No speech written, Dewey aides say
Governor returns to Albany from his farm – gives no hint of his plans
Albany, New York – (June 25)
Governor Dewey returned here tonight from a weekend visit to his farm at Pawling avowedly still not a candidate for the Presidency, despite the fact that he is an odds-on favorite to win the Republican nomination on the first ballot.
Members of the Governor’s official family reported that no work had been done on an acceptance speech.
A corps of reporters representing many of the country’s leading newspapers are on hand here, waiting for a “slip” or intimation that the Governor is relinquishing his role as a “non-candidate.”
The reporters are convinced that Mr. Dewey intends to go to Chicago immediately following his nomination to make a speech of acceptance. All are prepared to make the trip, yet the Governor had denied all stories that reservations for such a journey have been made.
Meanwhile, the question still remains unanswered as to who will become Acting Governor in the event Mr. Dewey should go to Chicago. Lieutenant Governor Joe R. Hanley. Benjamin F. Feinberg, President pro tempore of the Senate, and Speaker Oswald D. Heck of the Assembly, who would be in line to take over the office in the absence of the Governor, are in Chicago.
Before his departure last night, Mr. Hanley said he would certainly not return because his 93-year-old mother is gravely ill in Iowa and he intended to visit her. Since it is imperative that an acting Governor be on hand because three men are sentenced to die in the electric chair Thursday for a slaying in New York City, it must then be either Mr. Feinberg or Mr. Heck who must return.
The condemned men are Alex Bellamo, Peter de Lutro and Frank di Maria, who were convicted in the slaying of Francis Servidio on May 18, 1942, in a poolroom. In all executions, the Governor is the person to whom last pleas for clemency are made.
Nothing of political significance occurred during the Governor’s stay on his farm, where his wife and two boys have been living. Rain kept him indoors a good part of Saturday, though he did inspect some farm improvements being made. Today, he shot a round of golf, then returned to entertain two neighbors, Carl T. Hogan and his wife.