prominent and trusted Old Guard colleagues.42 The researcher reached similar

conclusions on civil rights, stating that "Not one person was found in twelve states

that favors the Civil Rights proposals of the Truman administration." He noted that

the issue had more salience in urban areas like Kansas City or St. Louis, but that in

middle America, racial measures had almost no bearing on the electorate. The Taft

organization saw this as further proof that the Democratic civil rights program was

little more than a ploy to reach minority voters and similar entreaties by the

Republican incumbent would do very little for his re-election bid.43

 The anonymous report dovetailed with the campaign suggestions submitted to

the RNC while it was crafting the 1950 statement of principles. Texan Marrs McLean

called the civil rights program the "smartest thing politically that Truman has ever

done." He argued that the GOP had to make a statement condemning the

administration for its failed promises, but did not believe that the Republicans could

suggest a plausible alternative program, let alone implement one.44 Also, in late 1948,

the RNC sent 20,000 questionnaires to party members asking them to assess the

election results. According to Human Events, the respondents overwhelmingly panned

Dewey's "me-too" approach, which included appeals to organized labor and African

Americans, and preferred a party organization that staked out a conservative position

to the right of the New Deal.45 Taft, as both a subscriber to Human Events and a




42 For example, Marrs McLean, in a letter forwarded to Taft, had castigated Dewey for not
campaigning on Taft-Hartley in 1948. McLean believed that an open embrace of the labor legislation
would offset any negative propaganda put out by the unions. Marrs McLean, Memo to Hugh Scott,
undated. Copy in Folder (Political Republican 1949), Box 910, Taft Papers.

43 Ibid.

44 Marrs McLean, Letter to Guy Gabrielson, 3 January 1950. Copy in Folder ("Mc" Republican), Box
9, Summerfield II Papers.

45 Human Events 6, no. 1, 1 January 1949.