Dewey–Stassen debate

The Dewey–Stassen debate was the first audio-recorded presidential debate in the United States. It featured New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey and former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen discussing the legal status of the Communist Party of the United States four days before the 1948 Oregon Republican presidential primary. The debate was transmitted throughout the nation via radio broadcast, and is credited with helping Dewey win the primary and the nomination of his party. It is often cited as establishing the modern presidential debate standard.

Background

Thomas E. Dewey had run against Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1944 presidential election, but Roosevelt ultimately defeated Dewey and won a fourth term. In the lead up to the 1948 presidential election, Dewey was again the front-runner to be the nominee for the Republican Party. He showed little interest in campaigning for the nomination, essentially remaining inactive as the year's primary elections took place. Instead of campaigning against his rivals for the nomination, Dewey presumed he would be the nominee and began campaigning against incumbent president Harry S. Truman. One of Dewey's rivals, former Minnesota governor Harold Stassen, campaigned more vigorously and built a surge of support through his activity in the states that held primary elections. A small number of states held primary elections at the time, and they determined only 77 of the 1,094 delegates that were appointed to select the nominee. Stassen hoped that strong performances in the primary elections would prove his viability as a candidate and earn him support during the nomination process. By April, Stassen was seen as a legitimate threat to Dewey's campaign.

Stassen challenged Dewey to a debate following the New Hampshire primary, but the latter declined. Stassen issued several more challenges throughout the primary election season, insisting he would debate Dewey under any circumstances, so long as it was the subject of an "impartial sponsorship". When Dewey, Stassen, and Douglas MacArthur fought for delegates in the Wisconsin primary, polling suggested that Dewey had as much national public support as the other two candidates combined. He had little to gain from a debate, while it risked elevating one of his opponents.

The Wisconsin State Journal offered to host a debate between the two candidates leading up to the Wisconsin primary, but Dewey refused. Stassen made another attempt in Wisconsin when he asked Dewey to appear alongside him when addressing the Wisconsin Association of Cooperatives in what was implicitly understood to be a debate, but Dewey instead had members of the association meet him privately on his farm in New York. Stassen also challenged McArthur to a debate but was refused by this candidate as well. Stassen again challenged Dewey to debate after Dewey's campaign released his itinerary; Stassen's campaign announced that it too would be campaigning in Milwaukee on April 1. Dewey gave no reply. Stassen took the same approach in Nebraska, responding to Dewey's itinerary by announcing they would be campaigning in the same place on the same day and suggesting a debate. Again, Dewey declined.

Debate negotiations

Stassen found an opening for a debate when Dewey entered himself into Oregon's primary election. The Oregon primary election was critical for the viability of both of their respective campaigns. Unlike in the previous primary elections, Stassen was the favorite to win in Oregon, polling 13 points ahead of Dewey in the most recent Gallup poll. This time, Dewey was the one compelled to campaign more vigorously. Stassen in turn dedicated little time to the state, only occasionally appearing in the month leading up to the primary election. Although Stassen had intended to start campaigning on May 17, Dewey's sudden activity prompted him to move his schedule up three days, saying that he wished to make time for a debate. Dewey's campaign aide portrayed this as an excuse by a panicking campaign, saying that Dewey did not intend to participate in any debate. Stassen made his proposal to outlaw the American Communist Party the centerpiece of his rhetoric when he arrived in the state.

The program director of the KPOJ radio station, Tom Swafford, noticed that the Communist Party ban was their strongest disagreement and wished to see a debate on the subject. The station's owner, Philip L. Jackson, was interested in the idea, but his company was affiliated with the Democratic Party. Instead, Jackson passed the idea to Reed College president Peter H. Odegard. Stassen accepted Odegard's invitation. Dewey declined, but he expressed interest in debating the Communist Party issue because he deemed it dangerous enough that it warranted "a full discussion". His aide Paul Lockwood ultimately convinced him to participate. Lockwood in turn was convinced by Swafford, who argued that shirking a debate would affect Dewey's image.

Stassen was losing his advantage in Oregon and needed the debate to revitalize his campaign. His strong desire to debate meant that Dewey had significant leverage over the terms. Dewey wanted the Multnomah Country Republican Central Committee to sponsor the debate, and he wanted the scope limited to the question of the Communist Party. His campaign was to set the location and the format. Dewey decided that the debate should be held in a small studio without a live audience; the energy of Stassen's audiences had been an asset to this point, and holding the debate privately meant that their physical appearance would not be a factor, as Stassen's height and build made him an imposing figure next to Dewey.

Stassen initially refused to concede on having an audience. He wished to hold it in the Portland Civic Auditorium, which could seat up to 5,000 spectators. Swafford visited Stassen at his hotel room, and—in a meeting that took place in the bathroom while Stassen was shaving, still in his pajamas—convinced Stassen that he would not need an audience if he was confident in his ability to debate Dewey. Stassen reportedly told Swafford, "all right, I'll debate that little son of a bitch anywhere, anytime, on any subject". He worked with Joseph McCarthy to prepare for the debate.

