Very, Very Close

In the House, too, a coalition of Republicans and Southern Democrats tirelessly pecked and burrowed away at Harry Truman's Fair Deal, item by item. Last week the item was rent control. The Administration wanted it extended until March 1951. Republicans argued instead for a wait-&-see extension to run only until July 1. Dixiecrat E. E. ("Goober") Cox of Georgia was blunter: "Continue controls for 90 days and then have the whole thing thrown out the window."

Scrambling wildly for safety, Administration leaders threw up one compromise after another. As the bill reached the House floor, Housing Expediter Tighe Woods tactfully let it be known that he was planning to take controls off rents in more than 100 rural and small-town areas. Then the Administration accepted an amendment guaranteeing "reasonable" returns to landlords.

It was just enough to defeat the 90-day extension (by a hairline vote of 178 to 163). Republicans and Southerners had not yet given up. Heading into the final vote, Indiana's Republican Charlie Halleek crowed confidently: "I think the Democratic leaders are a little panicky. All those votes were very, very close."

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