America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

[NormanStewart]

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.

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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.

[NormanStewart]

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.

[NormanStewart]

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.

[NormanStewart]

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.

[NormanStewart]

Maine avoids bandwagon

One delegate says group is not yet sure Dewey ‘is the man’

Chicago, Illinois (UP) – (June 26)
Maine still refuses to climb aboard the Dewey bandwagon.

One delegate explained after the third caucus today:

We want to win the election this fall and to do that we must put the strongest possible candidate in the field. We are not convinced yet that Dewey is the man.

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Mrs. Farley finds session dull

Chicago, Illinois (UP) – (June 26)
Mrs. James A. Farley, wife of President Roosevelt’s former campaign manager, was a center of attention today when she took her place in a box at the Republican convention. Mrs. Farley, a veteran of many Democratic conventions who has said that she would vote Republican rather than for a fourth term, remarked that “there doesn’t seem to be as much excitement as we used to have at the Democratic conventions.”

[NormanStewart]

Platform victory is won by women

Two planks are adopted by Resolutions Committee – three Senators oppose one
By Kathleen McLaughlin

Chicago, Illinois – (June 26)
Reports coming out of executive sessions of the Resolutions Committee engrossed feminine delegates to the Republican convention today, now that gossip has almost ceased about the probable nominee. Two planks of special interest to the women’s group have been written into the document, according to reports, one of them over the protests of Senators Taft (R-OH), Danaher (R-CT) and Milliken (R-CO).

One provides for submission to the states by Congress of an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. This plank has become almost a tradition in both major parties. A similar declaration was written into the 1940 Republican platform, but failed of acceptance by the Democrats. Sponsored at first by members of the National Woman’s Party only, it has of late years been endorsed by such organizations as the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs.

The second plank, reflecting the growing concern of working women in this country over their status after the war, recommends equal job opportunities for men and women, “without discrimination in rate of pay because of sex.”

Modeled almost verbatim after the law recently enacted by New York State through the efforts of Republican Assemblywoman Miss Jane Todd, this proposal has received enthusiastic endorsement by organizations of women.

Resignation of two women members of the Republican National Committee, Mrs. Grace Reynolds of Indiana (who was manager of the Women’s Division in Wendell Willkie’s preliminary campaign), and Mrs. Paul Fitzsimons of Rhode Island, rose speculation as to their successors at the luncheon at which Miss Marion Martin, head of the women’s division of the party, was hostess to incumbent and newly elected and appointed National Committeewomen.

[NormanStewart]

Army will do more in manual therapy

To put occupational programs in 60 regional hospitals – urgent call for workers
By Bess Furman

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[NormanStewart]

Shipyards seeking to recruit 138,000

McNutt: Naval battle in Pacific shows need for extra manpower

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[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Bad news for Germany

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[NormanStewart]

Editorial: The Republican keynote

Governor Warren’s keynote speech last night to the Republican convention follows pretty closely the long-established bipartisan pattern for such addresses. The gist of this, for the party in power, is to claim credit for all good things as of its own creation, and for the party out of power to blame the in’s as the source of all misfortune. Governor Warren does the latter with such gusto that by the time he has finished with Mr. Roosevelt, he has no time left for Hitler and Tōjō. If one searches this speech for a reason why 10 million young Americans are now in arms, why half that number will soon be abroad and why the whole economy of the country is geared to war production, one comes out with little more than a single sentence near the close: “The cries of anguish from the victims of Axis tyranny violate our sense of justice.” No doubt Mr. Warren felt it unnecessary to labor such familiar points as Axis aggression against the United States itself, which was the reason why we went to war, or the character of the enemies against whom we fight. But certainly one good ringing paragraph on the inescapability of our involvement and the essential purposes for which we fight would not have been out of place in a keynote sounded at the very crisis of the greatest struggle for national survival in the lifetime of the American people.

So much for the chief omission. On the positive side, there are some good points, reassuring in what they promise. Mr. Warren pledges the unlimited support of the Republican Party to a victory in the field so complete that before the fighting ends, American troops will be “bivouacked along the main streets of Germany and Japan.” He promises that this time the fruits of victory will not be wasted through inaction: It is the purpose of the Republican Party “to make and guard the peace.” And again: “We [Republicans] are prepared to take a definite stand against aggression, not merely to denounce aggression, but to resist it and restrain it. That calls for effective cooperation with all the peace-loving nations of the world.” To which our allies, as well as the great majority of the American people themselves, will say Bravo!

