America at war! (1941–) – Part 3

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americavotes1944

Rayburn joins in endorsement of Roosevelt

$100-a-plate diners hear Speaker and Wallace laud New Deal

Washington (UP) – (Jan. 22)
House Speaker Sam Rayburn and Vice President Henry A. Wallace, either of whom may be selected as President Roosevelt’s running mate if he makes the race in the coming election, tonight vigorously defended his leadership at home and abroad in what appeared to be endorsements of a fourth term.

Neither actually mentioned a fourth term possibility, however, in their speeches before the $100-a-plate Jackson Day Dinner here. And the President, in line with his expressed desire to keep politics out of the war effort, sent no message to the gathering which was held to raise funds for the 1944 presidential campaign.

No ‘shooting Thomas’

Mr. Rayburn, who made the main address, linked Secretary of State Cordell Hull with the President in describing them as two heroic figures “Who would bring the light of satisfaction into the eyes of our forefathers.” But when he described the kind of a candidate the Democrats will name at their convention in Chicago late in July, the picture he painted greatly resembled Mr. Roosevelt.

The Speaker said the Democrats would not palm off on the American people an imitation liberal and that the people would not entrust the Presidency to one who has no proved ability in the field of foreign policy. The Democrats, he said will offer no “shouting Thomas” and the party is not “shopping around for symbols whether they are Main Street or Wall Street.”

New Deal alive

Mr. Wallace said the New Deal is not dead and has yet to attain its full strength. The statement recalled President Roosevelt’s recent press conference declaration that the New Deal had served its purpose during the domestic crisis and was being replaced by a “win-the-war” policy.

He said:

One man more than any other in all history has given dynamic power and economic expression to the ageless New Deal. That man is Roosevelt. Roosevelt has never denied the principles of the New Deal and he never will. They are part of his very being.

Roosevelt, God willing, will in the future give the New Deal a firmer foundation than it has ever had before. So, on with the New Deal, on with winning the war and forward march for peace, justice and jobs.

Why we are here

Mr. Wallace said that the diners, as individuals, were present:

…because the people, suffering from the Hoover-Mellon-Wall Street collapse, demanded a New Deal.

The people believed in Roosevelt, the Democratic Party and the New Deal in 1932 because they felt that the New Deal stood for human rights first and property rights second. The people confirmed their faith in Roosevelt and the New Deal in 1936 and 1940.

Mr. Rayburn asserted that many economic reforms achieved by the Roosevelt regime would not be junked after the war. He slapped at the “small minority of hecklers” who still complain of administration policies; pointed to the nation’s outstanding production record since Pearl Harbor, and declared America went to war under a caliber of leadership that has proved that it was worthy of the high trust placed in it.

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americavotes1944

Lawrence and Guffey hope for harmony at Harrisburg

Washington meeting ends in ‘progress’ report as state ticket remains a mystery

Washington – (Jan. 22)
Ten Pennsylvania Democrats, at their semi-final slate making conference here tonight issued a non-committal report of “progress” toward selection of a candidate for the party nomination for U.S. Senator and other statewide offices.

State Chairman David L. Lawrence, spokesman for the group, said, however, that “everything was harmonious and we are very sanguine about having a harmonious meeting of the state committee.”

Avoidance of an open fight in the state committee meeting, scheduled for Feb. 4 at Harrisburg to recommend candidates for the April 25 primary, will depend on whether Mr. Lawrence and U.S. Senator Joseph F. Guffey, recently-reconciled party leaders, can agree.

Guffey favors Black

Mr. Guffey was represented as favoring Ramsey S. Black of Harrisburg, third assistant postmaster general, for the Senate nomination, while the Lawrence group was considering other possible candidates.

Among those discussed in a series of meetings with county leaders which preceded today’s conference are Auditor General F. Clair Ross (Lawrence-supported candidate for Governor in 1942), State Treasurer G. Harold Wagner, former Philadelphia city chairman John B. Kelly, and former Auditor General Warren R. Roberts.

