America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

8907

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CIO pressures delegates with Back-Wallace wires

Bundles of telegrams sent by local unions urge renomination of Vice President
By Robert Taylor, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

Chicago, Illinois –
Pennsylvania’s CIO unions, backing their leaders in a last-minute drive for Vice President Henry A. Wallace for renomination, have showered the state delegation to the Democratic National Convention with telegrams.

“Don’t let Wallace down,” was the gist of most of the messages.

The wires arrived yesterday for each of the 72 delegates, in batches of half a dozen at a time, while CIO leaders at the convention were rallying their forces in support of the Wallace candidacy.

One delegate counted 62 messages. They poured in, even to U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey, who was acting as unofficial manager of the Wallace campaign and who spent most of the day in conference with the Vice President.

Most of the messages to Pittsburgh delegates came from United Steelworkers locals, while others came from units of the United Railroad Workers, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers, Allied Stone and Clay Products Workers and others.

The telegram blitz featured a day in which CIO leaders poured on steam in the push to whoop up the Wallace campaign.

Some 125 delegates, most of them delegates or alternates, but some of them regional directors of the CIO-sponsored Political Action Committee, attended a special caucus of CIO delegates devoted chiefly to Mr. Wallace.

Cheering delegates behind closed doors – reporters were barred – were urged to go back and contact their state delegates on behalf of the Vice President’s campaign.

The meeting was hardly over before it was reported that President Roosevelt, in communication with National Chairman Robert Hannegan, had given his approval to the candidacy of Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO), on whom the opposition to Mr. Wallace has settled.

Definitely want Wallace

CIO leaders were reported not averse to Mr. Truman, in the event of his nomination, but they held out stoutly for Mr. Wallace as the only candidate they were willing to discuss for second place on the ticket.

“We want Wallace,” Sidney Hillman, chairman of the Political Action Committee, said as he entered the CIO caucus. “That’s the only statement there is to make.”

Mr. Hillman, CIO President and delegate-at-large from Pennsylvania Philip Murray, and president of the United Auto Workers R. J. Thomas addressed the CIO delegates, who comprised less than five percent of the total delegates and alternates.

Among CIO delegates

Pennsylvania had one of the largest state delegates in the CIO group, with 11 of the 144 delegates and alternates listed as CIO members, relatives of members or officers or employees of CIO organizations.

In addition to Mr. Murray, they included Joseph A. Donoghu of Pittsburgh (alternate delegate-at-large, chairman of Pennsylvania Political Action Committee), John T. Akinson of Aliquippa (alternate), and State Senator John H. Dent of Jeannette (former Rubber Workers official).

Others were Angelo Pasquarella of Philadelphia (Amalgamated Clothing Workers, alternate), Joseph Kane (employee in Philadelphia of the Political Action Committee, delegate), Ernest Palmer Jr, of Delaware County (delegate), John J. Malick of Delaware Country (alternate), Irene A Stackhouse of Bucks County (alternate and wife of a CIO member), James W. Batz of Berks County (member of the Hosiery Workers Union, alternate).

8908

I DARE SAY —
Nellie Bly

By Florence Fisher Parry

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8909

Navy to begin explosion inquiry

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8910

Much too trivial, Hull laments

Washington (UP) –
Secretary of State Cordell Hull said today he would have been glad to offer ample comment on the explosion that endangered Adolf Hitler’s life if the Nazi Führer’s injuries had been serious enough.

As it was, Mr. Hull told his press conference, the report does not offer any substantial basis for comment.

8911

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Guffey-Lawrence factions sidestep VP showdown

Delegates at breakfast meeting hear state chairman try to minimize party split
By Kermit McFarland

Chicago, Illinois –
The rival Lawrence and Guffey factions in the Pennsylvania delegation to the Democratic convention, battling each other in a new outbreak of a six-year feud, today sought to postpone until the last possible moment feud, today sought to postpone until the last possible moment a showdown of their respective strength in the delegation.

