America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

8111

U.S. troops scale lofty Saipan peak

Tapochau, dominating island, is reported won – carrier planes batter Guam and Rota
By George F. Horne

Campaign in Marianas pressed forward

map.62744.saipan.ap
map.62744.saipan.ap
On Saipan Island, U.S. troops occupied part of the town of Garapan (1). They reached the top of Mount Tapochau (2) and to the east captured the Kagman Peninsula (3). Meanwhile, U.S. carrier planes smashed at Guam and Rota. On Guam, they attacked an airfield on the Orote Peninsula (A), nearby Port Apra and an airfield near Agana (B). Inset shows position of the islands.

USPACFLT HQ, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii – (June 26)
Mount Tapochau on Saipan Island has been scaled by U.S. Marines who are now established in positions near the summit. Marines and Army troops have made substantial gains on both the eastern and western shores of the island.

A front dispatch said that Tapochau which dominated the island and has been the goal of our men ever since they landed on Saipan, had been captured by troops who held it against a before-dawn Japanese counterattack Sunday.

Adm. Chester W. Nimitz stated that the Kagman Peninsula, forming the upper arm of Magicienne Bay, was now entirely in our hands and that troops had penetrated farther northward in the lower part of Garapan Town, capital of the Marianas. It is the first fighting between U.S. and Japanese troops in a Japanese town of its size.

Enemy forces were still holding tenaciously to positions on Nafutan Point to the extreme southeast, but we have made small gains there nevertheless.

Thirty-six tanks destroyed

Our forces, to date, have destroyed 36 tanks and captured 40 more from the enemy.

A fast carrier task force attached to the Fifth Fleet under Adm. Raymond A. Spruance raided both Guam and Rota on Saturday, destroying six enemy planes on the Orote Peninsula airfield on Guam and probably destroying two more. Runways and revetments were bombed and a large cargo vessel in Port Apra at Guam, which had been damaged in a previous strike, was again attacked.

Tons of bombs were dropped on the airstrip near Agana Town on Guam and one enemy plane was destroyed on the ground, eight to ten others receiving damage.

At Rota Island, revetments and buildings were bombed and air crews reported starting fires. Two more planes were destroyed on the ground, bringing the plane losses of the enemy in the Marianas campaign to 756 craft by the scoreboard posted at Fleet headquarters.

The Japanese have been fighting bitterly on Saipan. In the center of the line, they slowed our progress by firing from caves in cliffs overlooking U.S. positions, but our forces bypassed these pockets, went beyond them and then closed in, leaving the caves surrounded.

Our artillery then moved to close range and started pounding the cave areas into submission.

Adm. Nimitz said that the troops pushing into the Kagman Peninsula had captured three coastal defense guns.

Half of Saipan now held

From the western end of the front at Garapan Town, our line now runs a jagged course across the island to a point above Kagman, roughly bisecting the island. We now hold about half of Saipan’s 75 square miles, with the two surrounded resistance pockets in the cliffs of Tapochau and to the south on Nafutan Point. They are being squeezed relentlessly from all sides.

Activities on Aslito Airfield have not been mentioned for several days, but it can be presumed that it is now being used by U.S. planes and our forces can henceforth expect even closer air support in pushing northward into the upper half of the island.

The lower end has been principally sugarcane terrain relatively flat. The north half is higher with plateaus, more cliffs and generally more rugged territory on which to fight. There is another cane plantation in the north and another airfield. It was last reported under construction at the very northern edge of the island and may not have been finished.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, we continue to pound away at enemy bases. Paramushiru and Shumushu in the Kurils were bombed by Liberators of the 11th Army Air Force and Ventura search planes of Fleet Air Wing Four before dawn Saturday starting large fires. All of our planes returned although anti-aircraft fire was intense.

Marine and Navy planes continued to keep enemy bases in the Marshalls neutralized.

8112

Denny: Pockets of Nazis kept on sniping as Americans overran Cherbourg

By Harold Denny

With U.S. forces at Cherbourg, France – (June 26)
The Germans fought a last-ditch defense in Cherbourg this evening, though the outcome was inescapable. Substantial elements of the U.S. forces got into the city from the south only after a piece-by-piece conquest of succeeding strongpoints and the Germans were still firing on them in the city and from two pillboxes remaining on Fort du Roule with 88mm field pieces and machine guns. The city has been considerably damaged but less than one would have thought. As a whole, it is intact, though many individual buildings have been smashed.

Dominating all was the arsenal, where the last important holdout group was still firing rifles while large portions of the structure were burning with a red glow and towering black smoke.

Holding out about equally with the arsenal was one last desperate little group of cannoneers at Fort du Roule.

It stands like Gibraltar and should have been impregnable. Its fortifications of reinforced concrete, several stories deep and tunneled into solid rock, behind one of the Maginot Line fortresses, which I visited the first winter of this war. They include an electric light plant, underground barracks, an underground hospital and abundant stores of everything conceivable, including the best wine and brandy. It has been conquered repeatedly in this battle, yet parts of it still continued to fight tonight.

Sunday one of our units overran it and apparently had it all under control. But these fortifications are connected by rock tunnels and in the night, the soldiers crawled back up and manned one formidable system of big guns protected by two lesser pillboxes armed with .30-caliber machine guns and 20mm cannon at the end of the mountain nearest the town. They opened fire both on our soldiers feeling their way through the city below and against our men farther back.

The American commander sent a strong force against it at 6 o’clock this morning and at the same time had heavy artillery and mortar fire laid down. While this barrage kept the enemy’s heads down our infantry crept up and exploded pole charges, threw in grenades and finally leaped into the positions and captured the survivors. They got about 150 there. The same troops then went over the side of “Gibraltar” and fought straight through the city, gathering up machine-gunners and snipers hiding on building tops and drove block by block straight to the waterfront.

They gathered up some hundreds of prisoners on the way and herded them clear to the water’s edge.

General leaves, guns fire

So, Fort du Roule seemed conquered once more. Yet it was believed still more Germans lurked in a gallery still deeper underground and protected by thick steel doors.

They were there when a general visited the fort and inspected the fortifications a few feet above them late this afternoon. Fifteen minutes after the general left, that hidden garrison opened fire again on the city and there ensued a remarkable artillery duel.

