A Wartime Campaign.

The hot issues during the congressional campaigns of 1950 were inflation and the Korean War, which had erupted in June. In launching their attack on Truman's domestic policies, the Republicans adopted the theme "Liberty against Socialism"; GOP leaders announced that their campaign would oppose Truman's Fair Deal as a program "modeled on the Socialist governments of Europe." Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, likely to be a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 1952, also joined in the fray by claiming that America suffered from "creeping paralysis" brought on by the increased size of the federal government. The Republicans stepped up their attack in April, alleging that Truman had "lost" China to the Communists. Democrats countered that the Republicans' baseless accusations and their criticisms of the president had compromised national security and made America appear weak in the eyes of the world. The...