At a breakfast tendered the delegates – ironically – by Democratic State Chairman David L. Lawrence and U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey, jointly, both sides succeeded in avoiding a second caucus on vice-presidential preferences – the cause of the latest split between these two who are Damon and Pythias turned Hatfield and McCoy.

Senator Guffey, in fact, didn’t even attend his own affair. He was 20 stories up in the same hotel, conferring with CIO and Wallace leaders.

Differences minimized

Mr. Lawrence, who informed the 200 delegates and friends, all from Pennsylvania, that despite his absence Senator Guffey would “split the check,” went out of his way to describe the affair as a “social gathering.”

The state chairman also made an attempt to minimize, publicly, the differences between himself and Mr. Guffey over the vice-presidential nominee.

He said:

Not even the vice-presidential nomination or anything else is going to split the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania. The Senator and myself have gone up and down the state since November trying to out the Democratic Party back where it was before 1938.

Charges continue

But the charges and countercharges which have been developing in the split Pennsylvania delegation since the battle for the vice-presidential nomination began to shape up between Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO), supported by Mr. Lawrence, and Vice President Henry A. Wallace, backed by Senator Guffey, continued on their way.

Senator Guffey’s blast at the Truman forces, which he implied were being “bossed by the well-known machine leaders, Kelly, Hague and Flynn,” aroused resentment among the Allegheny County leaders and others favorable to Senator Truman.

Caucus is opposed

When the breakfast invitations were first extended, Mr. Lawrence indicated it would e converted into a caucus. But today, both he and Senator Guffey said they thought a caucus unnecessary.

If the convention follows its tentative schedule and hears nominating speeches for Vice President tonight, a caucus before the first roll call is inevitable.

Mr. Guffey claims “55 to 60” of the 72 Pennsylvania votes. Mr. Lawrence isn’t claiming.

Wallace’s best 35 votes

The best estimates indicated Mr. Wallace’s best poll probably would be 35 votes, with 26 likely to go for Mr. Truman and eight or nine in doubt.

Among the doubtful delegates could be listed Pittsburgh’s Mayor Scully and Edward D. Johnson, chief clerk of the Public Safety Department. Both voted for Mr. Wallace at the Tuesday caucus, but they are politically beholden to Mr. Lawrence. Mr. Johnson was elected as an alternate, but has taken the place of Delegate Robert C. Malcolm of Curtisville, who is not here.

Attorney General Francis Biddle, who, as a delegate-at-large has only a half vote, also plumped for Mr. Wallace Tuesday, but if President Roosevelt, as indicated, goes for Mr. Truman, he probably will switch.

Others may switch

The tipoff on this is the attitude of Postmaster General Frank C. Walker of Scranton, who voted against Mr. Wallace at the Tuesday caucus. He told other delegates he did not wish to “vote against the Chief” – Mr. Roosevelt.

Other delegates who may switch to Senator Truman includes Clerk of Courts John J. McClean and Mayor Frank Buchanan of McKeesport. But still sticking firmly to Mr. Wallace is Irwin D. Wolf of Fox Chapel.

Sure Truman backers include County Commissioner John J. Kane and Mr. Lawrence (both half-vote delegates), Register of Wills John M. Houston, City Treasurer James P. Kirk, Coroner William D. McClelland, Mrs. Marguerite Naughton and County Commissioner George Rankin.

New letter ‘the bunk’

Leaders of the Lawrence faction swore that Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan, Truman promoter, has a new letter from President Roosevelt saying the Missouri Senator is “acceptable” to him as a running mate.

Senator Guffey said that was “the bunk.” He declined to say whether he had been in touch with Mr. Roosevelt, but Lawrence forces claimed he tried unsuccessfully all day yesterday to reach the President by telephone.

Congressman Francis J. Myers, nominee for the U.S. Senate, was the only speaker at today’s breakfast, aside from Mr. Lawrence.

Lawrence, Guffey praised

As a candidate whose chances might be endangered by a split in the party organization, he praised Senator Guffey and Mr. Lawrence for “walking throughout the state arm in arm” building up the Democratic machine.

