What Harry Truman had to say about phony Democrats vs genuine Republicans: It's worth remembering.

[wyldwolf]

68. That isn't the entire quote - it isn't in it's context. And based on it's usage here, not even true

That isn't the entire quote - it isn't in it's context. And based on it's usage here, not even true. Let's set it up:

Harry Truman is giving a speech to the Americans for Democratic Action, an organization led by Eleanor Roosevelt. Truman and (Eleanor) Roosevelt didn't always get along and sometime they'd butt heads on matters of policy and candidates. Eleanor was an early supporter of Henry Wallace, who ran against Truman in '48.

Truman took some small swipes at the ADA in this speech. First off was this:

there was a time when it might not have been so pleasant for me to meet with the ADA. I understand that 4 years ago-along about this time--some of the leaders of ADA were engaged in rather wild fancies about the Presidential nomination... You know, the peculiar part about it was that you were a young political organization and you had not studied the history of conventions. A President of the United States, when he desires and when he wants to be nominated, there isn't anybody in the world can keep him from being nominated.

Here, Truman was referencing the third party run of 'progressive' Henry Wallace and he was chiding them for supporting him. He was actually a little condescending, wasn't he? He essentially says, "It's understandable that you were stupid in '48. Your were inexperienced wannabes. We can all laugh about it your 'wild fancies' about politics now."

He then sets the audience up for his famous "phony Democrat" quote:

In spite of the various notions about the nomination in 1948... the outcome of the election that year astonished a great many people. We astonished the pollsters and the sabotage press, and the opposition candidates--Republican, crackpot, and Dixiecrat.

Here, Truman calls out the 'progressive' movement by referring to Henry Wallace as a 'crackpot.' He also mentions the Dixiecrat (Strom Thurmond.) Two men who he rightly considered phony Democrats - a 'progressive' and a racist.

Now here comes the money quote:

When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign.

You have to ask yourself who Truman was specifically referring to. Was it 'Democrats' who didn't believe in the New Deal? That's certainly what he said and it was directed at Strom Thurmond. But it might have just as well been directed at FDR himself who said this in his annual message to Congress in 1935:

A large proportion of these unemployed and their dependents have been forced on the relief rolls. The burden on the Federal Government has grown with great rapidity... The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America. Work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers.

The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief.

Whew! Strong anti-welfare words from FDR himself.

Were Truman's words directed at 'Democrats' who weren't sufficiently 'progressive' overall as is claimed by people on DU and other places? There is NO indication of that whatsoever. Truman himself was accused by 'progressives' of the day for being too conservative (as was FDR, as a matter of fact.)

In '48, Truman made his feelings quite clear on the far left ("crackpots&quot and far right of the party. After his victory, he said: "The greatest achievement was winning without the radicals in the party. I was happy to be elected by a Democratic party that did not depend upon either the left-wing or the southern bloc."

If we were to take Truman's quote and apply it to any time period beyond 1952, it would make just as much sense, perhaps more sense, to apply it to 'progressives.'

But let's say the quote IS about DLC/blue dogs/centrist, whatever. If it is, Truman was wrong. Those types of Dems have defeated Republicans in countless elections. People did not, in fact, choose the Republican over them "every time."