Already in the senatorial race, independently of the two leaders, is have sizeable backing from labor organizations.

Mr. Lawrence admitted that candidates were discussed at tonight’s meeting, which followed a meeting of the Democratic National Committee, but refused to say who had been proposed for the Democratic slate.

One man is sure

One candidate was definitely endorsed by the group – Judge Chester H. Rhodes of the Superior Court, who will seek reelection to another ten-year term.

The state committee will designate candidates for auditor general, state treasurer, two Superior Court places and one judgeship on the Supreme Court. Candidacies in these offices will depend upon selection of a candidate to run for the place now held by Republican Senator James J. Davis.

Attending tonight’s meeting, in addition to Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Guffey, were Allegheny County Commissioner John J. Kane, Irwin D. Wolf (Pittsburgh department store executive) and county leaders from Philadelphia, Luzerne, Lackawanna and Berks Counties.

2265

New food subsidy fight is predicted

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WAC enrollment short

Washington –
WAC enrollment for 1943 totaled a little over 60,000, far short of the goal of 150,000.

2266

End of strike hinges on rent of peace hall

Regional director moves to resume work at wire plant

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2267

Yanks batter Navy base at Paramushiru

Jap North Pacific bastion hit by fleet bombers twice in day

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2268

Jungle-fighters open drive in Ramu Valley, New Guinea

Australians push up Ramu Valley toward coastal base; 15 planes downed at Rabaul

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2269

Arnold pledges Japan will ‘writhe and squirm’ under U.S. air offensive

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americavotes1944

Ex-Governor of Michigan, now 84, supports Dewey

Poulan, Georgia (UP) – (Jan. 22)
Chase S. Osborn today observed his 84th birthday anniversary quietly at his winter camp, Possum Poke in Possum Lane.

Blind and with his physical powers impaired by two strokes, Michigan’s oldest living former governor, said that while he asks nothing more of life, he would enjoy living to see Tokyo “made the Carthage of modern times, and Tom Dewey in the President’s chair.”

2271

Whitehead: Scarcely shot fired as Yanks swarm ashore

One exclaims: ‘Maybe war is over and we don’t know it’
By Don Whitehead, representing combined U.S. press

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Vermillion: Death strikes in the haze above new Allied landing

By Robert Vermillion, United Press war writer

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2272

CANDIDLY SPEAKING —
Designs for loving

By Maxine Garrison

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2273

Millett: Uniform may look dull but not girl inside it

Proud wearer of WAC garb doesn’t care about finery, just wants to serve her country
By Ruth Millett

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2274

War bond drive brings drop in stock trading

Buying in rails features narrow fluctuations in prices
By Elmer C. Walzer, United Press financial editor

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2275

Another big job for industry –
War plants work with hospitals to ‘bring back,’ train wounded

Disabled sailors do ‘prescribed work, curative in effect,’ and get paid while learning trade
By Daniel R. Maue, Modern Industry Magazine associate editor

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2276

Television blessing! Speakers must make talks short, snappy – or memorize them

Girl singer, comely announcer, quiz program and puppet act show up well in special telecast
By Dale McFeatters, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

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2277

Yank has hope of winging foe by this summer

Gen. Spaatz bases his plan on good weather for flying

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2278

Editorial: Hitler’s hemisphere?

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2279

Editorial: Miss Kellems’ rebellion

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americavotes1944

Editorial: Non-Democratic unity

Shortly before his death, Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Party, wrote: “Four Presidents voluntarily retiring at the end of their eighth year” [Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe] established a precedent so strongly that:

…should a President consent to be a candidate for a third election, I trust he would be rejected on this demonstration of ambitious views.

The principle that two terms are enough for any man was not challenged until near the end of President Grant’s second term. And that challenge was rebuffed when the House of Representatives passed a resolution that:

…any departure from this time-honored custom would be unwise, unpatriotic and fraught with peril to our free institutions.