He said:

Unless the vote is heavy, we may not carry Pennsylvania, regardless of how beloved the President is by the people. But if we get out the vote, victory is sure.

Mr. Lawrence pleaded for “strong” finance, labor and women’s campaign committees in each county and said it was “amazing” how many members of organized labor are not registered to vote.

8912

americavotes1944

Nye is victor for renomination

Bismarck, North Dakota (UP) –
North Dakota Secretary of State Thomas Hall said today that Senator Gerald P. Nye was virtually assured of renomination in the June 27 primary election in North Dakota.

Unofficial figures from canvassing boards in 32 counties plus previous totals gave Mr. Nye a lead of 956 votes over Lynn U. Stambaugh, former national commander of the American Legion.

All figures will remain unofficial until the state canvassing board meets July 27. Latest tabulations gave Mr. Nye 38,169 votes, comparted to 37,213 for Mr. Stambaugh and 35,680 for Rep. Usher L. Burdick.

Incumbents win in three primaries

By the United Press

Late returns from Tuesday’s primary elections in three states decided all contests today, with all incumbents renominated in Arizona and Lief Erickson, 38-year-old State Supreme Court Justice, conceded the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Montana. In Wyoming, Charles E. Norris of Laramie won the Democratic nomination for Congress.

Senator Carl Hayden, who has served in Congress ever since Arizona became a state, polled 29,327 votes to win the renomination by a 2-to-1 margin and Reps. John Murdock and Richard Harless received 29,414 and 26,910 votes respectively to win by a wide margin. Governor Sidney P. Osborn polled 34,797 votes to win renomination by a 3-to-1 margin over his nearest opponent. Jerrie Lee won the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Both Austin Middleton and former governor Roy E. Ayers conceded the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Montana to Mr. Erickson, who held a lead of more than 6,000 over Mr. Middleton. Republican Governor Sam C. Ford won renomination by a 6-to-1 margin.

Montana had no senatorial contest this year and both incumbent Democratic Congressmen were unopposed for renomination.

8913

Caesar’s citadel now scene of hand-to-hand fighting

Yanks and Nazis use rifles, hand grenades in thickets filled with German dead
By Thomas R. Henry, North American Newspaper Alliance

With U.S. forces in Normandy, France – (July 16, by wireless, delayed)
The Belleau Wood of the present war is represented in the defense of the White Birch, scrub Chestnut and red-berried Mountain Ash tangle covering the 2,000-year-old Roman fortifications on the slopes of Mont Castre where the Yanks and Germans battled three days last week with rifle and hand grenades for vantage points controlling the marshes and rolling wooded country miles to the southward.

Texans and Oklahomans have now secured a high hilltop overlooking the Bay of Biscay westward of the English Channel, from which the Germans had been using field glasses. Atop the Roman walls they undoubtedly watched the landing of the invasion forces and every major move of the Allied troops.

Paratroopers with green capes

Some of the bitterest fighting of the war and also some of the heaviest losses occurred in this area. The thickets are being cleared today of the German dead, in some places piled in heaps, where they were mowed down by machine-gun crews. In a tangle of second-growth trees on land detimbered a few years ago, crawling at night silently through the brush the troops were invisible to one another.

Crack German paratroopers with green camouflage capes blended into the foliage. The prisoners said their orders were never to fire until the Americans were within ten yards, to conserve their ammunition. The fighting closely resembled Pacific jungle warfare. The hill ascent into the forest at times was very steep, through thick waist-high ferns and over sharp rocks. Germans with machine pistols were hidden in the treetops in clumps of mistletoe.

The successful assault on the north slope of Mont Castre was led by Lt. Col. Jacob W. Belke of Boonville, Missouri. At the highest ruins, cementless walls still strong after centuries. But beyond this place, he encountered mostly tunnels and trenches, built by the Germans themselves, honeycombing the mountaintops and overgrown with bushes.

