Word: deweyitis
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Slowly the U.S. got to know Tom Dewey better. The U.S. as a whole learned that he was cool, precise, tough-minded, with a passion for neatness (he usually fastens both buttons of his single-breasted suits), a meticulous regimen (he rarely eats a heavy meal), an experienced facility in avoiding traps set by hostile newsmen, a firm determination to say exactly what he wanted to say when he wanted...
...well-oiled campaign moved on. On board his train, Dewey had a minimum of advisers: Speechwriter Elliott Bell, one-time New York Timesman; Secretary Paul Lockwood, an associate from his D.A. days; Press Secretary Jim Hagerty. Tall, lean Hamilton Gaddis, patronage dispenser of the Dewey Albany administration, preceded the train as advance agent. Behind the lines, a mammoth research bureau, occupying the top floor of Albany's De Witt Clinton Hotel, steadily went on digging up facts & figures...
...after Los Angeles the campaign suddenly stalled. After the San Francisco and Los Angeles speeches, many Republicans feared that Tom Dewey had fallen into the fatal Willkie "Me Too" trap. (In San Francisco, Dewey had done nothing more shocking than to say, in effect, that if the U.S. has discarded Adam Smith's economics it cannot continue to hang, tooth & nail, to Thomas Jefferson's politics. In Los Angeles, he had merely said that if the U.S. is to have Social Security, it should be there for all.) But some GOPsters shook their heads, and Hatchet-man Harold...
...that point, Dewey seemed a lonely figure. He was the only candidate* discussing the issues; he seemed to be talking to himself. Then came the break: Franklin Roosevelt made his famed frolicsome speech to the Teamsters. That brought both Dewey and his campaign to life again. The bulk of his detailed reply at Oklahoma City might soon be forgotten, but one note would stick: "He asked for it. Here...
...craftsmanship of the Dewey campaign became evident. It was seen that he had been wise, in the weeks when he alone was on the stump, to get well-planted the broad bases and main points of his positive program. This job was necessary work, but also, to a great many voters, somewhat dull. Dewey's shrewd timing became apparent after Oklahoma City; with his main program staked out, he was now free, in the crucial weeks, to concentrate on the much livelier business of attacking Roosevelt's record-which he described as "terribly...