Presidential Timbre

Since radio became the No. 1 U. S. political hustings, politics has been no place or a marble mouth. Last week Radio Guide, most alert of the radio fan magazines, looked seven of the favorites in 1940's Presidential race straight in the teeth, volunteered its opinion of the seven as radiorators:

> Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 97%; voice quality excellent, delivery excellent, mannerisms good, poise excellent. "His Harvard accent . . . would alienate him at once from the common man were it not overcome by the deep sincerity of his radio presentation." Only other noticeable blemish: the phrase "My friends," which "now seems like a radio trick."

> James Aloysius Farley, 92%; voice quality good, delivery & mannerisms very good, poise excellent. Chief asset: "an easy poise that seems to say,'. . . I'll let you in on something.' "

> Thomas Edmund Dewey, 90%; voice quality very good, delivery & mannerisms good, poise very good. "Resonant, effective, his short staccato sentences ending with a punch you know is in the man himself . . . his appeal is not the appeal of persuasion, but of hard, purposeful drive. . . ."

> John Nance Garner, 86% ; voice quality fair, delivery good, mannerisms excellent, poise good. Attribute: his "down-to-earth Texas accent . . . hard-headed common sense . . . homely anecdotes and similes after the manner of the late Will Rogers." Liability: a flat, high-pitched voice, "not too pleasant to listen to over long periods."

> Senator Robert Alphonso Taft, Ohio, 85%; voice quality good, delivery fair, mannerisms poor, poise fair. "Notably inept at speech-making," Senator Taft is marked down nevertheless as a "phenomenon of the politico-radio world." Reason: after his series of 13 radio debates with witty Congressman T. V. Smith, a radio veteran, on New Deal policies early this year, a Gallup Poll totted the score thus: Taft 66%, Smith 34%. Explanation: "He speaks a homely common sense with a sincerity that makes people listen to him anyway."

> Cordell Hull, 84%; voice quality very good, delivery good, mannerisms fair, poise very good. Chief appeal: "A quiet gentlemanliness and an ability to address a radio audience in conversational tones which are at once pleasant and compelling."

>Senator Arthur Hendrick Vandenberg, Michigan, 83% ; voice quality and delivery good, mannerisms poor, poise good. Since 1936 (when his voice was "that of one haranguing a mob") he has "given more attention to his radio appearance, anc today he speaks with vigor and force, but without that displeasing quality he once had."

For "logic," Radio Guide rated Franklin Roosevelt and Robert Taft "excellent,'' the rest "good."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.