CHAPTER 2
 "THIRST FOR POWER AND SELF-PERPETUATION": THE DIVISION OF THE
 REPUBLICAN PARTY, 1944-1946

 Near the end of World War II, the national Republican Party suffered from a

debilitating personality disorder. After 1929, the American public linked the Great

Depression with President Herbert Hoover's economic policies. This, coupled with

the pervasive feeling of crisis that came with the war, had led to a burst of partisan

loyalty for the Democrats and prevented the Republicans from achieving any notable

electoral success. The GOP had not held the White House or a majority in either

house of Congress since 1933 and functioned as a coalition partner with conservative

Democrats to block New Deal legislation.1 By 1944, still stuck in a seemingly endless

rut, party leaders set out to revitalize the Republican organization and mold the

national apparatus into an effective publicity, voter mobilization, and policy making

body. In the process, RNC Chairman Herbert Brownell angered some members of the

GOP and helped foster a split between followers of New York Governor Thomas E.

Dewey and Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. This chapter details the early divide between

Taft and Dewey from 1944 through 1946. It also shows the importance of the RNC in

determining the political identity of the GOP and reveals the early campaign strategy

of the liberal Republicans to promote a the party as a moderate alternative to the New

Deal.2



1 See James T. Patterson, Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal: The Growth of the
Conservative Coalition in Congress, 1933-1939 (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1967).

2 As mentioned in the introduction, there were very few differences between "liberal" and
"conservative" Republicans. However, for the sake of clarity in identifying the Dewey and Taft
factions, those labels will be used throughout the project.