“Grenades fell like hailstones,” says the company commander. At one point, a soldier was sent forward to ask a surrounded machine-gun nest to surrender. The Germans offered to negotiate. When the soldier appeared in the open, they killed him. This so enraged Sgt. Theodore Wagner of Mason, Texas, that he killed 11 Germans, captured three machine guns, using his own machine gun held against his shoulders like a rifle.

Yank lay four days alone

Yesterday, Sgt. George Parker of Tucson, Arizona, on a cleanup mission, found an American soldier with his right foot shot off who had lain four days in the brush without food. His only water was rain caught in his hand. It had rained most of the time. Shortly after the injury a tourniquet and sulfa powder had been applied by a medic who was driven off by enemy fire before he could complete the job, but promised to return later. That night the wounded man heard his comrades calling but he was too weak to reply. He felt better as the days passed, and Sgt, Parker found him cleaning his gun. He is now doing well at an evacuation hospital.

The hardest fighting was descending the southern slope where the Roman fortifications, built under the personal supervision of Julius Caesar, were more elaborate and had been greatly enlarged by the Germans. They were so perfectly concealed that tanks were driven over their tops without jarring them.

Battle over caves

Caesar had planned the mountain stronghold against attack from the south. The company emerging from the forest with its tanks, was cut off when the Germans knocked out the tanks. The remnants of the company were reorganized with parts of other decimated units under command of Lt. Hubert Miller of Syracuse, New York, who advanced over an open field after other units had captured points protecting the flanks.

8914

English say Roosevelt will visit continent

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Nazi super-robots to hit U.S., Japs hint

By the United Press

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8915

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Keynoter’s speech starts demonstration

Magic word ‘Roosevelt’ sets mob to whooping

Chicago Stadium, Chicago, Illinois (UP) –
Democrats went whooping into the aisles for the first big demonstration of their convention last night when Oklahoma Governor Robert S. Kerr made a keynoted speech calling for the reelection of President Roosevelt and denouncing Republican administrations under which American “hardened under Harding, cooled under Coolidge, and hungered under Hoover.”

The speech was interrupted by a 12-minute demonstration during which state standards were paraded down the aisles to the platform where Governor Kerr put on a 10-gallon white hate while the band blared, “You’re Doin’ Fine, Oklahoma.”

Governor Kerr’s reply to the Republican Party’s “accent on youth” was the declaration that such “tired old men” as President Roosevelt, Adm. Ernest J. King, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Gen. George C. Marshall “are winning this war.”

Repeating the refrain, “Shall we discard as a ‘tired old man,’” he alluded in staccato succession to 59-year-old Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, 62-year-old Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., 64-year-old Gen. MacArthur, 66-year-old Adm. King, and 64-year-old Gen. Marshall.

Then he added the paragraph which stopped his speech and produced the most deafening demonstration which this convention had seen thus far.

The keynoter said:

No, Mr. Dewey. We know we are winning this war with these “tired old men,” including the 62-year-old Roosevelt as their Commander-in-Chief.

The words “Commander-in-Chief” were almost drowned out by the burst of applause which greeted the word “Roosevelt.”

Governor Kerr himself was caught off guard. He had expected applause, but he hadn’t expected bedlam. He quickly sensed the situation, however, spread his arms like a cheerleader, and urged them on.

8916

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Democratic Convention hopefuls must be received by ‘Big Four’

Bosses hold court, decide what’s what
By Sandor S. Klein, United Press staff writer

Chicago, Illinois –
Those in the know here say the men to “see” in the Democratic Convention are the “Big Four” – National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan, Former National Chairman Ed Flynn of New York, Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly and Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague.

These big city bosses are working frantically behind the scenes to untangle the vice-presidential scramble. They are not actually dominating the convention – yet – but their influence is great. They may be the men who will decide who is to be the vice-presidential nominee if it appears that Henry A. Wallace has definitely lost his chance for the necessary majority.

Hopefuls see bosses

Some vice-presidential hopefuls – not all of them – have been received by the quarter. A number of them, favorite-son candidates, are being ignored.

