Rx for Democrats

Harry Truman once complained that it is easier to move Barnum & Bailey's circus across the country than it is for a U.S. President to travel. This week, as the White House hummed with preparations for his first all-out political trip of the campaign, Harry Truman was making the Big Top look like a pup tent.

All along the presidential route, railroaders and secret service men checked every culvert and every bridge over which the 18-car presidential special would pass. Presidential Ghostwriters Clark Clifford and Sam Rosenman jotted down ideas for scores of impromptu back-platform talks, sketching in the drafts of the President's five major speeches (Chicago, Omaha, Seattle, Berkeley, Los Angeles).

There would be time for some fun. Harry Truman would be in Omaha to ride in the parade of his World War I division (the 35th); would spend two nights with his old crony, Washington's Governor Mon Wallgren. But Democratic professionals privately admitted that the junket was designed for only one reason: an attempt to beef up sickly Democratic morale. Taking no chances of skimpy crowds anywhere, National Chairman J. Howard McGrath sent out word to Government workers at every whistle stop that the President was on his way.

Before he started out, the President:

P: Sailed up to Annapolis aboard the Williamsburg, brought good luck to Navy athletes, who swept their "June Week" crew races with Cornell, walloped the Army baseball team 10-to-0 as the President whirred away with his movie camera.

P: Had a 25-minute chat with the new President of Israel, aging Dr. Chaim Weizmann (see FOREIGN NEWS), who presented him with a Torah covered in blue velvet. Confided Harry Truman: "I always wanted one."*

P: Attended Memorial Day services at Arlington National Cemetery.

* The Torah, a parchment scroll containing the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible), is a sacred object, seldom taken from the synagogue.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.