The vote was 234–18 – the Democrats voting unanimously.

In 1928, when some feared that President Coolidge might be drafted for a third-term nomination despite his “I do not choose” statement, the Senate adopted (56–26) a similar resolution offered by Senator La Follette – the Democrats voting 40–4.

The Democratic National Committee met in Washington yesterday to ratify a choice already made for a new party chairman, and to ratify a choice already made as to the time and place of the party’s next nominating convention, and among the committeemen and committeewomen there seems to be unanimity of opinion that the party at its convention will have only one man to offer – that he who served a third term must be drafted for a fourth.

Did somebody say a leopard couldn’t change its spots? Or is this some other party that now carries the Democratic label?

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americavotes1944

Taylor: Don’t get excited

By Robert Taylor, Press Washington correspondent

Washington –
The first Congressional elections of 1944 provided two morsels which the members of the House of Representatives have been chewing on for days, what with the entire membership facing a test at the polls next November and the political weather being cloudy.

The elections were held in pivotal Pennsylvania – one in Philadelphia and the other in Montgomery County – to fill vacancies, and resulted in two Republican victories, which were promptly hailed as a trend.

Rep. Charles A. Halleck (R-IN) called the election returns “proof that the New Deal is withering at the grassroots,” and a definite indication that the Republican march to victory in 1944 is picking up speed.

Mr. Halleck is no expert on Pennsylvania politics or he would have excluded Montgomery County, at least, from the scope of his remarks. Montgomery County is referred to proudly by its residents as the wealthiest county in the state and its population makes up a major part of Philadelphia’s swanky “Main Line.”

It is, moreover, the home county of Joseph N. Pew Jr., the Republican leader with apparently inexhaustible patience and campaign funds, as well as other hearty contributors to the GOP cause. It has been Republican as long as anybody can remember. If Montgomery County is a grassroots area, you can bet the grass was carefully tended by a skilled Republican gardener. The chief significance of the special election there is that the Republican organization picked Samuel K. McConnell to fill the seat of J. William Ditter, killed in a plane crash last year.

There is more substance to the claim that the special election in the 2nd District (Philadelphia) represented a Republican advance, but it’s still not an outstanding victory for the GOP.

The district has been represented since 1936 by Democrat James P. McGranery, who resigned from Congress to become assistant to Attorney General Francis Biddle and a potential candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator.

Republicans carried it last week by more than 5,500 votes for Joseph M. Pratt, who polled 24,910 votes to 19,329 for Democrat William A. Barrett.

That’s a clear gain for the Republicans, but subject to some analysis. For instance, Mr. McGranery’s hold on his district – despite his prominence in Congress and in party affairs – has never been too secure in the off years.

When President Roosevelt runs, the Democrats do well in the 2nd District. In 1936, the total vote for Congressional candidates was 107,046 and the Democratic majority was 24,512. In 1938, the vote dropped to 97,813 and the majority to 5,317.

In 1940, the turnout of voters rose again to 102,333 and the majority to 23,355, but in 1942, when only 71,803 ballots were cast in the Congressional race, Mr. McGranery squeaked through by a majority of 713. In last week’s special election, about 45,000 voters cast ballots and Philadelphia’s Republican machine workers carried the election.

Democrats need a large turnout of voters to win in Philadelphia, especially when they are competing against an organization which has just succeeded in winning the mayoralty for another four years and retaining its City Hall patronage.

It’s a fairly academic point, at any rate, because the city’s Congressional districts were reapportioned by the 1943 Legislature and the November election is going to be held in a revised, and more safely Republican, district.

But in the halls of Congress, you can hear dialogs like this:

Republican:

You saw what happened in McGranery’s district. Well, that shows you what to expect in November.

Democrat:

There wasn’t any incentive to vote in this election. Wait until November when the President runs and the voters turn out.

2282

Perkins: ‘Right every time’

By Fred W. Perkins, Press Washington correspondent

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