Ex-Akron mayor may snub jury on ‘Hopkins letter’
Washington (UP) –
C. Nelson Sparks, former Mayor of Akron, Ohio, said today he may stand on his constitutional rights and refuse to surrender to a federal grand jury the original copy of a letter purportedly written by Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt’s No. 1 adviser, predicting that Wendell L. Willkie will be chosen the 1944 Republican presidential nominee.
Mr. Sparks made his statement after the Department of Justice announced a grand jury will begin an inquiry next Wednesday into circumstances surrounding the letter, which Mr. Hopkins has branded a forgery.