, the very, very influential under a secretary of state, robert lovett, was meeting all the time with the republican leader in the senate, arthur vandenberg, to try to get vandenberg's cooperation and collaboration on a bipartisan policy that would support american commitments in western europe. truman, in the late spring and summer of 1948, decided to support what was called the vandenberg resolution, that would provide america's commitment. eventually, the united states would sign such a treaty, but truman was hopeful to get through the election of 1948 before this happened, because he knew this would be an incredibly controversial commitment, even though vandenberg, the republican leader in the senate, supported it. the other major republican figure, who was running for president, was robert taft, who was not supportive of an american commitment to europe. however, the blockade itself, that we just heard about, and truman's commitment to stay in berlin, and the tensions that this aroused during the summer of 1948, and the possibility that conflict might arise, impelled truman and his advisers to say yes, we really need to ma