Party, namely Mr. Truman." In Reece's eyes, only a Republican Congress could keep

the unions from taking over the country.

 To Reece, the unions were but one vehicle of subversion. While he used a

number of specific examples in his writing, Reece also promoted Communism as a

general threat to American society. The Communist issue occupied the entire 1 June

issue, by far the most venomous of the fourteen pieces written before the November

elections. "Today's major domestic issue," Reece wrote, "is between Radicalism,

regimentation, all-powerful bureaucracy, class-exploitation, deficit spending and

machine politics, as against our belief in American freedom." He claimed that

Communist infiltrators had destroyed any semblance of the Democratic Party that

existed before Roosevelt took office in 1933. The idea of the evil triumvirate

composed of racist Southerners, machine politicians, and communists arose again.

Reece argued that the subversive element had duped many Democrats, who he

regarded as good and loyal Americans. He claimed, however, that the party leaders

had become "saboteurs of the American system of government," and were so

entrenched in Washington that only a Republican victory could ensure American

freedom.24 Reece believed that the housing crisis, which affected many returning

veterans, was therefore the result of a Communist "divide and conquer tactic," that

prevented the government from adequately addressing the situation. Reece concluded

that "at least some of the confusion now prevailing in Washington may not be entirely

accidental." To Reece, the postwar crisis could not have happened without planning

from communists and a complicit Democratic Party.25


24 Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 2, no. 1, 1 June 1946. Copy in Reece
Papers; Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter"2 no. 3, 1 July 1946. Copy in Reece
Papers.
25 Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 2, no. 8, 15 September 1946. Copy in
Reece Papers; Republican National Committee, "The Chairman's Letter" 2, no. 9, 1 October 1946.