1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Shouse Leads Democrats to LargeGains in Recent Election/\FTER the wreck of the Democraticparty caused by the Hoover landslide,Chairman John J. Raskob of the NationalCommittee viewed the pieces anddecided that the first thing to do wasto pick the right new chairman andthen get him to take the job. Hischoice fell on Jouett Shouse, Missouri,'99, a Kansas City lawyer, and no onecan say he was not a good picker in thelight of the results of the recentnational election. It took Mr. Raskobtwo days in May, 1929, to argue himinto assuming the Herculean task ofelecting a Democratic Congress in1930. He must have argued mightilyfor he succeeded in getting BrotherShouse to take the job In spite of thefact that the income from his law practicealone was $50,000 per year. Butonce won over he lost no time ingetting under way and with the aid ofan able publicist he proceeded to makelife miserable for President Hooverand the Republican majority. CynicalTime said:''He (the publicist) and Mr. Shouselaid down during the next eighteenmonths one of the most sustained andeffective political barrages ever knownin the U. S. Steering clear of the farmissue. Prohibition and the Depression,they concentrated early on the Tariffrevision, later on Unemployment, especiallyon President Hoover's inactivityin these matters. They put pointedspeeches into the empty mouths ofDemocratic Senators. "They couchedtheir headquarters statements inlanguage so unusually quotable that thejaded press paid unusual attention."And Brother Shouse accomplishedByGEORGE BANTA, JR.,Wabash, '14this in spite of the fact that theDemocratic campaign fund was ayawning chasm and the Republicanshad $5.00 to spend for every $1.00 hecould raise. But he doled out what hehad with rare judgment particularlyto those districts where a Democraticcandidate for Congress had a chance.Commenting on Brother Shouse'sposition after election again I quoteTime:"Pregnant with great things, however,was Mr. Shouse's position, forafter Mr. Raskob's resignation—sureto come after the party's debts arecleared—the focal figure of the Democraticparty would be the man who hadlast guided it to the polls. Even asWashington was jesting last monthabout "Shouse's House" so might theysoon be talking seriously aboutShouse's choice for the White House.Before now he had been approachedfor advice by an aspirant for the Presidency—ithappened to be a Republican—and the subsequent arrival of thatgentleman at the White House was atleast in part a testimonial to theShouse sagacity. Also, it was JouettShouse, promoter, who sent the RepublicanNational Convention toKansas City two years ago. Tall, bespectacled,neatly dressed with the blueshirt, tight-pinned collar and brightnecktie of a Midwestern business andsporting man, he knows his wayaround, and is known, extremely well.His closest political crony is SenatorPat Harrison of Mississippi, one of thethree leaders of the southern wing ofthe Democracy (Senators Glass ofVirginia and Robinson of .\rkansas[ 178