Our forces in the town below had brought in tank destroyers and howitzers. They fired back at the fort. Retreating to a safe distance at one side and crouching at the edge of a trench full of dead Germans, I could see the flash of our guns in the town and then a burst of fire and smoke as the shells hit around the fort’s embrasures. The fort would reply with its hard bark and an almost instant burst of a shell down below. Our guns were firing with remarkable accuracy and from my vantage point it seemed certain that some of our missiles must be getting through. After an hour, Fort du Roule was silent again and that was the end for it.

Tanks back up infantry

By Don Whitehead, Associated Press correspondent

With U.S. troops in Cherbourg, France – (June 26, 9:12 p.m.)
Fanatic defenders of Cherbourg made a last desperate effort today to hold out against doughboys closing in to wipe out the last pockets of resistance.

As we walked through the streets of Cherbourg, doughboys moved up to close in on the pillboxes that were still firing from the beach.

The Amiot aircraft plant, or what was once a plant, was a burning, charred ruins, sabotaged by the Germans in their last hours in Cherbourg.

Down the road less than 100 yards, our tanks were sitting on the beach near knocked-out enemy strongpoints, blasting at machine-gun nests still holding out. The rattle of machine-gun fire broke out intermittently.

The tanks helped the doughboys fight their way through tough, scattered knots of resistance to enter the city late yesterday. When the Germans began firing from houses along the route of advance, the tanks rolled up and blasted the positions.

In one house, a German officer and three enlisted men lay dead with bullet holes through their foreheads, neat round holes put there by an expert doughboy rifleman. The officer lay with a champagne bottle in one hand and his rifle in the other. He had decided to fight to the last.

Resistance was disorganized. Defenders, still manning guns, were German fanatics trapped like rats. There was no escape for them.

A United Press report from Cherbourg said some Germans broke most of their rifles and machine guns and had blown off the muzzles of their artillery before surrendering.

The first unit into this section of the city was led by Lt. George Myers of Cincinnati, Ohio. This was the spearhead that sliced off the eastern part of the city.

Few booby traps found

There were surprisingly few mines and booby traps left by the Germans to hamper the U.S. entrance into the city. Most opposition was from machine-gun nests and guns in the forts.

The unit here has found only two booby traps so far and the only mines were those in front of the smashed beach defenses.

Coming into the city, the doughboys hit one tough knot of resistance with a German colonel and 300 troops holed up in a building and armed with machine guns and rifles.

Lt. Benjamin Westervelt of 418 Stockholm Street, Brooklyn, New York:

We just brought up tanks and boys with automatic Browning rifles and poured fire through the windows and doors. That got ‘em. The colonel came out to surrender his men. They poured out of there through the windows and doors in streams.

The unit kept one of the prisoners and when a pillbox strongpoint was encountered, he was sent forward to tell the defenders that unless they surrendered tanks would be brought up and all of them wiped out.

Lt. Westervelt said:

We got 56 out of that bag. We did the same thing at other places, too, and this man convinced more than 100 Germans to surrender.

There were few civilians in the section of the city we visited. But those on the streets were giving a warm welcome to the Americans.

German luxury noted

In a wine shop, Sgt. Harold Shortsleeve of Rutland, Vermont, had his heavy machine-gun squad cleaning their weapons before moving up to take part in the action against the pillboxes still blasting away at our troops.

Sgt. Shortsleeve said with a grin:

We’re waiting for artillery and mortars to get to work and then we’ll go in to clear up the pillboxes.

In the Hôtel Atlantique were cases of wine, cognac and champagne left behind by the Germans when they fled the city.

There the shelves were filled with fine sauternes, burgundies and liqueurs. The Germans has requisitioned the hotel for labor troops of the Todt Organization. They had lived in comfort in the 500-room hostelry.

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Nazi billet found filthy, insanitary

Dirt, grease and insects in German quarters in France arouse U.S. medical officer
By Frederick Graham

Advanced 9th Air Force fighter base, on Cherbourg front, France – (June 25, delayed)
This is just to report another chipped place in that fabulous mosaic that portrays the German as a super soldier.

What we have seen of how German soldiers and officers lived here has led U.S. Army medical officers to conclude he is not like his 1914-15 prototype so far as health and sanitary conditions are concerned. Either he does not know anything about fundamental army sanitation or he us amazingly indifferent.

Headquarters of this outfit are in a lovely old building that has been used by Allied or German troops since 1940. British soldiers occupied it until Dunkerque and then German troops took over. We moved in on Jerry’s heels a few days ago – so fast in fact that he did not have time to cart off a tub of fine French butter he had requisitioned from French farmers.

According to Lt. Col. Stanley Ungar of 2 E 4th Street, New York, medical officer for this fighter wing, the Germans violated just about every rule of army sanitation, and even to a layman it is evident to more than just the eye that they were not very clean or tidy.

The building itself and latrines cannot be excused on the ground the Germans had only temporary quarters there, Col. Ungar believes. Nor can the haste in which they left be given as an excuse. Col. Ungar pointed to the thick crust of dust and grease on the floors and walls and the bed lice.

A 200-year-old stone building was used as an officers’ latrine – and col. Ungar doubts if it was ever cleaned out or even sprinkled with lime.

In the immediate rear of the house was a large decorative pond filled with slimy green water from which swarms of mosquitos flew all day and night.

Most of the Germans, including officers, slept on mattresses made of burlap and filled with straw. Bed lice crawled all over them.

The first thing Col. Ungar and his medicos did when this outfit moved in was to cover the pond with oil, pour lime into the old latrine and then seal it off. All floors were “G.I.’d” which means scrubbed with hot water and soap. New latrines were built some distance away. the straw mattresses were burned and walls and ceilings scrubbed – and as soon as paint is available the rooms are going to get a new coat of paint.

Airborne commanders named

SHAEF, England (AP) – (June 26)
It was disclosed today for the first time that Brig. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, who was sent secretly to Rome for a pre-surrender discussion with Marshal Pietro Badoglio, now commands the 101st Airborne Division, which landed on D-Day, and that Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, who commanded the 82nd Airborne Division in Sicily and Italy, led it into Normandy.

