Who's in Charge Here?

Every time he cocked his political ear, Bob Kenny of California thought he heard the rumblings of a Wallace-for-President groundswell. The genial co-chairman of the P.C.A. wanted other people to hear it too. So he got a big idea. He would promote a "Democratic" grassroots rally in sunbaked Fresno (traditional midstate meeting ground for California politicians) and start Wallace's name toward a spot on the state's Democratic presidential primary ballot. The rally would be the first formal move in the nation to nominate Wallace. It might even start a third-party tidal wave.

It didn't. Wary Democratic officeholders avoided Fresno last week as though it were a poison-ivy patch. Henry Wallace himself was too cagey to send greetings. Among the 300-odd delegates who did show up, Kenny whipped up enough enthusiasm to start Wallace organizations going in 16 of the state's 23 congressional districts. The organizations would probably collect enough signatures to land a Wallace delegation on the ballot.

But the rally made a thunderous noise in the ears of Democratic State Chairman Jimmy Roosevelt. It was not a groundswell he heard; it was a political fusillade. For months, by sheer industry and charm, Jimmy had tried to steer the party down the political middle. The party would not steer. A powerful right wing, headed by National Committeeman

Ed Pauley, wanted Jimmy to endorse Pauley's good friend Harry Truman for reelection. Kenny wanted him to endorse Wallace. For a while, Jimmy had managed to say nothing, but now the left was plainly trying to shoot him off the fence.

Hard on the Fresno rally, Chairman Roosevelt heard other shots--from the right. They came from plump, redheaded Tom Scully, well-to-do Los Angeles Democrat and ex-Democratic state treasurer, whom Jimmy had defeated for the state party chairmanship last year. Scully, an old Pauley disciple, had neither forgotten nor forgiven. For a year, Scully and the Pauley organization had sniped at Jimmy Roosevelt. Last week, Scully announced that he had assumed leadership of a Truman-for-President movement in opposition to the nominal party leadership of Chairman Roosevelt.

In such a crossfire, ex-Marine Colonel Roosevelt could only hit the dirt and lie low until the members of the State Democratic Central Committee gathered in extraordinary session (July 26). If the turnout then was big and the majority was for him, Jimmy might yet keep the party from coming apart. If it came apart, the Democrats' chances of carrying California for any candidate in 1948 would probably be riddled.

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