Sunshine Campaign

Tom Dewey's job, in the week before the convention, was to make sure the delegates already pledged to him stuck tight to the bargain--and then to beat the bushes for more delegates.

Setting forth on this errand, he headed south with a whoosh, traveling like an over-the-road trucker trying to roll his rig home before morning. The pace wilted his helpers, but after three punishing days Dewey was still full of pep and rich with delegates.

En route to Baltimore, he was asked about his Oregon debate with Harold Stassen. Said Dewey: "You know, one man told me that debate was just like a truck driver running over a baby, then deliberately driving forward and backward over the body." Then he added: "Of course, that's a little exaggerated."

Rocketing Train. That night he turned on his smile for the state's Republican delegation (only one man failed to show up: he was in a hospital). He charmed everyone in sight, went off to bed early. The next morning he rocketed off to Richmond. No sooner had he stepped off the train than an enthusiastic city committeewoman rushed up, bussed him on the cheek and burbled later: "I was just so happy I hardly knew what I was doing. I doubt if the governor even remembers it." Gallantly Dewey told a press conference: "Do you think I could forget a kiss from such a lady?"

A group of Virginia's Democratic bigwigs turned up with greetings from rebel Governor William M. Tuck. All grace, Dewey replied: "Please give my best regards to Governor Tuck who is a Republican at heart." Then he renewed his courtship of the state's G.O.P. delegation. Harold Stassen blew into town a few hours later on the same errand; Dewey lit out for North Carolina without crossing his path.

Confident Man. From Raleigh to the rim of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Dewey rolled his rig at high speed, made 13 speeches in 13 hours, all denouncing "this incredibly stupid" Truman Administration. Political observers gave him between 41 to 50 of the three states' 63 delegates-- not many more than he had before, but all solidly in hand. Commented Dewey: "It is wonderful to campaign in the sunshine."

This week he stopped in Albany long enough to pick up his wife and two sons and then was off to New Castle, N.H. for the 40th annual Governors' Conference. There he chatted easily with California's Governor Earl Warren (see below), and with newsmen. They asked him whether he had read Harry Truman's western speeches. "From what I could gather from . . . headlines," the governor answered, "it did not seem like a profitable way to spend my time." Did he think he would get the nomination? He certainly did, "and after not too many ballots."

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