that we are the conservative party of America in opposition to the radical, then I can't

understand the meaning of it."55 Such praise carried weight, and a number of RNC

moderates supported the aggressive and forthrightness of the congressional

declaration. Brownell and Dewey clearly had been outflanked by the legislative wing

which had refused to allow Albany to control partisan identity and make policy. The

congressional statement presented an alternative to the proposals endorsed by

Brownell, and this found favor with the RNC.

 The Dewey faction had little choice but to support the Congressional position or

further intensify the split in the national organization and jeopardize their own

position. In a speech following the RNC meeting, Brownell endorsed the document

but toned down the rhetoric when he summarized it to the press. Instead of making

direct attacks on the New Deal and the Democratic administration, he restated the

document in generalizations of a contest between individual liberty and a planned

economic state, condensing the statement into a ten point platform. Brownell

highlighted cooperation with the United Nations and stopped short of decrying FDR's

actions at Yalta. The organized labor section was transformed from an attack on labor

leaders to an affirmative that "We believe in the right of labor to organize and bargain

collectively." Brownell's speech also made no mention of a pro-union bias under the

Wagner Act, a very important distinction. Brownell changed the call for a system of

state-controlled federal aid to "We favor necessary Federal aid to enable the States to

make provision for those of their citizens who are unable to care for themselves."

Brownell and the Dewey gave tacit approval to the congressional declaration, but

modified it to make it less confrontational and to continue their efforts to control


55 Minutes of the Meeting, of the Republican National Committee (6-7 December, 1945), 60. Copy in
Paul L. Kesaris, ed., Papers of the Republican Party (Frederick, MD: University Publications of
America, 1987) [Hereafter cited as Republican Party Papers] Reel 6.