Is Harry Helpful?

"All I want to do now is help a little, if I can."

When Harry Truman made this remark to a Boston audience nine days ago, he was being more than humble. Indeed, Truman was being painfully frank about a major political question--Can Truman help the Democratic party in the 1956 campaign?

The strongest answer comes from a large number of Democratic Party leaders, many of them top Stevenson advisers, who have long maintained that Truman should not even be given the opportunity to prove his worth to the party. In support of their position, they point to the 1952 defeat which they blame largely on Stevenson's association with the Truman record. If they had any doubts, Truman settled the matter last August when he said, "Stevenson is too defeatist to win." As if that were not enough, he added that Stevenson was allied with "Reactionaries." The topper came a few weeks ago when Truman spoke in defense of Alger Hiss. For these remarks, Truman's opponents say, he can never be forgiven, but can he ever again be useful to a Stevenson ticket.

Truman admitted that his August behavior hurt him. Before the convention he told reporters, "Someone is going to get the "!*?- knocked out of him." A few days after the convention he conceded, "It was me." Most politicans agree that Truman took a beating, yet they still put in request after request for Truman to appear at their rallies. They, like Truman, still believe that the ex-President is a definite campaign asset.

And so, if Stevenson likes it or not, Truman is campaigning--and working harder at it than President Eisenhower. And if Stevenson knows it or not, Truman is campaigning effectively, although within certain limitations.

"They spend a large part of the time running against me," Truman said at MIT, "But I'm not a candidate." Limitation number one--Truman can attack, but he cannot give them hell, or he would become an issue, and a vulnerable one at that.

Truman's major limitation is that he cannot state his support of Stevenson or Kefauver without seeming hypocritical. For example, he had a painful few seconds at the end of his MIT talk when he said, "I am highly pleased by the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President." The laughter was loud. The next evening, Truman made no such direct statement.

Although Truman finds himself unable to give Stevenson direct support, his indirect help to Stevenson and the Democratic party is sizeable. Truman can still attack the Republicans with a skill that warms the hearts of loyal Democrats. Occasionally Truman will forget himself, and, relishing every word, plunge a choice phrase into Richard Nixon. In Boston he said, "You can't elect Ike without electing Tricky Dicky too!" During the shouts and applause that followed, Truman smiled slowly as if to say, "I can still do it, when I want to."

Perhaps Truman's greatest asset in his popularity among Democrats. In this part of the country, he never fails to draw a capacity audience, which leaves the rally more enthusiastic and better informed than the dozen local candidates who usually precede the major talk. In addition, Truman always draws a large press coverage.

Stevenson reaps the benefits from the enthusiasm, the crowds, and from the attacks on the Republicans. If Truman says the wrong thing, Stevenson can legitimately claim that he has nothing to do with Harry Truman.

Stevenson, as a result, has no real cause for anxiety over Truman's activities. The only real loser is Harry Truman, who, apparently, is enjoying himself. As he said at MIT, "This is the role I like the best... the politician."