After Scott's last address, Jacob France, a former Dewey supporter and RNC

member from Maryland, introduced a motion to call for Scott's resignation.36 Taft

supporters quickly rose to second the motion. Harrison Spangler of Iowa claimed that

"We have lost the confidence of the people. We are the subject of ridicule on every

street corner. We are the laughing stock everywhere. They have lost confidence in us,

lost confidence in us because we did not pick up the fight for this great American

system of ours and instead followed off into the by-ways which led to the socialized

state with Mr. Truman."37 Dewey partisans defended their embattled Chairman. After

over twenty people spoke on the matter, a second motion which effectively kept Scott

in power, passed with the narrow margin, 54-50. The vote indicated the level of

division within the RNC. In January, Dewey had predicted that Scott would win by a

two to one margin, but the Taft faction had converted growing discontent with Dewey

and the 1948 results into a referendum on the direction of the party.38 The narrow

margin of victory illustrated the sharp division among the RNC and showed a

growing disdain for Dewey and his ambitious hold on the national organization.

 Scott's first action after the vote was to expand the party bureaucracy and

strengthen Deweyite control through the creation of the Republican Organization

Policy Committee (ROPC). Arthur Summerfield, RNC member from Michigan and

Vandenberg supporter, introduced a resolution to create a broadly based group to

coordinate all standing Republican committees, including representatives from the

RNC, the RCCC, the RSCC, and the RSFC. The RNC approved the resolution, and



36 Minutes of the Meeting of the Republican National Committee, Omaha, Neb., 27 January 1949.
Republican Party Papers, Reel 8.

37 Ibid.

38 Thomas E. Dewey, Letter to Barak Mattingly, 4 January 1949. Copy in Folder 3 (Barak Mattingly,
1944-1957), Box 28, Series II, Dewey Papers