One of the candidates most prominently mentioned in the vice-presidential sweepstakes was almost distraught his first day here when not one of the “Big Four” called on him. His managers felt convinced that this meant their candidate was “out.” But the next day, two of the bosses invited him over to their rooms and the candidates hopes were revived.

The “Big Four” was said to be in touch with the White House. For the present, they are not doing any “dictating.” They discuss with various candidates their chances and convey to them the latest “dope.”

Keep in touch

And, of course, they keep in constant touch with the leaders of the key state delegations.

Three of the “Big Four” have their quarters in the Blackstone Hotel, across the street from the Stevens Hotel, which is convention headquarters. Mr. Hannegan has a corner suite on the seventh floor. Right next door is Mr. Flynn’s room. Mr. Hague has a corner suite on the fifth floor. Mr. Kelly operates from his spacious six-room apartment overlooking Lake Michigan.

There are frequent conferences among the four in Mr. Hannegan’s suite, where the transoms over the doors are kept tightly locked.

Of the four, Mr. Flynn is believed to be closest to the President.

Another former National Committee Chairman in the same hotel is James A. Farley. He doesn’t get invited to the conferences. He isn’t close to Mr. Roosevelt anymore.

8917

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Stokes: Corcoran pulls strings to get Douglas named

Plots Truman-Wallace tie to achieve goal
By Thomas L. Stokes, Scripps-Howard staff writer

Chicago, Illinois –
Intrigue of the devious and deep-dyed variety, such as never has been practiced in a vice-presidential nomination, is going on here, in hotel room conferences and by long-distance telephone, over the nomination of a running mate for President Roosevelt this year.

A vice-presidential candidate is usually picked by the leaders, at the last minute, as sort of an afterthought. But it is different this year. The stakes are high. The vice-presidential nomination, the only contest this year, has become the center of a struggle for party control between the conservatives and New Dealers on the broad scale, and a prize over which various factions among New Dealers are tugging for supremacy.

The whole story in detail must await the memoirs and subsequent scrappy revelations by the principals. But more than enough leaks out to prove that New Dealers, when they take up politicking, can be just as tricky as those who make it a profession, and with refinements to which the professional would not resort.

Mr. Fixit for a price

This applies particularly to one who left the New Deal administration for the more lucrative practice of “influence,” a Mr. Fixit for a Price, but who still operates within it, sometimes just as if he still were in the government. this is Thomas G. Corcoran. He is up to his ears in this vice-presidential melee, manipulating by remote control from Washington, and the reports of his machinations are very fantastic, but most of them are probably true.

As the time for the nomination of a vice-presidential candidate approaches – it will follow the renomination of Mr. Roosevelt which occurs tonight – the two leading candidates were Vice President Wallace and Senator Harry S. Truman, chairman of the Senate Investigating Committee which bears his name. they have become the victims of the last-minute intriguing – there was plenty previously revolving about other figures.

Wallace amateur politician

Mr. Wallace is the rankest amateur as a politician, and without guile. Senator Truman honestly does not want the job. If you know him, you know this is true. Friends of each are pulling the wires and doing the tricks.

The infighting waxed hot last night when Senator Joe Guffey (D-PA), one of the vice President’s managers, got out a blistering statement denouncing National Chairman Hannegan for trying to influence the nomination of his fellow Missourian, Senator Truman. National party chairmen are supposed to be impartial, and the Pennsylvania Senator had a point there.

Guffey’s challenge

Mr. Guffey challenged the chairman to give out the complete text of a letter Mr. Hannegan was purported to have from the President listing the Missouri Senator as among those who would be acceptable to him.

Senator Guffey concluded with a reference to Senator Truman as “the candidate of Hannegan, Kelly, Hague and Flynn,” the last three the well-known Chicago, Jersey and New York bosses, in order to raise the issue of bossism against Senator Truman and to insinuate it, for those who know their political history, directly against the Senator from Missouri who started in politics as a young man with the once notorious Pendergast machine of Kansas City, though he has long outlived this.

