One-to-Five

As Tom Dewey ended his western trip last week, Bob Taft's speech resounded in his ears. Taft had said a lot of the things Dewey himself expected to say in due time. It would be a little galling if, on some national issues, e.g., taxes, labor, the Truman Administration, he could only say "me, too."

But looking back over his trip (in four weeks he had traveled 6,200 miles and talked with the Republican leaders of 15 states), he was well pleased. He knew that he had handled himself well. He reckoned that of the 547 convention delegates needed for nomination, he had lined up some 420.* By his own calculation he was a good one-to-five bet to capture the U.S. presidency.

Nothing Doing in Owosso. In his native Michigan, on the last lap of his trip, he had encountered a distinct coolness among Republican state leaders. To be sure, they came to visit him at Owosso, where he spent four days with his mother, Mrs. Annie Dewey (whom he calls "Mater"). With Arthur Vandenberg on their minds, Michigan Republicans were noncommittal about even a second-or third-ballot vote for Dewey. But Dewey was confident they would come to him in the end.

The only excitement in Owosso was when the porch swing fell down. Tom Dewey himself had made the swing in a manual training class 30 years ago. It was high-backed, narrow and uncomfortable, but Mrs. Dewey was proud of her son's handiwork and she hung it on the front porch of the white clapboard house on Oliver Street. She made a pad for it, and whenever it came apart, she patched it up with wire. One afternoon last week the wire gave way. Down in a heap went 165-Ib. Tom Dewey, 210-lb. National Committeeman Arthur E. Summerfield, 180-Ib. State Committee Treasurer Ben 0. Shepherd. No casualties.

Work Undone. The Dewey boys, Tom Jr. and John, also found Owosso dull. They spent most of their time tirelessly playing cards (pinochle and poker) with New York State Troopers Ed Galvin and Joe Micklas. Tom Dewey was hard put to find anything else for them to do.

He did take them to Ann Arbor to see the University of Michigan campus. Tom Dewey, '23, hoped that some day 15-year-old Tom Jr. would also go to Michigan. When newsmen asked Tom Jr. what he thought of the university, he snapped: "No comment." Tom Sr. spoke to his son in private. Later Tom Jr. announced that he thought the university was "wonderful." Dewey made no bones about wishing he had left the boys at home. "They got too much attention," he said sadly, "and much of the good work Mrs. Dewey and I put in on them was undone."

* Not including Pennsylvania, however. Said Republican Governor James (Big Jim) Duff as Dewey finished his western tour: "For the Republican Party to tie itself up to a single candidate for the presidency at this time . . . would be like selling the party a pig in a poke."

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