Proposal to outlaw the Communist Party

Although it was not listed among his formal policy positions, Stassen proposed that the Communist Party should be outlawed, playing on the strong anti-communist mood that had grown popular in the United States. He had floated the idea on June 14, 1947, in a nationally broadcast address. This was after long consideration of the idea privately, where he conducted research and considered his own political philosophy. Stassen's position was that the Communist Party functioned as a fifth column working at the behest of Russia, and stopping it was necessary to prevent World War III. Among other accusations, he repeated the common belief that communists were behind labor disputes in the United States. Stassen argued that it did not violate the constitution to criminalize attempts to overthrow the United States government, and that freedom of speech does not grant "the right to destroy". He likened the situation to that of nations like Colombia and Czechoslovakia where legal communist parties challenged the democratic process, seizing power entirely in the latter nation.

New York was the primary target of Stassen's rhetoric as he described the city as a center of communist activity. Touting what he described as his own success in purging communism from Minnesota, Stassen released a 12-point plan to eradicate communism in New York. It proposed banning communists from public occupation and labor activities and described bi-partisan cooperation between executives and justice departments at every level of government to the effect of prosecuting communists. Stassen accused opponents of his plan of having "a soft, coddling policy", comparing them dismissively to Henry A. Wallace. He disagreed with other anti-communist measures, such as the Taft–Hartley Act, which he felt did not do enough to protect civil rights and due process for those accused of being communists.

Both Dewey and incumbent president Harry S. Truman opposed banning the Communist Party, and Dewey contested Stassen's assertion that communism was a problem in New York. The most common argument against a ban on the Communist Party was that it would only cause communists to operate in secret. Dewey likened communists to worms, saying that they thrived underground and needed to be kept in sight. He also believed that outlawing the party would be an act of totalitarianism, feeling that actions should be prosecuted rather than beliefs. His advisors tried to dissuade him from campaigning on the rights of suspected communists, but he said to them: "if I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose on something I believe in". Dewey compared Stassen's proposal to an unsuccessful ban in the Russian Empire prior to the Russian Revolution. Stassen countered that the Communist Party already practiced clandestine operations in addition to its legal status as a party, and that being allowed to operate legally gave it an advantage.

The debate

Former governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota argued the affirmative.

Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York argued the negative.

The debate was held on May 17, 1948 and was moderated by the chairman of the Multnomah County Republican Central Committee, Donald R. Van Boskirk. It is estimated that 40 million people listened to the debate. It was carried by the radio stations of ABC (produced by the Portland affiliate KEX), MBS and NBC, but was not broadcast by CBS. 56 active reporters were present during the debate and sat behind a glass shield to take notes.

Stassen began with a 20-minute opening that described what he hoped to accomplish unhindered, but mentioned that these goals were threatened by the spread of Communism. He depicted the totalitarian aspects of Communism that he witnessed overseas, using the coup d'état in Czechoslovakia as an example. He then connected the Communist Party of the United States directly to Moscow, and used this to defend his support of the Nixon-Mundt Bill, introduced to the Senate by Senators Karl Earl Mundt of South Dakota and Richard Nixon of California, which he believed would effectively outlaw the Communist Party. Stassen also attacked Dewey directly, commenting that there was a growing presence of Communists in New York.

In a 20-minute response, Dewey criticized Stassen's position, commenting that "you can't shoot an idea with a gun." He remarked that a criminalization of the party would itself be totalitarian, and would advance the cause, arguing that it would be best to keep the movement in the light of day to counter the ideas in public discourse, and that efforts to outlaw the Communist Party of Canada by the Canadian government, had failed. He also questioned Stassen's understanding of the Mundt bill, informing the audience that it would not outlaw the Communist Party as stated by Mundt himself, but would put restrictions on their activities. Dewey defended himself against Stassen's claims about his state by attempting to minimize the issue.

Stassen and Dewey each had an 8.5 minute rebuttal following Dewey's response. Both tried to convince the audience that they had won the debate since the other supported the bill, which effectively conceded their view. Stassen held that the bill would effectively ban the party, but Dewey commented that only two people held that particular position: Stassen and the leader of the Communist Party.

Aftermath

Dewey was considered the winner of the debate and won the primary in Oregon on May 21. At the Republican convention, Dewey won the nomination of his party. Despite the infamous Dewey Defeats Truman headline, he lost the general election to President Harry Truman, and died in 1971. Stassen became a perennial presidential candidate, running for the Republican nomination at least ten more times until his death in 2001.

The presidential debate has since become a cornerstone of presidential elections since the first televised debate in 1960. At least one has been held in every presidential election since 1976.

References

• Kaplan, Lawrence S. (2018). Harold Stassen: Eisenhower, the Cold War, and the Pursuit of Nuclear Disarmament. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-7488-4.
• Kirby, Alec; Rothmann, John F.; Dalin, David G. (2013). Harold E. Stassen: The Life and Perennial Candidacy of the Progressive Republican. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6554-5.
• Pietrusza, David (2011). 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America's Role in the World. Union Square Press. ISBN 978-1-4027-6748-7.
• Smith, Richard Norton (1982). Thomas E. Dewey and His Times. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-41741-3.

External links

• University of Rochester: Dewey-Stassen Debate