Now Mr. Corcoran enters the plot, as reported here.

It’s an old feud

“Tommy the Cork,” as he is familiar known, has been working a long time to defeat Vice President Wallace for renomination. His hostility goes a long way back. It’s an old feud. His candidate, as it was in 1940, is 45-year-old Justice William O. Douglas of the Supreme Court, who has many attractions as a candidate, being a vigorous, scrappy fellow well identified with New Deal philosophy.

Now Mr. Corcoran has close affiliations with both Senator Joe Guffey and Senator Pepper (D-FL), also identified with the Wallace movement here, both state bosses of no mean pretensions. He also has considerable influence with Secretary of the Interior Ickes, who is here on the ground maneuvering around ostensibly against Vice President Wallace on behalf of Mr. Corcoran.

Wants a deadlock

The essence of the Corcoran “plot” as related is that he is pulling strings behind the scenes to incite the Wallace and Truman forces against each other, so that they will smear each other sufficiently to defeat each and cause a deadlock, out of which Justice Douglas would emerge as the winner.

Advanced as evidence is the Corcoran association with both Senators Guffey and Pepper, who has been busy in the intriguing, and with Mr. Ickes. The latter is known to have visited the Vice President in Washington not long ago ands asked him to withdraw. It was reported that last night he was trying to induce Vice President Wallace to take the floor and denounce boss Ed Kelly, Frank Hague, and Ed Flynn for trying to put over Senator Truman, which would, indeed, be a nice ruckus.

Sounds fantastic, to be true. It may be. But it fits in with the Corcoran technique.

Out of such intrigue, a vice-presidential candidate will emerge.

8918

Story behind Saint-Lô victory –
McGlincy: ‘God bless you, keep you,’ says letter beside a body

Also on the battlefield there is strewn other little things a man treasures
By James McGlincy, United Press staff writer

With U.S. forces in Normandy, France –
A photographer had just finished shooting a picture of it and there it lay – a helmet with a clip of cartridges next to it, and sticking out from under it a letter which ended, “God bless you and keep you until you are home in my arms again.”

This is the road to Saint-Lô, the road down which our task force stormed into the town. The helmet, the cartridges and the letter lie behind the hedgerow where the Americans had dug in for a while. On the other side of the hedgerow were German foxholes. On this side were ours.

Now all around them lies the debris of battle – yet it is more than that because the articles strewn about are such small, warm personal possessions. There are tubes of shaving cream, packs of cigarettes, razorblades, postcards of French towns, foot powder, newspaper clippings – and those letters.

One of the clippings is from a newspaper in Connecticut, a copy of a letter a boy had written while he was still in England. It wasn’t literary or flowery, just sincere. It read:

I’m tired of war and being away from hm. But we want to get it over with. I’ll be glad when we lick the Germans and the Japs.

Nearby is a letter from his wife. I shouldn’t read other people’s mail but somehow it seems that these letters ought to be told – plain, everyday letters that people write to the ones they love.

It’s one way of telling what happens here – of how bodies are mangled and lives are tangled so that the objective can be attained – a town like Saint-Lô.

That boy’s wife wrote:

I’m glad you like it, being you have to be there. I know it’s some pretty country over there and it will be quite an experience. You can tell me lots when you come home.

‘God bless you’

There is a writing pad with only a couple of lines scribbled on it in pencil: “Dear Julia: Here I am once more to say hello and let you know that I’m in the very best of health.” That was written before the deluge of fire.

But most pathetic of all was that letter under the helmet, which said:

Goodnight, Sweetheart. God bless you and keep you until you are home in my arms again. I love you more than anything or anyone in this world. Always, Lillian.

This is the story behind the headline, “Yanks Take Saint-Lô.”