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Germans’ strength in Normandy believed far less than Allies’

Uneven complements of divisions, use of foreign troops and variations in armaments are factors

SHAEF, England – (June 26)
The uneven strength of divisions, the wide use of non-German troops and the lack of uniformity in armament contribute to the belief that the German Army facing the Allies in Normandy is a lesser vehicle than the military machine that awed Europe in 1940 and 1941.

The Germans have fought with valor and skill, but a comparison of enemy divisions with U.S. and British divisions leads inevitably to the conclusion that the Allies are stronger. Four years ago, a German division was the measure for military strength the world over. That is no longer true.

The task forces of some regular armored divisions are composed of one battalion of German Mark IV tanks and one battalion of French SOMUA tanks. The latter is a durable machine, but it was evolved in 1937.

Elite Guard armored divisions usually have more troops – up to 20,000 men – and better tanks than the regular armored divisions. The same is true to some extent, of infantry divisions. These are now divided into two categories: field service and limited employment; that is, static service divisions. The former are better equipped and include younger and tougher soldiers than the latter, whose age group is from 35 to 40. Three types of non-German troops are serving in the German Army.

There are Ost battalions of Russians. Frequently one of these makes up the third battalion of an infantry regiment, or three of them form the third regiment of a division. Sometimes they are officered by Russians, sometimes by Germans. When there is a Russian commander, he is accompanied by a watchful German assistant. Many Russians, when captured, are considered normal prisoners of war. The Russian troops have been forced into service.

The second type of “foreign” troops is the Volksdeutsche, who are regarded as Germans though born abroad. They serve in German units and theoretically there is no difference between them and German soldiers. Then there are the Hilfsfreiwilligen – “volunteers” – who serve a ammunition carriers, drivers and cooks with combat units or on lines of supply.

Here is how the divisions appear to the Americans and Britons fighting them in France. Four armored divisions have been identified in Normandy. They consist of a reconnaissance unit, a regiment of tanks, two regiments of armored grenadiers – that is, infantry – three battalions of field artillery and permanently attached battalions of anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery.

A reconnaissance unit is composed of five companies; two companies of armored cars, two companies of infantry in armored trucks and a heavy company of supporting arms. A tank regiment is composed of two battalions: one of three companies of Mark IVs, 18 tanks to a company, and one battalion of SOMUAs.

An ordinary regiment of armored grenadiers has two battalions. In an armored division, there are two regiments of these. One is carried in armored vehicles close behind the tanks. The other follows the trucks a little to the rear. Generally, the armored grenadiers are the best infantry in the German Army.

The field guns of an armored division are the 105mm gun-howitzers, while an anti-aircraft battalion is armored with the 88mm gun, which can also be used against tanks. An anti-tank battalion has both 88mm and 47mm weapons.

Elite Guard armored divisions, instead of a battalion of French tanks, have a battalion of French tanks, have a battalion of Mark Vs. The Mark V is armed with a long-barreled 75mm gun of great hitting power, while the Mark IV has a short-barreled weapon of the same caliber.

8115

Germans tricked by D-Day diversion

‘Bluff’ fleet sent against Calais drew off enemy’s planes, British officer says

The German Air Force, absent from the Normandy invasion, went into the air to attack a “diversion” fleet that the Allies sent on D-Day into the Calais-Boulogne area, Cdr. Anthony Kimmins, British naval intelligence officer, said yesterday.

The Germans expected the Allied blow to land in that area, he said in an interview at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He predicted that:

When the Germans’ final defense plans are found, I think we will discover that they thought we were coming in there.

Cdr. Kimmins came to the United States direct from the Normandy beaches, where he went ashore from one of the leading assault ships on D-Day. That night, he returned to England in a motor torpedo boat to report to the Admiralty and the next day he was back on the beachhead, where he stayed a week. He has been present at almost every landing of the war, including Norway, North Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily and Salerno with British troops. He was with U.S. forces in the Kwajalein landing.

The ships that went on the “bluff” invasion did not suffer much damage, he said. He added, “I think the men had a very good time. They just made a lot of noise.”

The Germans’ behavior was described by the Norman population as “very correct,” he said. Invasion, to the villagers, meant bombardment for the first time, as their agricultural land had not previously suffered from the Allied air blows and they had lived a comparatively comfortable existence during the past four years, the commander said.

The Germans were forced to use the robot planes prematurely, he said. He believed that they had all been aimed for the invasion ports, but the incessant Allied pounding of their bases had forced the Germans to shoot them at any target they could find. The planes could have been “a very serious menace” if used all at once from every site, he said.

Describing the ships in the Channel during the invasion, he said that it had been “just like walking down Broadway with traffic in all directions.” Ships “poured across” the Channel in a steady stream, in long orderly lines, massed from the British coast to the French coast, he said.

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Sniping by French denied by Allies

Headquarters praises their aid to invasion forces – mine strike begun in north

SHAEF, England (AP) – (June 26)
Investigation has shown that there have been no authenticated instances of French civilian snipers’ firing on Allied troops, a special Supreme Headquarters announced said today.

On the contrary, French resistance to the Germans has been of great assistance to the Allies, it added. The statement said:

It is announced by Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, today that investigations have been made of allegations of French civilian snipers firing on Allied troops. No authenticated use of French snipers has been found.

On the other hand, Supreme Headquarters emphasized that French resistance to the Germans has been a great contribution in support of Allied operations.

Miners strike in north

London, England – (June 26)
France’s army without uniforms was reported today to have been joined in resistance by miners of northern France, who are staging a sit-down strike. This is the first instance of its kind reported from France since the invasion began.

Authoritative French sources here, which announced the strike, also disclosed that 3,000 German troops had been employed in a vain attempt to surround maquisards who have regrouped in the Ardennes. A German attack at Saint-Gervais has been repulsed with heavy losses and a German offensive has been foiled in the Chartreuse district.

French forces have taken control of some districts in Provence, where the Germans are attacking and carrying out reprisals. Twenty Frenchmen have been shot in four days at Annecy. One hundred and forty have been killed at Lambesc. The arrests of hostages are increasing in Lorraine, but railway sabotage continues.

