Before the Vote

As Harry Truman stepped off the Presidential Special in Independence, Mo. an expressman called: "Hello, you old goat." Replied the President of the U.S.: "You're a long-eared rabbit." Strangers might have been shocked at the exchange. But Harry Truman and the expressman were merely greeting each other as old political opponents of the Pendergast-Shannon ("Goats" v. "Rabbits")* Democratic rivalry in Kansas City.

The incident was typical. In the critical week before U.S. voters decided the new complexion of Congress, the President was all smiles, all affability, delighted as a schoolboy with such antic repartee. He seemed to be enjoying his self-imposed vow of silence on political matters./-

While the eight-car B. & O. special rolled west across the U.S., he lazed happily in the bulletproof car (converted originally for Franklin D. Roosevelt), chatted with his official family, slept soundly. He was already awake when the train was jolted by a pre-dawn emergency stop in Indiana (an air hose broke and clamped on the automatic braking system).

Dignity & Fun. At his first platform appearance, in St. Louis, the President wore his air of no-politics as jauntily as his iridescent blue tie. Waving his hat and grinning broadly, he clambered down to shake hands with several score welcoming bigwigs, received a huge Danish pastry from a delegation of A.F.L. bakers (with the admonition from a spectator: "That's bad for your figure, Harry!").

Not even a cheering group of schoolchildren in Jefferson City could persuade the President to talk. The teen-agers shouted: "Make a two-hour speech; make it a full holiday!" But Harry Truman just chuckled, shook his head, clamped his hand over his mouth.

When he arrived in Independence, he was met by his brother Vivian and his old crony, U.S. Marshal Fred Canfil (see cut). That night he pointedly stayed away from the Democratic rally in the Memorial Building, instead drove over to Grandview to visit his 93-year-old mother. In his absence Mayor Roger Sermon explained the facts of life to Harry Truman's puzzled fellow citizens. "He'd give his right arm to be here tonight, but there are some things he can't do. He must preserve the dignity of his office."

He had time for fun. He stopped in at the Grandview Masonic Lodge to confer the Second Degree on nephew Harry A. Truman, took newsmen on a morning stroll through the streets of Independence, went to a reunion of his World War I batterymates.

Before going to Independence, the President had:

P: Promised immigration visas to 48 Baltic refugees who had beat their way 6,000 miles across the Atlantic in three tiny sailing vessels (TIME, Oct. 28). P: Proclaimed Nov. 28 as Thanksgiving Day.

P: Denied, in a letter to Ibn Saud, any U.S. hostility to Arab aspirations, reaffirmed his conviction that 100,000 Jews should be admitted to Palestine immediately.

P:Sent congratulations to Czechoslovakia on its 28th anniversary of independence.

*Pendergastites were named goats because of their head-on political tactics; Shannonites were called rabbits because of their ability to pop up out of the bushes after the battle was over. /-The editorial line-up of the nation's newspapers on election eve, according to the James S. Twohey Associates poll: 4% across the board for the Democrats; 11% for local Democrats whom they considered were not New Dealers; 85% pro-Republican. F.D.R.'s lowest pre-election newspaper support (in 1940): 22% pro; 7% on the fence; 71% for the Republicans.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.