Finally, on the domestic side, Mr. Warren vigorously attacks the administration for its evident belief that the private-enterprise system in this country has deteriorated to a point where its weaknesses can be offset only by more and more governmental direction and more and more public spending. He calls for a post-war economy in which the government encourages private enterprise to provide full-scale employment. At the same time, he warns the Republican Party not to look for a road back to the status quo – “there is no status quo to which we could or should return” – and he specifically asserts, apparently with the major legislative measures of the New Deal in mind: “We do not propose to deny the progress that has been made during the past decade. Neither do we aim to repeal it.” On these points, the keynote speech presumably forecasts the platform.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Air victory at Saipan

As time passes, the extent of our victory in the great air battle over the Marianas will be more fully realized. The dramatic pursuit of the task force which brought the enemy planes to action, and the escape of the force with four ships lost and 13 damaged, have obscured the decisive nature of the Japanese defeat in the air off Saipan the day before. This defeat broke Japan’s hold on her inner line of defense and seems bound to affect the course of naval warfare in the Pacific for some time to come.

We now have Adm. Nimitz’s final figures on this furious conflict. They are almost incredible. On that memorable Sunday, our forces destroyed 402 enemy planes – 369 in aerial combat, 18 by anti-aircraft fire and 15 on the ground after they had landed to refuel. This is the greatest number of planes ever brought down in a single action anywhere, either over land or sea. It is safe to assume that most of these planes were naval craft based on enemy carriers, for airfields on the Marianas had been pretty well cleared of land-based planes in previous fighting. So far as we know, the largest Japanese carriers do not exceed the capacity of our own Enterprise, which accommodates about 85 planes. The average enemy carrier will barely accommodate 50. Thus at least seven or eight Japanese carriers were stripped of their fighting craft. Such a loss in material and personnel is not easily replaced. The Japanese fleet at Midway lost 275 planes, and it took Japan five months to restore her naval aviation to a point where it could again offer battle. The overwhelming loss in the Marianas will affect not merely the task force engaged in this disastrous venture, but all the task forces Japan has at sea.

The immediate effect of our victory was to speed the conquest of Saipan virtually without interference from enemy planes. That conquest now seems assured with the capture of Mount Tapochau, the island’s central volcanic peak. The broader effects of the victory cannot yet be gauged. Obviously, however, Japan’s control of her vital home waters has been seriously shaken.

[NormanStewart]

Editorial: Koenig takes command

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[NormanStewart]

Candidates can interpret platforms widely

By Arthur Krock

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[NormanStewart]

We lag in science, Langmur charges

Nobel Prize winner says radar has not been properly recognized in this country

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[NormanStewart]

Butylene shifted to aviation gasoline to help air forces in France and Pacific

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[NormanStewart]

50,000 FANS SEE DODGERS TRIUMPH
Flock tallies five runs to one for Yankees, none for Giants in bond game

Brooklyn scores in 1st; scores once and settles three-wat baseball contest with two markers in second
By John Drebinger

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[NormanStewart]

Pershing gets Wyoming degree

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Government defends sedition trial venue; witnesses tell of propaganda in capital

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[NormanStewart]

The Free Lance-Star (June 27, 1944)

GOVERNOR WARREN SEEN LIKELY AS RUNNING MATE WITH DEWEY
California may reach decision tonight

Choice of Dewey is held assured

Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
The Republican National Convention rushed toward climactic development today. Platform drafters announced agreement, and it was learned that Governor Earl Warren of California might say, by nightfall, whether or not he was in the running for the vice-presidential nomination or moving definitely out.

Heavy pressure was being brought to bear on the big Californian to announce that he would take second place on the ticket running with Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York if the nomination is offered. On the platform, where he acted as temporary chairman before turning the gavel over to Rep. Joseph W. Martin (R-MA), permanent presiding officer, he was the center of clusters of party prominents.

Governor Thomas E. Dewey, assured of the presidential nomination, was reported making preparations to come here on short notice, possibly by tomorrow, to accept. Many more than the votes required to nominate were already his.

The platform-drafting Resolutions Committee approved a foreign policy plank retaining the pledge to enforce future world security by an international agency employing “peace forces.” This pledge had been criticized by Wendell Willkie and others, including 15 governors.