Recent sabotage efforts have included the blowing up of transformers serving German factories in the Lower Seine region and the wrecking of a petroleum refinery in the southwest that was supplying oil fir transformers and railway engines. The Germans have been unable to restore the long-distance telephone lines from Paris that were cut on June 6.

8117

De Gaulle strikes note of optimism

Hails accord on patriot forces – indicates hope of early, profitable trip to U.S.
By Harold Callender

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8118

Americans occupy new Italian port

Piombino taken without a shot as Allies drive closer to Siena and Florence

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8119

Hull backs move to warn Hungary

House protest on abuse of Jews called for, he says, stressing Allied policy

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8120

Japanese air exit in southwest seen

Allied planes sweep New Guinea area without opposition

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Chinese hold foe around Hengyang

U.S. air support aids defense but Japanese crack another outpost at Yuhsien

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Convention opens on a hopeful note

Spangler presides at first session – Green pledges ‘free hand’ to services
By Charles Hurd

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
The 23rd national convention of the Republican Party finally opened at 11:17 a.m. CT today in a mixed atmosphere of hope and optimism that this year may work a return to the national control rested by the Democrats from the “Grand Old Party” in 1932.

Harrison E. Spangler, chairman of the Republican National Committee, declared the convention formally opened while powerful lights illuminated the scene for newsreel cameras.

Miss Naomi Cook of Chicago led the convention in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The Rev. John Holland of the “Little Brown Church of the Air” pronounced the invocation. He prayed “that somehow our statesman may have brains enough and sense enough to enact a peace that is worldwide.”

Governor Green of Illinois formally welcomed the convention on behalf of the state and Chicago. He varied the usual form of such speeches to announce his purchase of $5 million of war bonds on behalf of the State Treasury.

By the time Mr. Green began the body of his talk, the convention floor had settled into its orderly pattern of seated rows of delegates. The day was hot and steaming, with the heat indoors increased constantly by the powerful lights.

Green speaks 32 minutes

Governor Green won frequent applause by his forecasts of victory for the Republicans and the election of the eighth Republican President in line from Abraham Lincoln, who was nominated as the first Republican candidate in Chicago.

The delegates applauded when Governor Green exclaimed, “There is no ‘Win-the-War’ Party in America.”

He went on to say that if the Republicans won, the leaders of the Armed Forces would have a free hand, “free from restrictions by second-string bureaucrats.”

Governor Green’s welcoming speech was of record length, lasting 32 minutes. Some regarded it as virtually a keynote speech.

At the close of the speech, Mr. Spangler introduced Harry Reasoner, a private first class of Minneapolis, now stationed in California, who won an essay contest in which members of 2,000 Young Republican Clubs took part on the question of why the Republicans should win.

Mr. Reasoner, in accepting the award, said, “We are all gathered here in one mind, and determined to do something constructive about it.”

Harold W. Mason of Vermont, secretary of the National Committee, presented the call for the convention. No contests over the seating of delegates were put before the convention.

Spangler notified the convention that he had been “instructed by our National Committee” to nominate Governor Earl C. Warren as temporary chairman, which is synonymous with keynote speaker.

Elected temporary chairman

A committee was appointed to notify Governor Warren of his honor after he was elected without an alternative name being offered.

Then there followed the adoption of the usual formal resolutions to govern procedure of the convention.

The opening session of the convention recessed at 12:20 p.m. until 8:15 p.m. CT.

Although scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m., the stadium a quarter hour later was still a picture of milling, perspiring persons on the floor and very thinly dressed galleries. The great hall was sparsely decorated, in keeping with wartime economy. A gilded eagle was suspended from the speakers’ platform. There was a display of flags at one end of the stadium; facing it a banner read, “Godspeed Our Boys to Victory.”

The state standards, marking the blocs of seats assigned to delegates, were plain poles without ornament, with one exception – a feather lei on one marking “Philippine Islands.”

The first touch of convention color was lent by Carl Chaven, leather-lunged Chicagoan, who went to the microphone at 10:25 and with the help of the great organ, played with all stops open by Al Welgard, endeavored to organize some community singing. He opened with “God Bless America” and everybody seated stood up and joined. As “Home on the Range” and “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag” followed, the delegates resumed their buzz of conversation, evidently interested far more in the job of organization than in singing.

The Senate was well represented in the opening session. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan and Senator Joseph H. Ball of Minnesota were walking about discussing the convention’s foreign relations plank. Senator Warren R. Austin of Vermont alternated between the platform and the floor.

Just before the convention was called to order, word was passed around that Governor Dwight Griswold of Nebraska would nominate Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York as the presidential candidate. Alabama agreed to yield when its name is called on Wednesday, in the traditional alphabetical order.

At 11:00, 45 minutes late by the program, Mr. Spangler started banging the speakers’ stand with his gavel, ordering the sergeants-at-arms to clear the aisles. The organist swung into “The Air Corps Hymn,” but talking continued. He switched to “The Marine Corps Hymn,” with the same result.

At 11:11 a.m., Mr. Spangler tried again, with considerably more insistence. The suspicion held by delegates that no one had really meant 10:15 when it was announced was verified when it developed that the radio chains had scheduled 11:15 to broadcast the opening.

The night session

Governor Warren’s “keynote” speech as temporary chairman of the convention was received with repeated applause at tonight’s session. The Governor made a favorable impression on his audience. His declaration that the United States, to maintain a peaceful world, would cooperate with other Allied nations, won approval. Great applause came when, in his discussion of post-war policy, he asserted that the American people wanted a peace which, being mindful of the interests of other nations, did not neglect or sacrifice the interests of our own country.

The delegates and spectators gave their greatest signs of approval to Governor Warren’s denunciation of the Roosevelt administration and the New Deal. Applause followed his assertions that the New Deal was destroying the two-party system, that it was no longer the Democratic Party, and that it had built up a huge bureaucracy by alliances with corrupt political machines.

Bureaucracy is denounced

Governor Warren brought the delegates and many of the spectators to their feet by declaring that the bureaucrats required the farmer to work in the fields all day and keep books for the government all night. They cheered his assertions that the government encumbered the small businessman by a multiplicity of rules and regulations, and that the bureaucrats told the worker what union he must join, how much in dues he must pay, and to whom he must pay them.

