MR. TRUMAN'S TRIUMPH
ON election day in the United States the odds were 15 to i against Mr. Truman. It may be doubted whether any responsible official of his party believed in the possibility of his re-election. (His pwn fighting campaign, however, much more vigorous than his oppo- nent's, no doubt won many votes.) All the straw-polls, all the pre- dictions of every reputable newspaper, were decisive in Mr. Dewey's favour. Yet before noon, American tinie, on the day after the election Mr. Truman was triumphantly victorious. But if he has won the reasons why he has won are likely to be debated interminably. Reasons why he should have lost are abundant. The intervention of Mr. Henry Wallace, ignominious though it was to himself, and damning to the motley societies and associations which supported him, robbed Mr. Truman of New York and the 47 votes that State carries. His Presidency had been undistinguished, and quite apart from the natural swing of the pendulum, electors may well have thought that the election of Mr. Dewey was more likely to be a change for the better than for the worse. And the 38 votes polled by the Southern Democrats who rebelled against the President's most creditable stand for the social and civic rights of the negro seemed quite enough to deprive Mr. Truman of the necessary minimum of 266. It is true that he probably got most of the Zionist vote, but as that tells mainly in New York State, which he lost, it in fact availed him little. Labour no doubt backed him heavily in revenge for the restrictive legislation passed by the Republican Congress, and that was probably more responsible than any other single factor for his success.
