Limbering Up

Last week Harry Truman boarded an Air Force Constellation in Washington and headed for Arkansas, His prime objective was the dedication of the big new Bull Shoals Dam on the White River. But he succumbed to campaign fever almost as soon as he breathed the hot summer air of the outlands.

He switched from his plane to a special Missouri Pacific Lines train at Little Rock. When it pulled into the station at Newport (pop. 6,262), 84 miles up the line, patient knots of people were waiting in the heat under the platform lights. It was a sight the President could not resist.

He hustled right outside. "This happens to be the No. 1 whistle stop of 1952," he said, raising his voice to compensate for the lack of a loudspeaker. "There are going to be a lot more of them."

Next day he teed off on the G.O.P. In a back-platform speech to 5,000 people at Batesville (pop. 6,371), he laid down his text: "There is not a man or woman in this audience who is not better off as a result of 20 years of Democratic rule. Now if you want to throw that out the window [cries of "No! No!" from the crowd] and go off after false gods ... I can't stop you. But do a little thinking..."

His appearance at the dam got off to a wonderful beginning. The country around had been parched for weeks, but almost as the President began speaking, rain fell. "It looks like I really brought you good luck," he said. His speech was an appeal for Southern loyalty to the Democratic Party.

"You people . . . know what it was like in the South in the 1930s ... the backward farms ... the struggling businesses ... the bank failures. What a difference today. I know the New Deal and the Fair Deal have done more for the South than any other national administration in ... history." He talked of new factories, rehabilitated farms, the blessing of rural electricity, of new homes and healthy children. "Remember . . . this year when you see & hear the storm of political propaganda that will [be used] to try to turn back the clock." He spoke four times during the day and flew back to Washington.

Last week the President also:

P:Paid a surprise call on the Senate, got a rising ovation from both Democratic and Republican members, heard Vice President Alben Barkley eulogize him as a "great President."

P: Explained how he expects to reveal his choice for Democratic nominee: Tom Gavin of Kansas City, an old friend and Delegate Harry Truman's alternate, will vote on the first ballot at the national convention for Truman's candidate.

P: Went to Washington's Griffith Stadium with Mrs. Truman to see a doubleheader between the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators. He sat patiently under an umbrella after rain stopped play in the fourth inning, munched a hot dog, and had a bottle of pop. But after an hour, Weather Prophet Truman gave up and left. His hunch was right. Another hour passed before the sun came out and the game was resumed.

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