Mr. Warren reached the climax of his speech, so far as audience reaction was concerned, when he attacked the New Deal for seeking to perpetuate itself in power by capitalizing a succession of crises, the depression, the recession, and keeping us out of war, and by now bringing out the achievement of peace as the next crisis for which an “indispensable” was necessary to obtain peace.

Saying that the American people were being conditioned for a new song, “Don’t Change Horses in the Middle of a Stream,” Mr. Warren asserted that we had been in the middle of a stream for eleven years and were not amphibious. The delegates and spectators rose and cheered when the Governor added that we in this country wanted to feel dry and solid ground under our feet again.

Delegates slow in gathering

The delegates and spectators gathered slowly for the night’s meeting.

Before Mr. Spangler called the convention to order at 9:05, the audience joined in singing a series of patriotic and familiar songs. Miss Shirley Dickinson of the Chicago Civic Opera Company sang the national anthem. This was followed by recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Right Rev. George J. Casey, Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, delivered the invocation. About 20,000 persons, four-fifths of the seating capacity, were in the Stadium.

Introduced by Mr. Spangler as a veteran of three wars, Governor Martin of Pennsylvania urged the purchase of war bonds.

Governor Martin said:

Gen. Eisenhower has said that 1944 will be the year of decision if those on the home front do their duty. We must do more, give more to the Red Cross. We must produce more food and munitions. Above all, we must buy more war bonds.

After Mr. Martin’s speech, Mr. Spangler presented Governor Warren, who then made his address. Following this, the convention adjourned until tomorrow morning.

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16 governors fail in platform plea

Win demand to see draft, but gain no change for stronger foreign plank

Chicago, Illinois –
Sixteen Republican Governors, delegates to the National Convention, who demanded last night that they be made better acquainted with the platform, apparently succeeded early today in inspecting the proposed planks, but not in changing any of them substantially.

Their chief objective was a stronger plank on foreign affairs, one which would call for joining with the United Nations in the use of “economic sanctions backed by force” to maintain peace instead of the plank recommended by the Austin committee, which offers a general formula of “participation in post-war cooperative organization by sovereign nations.”

A conference of the Governors yesterday named a subcommittee, comprising Governors Raymond E. Baldwin of Connecticut, Sumner Sewall of Maine, and Bourke B. Hickenlooper of Iowa, to inform Senator Robert A. Taft (R-OH), chairman of the Resolutions Committee, of their demands. In response, he had them meet with his drafting subcommittee at 10:00 last night.

After this meeting, Senator Taft, in the presence of the Governors, faced a press conference at 1:00 this morning. He told the reporters that no important changes had been made in the foreign policy plank since the original Vandenberg draft, that no final draft had been made, and that redrafting of the entire platform would continue through the night and possibly into the day.

Mr. Taft denied knowledge of any mention of “economic sanctions,” but Governor Baldwin insisted that “economic sanctions backed by force” had been discussed.

The Governor declared that the foreign affairs plank should be forthright, “one that says what it means and means what it says.” He made it clear that the Governors were fighting for a plank which was closer to the Mackinac Declaration.

But questioning by reporters did not elicit that the Governors had attained their aim. In fact, all had the contrary impression.

The Governors attending all or part of the conference, besides those already mentioned, were Blood of New Hampshire, Wills of Vermont, Saltonstall of Massachusetts, Edge of New Jersey, Martin of Pennsylvania, Kelly of Michigan, Bacon of Delaware, Thye of Minnesota, Schoppel of Kansas, Griswold of Nebraska, Willis of Kentucky, Warren of California and Donnell of Missouri. The absentees were Governors Bricker of Ohio and Green of Illinois.

At a meeting yesterday, Governor Griswold offered a resolution endorsing Governor Dewey, but his fellow Governors rejected it as wrongly timed, holding that it should follow the nomination.

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OLD CIRCUS GOES ON, BUT WAR HAS FLOOR
Convention subdued and dull, aware that destiny will determine election

‘Phony’ flush of 1940 gone; party evidences that quest is not for ‘big man’ but the epitome of average man
By Anne O’Hare McCormick

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
France was falling as the Republicans met four years ago. It was an hour of defeat for democracy and all the traditional whoopee was turned on to make the delegates forget what the disaster portended for the United States.

The Philadelphia convention was lively, noisy and high-pitched. It was marked by contest suspense and an unexpected turn at the end when Wendell Willkie stole the show.

To an American fresh from the war front, that had seemed phony for so long, the peace at home that summer appeared even more phony in the political circuses staged by both parties in the same old way, the phoniest business of all.

They were like shadow-dancing against a brightly painted asbestos curtain that did not hide the spreading fire on the other side.

This convention is not like that. It has no air of carnival. It is dull. It seems to make a point of dullness. The Republican Party seems bent on making a policy of dullness. When one of the stage managers was asked why no effort was made to brighten up the show, his reply was, “The duller the better. We are not out for fireworks or drama.”

Talk in various state bases

The party leaders seem to have the same idea about the candidate. Listening around the various state headquarters, one gets the impression that the last thing they want is a “big man.” They talk as if the ideal quality in a standard-bearer is mediocrity.

Against “the great leader,” “the man of genius,” “the glamor boy,” the convention evidently wants to nominate the personification of the average man. It will not be surprising if the campaign is keyed to this slogan.

This is a listless but not a frivolous convention. The delegates stand quietly and very soberly around the hotel lobbies as they sat in orderly rows at the opening session this morning – waiting for what they know is going to happen. They don’t expect any surprises, and they’re not likely to get any.

The whole aim, indeed, is to avoid the unexpected, and there is no enthusiasm for the predetermined. There is no enthusiasm for Governor Dewey. Most of the delegates express a sneaking preference for someone else, but they will unite solidly behind him because they are convinced by the Gallup polls that he will gather in the most votes.

But this is not the main reason for the apathy everyone feels here. In its well-dressed, well-fed, cheerful way, it is somehow akin to the apathy the Allied armies met in Italy and are meeting in France.

