Dewey versus Truman. Wallace wins.

SOVIET PRESS SEES U.S. VOTERS MISLED
New York Times November 1, 1948

Berlin, Oct. 1 (AP) — The Soviet Army newspapers here today predicted a victory for “reaction” in the United States Presidential elections Tuesday because Henry Wallace would not be elected.

The newspaper Taegliche Rundschau said Mr. Wallace would win if there were enough “progressive and discriminating” persons in America.

“Unfortunately,” the Soviet mouthpiece said, “there are many Americans who are so hoodwinked by election propaganda they don’t realize that votes for Truman or Dewey are votes supporting the policy of war and strengthening of reaction.

“Whatever the results, one thing is for sure — the Wallace Progressive party will become stabilized as a new force in the United States which will have a great future.”
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It’s curious. Throughtout the Cold War, short articles on Pravda and the set of Soviet government paper’s take on American affairs would be published. I wonder if instead newspapers should have just published various Pravda and the assorted Soviet government news organs. Whatever happened to Wallace’s Progressive Party anyway?*

I thought I had on this blog a piece from the old American Mercury Magazine on how Soviet Propaganda supposedly works, and how it supposedly weaves its way into American discourse. I was going to link to it here. I can’t find it, thus I’ll just have to say that this piece about Pravda contradict’s the American Mercury’s claim that the Soviet Union press always wryly endorsed the Democratic candidate by slamming the Republican candidate. For whatever that’s worth.

If I knew of a manner of thinning out the number of Joseph McCarthy related New York Times articles (particularly any letters to the editor or editorials in support of McCarthy), I would place them here. So, I guess… watch for a Joe McCarthy post coming… sooner or later.
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* Harvey Pekar: In 1948, my mother was for Henry Wallace. You know who he was? Yeah. So she gave me all these posters, to go around the neighborhood, stuffing in mailboxes. I thought I was gonna get red-baited. And it was weird: All these kids did start to razz me about it — ‘Harvey’s a communist,’ you know, stuff like that. And then this one guy, Chucky Welch — only he didn’t look like a Chucky Welch, and his grandmother had an Italian accent so I figured it was a changed name — anyway, this Chucky Welch guy was considered to be like a hoodlum-in-the-making, or something like that. And when he heard these guys riding me about Henry Wallace, he leaped to my defense. He said, ‘No, no, no. Wallace is for the working man.’ It was amazing. I’d never expected any help from Chucky Welch.”

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