republicans proffer a secular governor from New York State

    By Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 11:32am |

    I use the word "secular" to differentiate between Christian Theocracy candidates such as Rick Perry and candidates who do not carry the cross of Jesus Christ around with them on the campaign trail.(I mean a very very large cross, the kind you need a bus to carry) 

    And I mean Thomas E. Dewey, not George Pataki. But Pataki is going to Iowa and may be called to Christ in a corn field--which may erase even the faintest resemblance to Dewey.

    From a March, 1948, article about Dewey in Life Magazine.

    He revised unemployment insurance law to permit tax credits to employers who maintain stable payrolls.

    He reduced the state debt by 27%

    "We must finance the advances of the future out of our savings from better management"

    To increase N.Y's share of war contracts Dewey inventoried the states industrial resources down to the smallest shop in the remotest community. He held clinics to educate small businesses and brought together prime and subcontractors. He divided the state into 11 regions, with regional offices and experts and kept a running inventory locality by locality, of industrial needs, resources and openings.

    The state has 12,000 apprentice training programs underway--veterans making up 90% of the 25,000 enrollees.

    Dewey's policy re labor-relations is a maximum of peaceful negotiation and a minimum of compulsion.

    Comments

    Continued

    Dewey insists on a bi-partisan foreign policy.

    (I don't know the historical accuracy of this): During the 1944 election in which he lost to Roosevelt Dewey was made aware of the fact that the U.S. had broken the Japanese code well before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dewey did not use the information to claim Roosevelt had not protected the nation properly.

    Finally, this vignette.

    In the first ever radio debate in a presidential election, in Oregon and to a national audience, Dewey debated Stassen (who was giving him a good fight) on the sole issue (my, what an interesting idea) of whether the U.S. should outlaw the Communist Party of the United States. Stassen was for outlawing the party, Dewey against. In what some thought was a "game changer", Dewey famously stated, "You can't shoot an idea with a gun".

    Mr. Dewey, you're no Sarah Palin or Rick Perry!

    George Pataki, you're no Dewey. But if you were, and you could get through a Republican primary without being called to Christ in a corn field, or weeping upon the cross of Jesus, or brandishing a metaphorical firearm at the liberal left, or claiming that the nation's problems can be solved by a balanced budget amendment (they might look at your big spender record in N.Y., I might vote for you. 

     


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 11:59am

    Say it ain't so, Oxy!  As a New Yorker, I had the displeasure of living through Pataki's three terms as Governor.  I have never seen an emptier suit. 


    by MrSmith1 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 12:43pm

    No, just poetic license. I wouldn't vote for him. But I did find it interesting to research Dewey. If he was thought of as a "liberal" in the Republican party of the day, can you imagine him even being in the party today. I thought the industrial organization referred to was relevant--why the hell aren't we doing today what was done during WWII and aftermath. What is it we've lost. Sometimes I think it's the fear of failure, coming up with a program and having it fail. Perhaps it is the loss of the "can do" quality--that the divisions of wealth in the country, and the general rancor, no longer make us think of ourselves as one society which could pull together in a patriotic effort.

    As for Pataki, what remains of the Eastern Establishment seems to be rattling the bushes to come up with someone who can derail Perry. If he does make a run I wonder if he'll make more of an empty suit of himself by cavorting with the religious right.

    That's by way of saying Dewey is looking pretty good by today's standards.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 1:14pm

    Republicans of old were different critters. The GOP's 1940 Presidential candidate, Wendell Wilkie, had a much better record on Civil Rights issues of the day than FDR. Today, the GOP has many folks longing for the "good old days" where Blacks were out of sight and out of mind. It's manifested by the "I want my country back" feeling expressed by many in the GOP and Tea Party.


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 3:17pm

    Thanks. I agree with you about the white supremacist core of the "tea party" today. From Time:

    "Against powerful opposition Dewey supported a law which declared that the right of employment cannot be abridged because of race, creed, color, or national origin. This was the first such law enacted in any state in the union--a pioneer achievement."


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 5:04pm

    Imagine my surprise when I found out that the description of Dewey as looking like "the little man on the wedding cake"  originated with Alice Roosevelt Longworth and not my mother, who repeated the line whenever anyone mentioned Dewey's name.


    by MrSmith1 on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 5:00pm

    I didn't know the expression was related to Dewey.

    My mother who was a life long Democrat referred to Bill Clinton as "slick Willey"


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 5:07pm

    Had you heard of Dewey's line to Stassen, "You can't shoot an idea with a gun" Apparently the remark hit home and helped Dewey greatly in following primaries.


    by Oxy Mora on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 5:13pm

    Yeah, I love that line. .

     

     


    by MrSmith1 on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 1:36am

    It sure points to how the GOP has lost it's way and it's roots in the last quarter of the 20th century.

    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 08/23/2011 - 8:51pm

    Oxy, fascinating info about Dewey.  I really  had no idea!  I was 11 years old when Truman won over Dewey, and when we heard it on the radio everyone in the room took to cheering and clapping and yelling, including us kids who had no idea what we were yelling about but we were all having fun so it must have been good. 

    Dewey was the enemy then and I, of course, being a good Democrat, never really cared about him, so this was a real eye-opener.  Oh, for that kind of civility, that kind of service again. 

    There were and are no perfect politicians, but there was a time when some of them could at least be shamed into doing the right thing.  Those days are behind us, I'm afraid, which makes what's coming ahead so frightening.  And what makes what you've researched and written about here so compelling.  Thanks.


    by Ramona on Thu, 08/25/2011 - 6:52am

    Thanks, Ramona. I was in knee pants when I watched my Dad climb the steps of a caboose and shake Truman's hand on his famous whistle stop tour through Ohio. My Dad was a New Deal Democrat and nothing could have persuaded him to vote for Dewey. He took all bets at his Elk's club at 10 to 1. We kids had made him promise to buy a television set if Truman won, and we were amply rewarded with a large console with a 6" screen.

    You mention "shame". I think you are right, this is the quality that appears to be missing in our political life. One could argue that shame has never been part of the political process--be a good subject to explore.

    A wise person once differentiated between "shame" and "guilt" as a parenting psychology. Shame is more typical of Northern climes and guilt more typical of Souther climes (speaking of that part which is of European heritage). The kind of "shameless"  and "he's-not--entitled" disciplining of Obama by the religious right seems new--actually I like "entitled disciplining".


    by Oxy Mora on Thu, 08/25/2011 - 10:12am

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