Mass scale draft exams to be begun
Pre-induction physicals for hundreds of fathers to start
By John Troan
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Ickes punishes an office aide in letter quiz
Hopkins-Willkie missive ruled a forgery; paper traced
Bulletin
Washington (UP) –
Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes testified today before a federal grand jury investigating authorship of the mysterious “Hopkins letter.”
Washington (UP) –
White House stationery – of the same type on which the so-called Hopkins letter was written – has been and is now available at the Interior Department, it was learned today as a federal grand jury moved ahead in its study of the political-explosive document.
The grand jury was expected to call soon on Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, who sought permission to testify after he suspended George N. Briggs, an assistant identified by Senator William Langer (R-ND) as the man who obtained a letter written on White House stationery, purportedly by Harry L. Hopkins, the No. 1 adviser to President Roosevelt.
Forgery tale upheld
My. Hopkins was also expected to appear before the investigating body to repeat his denial of having written the letter, which represented him as believing that Wendell L. Willkie would be the 1944 Republican presidential nominee.
Justice Department officials back up Mr. Hopkins’ assertion that the letter was a forgery. Briggs will remain suspended from his Interior post without pay pending outcome of the grand jury investigation.
Senator Langer entered into the controversy by producing photographic copies of alleged correspondence between Briggs and C. Nelson Sparks, former mayor of Akron, Ohio, and author of the anti-Willkie book One Man – Wendell Willkie.
Stationery checked
Mr. Ickes has denied any knowledge of the letters purportedly written by Briggs’ aid and which linked Mr. Ickes’ name with the “Hopkins” letter.
A United Press correspondent visited Briggs’ office in the Interior Department and saw there White House stationery which an employee said always had been on hand. This stationery, it was learned, is generally supplied to various government departments for use if officials who occasionally prepare letters for the President’s signature.
Justice Department officials were attempting to determine whether similarities in typing noted in the so-called Hopkins letters and letters allegedly written by Briggs were significant or mere coincidences.
The two typewriters in Briggs’ office – one for his own use and the other for his secretary – were removed yesterday on orders from Mr. Ickes’ office.
Ickes is irked
Briggs, who did not appear at his office yesterday. Issued a statement from his home charging that Senator Langer’s action was part of a plot to “wreck” Mr. Ickes. He and his wife later left their apartment in nearby Arlington, Virginia.
Mr. Ickes declared that he knew “nothing whatsoever about the alleged events” referred to in the purported Briggs’ letters.
He said:
I do not relish the bandying about of my name in connection with a matter which seems to be as bizarre and absurd as it appears to be contemptible and vicious.
Justice Department Attorney Henry A. Schweinhaut, who characterized the Hopkins letter as a “definite forgery,” said he “wouldn’t be surprised if the forger turned up shortly.”
A Senate elections subcommittee postposed for “two or three days” a decision on Senator Langer’s proposed investigation of Willkie’s 1940 Republican presidential nomination pending a check on the committee’s legal authority.
To aid the bond drive –
Socialites sell services as butler, chef and nurse
Chicago tycoons ‘bound out’ for such chores as washing dogs, watching babies
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Back the attack –
President aids war bond drive
Difficult days are ahead, Roosevelt stresses
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Bridges: War holds key to U.S. politics
Senator tells group here heavy casualties would hurt administration
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In Washington –
House group rejects proposal for higher mustering-out pay
Effort to include merchant seamen among discharge pay beneficiaries fails as showdown on issue nears
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Soldier poll probed
Washington (UP) –
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson revealed today that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower is making an “intensive investigation” to determine whether the political sentiment of soldiers overseas was polled for Republican National Committee chairman Harrison E. Spangler.
He said the inquiry was ordered by the War Department after Mr. Spangler told reporters in Chicago 10 days ago that at his request four Army officer friends had polled American soldiers in Great Britain and reported that 56% were opposed to the administration.
In a letter to Senator Theodore F. Green (D-RI), Mr. Stimson said Gen. Eisenhower has submitted a preliminary report saying that any survey or poll so made was done without the general’s consent or knowledge. Gen. Eisenhower added that he was continuing the investigation.
Poll: Dewey holds slight lead in 2 states
Willkie runs close second in California and Nebraska tests
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion
Surveys of Republican sentiment in Nebraska and California show Governor Thomas E. Dewey holding a slight lead over Wendell Willkie in popularity as a 1944 presidential candidate.
The political tides in Nebraska are important because it is one of the states which has open presidential primaries. The situation in California holds equal interest for political leaders because of talk of Governor Earl Warren as a possible vice-presidential candidate.
The California Governor has announced his intention of entering his state’s primaries as a presidential nominee.
In gathering the views of Republican voters in California and Nebraska, each voter was handed a list of candidates and asked to name his preferred choice.
Based on those who named a Republican, the results for Nebraska are given below. The figures are not a poll of Republican leader, but the rank and file of the whole party.
The survey procedure used gives proper representation to all shades of opinion within the Republican Party – the independent Republican, as well as the more rock-ribbed Republican.
NEBRASKA
| Dewey | 35% |
| Willkie | 29% |
| MacArthur | 16% |
| Stassen | 10% |
| Bricker | 9% |
| Warren | 1% |
| Johnston | <1% |
The California survey shows the following results:
| Dewey | 32% |
| Willkie | 30% |
| Warren | 13% |
| MacArthur | 13% |
| Stassen | 6% |
| Bricker | 4% |
| Johnston | 2% |
Squabbles in the making –
Stokes: Rift in Democrats’ ranks may be brought into open
Quigley ready to demand ousting of Wickard when DNC meets Saturday
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer
Washington –
The meeting of the Democratic National Committee here Saturday will bring into focus the rift between the New Dealers, notably Harry L. Hopkins, and the conservatives and practical politicians who formerly looked to James A. Farley for guidance and jobs.
