President Truman, Governor Thomas E. Dewey, and Henry Wallace all received harsh treatment at the hands of the five professors who addressed the third Law School forum audience of the year at Rindge Tech auditorium last night.
Professors Warren A. Seavey and W. Barton Leach upheld the Republican stand, Professor Mark DeW. Howe defended Truman, while Associate Professor John, Ciardi spoke for the Third Party, with Professor Zechariah Chafee taking an impartial stand between the major candidates.
Seavey, Leach Support Dewey
Both Seavey and Leach emphasized Dewey's administrative efficiency. Seavey also stressed the Republican's support from "the middle class, the brains and the power" of the country and predicted that only he could "unite the country to the sacrifices needed to meet the threat of Communism." Leach pointed to Dewey's ability "to work with a team," and suggested America "work for more and better Marshall plans and greater military might."
Truman Inherits F.D.R. tradition
But Professor Howe drew the greatest applause of the evening with his defense of President Truman and the Democratic party. Admitting that it was difficult to become enthusiastic about the President, he rosted his case on Truman's role as the inheritor of the New Deal tradition. Howe discarded Republicanism in the fear that the economic basis of society will shift back to corporation interests, while he dismissed the Progressives on the grounds that they have "lost touch with the Liberal cause by their foreign stand."
Ciardi Wonders Over Role
Associate Professor John Ciardi was the only speaker not drawn from the Law School faculty, which could not produce a Wallace supporter. He expressed doubt whether he "had been summoned as a sacrificial lamb or as a prophet," but said he would assume the latter. His statement of the Progressive theory was based on the grounds that "society is essentially a process of getting something for nothing."
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