Delicate Word

It was predetermined by the political stars that Democrat Franklin Roosevelt would some day have to come out for Democrat John J. Bennett for Governor of New York—though the President had fought Bennett bitterly in the primary convention. The only question was how? That called for the delicacy of a three-cushioned billiard shot.

A Gallup poll showed Republican Thomas E. Dewey leading the field with 53% of the votes to 37% for Bennett and 10% for the American Labor Party’s Dean Alfange, who claimed to be “the only New Deal candidate.” But the same poll showed that many a stanch Republican who could not stomach ambitious Tom Dewey was swinging into the Bennett camp—on the theory that a vote for Bennett was also a vote against Roosevelt. The only way Franklin Roosevelt could really help Jack Bennett was to sway labor’s votes away from Alfange, without disturbing the Republican cross current.

Eleanor Roosevelt made the first gesture. Without mentioning Bennett, she announced at a Democratic rally that she would vote the Democratic ticket. Then she publicly shook hands with Jack Bennett. This week, just in time to hit the headlines as New York registration began, the President made his shot.

Said he: “Of the three men in the race … I shall cast my ballot for John Bennett because I believe that he is the best qualified.” Was this emphatic enough, and timed properly, to swing the Alfange votes to Bennett? Was it sufficiently cool not to alienate Bennett’s Republican votes?