Another name from the faint, distant past. Alf Landon was the Republican candidate for President in 1936 and lost in a landslide to FDR. He supported the New Deal at first, but later condemned FDR for what he considered abandoning original New Deal principles. Landon was something of an anomaly as far as Republicans were concerned. He considered himself Progressive, fighting against the isolationists such as America First in 1939. After the war he was a vigorous backer of the Marshall Plan. Later, when China was taken over by Communists, Landon urged recognition of Red China. He also urged the U.S. to join the Common Market in 1962. All in all, not your typical Republican then, or certainly today.
When the 1944 Presidential election started heating up, Landon was called on to bring some unity to what had been a fractured party. He delivered numerous radio addresses in support of Republican candidates and this one, delivered on July 31, 1943, was in answer to an address made by vice-President Henry Wallace the previous night.
Alf Landon: “The shadow of a notable bitter election that will mean either the eclipse of the Fascist New Dealers or the American Republic is already appearing over the land. The Republican party and real Democrats are the only representatives of the great liberal principles of Jefferson, as they are being given force and vitality under the Republican leadership. And the high ideals of freedom for all peoples will be nothing put promises written on water if the Fascist New Dealers win this battle against the One Mulers.”
I hadn't heard the phrase "One Muler" before and my guess is it was one coined by Landon who referred to the middle class and the small business owner as a "One Muler" - possibly from an offshoot of slave reparations (forty acres and a mule) and certainly not a phrased used since then. I suppose you can draw all sorts of conclusions there.
Politics, it would seem, was so much different then.
