The Otago Daily Times Friday, February 11, 1944. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25457, 11 February 1944, Page 2

The Otago Daily Times Friday, February 11, 1944. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY

The cautious statement of Mr Henry A. Wallace, the Vice-president of the United States, that' he believes that Mr Roosevelt will stand for a fourth term of the Presidency may be accepted as at least' a semi-official notification of the President’s intentions. In point of fact they have never been much in doubt. Mr , Roosevelt has at no time, in nearly twelve years in the highest office in the United States, pretended that he was finding his huge job too big for him, too irksome, or, indeed, anything but extremely congenial. And it is stated by his intimate associates that, apart manifest enjoyment of office and his patent desire to shape, as he thinks fit, the social structure of American life, he is moved always by a sense of destiny, believing that he has been charged to guide the people of the United States through the period of their greatest trial and, perhaps, through the days of emergence from ordeal into a world of new fellowship among men. It is a harsh fact of politics that an inner conviction of essentiality in the candidate for the public favour is not always respected by the constituency. It must, moreover, be recognised that the mere will to service, however unselfish, is not necessarily accompanied by the ability which the electors expect in their public men. Actually Mr Roosevelt’s capacity for the Presidential office is beyond the realm of debate. He has shown himself eagerly enlightened, if sometimes somewhat idealistic, in his leadership in the domestic life of his nation. He was never in doubt, when perhaps the majority of his countrymen wavered between considerations of immediate selfinterest and intelligent internationalism, concerning the menace which Hitlerism presented, as dangerous to the then geographically remote United States as to the peoples of Europe itself. British people have much cause to acknowledge Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s early unwavering recognition that a sense for world justice, and the requirements of security no less, demanded United States support for the war effort of Great Britain at a time when the war’s prospects were at their darkest. They will have appreciated, since the United States was precipitated into the war, the assistance, apart from the material support of America, that Mr Roosevelt has given to the promotion of unity among the enemies of Naziism. In the meetings with Mr Churchill these two men have found a ready understanding, and it is known that Mr Roosevelt’s part

in the conference which included Marshal Stalin was personally important. The next Presidential election will be held towards the end of the present year. American politics having their mainsprings sunk so deeply in a compound of complex machinery and carefullygauged public emotionalism, the " contenders may be expected to be very soon manoeuvring for their first success, which is the party nomination. No rival to Mr Roosevelt in the Democratic Party has yet declared himself, and it is probable that if he consents to nomination he will secure it without serious opposition. That, however, is not enough, and the President’s coy approach to the unprecedented fourth-term candidature is partly an invitation to his supporters to . demand him not only dutifully but vociferously, with an emphasis that cannot be denied. The need for public enthusiasm can be explained in political terms. In the general elections of last year the Republican Party scored successes which gave it virtual political control in 26 of the States and of 342 of the 531 electoral college votes. It gained, as one commentator remarked, almost everything but the Presidency, and naturally is encouraged to believe that this year it has a fair chance of electing the President also. It has still to choose its candidate. Mr Willkie is prepared to welcome the nomination if he . can “speak out his beliefs,” but he has powerful opponents as well as friends within the Republican organisation. The possibility of rivalry from Mr Thomas Dewey, who as Governor of New York holds what is regarded as, next to the President’s, the biggest office in America, is not remote, though in contesting the State. Governorship Mr Dewey undertook to serve out the full four-years’ term, of which only one year will have been completed by November. It is certain that whoever Mr Roosevelt’s opponent may be—whether it be the Surposeful, internationally-minded If Willkie, or Mr Dewey, or someone else—the Presidential election of 1944 will provide a keen struggle. The effect which -.the result may ' have in an international sense remains to be determined when the nominations of the major parties have been made.