Democratic Flashback: Truman Compared Dewey to Hitler

Newsmax ^ | 3/14/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

President Bush's decision to invoke the Sept. 11 attacks in a campaign commercial has Democrats livid.

But when it comes to politicizing America's wars, Bush has nothing on Democratic icon Harry Truman, who actually demonized his opponent by comparing him to Adolf Hitler in campaign speeches.

The New York Times chronicled some of Truman's incendiary rhetoric in its Oct. 26, 1948 edition, in a report on a Truman campaign speech in Chicago against New York Republican Thomas Dewey.

"President Likens Dewey to Hitler as Facists' Tool," read the Times headline, followed by the subhead, "Dictatorship Stressed."

The Times headline writer continued, "Truman Tells Chicago Audience a Republican Victory Will Threaten U.S. Liberty - Says When Bigots, Profiteers Get Control of Country They Select 'Front Man' to Rule."

This from the hero of the party that goes ballistic today at the mere hint that a Republican is "questioning our patriotism."

[shrinkermd]

Truman's minions also circulated a poem which read, "A horses tail is nice and gooey. Look underneath and there is Dewey." I'll bet no one else on this board can remember Truman or the little poem.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

The playbooks older than I thought then...

Wise, all- knowing leader

Yes, it's sucking up, but are you going to stop me?

[Vigilanteman]

This supports my impression that Truman was one of the most over-rated presidents ever. Whatever good he did in ending World War II and stopping the Communist advance in Korea was more than off-set by losing China and firing MacArthur, who had a sensible strategy to not only stop, but roll-back the Communist gains.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Dating yourself, eh?;-)

Wise, all- knowing leader

Yes, it's sucking up, but are you going to stop me?

[Arkie2]

No one should get offended by the characterization by the media of the Bush ads as offensive or as attack ads. Instead, you should expect it as a matter of course. He could run an ad praising his mother for raising him and his wife for reforming it and the media would attack it as an anti feminist ad. It's part of the dems plan to demonize everything Bush says or does and the media is complicit in supporting it. They will never point out that the criticism originated with groups funded by the dems. It's rather sickening.

[Brilliant]

No new tricks in the Dem playbook.

[speedy]

Yep, the Dem playbook was written by FDR's Brain Trust and hasn't changed much in over 70 years. The same class warfare drivel, the same sympathy for dictatorships that hate us. While it is true that Truman took some stands against Commies in certain areas, he was never in favor of rolling them back and certainly was not concerned about their presence in our own government. It was less that he was pro-Commie than it was that he consistently underestimated their brutality. Until Truman was re-invented by Liberals in the 1970s, his Presidency was widely considered to be a failure. He was eligible to run again in 1952, but his popularity was so abysmal that he opted out rather than face certain defeat at the polls.

[thoughtomator]

Wow, grandpa, you've still got your memory! And you've still got your memory!

[Cicero]

Dewey's biggest mistake was that mustache of his. It made him look like some kind of con artist, I always thought. I was a boy back then, too. I thought Truman was a jerk (a crooked haberdasher) but Dewey looked like some kind of city slicker trying to pose as Gregory Peck and doing a poor job of it.

[anonymous_user]

A donkey's tail is nice and hairy, lift it up... it's John F'n' Kerry!

[shrinkermd]

A donkey's tail is nice and hairy, lift it up... it's John F'n' Kerry!

Hey that is great. As I remember Brit Hume's grandfather worked for the Washington Post and did the review of Margaret Truman's piano recital. Hume gave a poor review and President Truman threatened to "punch him in the nose." At the time, this was shocking. I guess now it would be ordinary RAT conduct.

[republicanwizard]

I don't know. He looks like a Clark Gable without the charm.

[republicanwizard]

http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/shiawassee/tomdewey.html

Had the election been held today, I guarantee you that the New Yorker would have beat the bozo from Kansas City.

[anonymous_user]

President Truman threatened to "punch him in the nose." At the time, this was shocking.

I guess I'd threaten to punch someone in the nose who criticized my daughter's piano playing too. Well, unless she was over 18 and could punch them herself. :) Maybe it's more of a dad thing than a Rat thing?

It has been fun hearing about some of the dirty campaigns of yesteryear. You'd think "dirty politics" was invented this year by the way everyone is carrying on.

[Verginius Rufus]

The music critic who panned Margaret Truman's singing was Paul Hume, 1915-2001, who married in 1949 and had 4 children: Paul, Michael, Ann, and Peter. I don't remember what Who's Who has for Brit's parents or date of birth, and couldn't find anything useful with a Google search just now; he can't be Paul Hume's grandson but perhaps is related in some other way. I thought Brit was a nickname.

[shrinkermd]

"The music critic who panned Margaret Truman's singing was Paul Hume, 1915-2001, who married in 1949 and had 4 children: Paul, Michael, Ann, and Peter. I don't remember what Who's Who has for Brit's parents or date of birth, and couldn't find anything useful with a Google search just now; he can't be Paul Hume's grandson but perhaps is related in some other way. I thought Brit was a nickname.

I don't know either, but if Paul Hume had children at 20 or 21 as did his children, Brit could be a grandson. I note that people in my generation married and had children much earlier: it was rare to wait till the age of 25 to start your family.

[Verginius Rufus]

I checked Who's Who today for Brit Hume (full name: Alexander Britton Hume). He was born June 22, 1943, and his parents were George and Virginia Powell (Minnigerode) Hume. Paul Hume did not marry until 1949 and was only 27 years old when Brit was born.

Truman called Paul Hume "a frustrated old man" at the time of his panning Margaret's singing; at that time Paul Hume was 35 years old and President Truman was 66.

[shrinkermd]

So what is the relationship between Alexander Britton Hume and Truman's nemesis, Paul Hume?

[Verginius Rufus]

I don't know if Brit Hume and Paul Hume are related or not; until your post of a couple of days ago I had never heard the matter raised (and wasn't even aware that the music critic had the same last name as Brit's). Had you heard or read something to that effect? Brit was born in Washington, D.C.

Margaret Truman later turned to novel-writing, but I don't know if Paul Hume wrote any book reviews panning her writing.