Dewey's agenda as governor of New York, and Brownell cast the Democrats as

irresponsible spenders obsessed with federal control of the economy. The President's

effort to set the tariff rates struck Brownell as another attempt by the executive branch

to reduce revenue and make the nation more dependent on deficit spending. This line

of attack rallied Republicans, regardless of their factional allegiance.46 On foreign

policy, Brownell complained mostly of secret diplomatic agreements while pledging

Republican support for a reasoned and constructive foreign policy designed to

 47
facilitate world peace.4

 Brownell's writing echoed the Dewey faction's tacit acceptance of New Deal

objectives but did attack the Democratic administration as inefficient and corrupt. The

rejection of the planned economy concept was the most prominent criticism and

appeared in a majority of the issues. In the 1 July edition, Brownell contended that

extension of the Office of Price Administration and its price control measures equated

to bureaucratic control of the production process.48 Initially, he argued that the "New

Deal plan is to keep the producer operating at a loss and then (not always but

frequently) make up that loss through federal subsidies."49 Ultimately, in what can


National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 1, no. 6, 15 August 1945. Copy in Folder (RNC
Publications The Chairman's Letter 1945 (1)), Box 122, Brownell Papers.

46 Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 1, no. 1, 1 June 1945. Copy in Folder
(RNC Publications The Chairman's Letter 1945 (1)), Box 122, Brownell Papers.

47 Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 1, no. 10, 15 October 1945. Copy in
Folder (RNC Publications The Chairman's Letter 1945 (2)), Box 122, Brownell Papers; Republican
National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 1, no. 5, 1 August 1945. Copy in Folder (RNC
Publications The Chairman's Letter 1945 (1)), Box 122, Brownell Papers.

48 The Office of Price Administration was the wartime agency that oversaw rationing and regulated the
markets in order to meet wartime demands for critical goods like meat, rubber, and silk. For more on
the OPA and its role in American politics, see Lizabeth Cohen, The Consumer's Republic. For a
different, but equally well-argued view, see Meg Jacobs, "'How About Some Meat?': The Office of
Price Administration, Consumption Politics, and State Building from the Bottom Up, 1941-1946,"
Journal ofAmerican History 84, no. 3 (Dec, 1997), 910-941.

49 Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 1, no. 3, 1 July 1945. Copy in Folder
(RNC Publications The Chairman's Letter 1945 (1)), Box 122, Brownell Papers.