There is likely to be a lively session, characteristic of Democratic performances before the assembled party leaders sit down with government officials at dinner to celebrate their patron saint, Andrew Jackson, and hear Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and others praise the achievements of the administration, with undertones of unsure hope that it may continue in power.
Squabbles are in the making. How much gets into the open may depend on the finesse of Democratic chairman Frank C. Walker who is retiring – and partly because he can’t stomach so much friction – to give away before the younger Robert E. Hannegan of Missouri, Internal Revenue Commissioner, who is slated for election to the chairmanship Saturday unless there is a last-minute hitch.
Quigley leads malcontents
The leader of the malcontents is National Committeeman James Quigley of Nebraska, a Jim Farley man who has been raising Cain for some time in his Midwestern bailiwick, has organized a bloc of protest in that section with some support in the South, and is ready to speak out Saturday just as he did at the Chicago meeting a year ago.
His complaint, in general, is that the bureaucrats won’t pay enough attention to the politicians out along the line, and, specifically, that they don’t see eye to eye with him and other organization leaders on recommendations for jobs.
Currently he is sore at Secretary of Agriculture Wickard and Governor A. G. Black of the Farm Credit Administration because they did not follow his recommendations, approved by organization leaders in his area, for two appointments to the Omaha Land Bank Board. He is demanding the ouster of Secretary Wickard.
Hot against Hopkins
He is also hot against Mr. Hopkins and David K. Niles, Mr. Hopkins’ chief political lieutenant.
Later in an interview, Mr. Quigley denied the United Press reports that one of the objectives of the Friday meeting was to “blast” Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Niles.
He said:
That’s rubbish. You don’t hear Hopkins’ name mentioned in a blue moon where I come from and I didn’t even know who Niles was until I came to town.
Mr. Quigley has the support here of Eugene Casey, who like Mr. Niles is one of President Roosevelt’s “anonymous” assistants. Mr. Casey, a staunch supporter of the President, has many friends on the National Committee, and he has taken the politicians’ side generally against the Hopkins-Niles dispensation.
Another controversy brewing
Mr. Casey won a resolution of commendation from the National Committee a year ago – a resolution presented by Mr. Quigley, Mr. Casey and Mr. Niles occupy adjoining offices at the State Department.
There is another controversy brewing for the Saturday meeting, growing from the criticism among some members over the presence among committee officers of Oscar R. Ewing, a vice chairman, and George Allen, secretary, because both represent corporate interests which have business before government agencies or Congress.
Mr. Ewing represents the Aluminum Company of American. Mr. Allen is with the Home Fire Insurance Company. Fire insurance companies are now pushing legislation before Congress to exempt them from anti-trust statutes.
Early in the New Deal, President Roosevelt forced three members of the Democratic National Committee who had set up law-lobbyist officers here to resign from the committee.
Guffey slated to be dropped from committee
Campaign group to get along without Senator in harmony move
By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent
Washington –
Senator Joseph F. Guffey, Pennsylvania New Dealer, will be replaced as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in the interests of party harmony, it was reported in Capitol circles today.
The charge will be made, it was said, as part of a program to wipe out effects of the bitter party split that resulted last month from Mr. Guffey’s charge that Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans teamed up in an “unholy alliance” to beat the federal soldier-vote bill.
The feud died down after compromise proposals were made by soldier-vote advocates in both the House and Senate, under which Southern states would continue to set qualifications of voters, but administration leaders were represented as eager to overcome any resentment.
Barkley silent
Senator Alben W. Barkley (D-KY), Majority Floor Leader, is said to have promised Southern members that a new chairman will be named for the party’s senatorial campaign committee – largely a money-raising job.
Mr. Barkley, whose own seat is at stake in this year’s election, would not comment on the reports Mr. Guffey told friend a month ago that he has asked appointment of a new chairman and has presented his resignation.
Byrd leads movement
Leader of the “Oust-Guffey” movement is Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-VA) who was named by the Pennsylvania Senator as the leader of the Southern Democrats who killed the soldier-vote bill in the Senate.
Mr. Byrd contended that Mr. Guffey had disqualified himself by attacking members of his own party, in whose interests the committee functions, and threatened at one time to take up the fight in the Senate caucus, if Mr. Guffey is not replaced.
Mr. Guffey has had two terms as chairman of the committee, stepping out in 1940 when he ran for reelection. The post is filled by appointment of the Senate floor leader.
Care is urged in news about invasion plan
Office of Censorship asks ban on stories on time, place for assault
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Simms: Power politics may hit Allied post-war unity
Threat seen unless U.S., Britain can urge Reds to stick to pacts
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor
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President appears in bandying mood
Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt, despite the loss of 10 pounds during his recent illness, appears to be in good physical condition again.
Reporters saw him yesterday for the first time since the “flu” attack which kept him confined to his residential quarters for most of two weeks.
The President was in usually good spirits at his news conference. The loss of weight was slightly visible around his face and he seemed somewhat paler. But he was up to par in bandying remarks with the newsmen, saying that he could assure them that he was no longer contagious and that his physician, RAdm. Ross T. McIntire, hoped in turn that none of the reporters were contagious.