And I was there, Frank! Thirteen years old and deeply committed to my
beloved Democratic Party. My dad had partitioned off half my bedroom
to make himself a small radio repair shop. As he worked, following
his long day at the Bremerton Ship Yard, he would tune on one of the
radios he was repairing. Usually it was tuned to a comedy like Fibber
McGee and Molly or Jack Benny, or to one of the many dance bands that
were broadcasting remote from the top of the Hollywood Hotel...or
somewhere. But on this November night Dad had his ear glued to the
election news. Dad and mother had campaigned for Henry Wallace, even
though they knew he, like many years later Bernie Sanders also
learned, that the Democratic Party would freeze in Hell before they'd
let the likes of such a radical into the leadership of our glorious
democratic nation.
So I pushed my pillow tight up against the thin partition and waited,
hour after hour for the final declaration. In those days the votes
rolled in slowly, and we pretty much had to wait for the West Coast to
begin reporting before we knew for certain. Those were exciting days.
There were some crude polls around, and as a result the following
headline was printed:
"Dewey Defeats Truman" was an incorrect banner headline on the front
page of the Chicago Daily Tribune on November 3, 1948, the day after
incumbent United
States President Harry S. Truman won an upset victory over Republican
challenger and Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey.
I went to sleep very late that night, still not knowing who our next
president would be. Boy did I lord it over all my little Dewey chums
at school. They had been sporting their campaign buttons that
declared, "It's Time For A Change". Not a single button was to be
seen. I, however wore my FDR button, with it's red, white and blue
stripes, until our principal took me aside and suggested that it was
time to let it rest.
If nothing else, I was a very good winner.
Somewhere I still have that FDR button. I never recall having one for
Henry Wallace. But my school chums knew when they saw me coming with
my big FDR pin, that I was at least Pink, if not Red. I never was big
on Harry Truman, mainly because my folks did not feel he supported the
Working Class, but knowing that this little Missouri machine
politician had knocked out the great big New York machine politician,
brought me hours of pleasure. I will say that the day Truman stood up
to General MacArthur and fired him, was the single highlight of his
career. None of our candidates today would have the guts to do that
today.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/7/16, Frank Ventura <frank.ventura@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hey didn't they tell us that Dewey beat Truman?
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Tuesday, June 7, 2016 7:21 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: AP and NBC now report the news before it
happens!
Hi Carl,
In general, I agree with you here. Seems the Wall Stream media has not
learned the lesson of the 2000 election. While I do believe that Clinton
will clinch the nomination in the next few hours, it was extremely
unprofessional of the Wall Stream media to predict it in advance.
Bob Hachey
PS
By the way, I’m considering an option other than Jill Stein. A friend of
mine suggested that I ought to write in Bernie on Election Day. Perhaps I'll
flip a coin; heads for Bernie and tails for Stein! LOL.