Know where decision rests

The Republicans gathered this year as Americans fight to free a France that has been held in bondage since the convention of four years ago. They gather as the victory of democracy is assured, but they go through the motions more automatically than usual, because they know very well that the coming election will not be decided by anything their candidate will do or say, or by anything the opposition party will do or say.

For Americans, as for the French, the future will be decided by the progress of the war. The next administration will be swept in or out of office on a great tide of war emotion.

The war has the floor. Under the blazing tent, the old circus goes on, but the war is the key in order. Conventions are always middle-aged, and in this one the gray hairs are accentuated because about the only young folk in evidence are the glamor girls serving as ushers and distributors of Dewey badges and groups of soldiers and sailors wandering through the corridors with the air of sightseers, viewing the relics of antiquity.

The G.I.s get a lot of fun out of the show, and they make the politicians look older, more tired and more crumpled than usual.

Thoughts on sons at front

In the Chicago Tribune Sunday, the Russian offensive was backed off the front page by the convention, but this order of priority was not observed by the city of Chicago or the delegates themselves.

The people in the streets are uninterested in the proceedings. In the stadium, the scalpers cannot sell the unused tickets. As to the delegates, most of them are thinking more of their sons at the front than of the debate in the Resolutions Committee. That is what they talk about under the blare of mechanical music that celebrates the end of each speech.

The atmosphere is heavier but more real than it was four years ago. The ballyhoo, the cavorting, the stale oratory, and the fake stampedes that enliven our quadrennial political festival belong only to the folkways of the United States. Yet even as a show, what is going on in Chicago is as important as any battle and the actors sense it.

“Isn’t this what the battles are for?” said a woman delegate from Minnesota to a soldier boy making sport of the convention songs.

“You said it, Ma,” answered the G.I. “Bring on the calliope. You bet. We’re fighting to be free to choose, elect, and fire our governors in any old way we please.”

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Punch, iced and non-kick, is put into Bricker drive for delegates

His headquarters has homey Ohio touch – Dewey buttons, large size, in boom as they are found fine as ash trays
By Meyer Berger

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
The only genuinely warm spot at his convention, when you’re out of the sun or get from under the stadium kliegs, is Bricker headquarters.

The men and women from Ohio have spread a gentle, homey glow in this political wasteland. They have daily concerts by a female string trio, an adult male chorus, and an extraordinary boy choir, brought on from Columbus.

This afternoon the Ohio women were political Florence Nightingales. With the thermometer mercury knocking its head at the top of the glass, they passed out life-giving iced punch which went all the better for the smiles they added for kicker.

An emotional woman visitor at this afternoon’s reception, sipping her third glass of punch, sighed from ‘way down her capacious bosom when the boy choir finished “Beautiful Ohio.” “I don’t really need this refreshment to get cool,” she told a friend. “Every time I hear those children, I get goose pimples, just like winter.”

The punch was non-alcoholic.

The demand for Dewey buttons, large size, shot ‘way up today. Political writers suddenly discovered, in this world of war shortages, that the big buttons make swell ashtrays.

The disappointing turnout for the morning session at the stadium caused gloom in the most astonishing places.

Chicago’s sewer superintendent, Tom Garry, who has charge of the stadium, came in from the half-filled arena shaking his head. He had tried to tell the Republican committee how to jam the place to get a good showing in the first newsreels and news photos, but it seems they were suspicious. Tom’s staff could not understand his solicitude over the weak Republican display, because he is a Mayor Kelly Democrat. “Politics don’t figure in my thinking,” the sewer boss explained. “It’s only that my civic pride’s hurt.”

**Chief American Big Horse from Kyle, South Dakota, made the only splash of color on the convention floor. He wore full white deerskin regalia with headdress. Chicago policemen were inclined to frisk the deerskin scabbard he carried, but thought better of it when they found he was a delegate alternate. The scabbard concealed the chief’s pipe of peace. American Big Horse is impressively tall, granitic and unblinking. He is 74 years old and this is his first national powwow. “You like ‘um, Big Chief?” a reporter wanted to know. American Big Horse didn’t stir a facial muscle. He said, “I’d describe it as rather interesting.”

The most melancholy note on the convention floor is the empty space reserved for the Philippine delegates. A wreath hangs on the Philippine standard.

A Bricker promotion man stood in Michigan Boulevard this afternoon staring wistfully at the silver barrage balloon floating over Grant Park. “Swell spot for a Bricker sign,” he remarked. It was just an idea. The balloon is a war bond puller.

Two perspiring delegates from a dry state took aside one of the Chicago policemen guarding Gate 3 at the stadium. “Any place around here a man could get a real drink?” they asked him confidentially. The policeman suspected wagering, or a sight on his hometown, but the delegates were sincere. The policeman waved down Madison Street. “Start across the way,” he directed, “and then stop every 15 or 20 feet. That’s the distance between bars. If you make all the stops, from there to Oak Park and are still on your feet, maybe Mayor Kelly’ll commemorate the deed with a monument in Grant Park.

The delegates entered the stadium a little late.

Other thirsty delegates who got into Billy the Goat’s place on Madison Street, opposite the stadium, got a liberal treatment of lusty old Chicago hospitality.

Billy the Goat is Mr. Slanis, a former Loop newsboy who delights in practical jokes. This morning he befuddled dignified convention visitors with trick beer glasses, which look full but hold no refreshment, with a visiting card that leaves carbon smudges on the holder’s fingers, with an electrically charged cigar box and other surprising gadgets of nonsense.

Each time a customer registered fright or indignation, Mr. Slanis rang a fire gong or sounded a siren just back of the bar and roared with laughter.

New Yorkers, familiar with the ancient custom in their city to have gun-toting celebrants check their guns at the door, were startled this morning when they noticed Chicago policemen checking their guns at the door. “Precautionary measure,” a sergeant explained. “You get some of these Texas or Oklahoma guys tuned up and they’re apt to grab a rod and fire a few shots through the roof.”

March of Progress item: Some delegates are sending back to radio stations in their home districts their own recorded commentary on convention doings.

