THE PRESIDENCY: One-Night Stand

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With the glow of Florida sunshine on his cheeks, Harry Truman returned to Washington last week for a one-night stand: a speech at a Woman's National Democratic Club banquet. "Mrs. Truman . . . made this engagement for the two of us," he explained, "and when I have a date with Mrs. Truman, I usually keep it." He hurried through dinner like a man anxious to do his duty and get back to the sunshine.

After dinner, Truman delivered one of his hell-giving political blasts. He dwelled at length on the Harding Administration, blaming its isolationism for heading the U.S. toward World War II. Then, in the heaviest tones of the evening, he made his most remarkable point. "I sincerely hope that the foreign policy of the United States will not become a partisan political issue in the campaign. But we can meet this issue if it comes. This is a warning: if the Republicans do make foreign policy an issue . . . it will be the best issue the Democratic Party has. We can stand on our record . . . and our achievements in the struggle for peace."

Harry Truman seemed to have outlined two major points in the kind of campaign he would like in 1952: he wants the Democratic nominee to run against Warren G. Harding, and he doesn't want the Truman foreign policy discussed at all. The Republicans' Robert Taft, who has charged that the Truman Administration's "fatal mistakes" make foreign policy the biggest issue in the campaign, was quick to react. "President Truman," he said, "should certainly get the prize for political effrontery."

When Truman stepped off his airplane at Key West next day, the mournfully dignified countenance of Chief Justice Fred Vinson appeared behind him. Were Truman and Vinson discussing the candidacies of 1952? Not a word of politics was discussed, said Press Secretary Joe Short—at least not while he was listening.