8919

Chaplin’s first wife in critical condition

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8920

Guam attacks carried into third week

Early invasion of island predicted

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8921

Editorial: Clark’s victory

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8922

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Editorial: The Democratic ‘issue’

The oratory at the Democratic National Convention is of the old spread-eagle variety, packed with partisanship. Governor Kerr of Oklahoma, who gave the keynote last night, followed the party line laid down by the indispensable man. But he lacked the cleverness of the master politician who is running this convention from afar. He let too much corn creep in, and poison.

Nevertheless, it was an effective political speech which made the most out of the most vulnerable points in the Republican record.

Here are the Democratic campaign cries:

Save America from Harding, Coolidge and Hoover! Since Mr. Harding and Mr. Coolidge are dead, and Mr. Hoover is not a candidate, this appeal may be found somewhat lacking.

Governor Dewey was picked by Mr. Hoover! This is a little better. The Democrats can prove that Mr. Hoover knows Mr. Dewey and that Mr. Hoover was at the GOP convention. Of course, Mr. Hoover had no control over the choice of a candidate and has no power over Mr. Dewey, but if the story is dressed up properly, maybe a few hundred voters somewhere will believe it.

Keep this Democratic prosperity, which has made everybody fat – employer, labor, farmer! According to all the rules of politics, this is surefire stuff.

But all the other Democratic slogans are secondary to this one: The indispensable man! Or, as streamlined by the man himself: The indispensable Commander-in-Chief!

8923

Editorial: Chaplains’ role

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8924

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Edson: Democrats look for ‘least undesirable’

By Peter Edson

Washington –
The peculiar embarrassment of the Democratic Party chieftains in trying to decide in a second-[lace candidate to run beside Franklin Delano Roosevelt is that they are not trying to put the finger on the best man to run, but on the man who will be the least objectionable. Everyone suggested for the job thus far is able enough in his own sweet way, but the catch is that one and all have political BO to some sensitive noses.

Merits and demerits of Henry Wallace are so well known as to require no detailed rehashing here. Admittedly brilliant and having to his credit many practical achievements that have contributed richly to improving American life, he is still branded as a visionary. The mere thought of his ever reaching the White House on a fluke starts many people screaming.

Sam Rayburn (D-TX) has made an excellent speaker of the House of Representatives, respected by both Republican opponents and Democratic followers. But he comes from the less-populous South and the belief that Northerners won’t vote for Southerners in high office is still hanging around as a hoodoo of political folklore that goes back to the tome of Andrew Johnson, even though Cactus Jack Garner did break thew spell in 1932. Furthermore, Mr. Rayburn is not widely known in the North and West and would have to sell himself to the voters.

Byrnes?

From his position as director of the Office of War Mobilization and “assistant President,” James F. Byrnes of South Carolina would seem to be a natural choice. He has behind him a distinguished record as a Senator and a short record as Supreme Court Justice. But My, Byrnes as boss of the war agencies has played a behind-the-scenes role, dodging the limelight as much as possible.

He, even more than Mr. Rayburn, would have to be sold to the voters. And like Mr. Rayburn, he is from the South.

There is considerable Northern enthusiasm for Senator Harry Flood Byrd (D-VA). But he is no favorite of the White House. Mr. Roosevelt, in fact, had so much legislative opposition from Mr. Garner that it is doubtful if the President would welcome any Southern conservative to preside over the Senate. Certainly, no such a vice-presidential candidate would be welcome to the New Dealers.

South says nix

As a reverse to this, a lot of Northerners in the party are not acceptable to the South, where anyone having even a slight suspicion of being New Deal is persona non grata, as the diplomats say. This curse works against not only Mr. Wallace, but also against such people as Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Federal Circuit Judge Sherman Minton of Indiana, and War Manpower Commissioner Paul V. McNutt, the most kicked-around guy in the whole administration.

Any of these New Dealers would probably be acceptable as a second choice to the labor groups, particularly the CIO and its Political Action Committee. The PAC will definitely not support Mr. Dewey, but the vice-presidential nomination of an anti-labor conservative Southerner would alienate the affections of a powerful and growing political force.