An Americana shop next to the Chicago Club on E Van Buren Street has its window filled with old-time convention and campaign posters, pictures and literature, including an original Whig Ticket, dated 1840. The embittered shopkeeper who staged this display has not had a single call from a convention visitor. “Might have known better,” he said glumly. “Politicians don’t read.”

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Bricker backers still seek votes

Despite declining prospects, campaign is pushed along 800 unpledged delegates

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
The declining prospect that Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio can win the nomination as Republican standard-bearer failed today to diminish their persistency with which he and his backers are pressing his campaign.

A statement from his headquarters indirectly recognized the odds against him when Roy D. Moore, Mr. Bricker’s campaign manager, stated that the Governor would not withdraw from the race and that the nomination would be placed before the convention.

Mayor James G. Stewart of Cincinnati has been designated to make the nominating speech for Governor Bricker. He has asked the Ohio delegation, unanimous in its backing of Governor Bricker, to “carry the torch for John Bricker to the end.”

W. B. Horton, secretary of the Chicago Bricker-for-President Club, denounced the Illinois delegation for pledging its vote to Governor Dewey.

Mr. Horton said:

On behalf of the 13,000 new members of the Chicago Bricker Club who have enrolled during the past three weeks, we repudiate the actions of the Illinois delegation, as not representing the sentiment of Illinois Republicans, in pledging their support to Thomas E. Dewey.

We believe this to be true of other Midwestern states included in our membership. Several Illinois delegates have advised us that they only voted for Dewey under pressure. We do not believe this is the time for such action.

We further believe that John W. Bricker, the only avowed candidate for the nomination, is the only real American who can defeat anyone the Democrats nominate. He is the popular choice among Republicans of this state.

Governor Bricker spent most of the day conferring privately with delegates, but made no formal appearances or engagements. His workers spent the day meeting as many as possible of the 800 unpledged delegates.

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Plan anti-4th term call

Bolters expect to meet in New Orleans after convention

Atlanta, Georgia (AP) – (June 26)
Anti-New Deal Democrats, who are opposed to a fourth term for President Roosevelt, will meet in a Southern city, probably New Orleans, soon after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Eugene Talmadge, former Governor of Georgia, said today.

The spirit of the meeting would be to name electors opposed to the fourth term and to arrange for them to run on the Democratic ticket and elect a President and Vice President in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, he said.

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DEWEY WILL ‘TIME’ ARRIVAL IN CHICAGO
He will accept tomorrow night if nominated in morning, Sprague says

Trip by plane is planned; Governor, however, would not leave Albany until named by the delegates
By James A. Hagerty

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
The arrival of Governor Dewey to accept the Republican nomination for President will be timed to suit the convenience of the delegates to the national convention. This was made known today by J. Russell Sprague, National Committeeman from New York, who has been leading the “Draft Dewey” movement, now approaching success.

Should the Resolutions Committee, as expected, present its report tomorrow evening, or if no fight of sufficient strength develops to prevent adoption of the platform tomorrow night, the Dewey supporters, now in a large majority in the convention, intend to press for nominating speeches at the Wednesday morning session and the continuation of that session to permit balloting and the nomination of Mr. Dewey in the afternoon.

Arrangements for a dash

In that event, every effort will be made to get the New York Governor here in time to accept the nomination at the Wednesday night session.

As Mr. Dewey, according to present plans, would not leave Albany until he is actually nominated, it would be necessary for him to come to Chicago by plane. This will be possible if the nomination is made by three or four o’clock Wednesday afternoon and if priority for plane transportation for Mr. Dewey can be arranged.

In no circumstances will Mr. Dewey’s arrival be delayed until Thursday evening. Leaders of the Dewey movement believe that this would be unfair to the delegates and alternates, many of whom have reservations on trains departing.

After his speech of acceptance, in which he is expected to state his position on leading issues of the campaign, Governor Dewey will confer with members of the National Committee and other party leaders about a new chairman of the committee to succeed Harrison E. Spangler of Iowa.

With Mr. Sprague continuing to insist that he is unavailable because of the provision in the Nassau County Charter that he must give full time to his post of county executive, the choice seems to have narrowed to one between Herbert Brownell Jr., close friend and New Yorker.

Mr. Sprague, who will be reelected to the National Committee by the convention, will be active in the campaign at the New York City headquarters. It has long been the party custom to permit its presidential nominee to name the national chairman.

Reaction to Griswold good

The choice of Governor Dwight Griswold of Nebraska, to make the speech putting Governor Dewey in nomination before the convention, has had a good reaction among the delegates and has been accepted as recognition of the Midwest.

It has not been forgotten by the delegates that Mr. Dewey was born in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan.

Rep. Leonard W. Pall of New York’s 1st Congressional district is scheduled to second the nomination of Mr. Dewey.

The nomination for Vice President will probably be made at the Thursday morning session. There is a possibility, however, that if there should be no difficulty in the selection of a candidate – which means that Governor Warren of California will take second place on the ticket – the candidate for Vice President might also be nominated Wednesday and adjournment of the convention come after a three-day session.

With Mr. Dewey’s nomination assured, Messrs. Sprague, Jaeckle and Brownell were busy all day receiving members of delegations who had declared for the New York Governor.

Among these was the North Dakota delegation of eleven, which, at a caucus this morning, decided to vote for Dewey on the first ballot. Delegates were introduced by William Stern, National Committeeman, who assured Mr. Sprague that North Dakota would go Republican at the November election.

Governor Dewey was assured of Connecticut’s 16 votes when that state’s delegation, under the leadership of Governor Baldwin, voted to cast its solid vote for the New York Governor.

Dewey’s air trip linked to radio

Maximum night audience is sought for broadcast – Taft fails to consult Governor

Albany, New York – (June 26)
The speed with which the Dewey bandwagon is rolling along at Chicago made it possible tonight that Governor Dewey would fly to the Republican National Convention to accept the nomination for the Presidency rather than travel by train as originally scheduled.

It was learned that the Governor, if nominated on the first ballot Wednesday, would take the air route of less than five hours, instead of the 14-hour train trip, so that he could broadcast his speech of acceptance in the evening when the widest radio audience can be reached.

On the other hand, travel by train would delay the speech until Thursday evening to obtain the same big radio coverage. And this would prolong the convention beyond schedule.

