Willkie talk will sample GOP attitude
Speech to ‘Freshman Club’ to test Congress’ reaction
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
Washington (UP) –
Wendell L. Willkie comes here tomorrow to address Republican legislators and to test Congressional reaction to his proposal for a post-war United Nations council to maintain peace.
He will speak before the Republican “Freshman Club,” an organization of newcomers to Congress. But veteran Republican Senators and Representatives will also be present.
Political observers are saying that it is “Willkie against the field.” There is a Midwestern boomlet centered now in Nebraska for former Governor Harold E. Stassen of Minnesota, presently on active duty with the Navy.
Bricker lagging
Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, three times elected to that office, has more than favorite-son backing. But his campaign so far has not seemed to move very rapidly.
There is talk here that Senator Robert A. Taft (R-OH) may get back in the scramble before the last national convention ballot is cast, although he took himself out of the race last December by announcing his support of Governor Bricker.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur has enough nationwide support to keep his name well up in preference polls. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-MI) has been talking up Gen. MacArthur for months.
Labor policy snag
But Mr. Willkie is more active than all the rest of them combined so far. His major obstacle is opposition of organization Republicans, including some key Congressional leaders. There is some evidence that he offended Congressional Republicans in last week’s St. Louis speech by saying that a wise labor policy “must not be in the punitive spirit of the Southern Democrats’ Smith-Connally Act.”
That act, aimed primarily at United Mine Workers president John L. Lewis, was sponsored by Southern Democrats but had substantial Republican support as well.
Philadelphia bids for convention
Washington (UP) –
Philadelphia will bid for the 1944 Democratic National Convention at the next annual committee meeting here in January, Senator Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA) announced today.
The intent was set forth in a letter he sent to all Democratic National Committeemen.
He said:
Our invitation will be accompanied by a substantial certified check. I am writing you now so that you won’t get committed to some waystation in the meantime.
Philadelphia was the site of the Democratic conclave in 1936, when President Roosevelt was nominated for his second term. The 1940 Democratic meeting was in Chicago, which will probably bid for 1944 also.
Cleveland is the only other city to seek either convention.
Democratic leaders probably will weigh the 1944 choice with an eye to influence in a close-vote state. Pennsylvania fits that category, as it gave Mr. Roosevelt less than half the plurality in 1904 that he had in 1936.