 The Long Jean Watch is Long Jean. Long Jean watches have won 10 World Fair Grand Prizes, 28 gold medals, and more honors for accuracy than any other timepiece. Long Jean, the world's most honored watch, is made and guaranteed by the Long Jean Wittemaw Watch Company. It's time for the Long Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour, brought to you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. A presentation of the Long Jean Wittemaw Watch Company, maker of Long Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Wittemaw, distinguished companion to the world-honored Long Jean. Good evening. May I introduce our co-editors for this edition of the Long Jean Chronoscope? Mr. William Bradford Huey, editor of the American Mercury, and Mr. Paul Martin, Washington bureau chief of the Gannett News Service. Our distinguished guest for this evening is the honorable Richard B. Russell, United States Senator from Georgia. The opinions expressed are necessarily those of the speakers. Senator Russell, our audience, of course, knows you as a distinguished Georgian, who is now a principal contender for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. And tonight, we'll welcome some of your views, sir. Now, how long have you been in the Senate, sir? I came to the Senate January 13th, 1933. I was almost 20 years. And now, Senator, our audience would like to know just where you stand in the political spectrum. Are you a new dealer, sir? Well, I call myself a middle of the road, Mr. Huey. One of my newspaper friends once labeled me as a 60% new dealer during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Now, are you a critic of the present administration? Well, I've criticized some of the things that this administration has done. I have supported, though, a great deal of the legislative requests of this administration. I believe, Senator, you said when you announced for the presidency that you were a Jeffersonian Democrat now. We haven't heard much about that, Lady. Can you tell us what a Jeffersonian Democrat is? Well, it's surprising to me that so few people apparently recall what Jefferson stood for, his fundamental principles, because he's the father of the Democratic Party. He and Andrew Jackson are our patron saints. Jefferson stood for the rights of the states as being protection of the rights of the individual and encroachment by the federal power. He also stood for absolute incorruptibility in the administration of government. Well, Senator Russell, we haven't had much of what he stood for in the Democratic National Platform in the last 20 years, have we? Well, we've wandered rather far from the fundamental principles of Jefferson, but I think that there are millions of Democrats throughout the country that still adhere to the Jeffersonian principles. I think they live in every state of the Union. Now, sir, in your 20 years, and incidentally, I believe you are one of the youngest men who is a candidate for the presidency. Now, you're at only 54, aren't you? That's right. I've been in Congress for almost 20 years. That's true and served as governor of my state before that. Well, sir, now, in general, did you support most of the legislation, most of the New Deal legislation under President Roosevelt? I think that the friend that's estimated I supported 60% of it was about right. I supported very vigorously part of his program, the rural electrification program, the farm program, and a large number of the measures that Mr. Roosevelt had. And the South has generally prospered under that legislation, has it not? Yes, I think that the South has, the prosperity of the South has increased greatly in the last 20 years. Well, on your definition of a Jeffersonian Democrat, you'd have to have a considerable revision of, say, the 1948 Democratic National Platform where you couldn't be an honest exponent of the party for President. Well, there are some features of the 1948 platform that I think are contrary to Jeffersonian principles. Not all of that platform was. The Democratic Party has always been the party of the people and the party of individual rights and liberties and the party that stood for the rights of the states. Well, in practice, let's take something in practice here. We've got a Democratic president in the White House and we have had for about 20 years. Now, if you were president, Senator Russell, would you feel that you had the inherent powers under the Constitution that Mr. Truman says he has to seize the steel industry or the newspapers or radio stations or anything else? Well, Mr. Modden, I'm afraid of this matter of inherent powers. This is a government of law and not a government of men and where there's a statute that's been enacted by Congress that's available for use. It's highly preferable to use that statute rather than to rely on as nebulous a term as inherent powers. Of course, we must remember that if the power to seize the radio or the press or in the steel plants, if that exists in the president, he also has a power to seize the labor unions. And the labor man would feel rather alarmed to come in and find some major sitting at the desk of the business agent or the secretary treasurer of the union. By that you are telling our audience that you are somewhat disturbed by the president's actions. I would much prefer for the president to have followed the statutes. I think there are at least two statutes that could have been employed to resolve this matter without resorting to inherent powers. I greatly fear the president has been sent. I don't think Mr. Truman is any dictator, but I think that his act could well be the blueprint for some man who might seize all of the powers of government in the future. On the statutes, you mean the National Emergency Clause of the Taft-Hartley Act? Yes, either that or a statute of which I haven't been the author when the original draft bill passed which gave the president the power to seize any plant or facility in this country that failed or refused to supply contracts that were necessary for the defense effort. I think it's been preferable to be employed