The plane trip would make it impossible for most of the press corps here to accompany the Governor, and probably only one representative from each of the major news services would be able to cover him en route.

The Governor’s own party will include Mrs. Dewey, his secretary Paul Lockwood, his executive assistant James C. Haggerty, his personal secretary Lillian Rosse, Hickman Powell (an adviser), and State Banking Superintendent Elliot V. Bell,

During the day, Mr. Dewey was in frequent contact by telephone with Herbert Brownell, who is directing the Dewey “draft” at Chicago; Edwin F. Jaeckle, state chairman, and J. Russell Sprague, National Committeeman.

There was no call, however, from Senator Taft, with whom the Governor had volunteered to talk by telephone should his advice be desired on shaping the party’s platform.

The Governor was kept in touch with progress through two state members of the Resolutions Committee: Mary H. Donlon, vice chairman of the committee, and Kenneth X. Mccaffer, Albany County chairman.

The Executive Office here also explained that the Governor’s past expressed views were known to the drafters of the platform.

In the forenoon, Mr. Dewey posed obligingly at routine duties for a battery of newsreel photographers. There he devoted considerable of his time in his office to dictating letters.

The Governor finally quit his office at 6:30 this evening, went to a downtown barbershop for a hair trim, and then went home for dinner. His barber, Pasquale Pugliese, said that the Governor and he talked exclusively about the war. He added:

I didn’t ask him about the convention because I didn’t want to get too personal.

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Delegation tells Warren to accept

Californians act as choice of Governor as Dewey’s mate appears certain
By Charles E. Egan

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
Selection of Governor Warren of California as running-mate for Governor Dewey appeared a virtual certainty tonight as the Republican National Convention settled down to the task of filling out its 1944 ticket.

Governor Warren, who has insisted that he does not want a place on a national ticker this year, was reported to have received a virtual ultimatum from members of his own delegation. The delegates called on him last night and insisted that he accept the second place on the ticket on the ground that he will help to carry doubtful California for the Republican Party and that he owes it to his state and party to run with Dewey.

Governor Bricker, who is still fighting Governor Dewey for the presidential nomination, was believed to be fading rapidly as a possibility for the vice-presidential nomination if he fails of the higher goal.

The proposal that Senator Harry F. Byrd (D-VA) be named to run with Governor Dewey on a coalition ticket, has also collapsed. The Virginia Senator’s name will not even be proposed to the convention, according to word tonight.

Just who will place Governor Warren’s name before the convention, however, was undecided tonight.

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Ask free press plank

Editors urge inclusion in platforms of both parties

Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
The board of directors of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, meeting here tonight, unanimously urged that the Resolutions Committees of both the Republican and Democratic conventions include a plank in their respective platforms on the issue of a free press and unrestricted communications for news throughout the world.

This plank, which has been prepared by a committee named by John S. Knight, president of the society, in cooperation with all the wire services, all the press associations and all the broadcasting organizations, declares that an unrestricted interchange of news and equal opportunity on all world transmission facilities is essential to the building of a lasting world peace.

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PLATFORM MAKERS RUSH TO END DRAFT
With agreement on general principles, stress is put on precise phrasing

Care on foreign policy; Taft committee hears pleas of CIO – consents to crop control as last resort
By C. P. Trussell

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
The Republican Platform Drafting Committee was racing with the clock late tonight, despite the development of new complications from outside the policy-framing body itself to complete its budget of declarations and pledges to the now formally organized Resolutions Committee by 9:00 tomorrow morning, and for its tests before the convention as a whole before the end of the day.

With the drafting body apparently steadfast in general agreement on principles enunciated in more than a dozen planks at hand or in the making, concentration was upon phraseology and the definitions and interpretations of individual words and passages. The only stumbling blocks, it was reported from the closely guarded executive sessions, appeared as differences arose over the written expressions of principles.

Although the convention swing remained decisively for Governor Dewey, the foreign policy plank was viewed in some quarters close to the drafting group as being “usable” by “almost anybody but Stassen.”

Taft takes drafting helm

With the formal organization of the Resolutions Committee this afternoon, Senator Robert A. Taft (R-OH) became official chairman of both the Drafting Committee and the platform body itself. The committee’s first action was to hear a final series of recommendations from organized labor, as represented by the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Appearing before the committee was Van A. Bittner, assistant to Philip Murray, president of CIO in his capacity as head of the United Steel Workers’ Union. Mr. Bittner presented to the committee almost the full program adopted in Washington recently by the CIO Political Action Committee, which the Republican platform drafters had declined to hear during the pre-convention hearings. The only part of the PAC’s original platform which Mr. Bittner omitted was a preamble which endorses President Roosevelt with great enthusiasm for reelection.

Since Mr. Bittner’s speaking time was limited in accordance with hearing rules, he did not attempt to read all of the program which he brought along. He concentrated, however, on the full employment plank, which proposes that the federal government endorse the principle of a guaranteed annual wage and encourage its cooperation in collective bargaining agreements.

This, it is learned authoritatively, is not included in the plank submitted to the Drafting Committee last night by the convention Labor Committee headed by William Hutcheson, president of the Carpenters’ Union (AFL).

Mr. Bittner also urged that the National Labor Relations Act be held “intact as is.” The pending Labor Committee’s plank is understood, in its present draft, to call explicitly for amendments to that statute, particularly a change which would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from forbidding the selection of collective bargaining agents by crafts, rather than on a plant-wide or industry-wide basis, as is preferred by the CIO.

As to foreign trade, reciprocal trade agreements are sanctioned only to the extent to which they may be “mutually beneficial” and on condition that they receive Congressional ratification. The foreign trade plank in general tone, it is contended, gives recognition to the protective principle without foreclosing economic cooperation, and, it is agreed, satisfies former Governor Alfred M. Landon, chairman of the committee, who has been friendly toward the trade agreements program, and also the most outstanding of the high-tariff protectionists on that panel.

The Foreign Trade Committee will recommend to the Resolutions Committee that there be no establishment, at this time at least, of an international bank, such as has been projected by the administration. However, it will advocate the continuance of monetary conferences and cooperation on money programs through them.