Willkie’s statement of criticism, released in New York last night, caused a stir when word reached the convention and led to new speculation on the possibility Willkie might bolt the party he led on the campaign of 1940. He kept his own counsel on this point.

Former President Herbert Hoover, arriving for a major address before the convention tonight, predicted agreement on a plank and praised the speech in which Warren last night predicted that the state victories won by Republicans in the last two years will extend to the nation in 1944.

Urge acceptance

Some clearing of the vice-presidential picture impended members of Governor Warren’s own delegation were reported urging him to state he will accept second place if offered it.

Supporters of Governor John W. Bricker for President, still fighting for the nomination, contended “steamroller tactics by the Dewey camp” was reacting in the form of new expressions of interest in and support for the Ohioan.

Warren, the most discussed possibility for second place on the ticket, told the delegation before the convention opened Monday that he did not want his name placed in nomination or a California vote if someone else nominated him.

With the renewed pressure on Warren – and amid discussion also of Governor John W. Bricker of Ohio, Governor Dwight Griswold of Nebraska and Governor Dwight Green of Illinois – the convention looked for some sign of a trend and decision today.

California called a caucus at which, it was learned, Warren’s position was under discussion. Warren himself has taken the position. He was elected in California on a platform calling for the development of projects that will require years. Moreover, he has insisted he can be “of more use” to the party in California than in Washington. But he is a staunch party man.

Martin opens parley

Today’s convention program in the big steaming Chicago Stadium bulged, starting with the address of Rep. Martin, permanent chairman of the convention, and followed tonight by speeches of former President Herbert Hoover and Connecticut’s Rep. Clare Boothe Luce.

Appearing fit and ready, Mr. Hoover arrived from New York with the declaration that he’d give his best for a Republican triumph in November. He told reporters:

I am going to stay in this fight until I die. The fight is for everything that is precious to the American people.

The third session of the convention was slowly getting underway.

[NormanStewart]

Hoover active in GOP campaign

Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
Arriving to address the Republican convention, Herbert Hoover said today that he would participate vigorously in the election campaign.

The only living former President told newspapermen as he stepped from his train:

I am going to stay in this fight until I die. The fight is for everything that is precious to the American people.

Hoover would not say whether he expected to “barnstorm” for the Republican ticket, but left no doubt that he would contribute all his energies to the Republican ticket. He said, “The prospects for a Republican victory this fall are good.”

[NormanStewart]

Foreign policy plank drafted by GOP body

By Jack Bell

Chicago, Illinois (AP) –
The Republican Platform Committee approved today a foreign policy plank retaining the pledge, criticized by Wendell Willkie and others, to enforce future world security by an international organization employing “peace forces.”

It rejected protests of Willkie and 15 Republican Governors that this language was not sufficiently plain.

The Platform Committee inserted a promise that the party would bend all efforts to bring home members of the Armed Forces “at the earliest possible time after the cessation of hostilities.”

Committee officials, releasing only a portion of the platform immediately, said it would be laid before the convention during the afternoon. They hoped to complete the draft during the day.

Provision approved

In another portion of the platform dealing with the maintenance of post-war Armed Forces, however, the committee approved a provision some members interpreted as a gesture toward those, like Willkie, who have been demanding that the United States join an international organization with military force to preserve peace.

The platform declared at this point for “the maintenance of post-war military force and establishments of ample strength, for the successful defense and the safety of the United States, its possessions and outposts, for the maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine, and for meeting any military commitments determined by Congress.”

The latter pledged to have Armed Forces available for any use approved by Congress suggested the possibility of a military allotment to an international organization to enforce peace, some said.

Fight is seen

A fight on the foreign plank might be carried to the floor by some of the governors who asked for more specific pledges.

As it was approved by the committee, the foreign plank pledges prosecution of the war to “total victory” and proposes to achieve peace aims “through international cooperation and not by joining a world state.”

It favored “responsible participation” by this country in a “cooperative organization among sovereign nations” to prevent aggression and said such an organization “should develop effective cooperative means to direct peace forces to prevent or repeal military aggression.”

Senator Warren Austin (R-VT), chairman of a foreign affairs subcommittee, predicted that the final draft would produce “complete harmony” in the Resolutions Committee.

Although Austin and other platform drafters called Willkie “mistaken” in his stand on the plank, there was evidence that backers of Dewey had no relish for any situation that might cost Willkie’s November support of the New York Governor, if the latter becomes the presidential nominee as expected.