either one of them. Both of them provide the standards of seizure, they provide for the method of repayment, and don't leave all of those matters up in the air as this thing of inherent powers does. Now, Senator Russell, this matter of inherent powers, you know it's another southerner. It's Tom Clark of Texas. He used to be the attorney general who ruled and told the president that he had inherent powers under the Constitution. And Tom Clark is now in the Supreme Court, which would be the court of last resort if anybody ever wanted to test this theory of inherent powers. Well, Mr. Modden, of course, each lawyer I suppose thinks his opinion is best, have been a number of decisions which the majority of this spread in the Supreme Court have handed down that did not jibe with my construction of the Constitution of the United States. Well, Senator, after all, now you are a very active candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, and so rapidly we'd like some of your views on specific issues. Now, number one, about how many delegates do you expect to have at the convention in Chicago? Well, I hope to have as many as 400, and I'm quite confident that I will have more than 300. And I think that our audience is particularly interested. Do you expect to have support from northern states? I will have some support from northern states, yes. I will have some delegates. However, the book of my support is in the southern states. But a delegate is a delegate, and one vote counts as much as the other. It doesn't matter. As a practical politician, do you think that it is now possible for a southerner to receive the Democratic nomination for the presidency? Well, Mr. Huey, I don't like to think that after 90 years of inner being, and the Democratic Party has been loyally supported by the South over that period that a man would be discriminated against because he hasn't been born on the wrong side of the tracks, on the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon line. That brings us to the principal question, sir, which you are always asking, I'm sure, but our audience would like to hear your views on the traditional policies as regards FEPC. Now that, of course, is one of the reasons that you're objected to in the northern cities, particularly. Just what is your view on FEPC? Well, Mr. Huey, the FEPC isn't any southern issue or sectional issue. It goes to the very heart of our American system. That theory contemplates that the federal government has the power to pass upon employment, and upon promotions, and upon employment policies, and also in the matter of discharges from employment. Now, I do not believe the free enterprise system can possibly exist if we had a horde of federal agents running all over the country, appearing over men's shoulders and undertaking to read their minds. Of course, after all, it is a matter of the thought police, what was in the man's mind when he hired this individual rather than the other, or even a group rather than the other group. I do not think that that will eventually result in the nationalization of all business and industry in this country if we ever pass a compulsory jail sentence FEPC that puts a man in prison because he employs one man instead of another. This is not a southern issue. It's an American issue. This is a very important issue, but while we have time here, I'd like to discuss something about foreign policy. You were the chairman of the Joint Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee that conducted the hearings on President Truman's firing of General McArthur last year. That's right. Well, you went into that very exhaustively. Well, about seven weeks of testimony. About seven weeks of morning and afternoon in the United States. Well, now, why didn't you ever get around to writing a report telling the American people how you felt about whether the president should or should not have fired General McArthur? Well, I'll tell you about that. Every American citizen had made up his mind already. There was no reason there for that committee to sit down and squabble for three weeks in writing a report which would have been a divided report. It had been impossible for all of them to have agreed, and it would have just added fuel to the flames of bitterness that spread over the country on both sides of that issue. The committee couldn't restore General McArthur to his command if we had held that the president had been in error in discharging him. And there was no good that I saw that could flow from the committee undertaking by division to say whether General McArthur was right or whether the joint chiefs were right or the president was correct in his views. It's been a great pleasure to have you with us tonight, and thank you very much, sir. Thank you for the opportunity to be on this program. The editorial board for this edition of the Lawn Jean Chronoscope was Mr. William Bradford Huey and Mr. Paul Martin. Our distinguished guest was the honorable Richard B. Russell, United States Senator from Georgia. 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If you wish to own just about the finest watch made anywhere in the world, your choice might well be Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, winner of 10 World's Fair Grand Prizes, 28 Gold Medal Awards and innumerable honors for accuracy in fields of precise timing. Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, premiere product of the Lawn Jean Witner Watch Company since 1866, maker of watches of the highest character. This is David Ross, speaking for your regular host, Frank Knight, inviting you to join us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening at the same time for the Lawn Jean Chronoscope, a television journal of the important issues of the hour broadcast on behalf of Lawn Jean, the world's most honored watch, and Witner, distinguished companion to the world honored Lawn Jean, sold and serviced from coast to coast by more than 4,000 leading jewelers who proudly display the emblem, agency for Lawn Jean Witner watches. 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