July 13, 1964 - Former President Harry S. Truman (pictured in 1948), grand old man of the Democratic party, is a first-rank hero of the Republican National Convention.
Inevitably, and without his sanction or knowledge, Truman’s name is invoked by Republican leaders in reply to the question most often asked in San Francisco: How can Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the probable Republican nominee, possibly beat President Johnson?
Hopefully, and usually with conviction and sincerity, Republicans answer in terms of 1948, when Truman confounded the polltakers and political experts and most fellow Democrats by defeating Governor Thomas Dewey.
Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower recalled that the odds were 16-1 for Dewey. He suggested that “Mr. Truman’s experience in upsetting that applecart” should be noted by those now foretelling President Johnson’s reelection by a landslide.
Representative Bob Wilson of California, chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, sees “a lot of Harry in Barry.”
Goldwater, he said, is as determined to win — and as sure he can — as Truman was. “Barry will fight it through just like Harry did,” Wilson said.
Leonard Hall, former Republican National Chairman and a major figure in the Dewey campaign organization, recalled the “supreme confidence of Republicans and total pessimism of Democrats” during the 1948 national conventions and the campaign.
“Somehow, there is a sameness about what’s being written and predicted right now,” he said. “Check the newspapers of 1948 and substitute the words ‘Goldwater’ for ‘Truman’ and you would think you are reading current events.”
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