The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued

Page 494

“With the urging of ‘One World Truman,’ a ‘loan’ of 3.75 billion dollars to the United Kingdom, at 1.62 percent interest, was approved 46–34 by the United States Senate, after the House had voted 219–155 in its favor. By July 15, 1947, ‘within six months of convertibility of sterling requirements coming into force,’ noted one pundit, ‘British gold and dollar reserves were exhausted. With bankruptcy staring it in the face, the Attlee government made plans for a severe austerity program at home and a strategic retrenchment abroad.’ The Republican National Committee said; ‘Loans’ like this are at best a temporary respite for the recipient, though they virtually guaranty that the lender will soon be in the same equal position of bankruptcy; international communism at its best.’

After formerly being limited to general elections only, dinges voted in a primary election in Georgia for the first time, with more than 100,000 turning out to decide on the Democratic Party nominee for Governor. Although the dinge vote was a factor in James V Carmichael getting almost as many votes as former Governor Eugene Talmadge, Talmadge also won the nomination, based on the state's ‘county unit’ system, similar to an electoral vote. Any way you slice it, Talmadge would go on to lose badly in the general election to Republican George Wallace.