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.
