Albany. Dewey, unwilling to run on a legislative program he viewed as too harsh and

divisive, used Brownell and the RNC to formulate an alternative proposal in the hopes

of supplanting the congressional Republicans as arbiters of party policy and making

the national organization reflective of his campaign goals. Fundamentally, the Dewey

and Taft factions agreed on a number of issues. They both regarded the growth of the

Federal bureaucracy under Roosevelt and Truman as a legitimate threat to the

American way of life. They thought that interest-group politics had created a divisive

atmosphere and that key decisions, such as the administration of the labor policy,

were calculated for political expediency rather than for the nation's best interests. The

Dewey group, more so than the Taftites, was willing to adopt an all-inclusive,

accomodationist style of politics.

 On matters of policy, the gulf separating the two factions was minor. The

congressional Republicans emphasized reducing taxation and federal spending, and

called for the burden of social services to be placed on the states rather than a

centralized bureaucracy. The Dewey group highlighted economy in spending, but

minimized the calls for a system of welfare and worker's benefits controlled by the

states. On civil rights and labor policy, the two factions claimed different aims, but

most of their proposed programs were very similar. Brownell's calls for a "positive,

forward-looking set of basic principles" constituted an attempt to move past the

party's 1920s conservative stance and minimize the strident opposition to the New

Deal. The Old Guard preferred to run on a more-traditional GOP platform.

 Dewey's moderate approach to politics caused many Republicans to scoff at the

rhetoric coming out of headquarters. Brownell's control of the party structure,

especially the new publicity apparatus, enabled the Dewey faction to dictate political

positions and allowed it to work to squelch the voices of Old Guard Republicans and