddle.

As he watched the political winds, the President was trying to decide whether or not to make any stump speeches before Nov. 5. The problem was acute: some Democrats had raised the question of whether a presidential speech would help or hurt the ticket.

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