At the Post

All week long, Philadelphia felt the big Dewey blitz. The big three of Tom Dewey's strategy board plowed through the city like an armored column, outflanking wavering delegates, riding down opponents' claims. Wherever a delegate turned he found Ed Jaeckle, Russ Sprague or Herb Brownell--talking, arguing, cajoling, hammering home the Dewey line: get on the bandwagon before it's too late.

Twice a day Herb Brownell summoned newsmen into Room 816 of the Bellevue-Stratford to report new gains. One morning it was 25 more first-ballot-votes for Dewey. That afternoon it was the full 16-man Georgia delegation, seated by the National Committee over a contesting delegation pledged to Bob Taft. From here on in, crowed Brownell, "you can expect a steady climb."

Taftmen protested loudly. They said they had caught Dewey agents redhanded, trying to high-pressure New Jersey delegates with the false claim that Iowa was in the bag for Tom (when it was actually split three ways). Others insisted that Dewey had offered the vice-presidency to three different favorite sons: California's Governor Earl Warren, New Jersey's Alfred Driscoll, Illinois' Dwight Green.

The Man to Beat. The blitz seemed to be succeeding. Supporters of Arthur Vandenberg had become restless. They were afraid that his silence had eliminated him completely. At the Governors' Conference in New Hampshire last week, one Vandenberg supporter had said: "You've never seen a dream walking, have you?" A story in the New York Times hinted that Vandenberg was about to take himself out of the race entirely because of ill feeling aroused by his straightforward stand on ECA. Three days before the convention opened, most observers were willing to concede the nomination to Tom Dewey. Then came the bombshell.

Bourbon & Tap Water. Michigan's Governor Kim Sigler went into action. He sat down in his Benjamin Franklin hotel suite with a glass of bourbon and tap water in one hand and a pen in the other, scribbled a few sentences on a piece of hotel stationery and called in waiting newsmen. Reading from his own illegible scrawl, he said: "I know from my contacts with the Senator that he would prefer to remain in his present position, but I know also that his unselfish devotion to his country makes him available as a candidate for the presidency should that be the demand of the people. I feel this convention will demonstrate that demand."

With that, the horse race was on again. On the shifting sands of the treacherous pre-convention track, the Dewey do-or-die drive and the Vandenberg reserve strength were the two most solid bets. But as the convention opened, it was still anyone's fight--and every candidate was in it for keeps.

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