One border state Senator who would be accepted to the Southerners and to labor too would be Senator Harry S. Truman (D-MO). He has made a national reputation as chairman of the Senate Committee to Investigate the War Effort.

But if this is to be an all-out carry-on-the-war campaign, Mr. Truman’s presence on the ticket would place the administration in a funny position for the simple reason that Mr. Truman is poison to the War and Navy Departments and to all the admirals and generals in Washington. They think his investigations and reports have hindered the war effort, rather than helped it.

What to do, what to do.

8925

Ferguson: Equal rights

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

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8926

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Background of news –
Renominating Presidents

By Bertram Benedict

An adage of American politics has it that an incumbent President can always get himself renominated. The adage has held true during this century; it did not always stand up in the previous century.

It held true in 1940, yet Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination for a third term was contested. Senator Carter Glass of Virginia placed James A. Farley in nomination. Others put in the running were Vice President Garner and Senator Tydings of Maryland. The roll call gave Mr. Roosevelt 946-plus of the 1,100 votes, Mr. Farley 72-plus, Mr. Garner 61, Mr. Tydings 9-plus, Secretary Hull 5-plus.

The delegations from 22 states, including Pennsylvania, many operating under the unit rule, went unanimously for Mr. Roosevelt. Of Mr. Farley’s 72-plus votes, 25 came from New York, 12½ from Massachusetts. Of Mr. Garner’s 61 votes, 46 came from Texas. Of the Tydings votes, 8½ came from Maryland; of the Hull votes, 4⅔ came from Virginia.

After the vote was announced, Texas shifted its 46 votes to Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Tydings announced that Maryland’s 16 were shifted to Mr. Roosevelt, Massachusetts’ 34 went over to the President, and Mr. Farley, obtaining the floor, moved to suspend the rules and make Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination unanimous.

No roll call in 1936

In 1936, a motion was adopted to suspend the rules, abandon the roll call, and make Mr. Roosevelt’s nomination unanimous.

In 1932, at the Republican Convention, the only name in nomination besides Mr. Hoover’s was that of ex-Senator France of Maryland. The roll call showed:
Hoover 1126½
Senator Blaine 13
Calvin Coolidge 4½
Mr. France 4
Charles G. Dawes 1
Senator Wadsworth 1

A motion to make the Hoover nomination unanimous was adopted with some scattering “nays.”

In 1924, President Coolidge was nominated by vote of 1065–34 for the late Senator Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin and 10 for Senator Hiram Johnson of California. In 1916, President Wilson was renominated by acclamation, but in 1912 President Taft got renomination only by a narrow margin, in a contest with former President Roosevelt. The latter charged that the nomination was withheld from him by fraud in seating delegates whose seats were contested.

In 1904, Mr. Roosevelt, then President, had been nominated unanimously, like William McKinley in 1900.

Record of previous conventions

In the 19th century, the following six Presidents were renominated under the convention system – Benjamin Harrison in 1892 (he had much opposition, receiving only 535 of the 905 votes on the first ballot), Cleveland in 1888 (unanimously), Grant in 1872 (unanimously), Lincoln in 1864 (the votes of Missouri were cast for Grant), Van Buren in 1840 (unanimously), Jackson in 1832 (unanimously).

But the following five Presidents failed in attempts at nomination:

1844: Tyler, a Democrat elected Vice President on the Whig ticket with W. H. Harrison, wasn’t mentioned at the Democratic Convention. He was nominated by a rump Democratic Convention, but withdrew.

1852: Fillmore, who, like Tyler, had gone to the White House on the death of a President (W. H. Harrison), led Winfield Scott on the first ballot at the Democratic Convention, but Scott was nominated on the 53rd.

1856: Pierce at the Democratic Convention on the first ballot ran second to Buchanan, who was nominated on the 17th.

1876: Grant had clearly implied that he was willing to be drafted for a third term, but the House of Representatives passed a resolution deploring third terms, and the President got no votes at the convention.

1884: Arthur, another President by reason of death (Garfield’s), on the first ballot ran second to Blaine, who was nominated on the 4th.